Customer Service – Courteous and Friendly but Horrible Follow-Up
First, the bottom line: Don’t count on Customer Service following up on a problem or reviewing your problem history. Each new contact is stand-alone and any follow-up appears automated.
Here’s my history (and I have Chat Transcripts and Emails to back it up).
Ordered a Streaming Stick Plus
Roku shipped my order, but omitted my street address. Order made it to my home town on the U.S. East Coast, but was returned to Roku in San Jose, CA due to insufficient address
When I learned of return, I contacted Roku via Chat to advise them address had been omitted, gave them full address (which I had already provided when completing initial order) and asked them to confirm re-shipment and confirmation that address was complete on re-shipment.
Multiple chats and emails over the next two weeks, asking for confirmation of new shipment and confirmation of complete address. Nobody was able to provide either piece of info.
Tried emails and tried posting to Community including a private chat with a Roku employee. Still could not find if a new shipment had been made and, if so, whether the address was correct.
During this same time frame, got repeated emails (with multiple ticket numbers) saying they had not heard from me and if they did not hear back they assumed my problem had been resolved (wording varied a little from email to email, but said the same thing).
Responded to each email stating issue had not been resolved. My response indicated I had not received any info on whether a new shipment had been made and, if so, whether the address was correct. When responding to these emails (and to all chats), I provided not only the original order number, but also each of the numerous ticket numbers I had been provided.
Finally, I received the product I had originally ordered. Later that same day, I received another Streaming Stick+. The next day I received a third Streaming Stick+. After each shipment, I notified Roku via Chat and vis Email. Now I have 3 orders.
Was that the end. Of course not. Finally, someone emailed me they were sending me a PPL (prepaid label) to return the extra streaming sticks. Since that time (it’s been 25 days), I’ve gotten multiple emails. Some asking whether I received the PPL’s (I have, to this day, not received any PPL’s) and some asking whether my issue had been resolved (again!!!).
Was that the end. No, of course not. The streaming stick+ that I had ordered failed. Just went blank. Went on chat and followed all the trouble-shooting steps specified – which, incidentally, I had already done before going on chat. At the end of chat, I specified three possible options:
1. Send me PPL’s to return all three streaming sticks and credit me with the purchase price
2. Send me PPL’s to return all three streaming sticks and a Roku Express and we call it even.
3. Send me PPL’s to return the defective streaming stick + one of the unopened streaming sticks and I would keep and install the currently unopened third streaming stick.
The response was I’ll refer this to the “concern team” and they’ll get back to you within 24 hours. Did they get back? Of course not. Here’s an exact quote of the email that I received a few days later (omitting only my name). And I quote:
“Hello xxxxxx
,
It’s been a while since we've heard from you, so this automated message is here to remind you that we're looking forward to your response on the ticket you requested. If we don’t hear back from you in 3 days, well assume it’s safe to mark the ticket as resolved. In case you forgot, here's what your ticket was about:”
In case I forgot!!!!!! The “here’s what your ticket was about” included several emails back and forth describing my problem and the transcript of the chat that ended with a plan by the customer service rep to refer my situation to the “concern team”.
Was this just an automated email or did the person sending it not bother to read the documentation that they included in the email they sent to me. The documentation provided a recap of the entire problem, start to finish.
I responded that they should actually read the documentation included with their email and that I did not want to be sent any more emails until somebody had a clear understanding of the issue and a solution. I also indicated that if I did not have resolution within 24 hours, I would be installing the second streaming stick I received. Frankly, at this point, I think I’ll toss the broken streaming stick, install stick #2, and keep stick #3 as a backup.
What do you think?
