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Eaton/Detroit Customer Service UPDATE

fireplug

fireplug

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:mad: I have contacted Eaton/Detroit four times via email (their sales and general inquiries addresses) today I called, got bounced around ended up making four calls, leaving one message. Nothing. Must be nice to be so successful you can just ignore your customers.

UPDATE! Received a phone call today from Brent. They came through with flying colours. They are shipping my emergency block off plate today, they will try to do so for free providing the border doesn't cause problems, as well as the literature I'm missing. Also gave me some tips on my Electrac, and told me to call back when I change the diff oil for an easier way to reset the shift fork. Great outcome. Neither party mentioned the length of time it took for a response, no need.
 
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Never had that issue with them. I have e-mailed them a few times and always got a reply. Ususally from the director of marketing or design engineer.

Only had to call 2 times and was helped right away. Maybey they were real busy?
 
Really?! I'm surprised. I called today and tried every extension they offered, sales, customer service, etc. All the emails had my phone number and return email written. Weird.
 
fireplug said:
:mad: I have contacted Eaton/Detroit four times via email (their sales and general inquiries addresses) today I called, got bounced around ended up making four calls, leaving one message. Nothing. Must be nice to be so successful you can just ignore your customers.
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Join the party dude! PIAA is the exact same way! Emailed them concerning the dimensions of their light locks over 3 weeks ago. Nothing, nada, zilch, zippo, butkiss, zoink, no go! So much for customer service after spending almost $800.00 on their lights. I feel for ya!

Manny
 
Yeah, it's actually getting a little old if you ask me. Seems like good customer service, no, even half decent customer service is rare encounter these days.

I also dropped a line to a vender here last week. I'm looking at dropping $1599.00 on their product. Had some questions, used their email option on the web site, nothing.

We started to get into this in another unmentioned post, but a problem I really have is with these websites. If you don't want to use a site as an active tool, than don't have one. Don't put up a 'contact us' link and ignore the email.

phew ok rant off.
 
fireplug said:
I also dropped a line to a vender here last week. I'm looking at dropping $1599.00 on their product. Had some questions, used their email option on the web site, nothing.

We started to get into this in another unmentioned post, but a problem I really have is with these websites. If you don't want to use a site as an active tool, than don't have one. Don't put up a 'contact us' link and ignore the email.
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i think i had a similar situation with the exact vendor you speak of. :whistle: 4 emails to the general contact addy, 2 to the owner's individual address, and i believe 2 or 3 PMs to him through the website. NOTHING.
 
Yesterday was a holiday wasn't it? Maybey they were not at work yesterday??? Or have you been trying for days?


And stop bashing vendors over e-mail. In my line of work I loath getting another e-mail. If I had to stop and answer an e-mail everytime I got one I would never get anything done at work. There are better ways to spend your day than on the computer......especially if your livelyhood depends on it.

Most vendors here and elsewhere insist that you call to order and ask tech questions for that exact reason. Remember that while you may think that 4x4's and K5's are the biggest most important thing in the free world, that is simply not the case. Most of the businesses catering to the K5 might have a max of 2-3 employees. Were are not talking Microsoft, or the local power company here.:deal:
 
I'm going to step in on this one. I agree with people who complain about not getting a return e-mail however i don't expect an instantaneous response either. I would expect however to get a return e-mail within a couple days. I'm sure that most vendors here and anywhere else on the WWW don't check and read e-mails every 5 minutes but rather probably at the end of each day and then it takes time for them to return e-mails either in order or in as urgent order. If a vendor just doesn't take time to read their e-mails or make a reply back to everyone who has e-mailed them then they shouldn't offer that service on their website.
 
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Agreed....email is a "passive" way to ask a question.

If you are serious, CALL them up and ask your question or place your order. :deal:


It kind of reminds me of the guys who find a $200 D60 on Craigslist and then send an email asking more questions about it, instead of showing up with the CASH!!!! If you're not serious enough to do something "pro-active", you might as well move to the back of the line......
 
Well, I must say that I'm now at ease with the phone situation if it was a holiday yesterday. What holiday?

That said in the professional world I would have received a recording telling me that everyone was out of the office. Not stringing me along to other extensions.

However the e mail situation has been over three or even more weeks? That isn't cool.


And yeah like 4x4HIGH said, I don't expect the e mail to be read every hour on the hour, though there are many a company that do. But the next day is expected. If you don't want to deal with e mail then take away that opportunity. I'm calling with my only phone, a cell phone at that, long distance from another country. If you offer me the chance to email, guess what? I'm taking it!
 
Greg72 said:
Agreed....email is a "passive" way to ask a question.

If you are serious, CALL them up and ask your question or place your order. :deal:


It kind of reminds me of the guys who find a $200 D60 on Craigslist and then send an email asking more questions about it, instead of showing up with the CASH!!!! If you're not serious enough to do something "pro-active", you might as well move to the back of the line......
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Wow, I hope you don't have a business of your own! :D

If I'm serious I should go out of my way to give you my money? Mmmmm ya right. Tell you what, you want my money to hand something over a counter, the same thing 100 or 1000 other Joes are also handing over a counter, than you better give me a reason.

It's one thing if you are hand building something, or designing it, or installing it or if there is SOME kind of relationship there, but if all you are doing is trading a widgit for my money, that isn't a skill. The skill set being used is 'service'.

Hell I've already spent my nearly $2000.00, actually more. I want my product support. If the business knows proper business and pricing techniques, then I've actually already paid for that support.
 
Greg72 said:
Agreed....email is a "passive" way to ask a question.

If you are serious, CALL them up and ask your question or place your order. :deal:


It kind of reminds me of the guys who find a $200 D60 on Craigslist and then send an email asking more questions about it, instead of showing up with the CASH!!!! If you're not serious enough to do something "pro-active", you might as well move to the back of the line......
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I fully agree.

I tell all my clients that e-mail is a great way to have a casual converstation with me but if you want to hash something out or feel that you need the info quick just CALL.
I personally hate typing a 3 page disertation over something that could be a 5 minute phone call.

I am not into this whole e-mail internet based communication thing. I think that it has taken the customer out of customer service.
That is why a lot of these companies prefer phone calls. It is more personal and in touch with what you the customer want.

Remember if you take the customer out of customer service all you have is service.
Some people want to be serviced some don't.
 
Well actually I do like being serviced :D

Yeah I fully understand the advantage, of a phone call for a complicated explanation or a question and answer onslaught.

In my situation, I'm looking for replacement product literature and to order an 'emergency' kit for the Electrac that isn't available commercially.

And as a side note, in the past when a company has found out where I'm calling from and offered to hang up and call me back (ORD was one of these) that has been REALLY impressive.
 
For what you need a phone call is the only way. I have also found that the right person is sometimes hard to find.
I had a project that we broke a heat line on and needed a repair kit. I couldn't find a repair kit for two weeks.
I called plumbing subcontractor and he had the business card of an engineer that had done a conference on this type of line years ago. My plumber had attended that conference and kept the card. This nerdy guy had the last 1 of these repair kits in the country (they have been dicontiued for several years now). The guy had it in his desk as a visual aid left over from his conference tour.
That repair kit is now buried in concrete on my project.

If you are having trouble you might try going through a vender that works a lot with Detroit. If I were you I would try NWF. They are at least a Canada vender and might have some pull with them. Or they might be able to give you a back door to go in. You are going to fight an uphill battle with a large company getting to the right person.
 
fireplug said:
Wow, I hope you don't have a business of your own! :D

If I'm serious I should go out of my way to give you my money? Mmmmm ya right. Tell you what, you want my money to hand something over a counter, the same thing 100 or 1000 other Joes are also handing over a counter, than you better give me a reason.

It's one thing if you are hand building something, or designing it, or installing it or if there is SOME kind of relationship there, but if all you are doing is trading a widgit for my money, that isn't a skill. The skill set being used is 'service'.

Hell I've already spent my nearly $2000.00, actually more. I want my product support. If the business knows proper business and pricing techniques, then I've actually already paid for that support.
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So which is it? :wink1:

How many "Joes" have the emergency kit and literature that you need.....100? 1000? ACTUAL ANSWER: Zero

I don't make the rules, but I can tell you that your experience is going to be the same when you email any large company with a question (Microsoft, General Motors, Eaton, McDonalds, Comp Cams)... send them a message and try it. If you're lucky you'll get an automated response, but nothing more.

The reality (whether you like it or not) is that providing the kind of support you want, can not be "built in" to the price of the product....the costs are too high, even if that support is outsourced to India. Any company that burdens their product costs with this type of support cost won't be in business for very long; their product will be the most expensive but will not be materially any better than competitors..... to 99.9% of the buying public, the company with the lowest price (for a "commodity" product) wins.

Small vendors can do a better job of providing the type of "service" you want, but even they still have to make a living....and that means being out in the shop building products, not sitting at a keyboard answering questions. My guess is that email is answered AFTER the regular business day has ended. I can only imagine how many emails a shop like ORD gets per day....:eek1:
 
1986K10 said:
Martin Luther King Jr's b-day was yesterday.....Maybe??? Holiday?
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yes. it's a national holiday where all government agencies are closed and anyone who likes their employees is also closed. I worked.:rolleyes:
 
Greg72 said:
So which is it? :wink1:

How many "Joes" have the emergency kit and literature that you need.....100? 1000? ACTUAL ANSWER: Zero

I don't make the rules, but I can tell you that your experience is going to be the same when you email any large company with a question (Microsoft, General Motors, Eaton, McDonalds, Comp Cams)... send them a message and try it. If you're lucky you'll get an automated response, but nothing more.
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Firstly I was separating my issue from the example of retailers, though I can see that I wasn't very clear.

Secondly, I liked your challenge.

Whether or not a company offers an email option is their perogative, but if they offer it, and they are a professional joint, they WILL respond.

So to test it out I've sent out mail to Microsoft, General Motors, McDonald's, and Eaton. Comp Cams didn't offer any email contact info. So far, while not timely, Eaton has responded. For kicks we'll see how the others perform, I'll be sure to update! :D
 
While cleaning out my inbox, I came across this post. I could have sworn that I updated it but it doesn't look as though I did.

I'd like to point out that Eaton came through! And they did so better than I could have hoped. They sent all the product literature, the block off plate and spring (emergency kit), and some stickers. This was all sent in a timely fashion and they made arrangements to save me from any Duty taxes!

To add to the great service they followed up with a phone call and some maintenance tips that don't appear in print. And an invite to call collect for further tech advice when I am actually doing the work.

I might add that I never mentioned my original displeasure, so while the response was indeed slow, the customer service was not over the top as an attempt to repair any 'damage'. This was their standard of service!

Kudo's! :bow:
 
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