16. Complaint to Adidas helpdesk and Adidas Customer Care
By this point I was getting very frustrated. The standard of service that I had experienced was very low. Communication was proving very difficult.
I wrote an email of complaint, outlined my issues, and posed some questions that I wished answered by somebody at Adidas.
Hello,
I will begin by saying that I am hugely disappointed with the service that I have received from your company, both online and in store. I have been a very loyal customer over the past few years, and before this most recent experience have been happy with the level of service. However, I am now unable to say that with any conviction.
I would appreciate it if you could take the time to read my points below, and contact me with some valid responses to all seven of my questions.
Experience of poor customer service 1.
On 24th December 2015, I made a reservation (AUK03034276), which was to be picked up at your Oxford Street store. I received the 'Joe, this is your confirmation' email on 24 December 2015 at 16:22:33, and the 'Joe, your reservation is on it's way' email on 24 December 2015 at 18:07:18. This email stated the following:
"The products you selected were not in store, but they are on the way now from our warehouse. Not much longer and your adidas favourites will arrive, expected delivery is within 2-4 business days. You will receive an email notification when the goods are ready for pickup"
The next email that I received from yourselves was the 'Joe, your order reservation is cancelled' email on 01 January 2016 at 20:03:5. This email stated the following:
"Unfortunately your order reservation has expired and your order is now released for sale. We hope you will visit adidas.co.uk again and place a new order."
To say I was surprised to receive this email is putting it lightly. I had received no email saying that the order was ready to pick up. Telling me that my order has expired before I've been notified that it is ready to pick up is ridiculous.
Experience of poor customer service 2.
Although I was very annoyed at this huge error on your part, I noticed that the product was still available online, so I made the reservation again (AUK03109642). As before, this is to be picked up from your Oxford Street store. I received the 'Joe, this is your confirmation' email on 01 January 2016 at 20:09:27, and the 'Joe, your reservation is on it's way' email on 01 January 2016 at 22:22:50. As before, this email stated the following:
"The products you selected were not in store, but they are on the way now from our warehouse. Not much longer and your adidas favourites will arrive, expected delivery is within 2-4 business days. You will receive an email notification when the goods are ready for pickup"
Given the recent experience or dealing with yourselves you can understand that I am very anxious about receiving the email confirming that the reservation is ready to pick up. It has now been 5 business days since I made the reservation, and I have had no email contact.
To make matters worse, I have had to chase you up to check on the status of the reservation. The sequence so far has been like so:
I emailed GB_adidas_SPCS_London_oxfordst@adidas.com on 05 January 2016 at 13:06:06. They told me to email rethelp@adidas.com.
I emailed rethelp@adidas.com on 06 January 2016 at 16:03:03. I received no reply.
I emailed rethelp@adidas.com again on 07 January 2016 at 10:50:34. I received the following reply:
"The order is in “Delivery received” status at the moment, where the status has changed on 07.01.. This means that the respective delivery has come to store today, and after the store will verify that your ordered article was physically included in the delivery and order will be confirmed, the e-mail notification will be sent to your e-mail address."
You must realise that my confidence in yourselves is now at rock bottom. You have my reservation in store, but you haven't told me that it's ready to pick up. You can understand that I am cautious that I may receive the 'Joe, your order reservation is cancelled'- and again without being told that I am able to come and pick it up. So last night I popped into the Oxford Street store to check if I can pick it up. After all, I have the reservation number, and I've been told that the product is in the store. I can honestly say that the member of staff who "dealt" with me last night was the rudest, most insolent member of staff that I have ever come across in one of your stores.
I visited the Oxford Street store at on 07 January 2016 at 18.45, showed the member of staff my reservation number, and explained the situation. He (the member of staff) said that it has been delivered but has not been processed. I was quite bewildered by this, so I asked him - "so you're saying that you have the product that I have reserved here in your store, but I am unable to pick it up?". His response (now I don't know if he is new to the job, or if it's common for your store staff to handle customers with the communication skills of a robot) was simply "it's been delivered, but not processed". When I asked him why it had not yet been processed, his response was that they were short staffed at the moment. I would have believed this if I hadn't seen 3 members of staff on the tills, and another 3 on the shop floor (which by this point was empty of customers).
Some questions for you now...
1. Tell me - how would you feel right now if you were in my shoes, and you had just gone through the rigmarole above?
2. Please tell me why, if a product (that is already overdue to be picked up) is confirmed as being delivered to the store by 1pm, that it is not available to be collected by 6.45pm on that same day?
3. Please tell me why your Oxford Street shop staff are so insolent? I usually shop at the store in Westfield London as this is nearer to my home. The staff there are always very helpful - and can at least hold a conversation. I made the mistake of selecting Oxford Street as it's more convenient for my place of work. Make no mistake - once I have collected this reservation I will never be visiting your Oxford Street store again.
4. Have you any idea of the stress and inconvenience that you have caused? I ordered this product on 24th December for the birthday of a loved one. Their birthday was 3rd January. In an ideal world I would have been able to collect the product within the 2-4 business days period. But thanks to the huge error on your part this was not so. I'm still waiting to collect the product. I'm still waiting to give a birthday present - five days overdue.
5. Why did I not receive the standard emails - 'Joe, your reservation arrived in store and is ready for pickup', and 'Joe, this is a reminder to pick up your order'? And before you play the 'Christmas is our busiest period of the year' card - I don't care. You are a multinational corporation. Your Oxford Street store is located on THE busiest high street in the world. This was such a basic thing, but somehow you managed to spectacularly mess it up.
6. Will I be able to collect the reservation today (Friday 8th January)? I sincerely hope so. I am unavailable to come into London on Saturday or Sunday of this weekend, so if I am not able to pick up the reservation today, and then I receive the 'Joe, your order reservation is cancelled' email over the weekend then, rest assured, not only will I never visit your Oxford Street store again, but I will never use your website again.
7. Finally, I am interested to hear what you would like to offer me in the way of compensation for the completely unnecessary stress and inconvenience that you have caused for me.
I look forward to hearing from you very soon,
Joe.