Comments on: Expansys / MobilePlanet’s Lousy Customer Service

By: Roger Marquis

Roger Marquis — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 04:36:50 +0000

I pre-ordered a Wind from Expansys-USA in May. It shipped in August but the model was different from what was advertised (UK vs US keyboard, 3 vs 6 cell battery *). I contacted Expansys-USA sales who said they would process an exchange as soon as the advertised models were in stock. After not hearing back for a few weeks I called and was given the same story. This went on for 3 months until I finally reached someone who said the US models were in stock. His manager, however, refused to honor the promised exchange due to a “policy requiring exchanges to be made within 30 days of purchase”. This was a completely different story from that which I had been told several times by Expansys-USA sales in the preceding months. Requests to speak with a manager were responded to with “there is no manager above me” (Logan Chandlee) though I was able to locate his manager (Steve Muttram). Unfortunately, the reply was the same (30 day policy, no manager above me…)

The root cause may be that Expansys-USA was apparently not authorized by MSI to offer this model before it shipped, and there was so me fallout between the two company’s resulting in Expansys-USA being shorted. There also appears to be significant employee turnover in Expansys-USA’s staff as all of the sales people I spoke with originally are apparently “no longer with the company”.

Strongly recommend avoiding this vendor and if you do buy anything from them be prepared to cancel your credit card and return the merchandise within 30 days, regardless of what their sales people might say.

By: doogald

doogald — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:43:01 +0000

I bought something from Expansys years ago and they were just about the same – obviously happy to take my order, very slow to fulfill it, reluctant to answer an e-mail inquiry about the status of the order, etc. I did get the item, a few weeks later than I expected, but I also wouldn’t consider buying from them again. There are way too many companies out there with decent customer support that I’d rather do business with.

By: Ed Stern

Ed Stern — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:59:31 +0000

Welcome to the realization that Customer Service died and moved to India.

By: lost customer

lost customer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:44:14 +0000

I truly support the author. I have got an Experience with European office. I ordered bluetooth headset in september. After 2 returns I got back broken item again and no replies to my questions what are they going to do in order to solve the proble. Nothing. So it is ok with Expansys until everuthing is ok. If it’s not, better forget about it or even don’t buy anything there. It costed me about 80 GBP and 4 months time to understand how stupid I am.
It will also be a good idea to check what people say about those on-line sellers.
Merry Christmas!

By: dsamuilov

dsamuilov — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:03:40 +0000

I understand, I also understand that sometimes, who is answering the phones is expected to follow a script that Management may have already decided for them. But when several different people have the same attitude, that sounds almost as if it were company policy. Note that I am not saying IT IS, I’m just saying SOUNDS LIKE IT IS.

I think the issue here is that no one seems to be thinking in longer terms… if you are nice to your customers, they’ll come back it seems to be a no brainer that benefits the company and makes customers happy.

By: And?

And? — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:47:53 +0000

a) Re-reading my first post I find it incredible standoffish. I did not intend that and apologize.
b) No I do not work for Expansys or any other retailer that advertises here, just 3 years at a front line customer service job.

By: And?

And? — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:39:59 +0000

Agreed. Much online shopping frustration could be saved by the retailer simply sending out a “We are experiencing difficulty fulfilling orders for “X”, more information to follow”, and then follow up with information as it becomes available. They already have all of our information in their systems after all.

In your retail work did you never see situations where shipments of a product were delayed and cringe because you had known when they were due to arrive and had been telling customers? Or worse yet, the shipment arrives half damaged or defective and the next one isn’t coming in for weeks. Did you feel like you had been lying to the customers or were you giving them the best information you had?

I believe the potential for anger at an online retailer is much higher than that of a brick-and-mortar because of the trust factor and the removal of control. You have paid and the money is in their hands, but there is nothing tangible about the transaction until the product arrives. The longer the delay between purchase and arrival the more emotion gets invested, and all over a problem that possibly neither party had control over.

By: dsamuilov

dsamuilov — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:13:53 +0000

I did work in retail a long time ago, but there are lots of ways to handle these situations and this one in particular is just plain lousy. If the issue here was just not having stock, a simple email letting me know what the problem was would have been fine. In this case there were lies, said, reported on their own site and the customer support reps simply verbally mistreated a customer that just wanted to know what was going on.

By: And?

And? — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:25:26 +0000

By the intro to your article I was expecting some really horrific details.
All I see in what you’ve written is a company that is having stock issues with a popular product, probably because the company making the product is having trouble filling orders themselves.

It appears that you have never worked in retail.

By: breley

breley — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:18:48 +0000

Weeks ago I emailed Expansys support an inquired if they had or could direct me to where I could obtain an electronic copy of an English version of the X7510 user manual since they offered the unit. The terse reply from their support was to go Google it.

Now if the reply had been something along the lines of “I’m sorry, but I can’t provide one for you, did you try a Google search for the manual?” I probably wouldn’t have been so put off, especially since I’d been a past customer of the company.

By: Badersk

Badersk — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:56:55 +0000

Many companies have the mistaken perception that good customer service costs money rather than build loyal customers. Most people would gladly pay more for good service but in the absence of such shop best price instead. I long for the day when they figure it out and both we the customers and the businesses themselves become winners.

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:44:14 +0000

I ordered the HTC Tv out cable for the fuze, and when I ordered it the stock status showed 5-10 cables in stock. Then later I got an e-mail saying that the item has gone out of stock and they will ship ot once they get more stock of the item, but as an alternative I can buy expansys’ own tv out cable. When I have to buy accessories and other stuff I definitely prefer other vendors over expansys.