Customer service can differ a great deal from store to store and from company to company. We recently experienced this between two companies that manufacture high-end products. One is Bendtec, makers of the blender with the power motor. They are the company famous for the slogan and campaign, “Will it blend”.
We purchased a Blendtec blender last fall after having purchased and owned a Vita-mix blender. While both are great products, we decided we liked the Blendtec blender better because it did not clog up for us like the Vitamix blender did.
The second high-end product we recently purchase around Christmas of 2013 was a Le Creuset cookware bowl. My wife had discovered this product awhile ago and wanted to purchase a pot for quite some time before we finally decided to purchase the piece from a local outlet store.
Both products developed a problem issue. The Blendtec began having an issue with the electronic switch panel. When pressing a button on the panel, occasionally, the blender would not start. The Le Creuset bowl issue was a noticeable discoloring on the lid which was becoming worse with use.
My wife contacted both companies and assumed that each company would respond with a favorable answer to take care of the problem. Blendtec immediately shipped out a replacement blender at no cost to us along with shipping labels to return the defective product back to the manufacturer.
Le Creuset however, did not respond as favorably. First of all, the local stores are unable to return the product for replacement. The manufacturer said that we would have to return the product to them and that we would have to cover the cost of shipping. In addition, we would have to pay a $20 fee for them to review our product to determine if it was indeed defective. If they determined it was not defective, they would not return the product to us and we would have to purchase a new product albeit at a discounted price.
The latter response was disappointing to say the least. When you spend more money for a high-end product, you naturally have higher expectations when it comes to the customer service you receive as well as the level of product support the company provides. Blendtec exceeded that expectation and will receive “word of mouth” recommendations from us. Le Creuset, however, provided a response that was well below our expectations and we would have difficulty recommending their products to others as a result.