Customer service at LHR?

[Sallen1215]

Ok, so normally i wouldn't do this but i am beyond floored at the circumstances here. I placed an order for simple parts to bring my machine back up and running, my credit card was charged and the order was placed, mind you this was April 30th. These pieces are currently keeping my machine from working and were "in stock". Here it is 4 days later and my order has not been picked in order to ship yet....really?. So now i have a carvewright paperweight and another week with no production. i understand the 48 hour processing time but i am a business owner and in my mind when something is ordered you give the order to a warehouse guy who then picks the 4-5 pieces and scans them and puts them in an envelope. Then the order is shipped to the consumer. It should not take 4 days to pick a ticket for shipment with everything in stock. Customer service is what a company defines itself on and this is a poor example and i am voicing my opinion about this bad practice. I know some will come out with the whole i could pay for extra shipping and get stuff faster but that is not the point cause my items have not even been picked as of yet. Also i know some people will chime in about they have a 3-8 day ship period but as i see it i can order parts from California and they will arrive long before they even get processed at LHR. That is my complaint here. And this post may get deleted but at least i got my side out there and if it is to be deleted then so be it but customer service is non existent as far as i can see.


A normally happy Carvewright carver,



Stephen Allen
Patterns by Stephen

[lynnfrwd]

Not just normally, but anytime it is unacceptable, but normally, it doesn't happen this way at LHR. We are currently going through an off period and most people in the forum know this. We basically ran out of machines and several parts. Typically, we get customer orders placed and shipped in the same day. Any warranty approvals add a day or two unless there is an exception or question about the "diagnosis". Dependent upon where you are determines how long it takes UPS to get it there. Officially, shipping is 7-10 days, but most get it much quicker than that.

Machines and parts arrived yesterday. Backorders are going out, but there are still items that need to be inventoried or built up into products. We do a lot in house.

I'm sorry our circumstances delayed your parts.

Your credit card should only have a hold on it. We don't normally "capture" the money until parts are shipped.




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[Sallen1215]

I understand an off period but according to your own "customer service" personnel all of these parts were in stock and not back ordered. Im in Virginia and i know how long it takes to ship ups ground. When i placed the order the guy even said " items should arrive by Friday if your in central VA.

Stephen Allen
Patterns by Stephen

[lynnfrwd]

We do have a new CSR named Jay and this is twice today, I've heard of him setting up customer expectations beyond standard and what is presently possible. I will straighten it out tomorrow.


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[Sallen1215]

The CSR i talked with was named ALEX and the order number is 73547


Stephen Allen
Patterns by Stephen

[lynnfrwd]

Hmmph!! I will address it tomorrow.


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[Ton80]

hmm, a public flogging? Can you air it over the internet? LOL

Stinks you had to wait for parts. I also ordered a Y motor pack about 12 days ago and I was actually quite surprised when it arrived on my doorstep 4 days later. Texas to New York mind you!

[KeystoneChuck]

I had the same problem. It me 30 days, yes 30 days to get my order. I placed an order for (2) bits and received 1 with the paper work stating "Back Ordered) understandable, it happens. but why would their e-mail state "your order has been COMPLETED SUCCESFULLY"? After a great number of unanswered e-mails I got one back stating the do not have a date when the bits are due to arrive in. Mind you my credit card was charged in full when the order was placed. More aggravation with LHR and their customer service but I won't bore you with that. I finally received my back ordered bit 30 days later. Good machine BAD customer service.

[fspearman1]

I was gonna reply but guess I won't....

[lynnfrwd]

Sallen:

Order placed Monday and shipped Thursday. Tracking information entered Friday. According to UPS will arrive in Virginia Tuesday.

KeystoneChuck:

Order placed 4/1. In stock bit sent 4/3, order noted that second bit was on back order both hand-written on the invoice and in ORDER notes; marked COMPLETE, which sent automatic "YOUR ORDER HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED" email to customer with notification of back order in notes field and then order was moved to BACK-ORDER STATUS until the second bit was received and shipped to you on 4/25. Order moved back to COMPLETE status 4/26. I do not have access to see at exactly which point in this process your money was actually "captured". It should have been temporarily held starting the 1st and then captured around the 26th.

Typical practice for Charging Credit Cards - Any time an order is placed, the money is temporarily held on your credit card for about three days. We have 30 days in which to "capture" that money. If we don't capture it within 30 days, then we need to re-place the order on your credit card. Money is usually captured when the order ships. If an order has items that are not available or on back order, we should be asking the customer if they want us to hold everything on the order or ship what we have now and send back-ordered items later at no additional shipping cost to the customer.

Notice there are a lot of "should"s, "usually"s and "typically"s in there. It doesn't always go by the plan ("the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray"). We knew this would be a rough couple of weeks waiting to get our shipment. It's almost over, but we still have at least one more week of trying to get caught up with back-orders, assembling new parts into products, and preparing & testing new machines to fill all of our pre-orders, plus HOPEFULLY the Wood Magazine ad will generate some additional sales. So, this thread may still grow with yet more frustrated customers. It is frustrating to us, as well, and we do thank you for your patience.