The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
VocaLabs Received Bad Service
Friday - February 24, 2006 04:34 PM in
A short time ago VocaLabs participated at a trade show. For those of you who haven't had this experience, the show promoter supplies the exhibitor with a package of forms and "stuff" to take care of, and one of these involves the services of an Exhibition Services firm that supplies set-up services, logistics, and furniture for rental. In this case, we rented carpeting for our booth plus a table and chairs. We prepaid for these services about a month before the event, but the Expo Services company demanded a credit card number anyway.
As is our policy, we refused, and despite paying in full and in advance, it took weeks and multiple calls before they gave up trying to get a card number from us.
We shipped our material to the conference hotel via UPS with a "hold for guest" marking on the address label and not to the event "staging" site address given. There was no reference to the trade show, except that of course VocaLabs was on the label as "shipper". Since we travel light, we usually just ship trade show materials to ourselves and carry it to the event by hand, rather than use the expensive logistics services.
On arrival at the conference hotel, I checked and the package was indeed in storage with the bellhop. Later, when checking out our location on the show floor, I found the container at the booth space. How nice, I thought, the bellman (bellperson?) must have thoughtfully brought it over.
Back at the office a week later I got a call from a clerk from the Services firm demanding a credit card number for the "extra charges we'd incurred." Yup, you guessed it. The Exhibition Services company had apparently decided on its own, without asking or getting authorization, to carry one of our two UPS packages up to the show floor, and now they wanted to charge us.
Having gone through this already, I wasn't overly polite in my refusal. The next day there was a rather nasty voice mail from a "supervisor". I called, explained that we hadn't authorized them to move our package, and she kept repeating "You signed the contract!" The conversation was a long one. Eventually she relented so long as I would supply evidence that the package said "hold for guest" on it. I pulled the UPS paperwork proof and faxed it over.
End of story? Hardly. A bill for $190.00 came this week. This was their charge to move a 70 lb. package (they claimed it weighed 200 lbs.) a distance of about 200 feet without approval. UPS charged $65 to move it 2000 miles, and I tipped the bellman a few bucks to wheel it down to the cab on checkout.
Two comments. As long as we as exhibitors allow these costs to slip under the radar, Exhibition Services firms will keep doing it. I put the trade show promoter on notice that this hassle will impact our interest in participating in any future shows with them.
Second, it was worth the pain of refusing to give a credit card up front. We instituted this policy because of problems we've had with Exhibition Services companies in the past, and it's much better to be in the position of refusing to pay a mistaken charge than having to try to get the money back from the credit card company.
Posted by Rick Rappe
We shipped our material to the conference hotel via UPS with a "hold for guest" marking on the address label and not to the event "staging" site address given. There was no reference to the trade show, except that of course VocaLabs was on the label as "shipper". Since we travel light, we usually just ship trade show materials to ourselves and carry it to the event by hand, rather than use the expensive logistics services.
On arrival at the conference hotel, I checked and the package was indeed in storage with the bellhop. Later, when checking out our location on the show floor, I found the container at the booth space. How nice, I thought, the bellman (bellperson?) must have thoughtfully brought it over.
Back at the office a week later I got a call from a clerk from the Services firm demanding a credit card number for the "extra charges we'd incurred." Yup, you guessed it. The Exhibition Services company had apparently decided on its own, without asking or getting authorization, to carry one of our two UPS packages up to the show floor, and now they wanted to charge us.
Having gone through this already, I wasn't overly polite in my refusal. The next day there was a rather nasty voice mail from a "supervisor". I called, explained that we hadn't authorized them to move our package, and she kept repeating "You signed the contract!" The conversation was a long one. Eventually she relented so long as I would supply evidence that the package said "hold for guest" on it. I pulled the UPS paperwork proof and faxed it over.
End of story? Hardly. A bill for $190.00 came this week. This was their charge to move a 70 lb. package (they claimed it weighed 200 lbs.) a distance of about 200 feet without approval. UPS charged $65 to move it 2000 miles, and I tipped the bellman a few bucks to wheel it down to the cab on checkout.
Two comments. As long as we as exhibitors allow these costs to slip under the radar, Exhibition Services firms will keep doing it. I put the trade show promoter on notice that this hassle will impact our interest in participating in any future shows with them.
Second, it was worth the pain of refusing to give a credit card up front. We instituted this policy because of problems we've had with Exhibition Services companies in the past, and it's much better to be in the position of refusing to pay a mistaken charge than having to try to get the money back from the credit card company.
Posted by Rick Rappe
Posted at 04:34 PM by | | | |