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mr_signs

Poor Customer Service Issues

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Ok.  I've been researching quite a bit on this site as I was interested in adding vinyl cut products to my current business.  I finally narrowed my choice down to the Copam 2500 as it seemed to be a cutter that will last me a while and perform well for the long term.  Well last week wednesday 1/20/10 after much anticipation, I finally received my Copam and the other supplies I ordered (12 pack greenstar vinyl, squeeges, etc).  Thursday 1/21/10 I went ahead and pulled the copam out of the box put it together only to find out that the NEW Copam I paid full price for from this site ($750) was apparently refurbished!  The cutter not only has a crooked roller holder (which will not roll correctly) SOMEONE ACTUALLY TOOK A BLACK MAGIC MARKER AND COVERED OVER SCRATCHES TO THE CAP!!! Even the LED shows use.

I called USCutter immediately and after being passed around a few times, I was told that I would have to pay for the return shipping!!  At first I was told it would be $60-70 to return and then $30.  Q:  WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO PAY FOR ANYTHING WHEN I PAID FOR A NEW MACHINE DIRECT FROM USCUTTER?  Why is their error (lack of quality control) my fault? :D

I spoke to BrandonD (who stated he was the manager for customer service) on that Thursday.  He then told me to send him the pictures, which I did that day.  So Friday 1/22/10 rolls around and no word from Brandon.  No return email and no call back after leaving him a voicemail.  I don't get this company...what company does this?  At this point I am not even confident that if I return the machine for an exchange, that it will even be new!  All the while they are in the process of losing a new customer that had every intention on "working" with them based on this great forum.

Today is Sunday and they are closed but I am extremely annoyed by their lack of concern.  I mean I didn't even get a return email stating anything.  I spent almost $1000 on my order!  What do you think??  ;D

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I am sure they will resolve it eventually. Brandon,from what I am told, is not only in charge of customer service, but does many other things as well...and like most people who try to do too much, sometimes they just get behind,forget,or whatever. If you don't hear back from Brandon Monday, try Levi...at least in my case, Levi listens to me much better than Brandon does.I believe the reason being..his ONLY job is customer service and tech support.

levih@uscutter.com

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It doesn't surprise me this happened. It always something from USC it seems.

I would refuse to take to pay shipping back, as you stated. You paid for a brand new unit and that is what you deserve. Once you get the cutter that you deserve you will see just how great the Copam is. It's far more superior than the USC line of cutters. But lacks the contour cutting ability. If you don't need that ability then I feel you can't turn this cutter down for the price.

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This is very surprising to me. Everything I have ever heard was nothing but good from there support. I know this forum does a lot for members but i am really shocked.I just cant see how they could send you a refurb by mistake. Thats not good at all. Come on uscutter get it together.

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I have been saying for some time that the weak link at USC is the shipping department. Growing too fast can sometimes do that. It's obvious that someone just made a mistake. And I'm sure that once the right person is made aware of it, it will be resolved. Considering how many items USC must have to ship and deal with every day, a mistake every now and then is understandable. That being said...how that mistake is handled will tell the tale. Give them a few days. Marcus monitors these forums and is 100% committed to doing the right thing.And he is 100% honest too.

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I am currently at the ISS show in Long Beach and posting from my phone.  I cannot address the issue right now but we will take care of it on Monday.  I will try to follow up with a forum post tonight.

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Well I sure hope this can be resolved tomorrow.  As I stated before one of the major reasons I chose to buy from USCutter was the fact that the Customer Service Reps seemed to be very responsible and reliable here on the forum.

I understand that "things" happen sometimes but, it is how those issues are resolved that can be most telling.

We'll see...

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There are several issues that must be addressed:

I don't believe that this is a refurbished machine.  I hate to admit this, but we cannot completely manage QC from our Chinese partners.  The Chinese manufacturers that we work with have a different standard of quality than most Western companies do.  They tend to believe that it is perfectly fine to send a product with cosmetic defects to a customer as long as it is working properly.  The margins that many of these manufacturers make on the product is very thin.  The machines are hand assembled and subject to being scratched, etc.  They also may receive components from other manufacturers that have similar expectations for quality (as long as it works, it is OK).  Many of these machines are sold into the Chinese market and found perfectly acceptable, but of course, we do not find it acceptable and we try to enforce these standards with our Chinese manufacturing partners.  I have had many discussions with Copam trying to get them to improve QC, and for the most part, I believe that we have been successful in developing a system that ensures that we get close to cosmetically perfect machines, while the machines with cosmetic defects are sent to Chinese and other foreign customers.  Unfortunately, I believe that there are times when Copam doesn't produce our entire order on demand and uses some existing stock that they have ready for the foreign marketplace.  It is almost comical (and frustrating) that they try to hide it with what looks like a marker.  I agree with most of you that this is unacceptable, and I will do my best to force them improve.  I do still believe that the Copam is by far the best machine that you will find at that price point.  That said, we brought on the ZenCut line for a reason.  The ZenCut Green is currently introductory priced at a price point that is fairly competitive with the Copam, but in a week when we move to standard pricing, there will be a price gap between the two models that would cause many people to choose the Copam over the ZenCut based on price.  I hope that those receiving machines with cosmetic defects will have some understanding and work with us if you feel that a cosmetic imperfection is truly a problem.  If I cannot convince Copam to improve their performance (I have asked them to read this post), I will likely 1. show in the product description that there may be cosmetic imperfections and the machines are sold as-is or 2. raise the price of the machines to account for the additional service costs related to dealing with the problems.  In either case, we will sell less machines which will hurt Copam, USCutter, and the customer who might have otherwise received an excellent vinyl cutter.

Regarding your issue with Brandon, I am sorry that he missed a commitment that he made to you.  He is overextended and tries his best to help each customer.  Sometimes, he forgets (not acceptable), or there is an issue that become urgent or immediate that causes him to miss that commitment.  We will try to reduce his workload and find ways to better track commitments in order to ensure consistently high quality customer services.

Please also understand that USCutter is not open on weekends.  I understand that you do not cease activities on the weekend, so it can be frustrating, but a missed commitment on Friday cannot be corrected on Saturday or Sunday.

Now, with regard to the issue of the resolution of this problem, I agree that the response of asking you to pay for shipping to resolve the issue is inappropriate.  This result is my fault, as I have not clearly defined a return policy for this type of scenario (which I perhaps over-optimistically expect will not occur) , so our customer service personnel fall back on our warranty repair standards.  I do, however, want to stress that minor imperfections will be prevalent in many of our imported products.  These are generally machines where we focus on utility rather than cosmetic detail.  Since the Copam is marketed as a higher-end machine, I am sensitive to the problem that you described, but I am afraid that we cannot jump over backwards for every cosmetic defect that a customer sees.  The problems that 'koulpeeplz' describes is beyond a level that we would reasonably find acceptable for the Copam product line, and so I intend to rectify it.  Specifically, we would, as a matter of course, replace the part that was functionally defective (the roller holder) - which I would assume was damaged in shipping rather than before the QC process that is performed at the manufacturer.  Given the  extent of the cosmetic problems, we will replace the machine at our cost.

'koulpeeplz', I am truly sorry for the mistakes that we made, and I hope that we will exceed your expectations in the future.

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Congratulations Marcus on resolving this issue!  and also with an explanation that should help in the future.

nice to see everything in the open.

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so, how many companies out there would allow such verbal abuse in an open public fourm and then have the cajones to address it to the level Marcus does?

This is why I have no problem doing business with USC.

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Yea I dont understand all the bad mouthing before an issue has had a chance to be resolved. There is plenty of time after due process for that.

Dan

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Ok. In order to put this matter to rest, I must say Marcus is a man of his word and the issue is being resolved.  USC will be taking care of the shipping and the exchange, no cost to me. ;D He even pm-ed me along with a few other members from USC.  Faith and confidence has been restored.  

I apologize to those that think I was bad mouthing the company prior to a resolution being enacted.  I was extremely frustrated when Friday came and went.  

With that said, I would like to thank Marcus, Brandon for (responding), BannerJohn for all his help and Yaro for calling me and settling the issue!  :angel:

Being a business owner myself, I understand that things do happen sometime!  Marcus handled this quickly and I thank him for that.  I also now have a better understanding of what USC is all about.

Thanks guys!!

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I am happy that it is being taken care of. I understand the frustration and the original post that it was caused by. believe me, there has been lots worse 'badmouthing' on here.

Welcome to the forum.

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I have to say, Marcus coming on here and being upfront about issues they experience with their supply chain and rectifying the situation is top notch business.  With some of the issues in the recent past, I had lost quite a bit of faith in USC (and Marcus, by extension), after having defended them and their products fervently in the past.

Good work, USC and Marcus.

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I bought a MH-721 last year and it had a problem....I called USC talked to Ken and he took care of it and sent me replacment part(s) . I think you will be taken care of too.......I think USC is a good company to deal with.......but thats just me.....

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Hey Marcus -- if you "deeply discount" one of those blemished Copams I may be able to fit it into my budget  :angel:

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Hi, can someone from USC please give me a call about this issue.  AB-16546.  I left VM and emails yesterday, still no response.

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