Poor customer service from HiFix

To be fair, they may have just been busy and simply forgot to ring you back. I am sure it was not intentional. It may be worth emailing them as sometimes emails get replied to quicker than phone calls. I think Frank Harvey Hifi/HiFix use these forums so it may be worth sending them a message on here.

No excuse, but I believe David has been away.  He's contributes here very regularly so I'm sure he'll speak for himself soon.

I'm not sure why people need to join up to a worldwide forum to complain about a single little store with their first post, but I'm sure they have their own, personal reasons. Time can be better spent conversing directly.

Last week I've spent my week catching up with the week and a half that I'd taken off before that, and I'm sure many of you know what it's like coming back to work and having to catch up, as well as dealing with your normal ongoing week as well - I'm just stating that, not making that as part of an excuse.

This week, one of the three members of in store staff is on holiday, which brings the number down to two, to cover three floors - any of you who has visited the store will know how awkward that can be, as many visitors have called it a 'maze'. Only last week we found the skeleton of some guy from the 80's. We have no carbon dating facilities, but the "Frankie Say Relax" T-shirt helped in pinning down the timescale.

Mondays are always a busy, catching up from Saturday's enquiries that can't be answered on Saturdays due to manufacturers being closed. Again, not an excuse. Late Monday afternoon, a delivery was arranged for the Tuesday, which wouldn't have been so much of an issue, but with several motorways closed during the day, alternative routes had to be taken, meaning I missed the whole day, having got home at half past seven in the evening.

It's my day off today, which I found out as I was leaving the store to go home yesterday - thanks to Kevin for being a trooper and holding fort at the store and allowing me my normal day off, even though that means he's running the store on his own.

So as you can see, I've been in work for only two days so far this week. I did make enquiries on Monday, and I could've called you back, but I couldn't have given you any better an answer as i did on Saturday (again, I know that's not an excuse for not calling you back).

The prices you rang me with are extremely low, obviously from a desperate dealer somewhere. Under normal circumstances, a price would've been given to you on the day, but because we don't keep the Cadenza range, we're not an "Ortofon Centre Of Excellence". This meant I couldn't give you an answer on that day.

Were not currently in the habit of selling cartridges above £1,000, so I've had to make enquiries about becoming an Ortofon Centre Of Excellence to be able to see if I can match the prices you gave me. We also have to weigh up whether we can sell these cartridges on a regular basis, as we have to buy in demo stock and also keep a certain amount of back up stock. Obviously, this doesn't come cheap, and could cost us thousands in tied up stock if they don't sell.

So I do apologise for not calling you back on Monday when you rang and spoke to me. If you can bear with me until tomorrow, I can complete my enquiries, and hopefully let you know if we can match the prices you gave me.

As you can appreciate, with extremely low price matching, time needs to be taken so that no mistakes can be made in preparing a quote - otherwise, I have to answer for it personally. I hope I can give you good news tomorrow.

Regards David

So, let me get this straight, you rang a store on Saturday, to price match which obviously involves verification etc etc.

They have tried to do this, but you just expect them to drop everything straight away?  Have you ever bought from them before, do you have a good relationship with this dealer??  Perhaps everyone else in the store / waiting list is not as important as you.

Why not just buy from the person you are matching with??  

Patience, its a virtue, good things come to those who wait.

Apart from being in the wrong section, this post has other flaws. I for one have had nothing but perfect service from this company. To the OP, people get busy, it's a fact of life! to want things done this very second is a sad reflection on certain elements of modern day life. " I didn't get what I want this very second, I know what I'll do. Throw my toys out of the pram!"

I think this is a little harsh on the opening poster!  Not that David has done anything wrong, but I think this is a perfect case of faliure to manage expectations.  If David had said I will ring you in a week, I bet the customer wouldnt have minded.  Three faliures to call me back no matter the time frame would have irked me for sure (great word) but to be fair, not enough to sign up to a forum and complain about it.

I always used to add factor (a day or so) on to any promise I made when I worked in retail,  (and I still do for any deliverables now) customers apreciate it alot when you do something early but struggle to understand when you do something late.  

I think you are all missing the point of the original poster. He isn't complaining about the time but the false promises.

If you say you are going to call on Monday, call on Monday!

If you don't then apologise. you are in the wrong!

This,' I'm not using it as an excuse but.....' is not very professional.

Have a relavent geeky Star Trek Quote

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Yeah, well, I told the Captain I'd have this analysis done in an hour. 
Scotty: How long will it really take? 
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: An hour! 
Scotty: Oh, you didn't tell him how long it would *really* take, did ya? 
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Well, of course I did. 
Scotty: Oh, laddie. You've got a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker. 

Hmm...................no response from Sprint??

Spammer, competition, other???

geeky but funny. Previous points taken on board. Did you remember that off the top of your head?

Not verbatim, went to IMDB to get the exact quote...

On a similar note.... I was recently in the market for a new car and wanted to test drive the two models I had narrowed down my choice to. I phoned my local Ford dealer specifying the car I would like to test drive and the salesman said he would call me back the next day.  Two days later he called back and assured me he would get the model I wanted in the following weekend and call me when I would be able to test drive. I never received another call. Needless to say, he and Ford did not get my custom. If they can't be nice to you when you are buying, then imagine what it will be like if you have a problem.

Debatable, but moved anyway.

I've learned not to trust IMDB Paul - anybody can quote a post on there. I went there to check a quote once, and found several people had posted the same quote, but one or two were incorrect.