Welcome to my blog. I am a former local journalist who now works in PR and a Conservative and community activist in Woking and Horsell. This blog will keep updated on local issues as well as my interests and quirky news stories.
Taking a brief hiatus from political discussion and a foray into general interest, I bought some printer paper from the Lexmark shop on Amazon at the end of last month to produce prints for some new picture frames. The Lexmark printer we have contained a sage warning in the manual only to use official Lexmark paper otherwise it could damage the printer, which I’m sure is total rubbish but you never want to take the risk, do you?
Anyway, on Amazon it was £2.72 and free delivery was about five to seven working days. Nearly three weeks later, the small package turns up – I could have crawled to the shops and bought it myself in that time. So I wander over to Amazon and leave a pretty honest review, thus:
“Outrageously slow delivery (3 weeks) for a routine item. I bought this because I couldn’t get it in my town and didn’t want to wait for an opportunity to drive elsewhere for it. I could have driven to the factory in Switzerland and back in the time it’s taken to arrive. Very poor service – product seems fine. Couldn’t recommend seller and won’t use again. Two stars generous.”
And it seems I’m not the only one – several others mention poor delivery times. Earlier today, I received the following message:
“Hi,
I am sorry to hear that you did not receive your goods for such a long period of time.
As a good will gesture we have refunded you in full and we hope that you will review the feedback you have left in light of receiving a free item.
Kind Regards
Rachael
Lexmark Shop UK”
My first reaction was unfettered pique – how dare they try to place a moral obligation on me to withdraw my honest feedback simply because they chose to give me a refund, which is only worth £2.72 to them after all. Colleagues at work seemed to kind of get that idea too – my other half was more pragmatic and told me not to be so pompous; but then she is in the business of getting good prices for things.
I’m not sure what to do. Is my integrity worth just £2.72 and should a company be allowed to buy off valid criticism? If they had approached me to offer a refund I would have told them I would not withdraw my remarks and advised them to keep my money. Even if the thing had been offered free, I wouldn’t have taken it with such a long lead time.
On the other hand, they are trying to put right a customer service issue and cure – albeit in a clumsy and unsubtle way that makes a PR Officer wince – a reputation issue too. And my other half is almost certainly right about my pomposity. Suggestions welcome.
