Customer Service: Compare and Contrast

Someone should make an Amazon.com commercial out of this.

My youngest got a Leapster for Christmas – it was the first gift she opened and she was so fascinated with it that she nearly forgot to open the rest of her gifts.  Like many hi-tech kids toys, it combines education and entertainment.  Kids solve math problems while playing a Frogger-type game, for example, and connect to the LeapFrogs’s Web page to turn their game progress into rewards.

Phoebe was in heaven…  until the stylus stopped working.  And that was only the beginning of LeapFrog’s failure.

• 01/03/2011 at 7:46 PM: I I contact LeapFrog’s customer service through their Web site.  I get a canned response, “our goal is reply to emails within 24 business hours. During peak volumes in the holiday season, our response times may be up to 3 business days.  While you're waiting to hear from us, please visit our most frequently asked questions where you may find your answer there.”
  
  I had already tried the screen calibration mentioned in the FAQ.  No dice.
• 01/04/2011 06:03 PM: LeapFrog’s customer service replies, “May I have the date code on the back of the unit. It is an engraved series of numbers and ends in letters. I need to have this information so I can check if we can replace the unit.”
  
  Not bad…  less the 24-hour response time during what has to be their busiest time of year.  I was hopeful.  I sent them the number at 9:55 PM the same day.
• 01/07/2011 10:10 AM: Me to customer service, “Any update on this issue?”
• 01/11/2011 03:54 PM: Customer service replies and says they can replace the unit.  But only if I “deface the product by writing the Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number 110104-000224 directly on the screen of the device using a permanent marker” and then email them a photo of the defaced product.  And then it could be “10 to 15 business days for you to receive a replacement item.”

Were I to have whipped out my Sharpie there and then, it could be as late as February 1st before we had a working Leapster.  Grumbling, a dug a beer out of the fridge and explained what had happened to my wife.

“We bought it from Amazon,” she reminded me.  “I’ll see about getting a return through them.”

It took minutes – minutes! – for Amazon to approve the return and email us a shipping label for the defective unit.  A new Leapster arrived the next day – yes , they paid for overnight shipping – I swapped the new with the busted and used the same box to send the defective unit back.  Total time to a good resolution at Amazon: 48 hours, if you include the time it took me to drop the box off at the post office.

Now that’s how to run a customer service department.