I often advise my clients who have e-commerce operations to buy from themselves, and then try to return their order — it’s a visceral way to find out how bad (or good) their own customer service is.
As I write this, I’m on hold with Adobe Customer Service, waiting for a manager to get online. It’s a common experience for many of us… Here’s the story: a while back, I upgraded to Adobe Creative Suite 3. A week later, Adobe announced a minor upgrade (calling it 3.3, but all that’s different is a new version of Acrobat). I sent email to see if I was eligible for the latest version and was told that I was, but that I needed to fax a copy of my receipt (a fax? really — from the folks who brought you PDF documents?).
After I submitted the receipt, I was advised that I must call their 800 number to get service. A ten-minute wait later, I’m told that they’ll send me a DVD with the upgrade, and all I have to pay is $6.99 shipping (which sounds like shipping PLUS, unless they’re sending it overnight).
Here’s the thing: I ordered the upgrade online, through Adobe’s store, as a download. So I requested that this upgrade also be a download — that way, all the install files for this product are in the same location. Sounded reasonable to me — but I was informed that “we can’t do that.” Why not, sez I, for which I got a whole explanation of how I could purchase the full version online, but for this upgrade “we can’t do that.” A lot of words, sure, but still not an explanation.
The problem is likely that their systems don’t integrate. The online store and customer service are not sufficiently connected to allow them to dump a file into my “Your Products” account. So from their vantage point, it’s not possible. But from where I sit, it makes them look bad.
So now I’m coming up on 40 minutes on hold waiting for a manager, who maybe will tell me the same thing, or maybe will give me the explanation in different words. Or maybe I’ll sit on hold until I give up… it’s looking more like the latter all the time.
Meantime, Adobe’s reputation is getting trashed in the process.
