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EQ3 Calgary Sucks and 4 Customer Service Lessons for Small Businesses

If you have been reading my blog you know that I am not a negative person when it comes to talking about local businesses. In this post I will highlight some incredibly poor service from EQ3 Calgary in the hopes that other businesses can benefit from the lessons presented.

This post is broken into 2 sections. The first is my experience with EQ3 Calgary. The second is 4 lessons for local business.

I would also like to hear your feedback on our reaction to the situation (are we over reacting or unjustified in our approach) and/or your experiences with this organization (positive or negative), feel free to comment below.

Experience with EQ3 Calgary

My wife and I were in the market for a Platform Frame from our new King Size mattress. We decided to purchase the Magnolia Curved Slat Bed (King Size Frame). Like most furniture purchases there is always a waiting period for the product. From the time we purchased until the product came in was around 4-weeks. This seems to be a pretty standard waiting period. The only negative to this particular product was that it is manufactured in China. A little disappointing since EQ3 is proudly promotes themselves as a Canadian Manufacturer but I also understand that certain products are simply cheaper to manufacture overseas. Our purchase price was over $1100 and we opted not to have delivered, we would pick up at their warehouse location when it arrived.

After picking up the product, and coordinating with the Sleep Country on the delivery of the mattress, we were very disappointed to realize that the product had damage. Note – the box was completely sealed, so there was no way to know of the damage until it was opened. Here is a picture of the damage:

EQ3 Calgary - Damage to Bed Frame

Although disappointed to realize our product had damage, we understand that this happens in manufacturing and we were unfortunate to get a damaged one. This was no fault to EQ3 Calgary as the product was sealed, although disappointing that the manufacturing quality control did not catch prior to sealing for shipment. We contacted EQ3 regarding the issue and our specific request to rectify the situation and this where EQ3 Calgary failed in their response.

Our request was two-fold; 1) we wanted a replacement frame and 2) since this was a manufacturing defect, we also requested that EQ3 delivery the new frame when it came in. Here is a the string of conversations with their customer service department:

August 23, 2009 – request made to customer service department regarding the damage issue. This is a subset of the original email.

I recently spoke to a woman in your customer service department regarding damage to a bed we just purchased. We discovered the damage when we unpacked the box Friday night to assemble the bed. She requested we email pictures of the damage.

August 26, 2009 – email response back from EQ3 to us, again subset of email;

I am putting in an exchange for the damaged pieces. The Calgary warehouse will be in contact with you once everything is in. At which time you will able to bring back the pieces you do have for an exchange.

August 27, 2009 – email from us back to EQ3:

Thanks for the quick feedback.

Due to poor quality control at the supplier end it is our expectation that the replacement parts will be delivered and the damaged ones picked up at the same time as a courtesy for the inconvenience. Please confirm.

September 1, 2009 – another email from us to EQ3:

I am following up on the email below. I have not yet received a response.

September 1, 2009 – email back from EQ3:

Just following up with you, sorry for the delay. At this time I am unable to have your pieces deliveries to you, but I would like to offer you a $25 Gift Card to EQ3 to be used on any future purchases.

Why EQ3 Calgary Sucks

We were very disappointed that they would not delivery the product to us or give us an equivalent in compensation. Note: EQ3 Calgary charges $95 for delivery. Their view of compensation was a $25.

My issue with this approach – they charge $95 for delivery, so in sending this message what they are saying is that their time is worth more than my time. At the very minimum, one should expect a $95 gift card to match their delivery charge. The value of their solution seemed like a token response. One could argue this approach ensures that EQ3 Calgary gets more money from the customer since you cannot purchase anything for this dollar amount and by default means you would spend more with them. Personally this sends me the wrong message that it is about them and not me.

Final note on this front – as of this posting, October 31, 2009 – we have not received our $25 gift card.

4 Customer Service Lessons for Local Businesses

1) Take Responsibility For Your Product

In manufacturing defects happen. Take responsibility and be proactive in your approach to dealing with customers. Think about it, your customer has chosen your business. They are putting their trust into your company and your product. When it does happen (if you are a quality company, likely the % of defects will be marginal) be aggressive in solving it for the customer and honor reasonable requests.

2) Don’t Insult Customers With Token Offers

Put yourself in the customers shoes and ask yourself, would you be happy with your company’s response? If you can’t answer a resounding yes, then likely you have not gone far enough. You also don’t have to go to extremes on unreasonable requests (I don’t agree with the philosophy that the customer is always right, in some cases the customer is just an asshole, every business has these) but if its a reasonable request make it happen for your customer. In the above case – the right solution would have been a) deliver the defective product or b) offer a $95 gift card, which is the value of the delivery.

3) Say What You are Going to Do and Actually Do It

If you tell a customer that you will do something, make damn sure you do it. Nothing is worse than saying you will do something and then not follow though.

4) Consider Your Customer Service as a One to Many Relationship

Customer service use to be a one-to-one relationship between the company and the customer. However, with today’s communication platforms, company’s need to consider that customer service issues are one-to-many. Good or bad customer service will get broadcasted. When building out your customer service policies build then with the view that they will be distributed to a much larger audience. Your customer service department is a marketing tool for your organization that will either propel your organization forward or slowly erode your customer base.

Tell me what you think? Was our request unreasonable? What should EQ3 have done? Do you agree that Customer Service departments are an extension of Marketing?

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 11:10 am and is filed under Word of Mouth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Sree
    I had a pretty bad experience with EQ3. I bought a bed with side tables from EQ3. I have ordered planks for support underneath the bed, instead of slats. Finally, when I opened the package, I found slats and not planks. They said that they ran out of planks and hence, sent me the slats. Slats are more expensive. They didn't even notify me when they did this and I couldn't do much because I ordred this on the phone and when I asked them to fax me my invoice, they had slats on it rather than planks. They changed my order purposely without notifying me.

    My other experience is - I bought a few accessories from them ($250 worth). While they were packing the stuff for me, I went upstairs to look at something else. By the time I came back, they had my order packed up for me. I asked them for their return policy and the sales lady said 'You have 14 days to return." without any hesitation or thinking. I took back the accessories to return within 10 days and they said that they cannot take them back because they accept returns only until 7 days. They showed me the receipt and it was true. I wish I didn't take the word of the employee and looked up in the receipt. This shows how the sales girl misguided me so that she gets a good commission on the purchase I made.
  • Homer
    The EQ3 store in Kelowna is associated with Kurtis E. Pomerleau, who is due in the Supreme Court in Kelowna for trial, Monday April 19, 2010, on 17 charges of theft and fraud, many over $5,000. This will be the 40th time this undischarged bankrupt's matters will appear in Kelowna courts, and day 1097 since his first charge!
    What is wrong with the whole Kelowna justice scene (cops, BBB, prosecutors, lawyers, ignorant shoppers, ....)!

    .
  • I guess that company must improve their service. No doubt that this article could affect their sales. So companies out there should give the proper and right service to their customers to avoid being negatively featured on this blog category. :)
  • Elle
    I would strongly advise against purchasing at EQ3 Calgary. We purchased about five thousand dollars of furniture from them and were waiting for one piece for over 9 months!! There was only one piece that came in on time...4 weeks like they told us...and the others were another 3 weeks in coming. And as you mentioned, dealing with customer service was an insult! I don't know how they can call themselves "customer" service...it sure does not appear so. They too offered us a $25 gift card for our 9 mos of waiting after getting the run-around, and would not deliver the item. I just hope more people hear about their actual reputation before buying. Too bad there are no options for reviews on their website...wonder why?! Thanks for the blog.
  • Bellini Galleria Kelowna
    Bellini Galleria in Kelowna, the EQ3 store in Kelowna is TERRIBLE!!

    Apparently it's the same owners. We placed an order over a month ago and keep getting the run around about when the stuff will show up. New stories, different promises. They keep telling us our order is here but they give numerous excuses for why they can't deliver it. When we call back a couple of days later to ask why they STILL haven't delivered it they tell us it hasn't been shipped from the manufacturer yet.

    Never-ending circles of lies.

    Today the message on their phone said they are closed to move to a new location, but they can't say where. ALARM BELLS.

    We went to the store to see if they were packing up and running. They are.

    We were verbally abused and physically threatened by the owner who continued to deny any wrong doing and promised that the furniture would be arriving, even though we were told two days ago that it was already here.

    In a period of one hour 6 other couples showed up with the same problems, for orders as old as 8 months. IMAGINE! 8 months of waiting for tens of thousands of dollars of furniture and constantly getting the run-around.

    The police were called. There was talk of calling the media.

    The owner had run away long ago, leaving the angry customers and the movers who were still packing up the furniture.

    The owner's mother showed up. Rich trailer trash. She tried to get chummy with everyone, leaning on the cop car window to schmooze with the policeman. She asked one woman if she was German or Dutch. "Austrian," was the reply. "Oh that's good too," she said. To the Middle Eastern gentleman she said (I am not making this up) "You're from the Middle East. I love your people."

    All-in-all, I would strongly advise against trying to buy furniture at Bellini Galleria in Kelowna. This is a very very bad EQ3 store in Kelowna, BC. You'll lose all your money, guaranteed. They are rip-off artists.
  • Sue
    same terrible service and run around. I've NEVER dealt with such an awful company before, MOST UNPROFESSIONAL.They actually took the balance of an order one week after taking an initial deposit, never acknowledged any wrongdoing, never offered to take off the interest, let alone apologize. Kurt was outrageously rude, offensive and belligerent. The staff lied to us, never returned calls and was almost as rude.
    The worst experience with the worst company.
  • Hi, thank you for your post. Lost of information, very good blog. I just moved in Calgary and collecting the info like this. thanks again
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