Light Monkey Customer Service Review

[Curious_George]

Thanks @Zef for summarizing the mails. Sounds like @SergeyKirikov has been at least somewhat validated.

@Wookie, certainly the phrase "nice guys finish last" is well known in the cutthroat world of business hehe.

I am no longer on the fence about LM. Thanks Sergey.


From: another whiny idiot. . .

 

[rddvet]

I requested the email exchange via private message. The emails were sent and have been read.

Accepting that the emails have not been altered, I will state the following 2 things:

1. @SergeyKirikov did not seem to receive the initial response he was hoping for from LM, and he escalated the tone of what he wrote quite early in the exchange, being quite demanding and threatening. He contacted them with a concern that they responded to....he did not like the response...perhaps he should have been clearer with the the resolution he was looking for before lobbing accusations and threats, as at first what he was expecting was unstated. It is also apparent that English is not his first language and therefore there are some langue and cultural barriers present on both ends in the exchange that took place.

2. Corey's pejorative response was quite out of line from a business perspective. In business, your bad day is your competition's good day. A good experience is only spoken about a few times but a bad experience is a story retold at every opportunity. While Sergeykirikov was quite demanding and a bit confrontational early on...some of that, I would bet, is cultural and due to the language barrier and some of it might have been out of frustration with their perception of the product...doesn't really matter as I don't think it would have been hard for LM to have found a better way to deal with this situation, but I can't, for the life of me, find a business situation that ends positively for anyone when the business rep (owner or employee) calls the client/customer "you are a whiny bitch idiot".

Not sure whether the exchange will have a material affect on LM...most likely not given that they seem to have lots of satisfied customers. But I would not fault the OP for voting with his wallet and purchasing competing brands in the future. Even if LM wanted to shed this guy's business, and that may be the healthiest option for them all things considered, but there are ways to do that without adding fuel to a fire.

-Z

#1 makes sense. I assumed something had to be done to push Corey's buttons. Personally when a customer comes at me hot for something they don't agree with I try to be nice and defuse the situation. Of course in my head I'm sometimes calling them every name in the book and wish I could say it to them, but I don't always have that luxury. I will be honest though, I have had some clients who deserve my wrath, and they absolutely received it. I agree with those that posted that for your business it's best to be diplomatic. Unfortunately its impossible to be diplomatic to all people, and some people just turn into such a-holes when they don't get what they want that they're not worth the niceties.
I could also tell that English wasn't his first language, which may have inflamed the situation. He may have come off differently than planned in his head.

#2; I definitely don't disagree with you. But I will say that myself and my friends that own small businesses don't always care about losing business when it comes to difficult people. I agree if you're an ass to someone, there's a good chance they'll post it all over the internet and you will lose some business. (To be honest it's usually only the real pain in the rear people who go on to post all over the internet, and in my experience I haven't really cared). While Corey probably should've been nicer, every business owner has wanted to rip into someone at one point or another. Some of us can't because we can't afford to. I think in Corey's case, LM has a good enough reputation and fan base that he really could care less if somebody drags them through the mud. And therefore he's ok being an a-hole if he wants. It's his perrogative. It may not be common or the norm, but honestly I don't fault him for it. And I'm a little jealous. I wish I could tell some of my a-hole clients what they can go f themselves with and and how hard to do it.

So I still stand behind my original statement that there's more to the story. That type of response isn't typical LM customer service. But either Corey was having a bad day for other reasons and Sergey got the brunt of it. Or Sergey's response to the answer he got initially annoyed Corey enough that he just didn't care if he lost clients from it (and I believe this is the most likely answer.) To be quite frank, if I was a well respected dive light company with golden reviews and Sergey tried to tell me how to make my equipment by suggesting I use Titanium I'd went to tell him to shove it too. Business owners appreciate constructive criticism (or they should if they're smart). Business owners typically don't like being told how to do their jobs.

 

[StefinSB]

The fact that you won't post the entire email string tells me there's more to the story. It also sounds like you've been posting this elsewhere. Lastly people who make goods don't really like hearing that they should make their product better by doing this that X company does. If you told me to use a titanium bolt instead of stainless I'd love to tell you to shove it up your rear, but probably wouldn't. I think Corey just has the balls and enough good business to not give a crap and will happily tell you what most other people would like to but wouldn't.

He suggested to improve a, in his mind, already good product by switching to a different bolt. What is wrong with that? I call that initiative and it should be rewarded.

 

[Zef]

...Snip...

I would suggest you contact the OP and request and read the emails exchanged.

I am not here to be apologetic for either party in the aforementioned situation this thread is about, but if you see your clients as a pain in the arse/arseholes, etc...perhaps you are in the wrong line of work.

For Corey, it was not just his pejorative comment, there were follow-up remarks as well. And despite how the OP came across in the emails, I think he was trying to be constructive about his concerns with the specific part of the strobe in question...I don't think he was telling them what to do but instead citing a possible material deficiency. The whole situation could have been defused with something a long the lines of "hey, thanks for the feed back, we will look into it, in the mean time here is is what we suggest from a post dive gear maintenance standpoint."

Things seemed easy enough for DGX to navigate and diffuse the situation...how hard would it have been for LM to have said, "here is a new screw-thingy, perhaps we had a bad batch of steel, let us know how the replacement part works out for you". Instead they stated, "look at all the satisfied customers we have" which translates immediately into "you are the problem, not us or our product", when it really indicates that their is a good chance there might be an issue with the product.

I have no idea how solid a business LM is, nor do i know what their specific margins are...what I do know is that margins in the dive industry as a whole are fairly tight. Not many folk are repeatedly dropping $200+ on marker strobes, and a lot of what LM sells seem to be once and done kind of things....how many pee valves does one tend to buy, how many expensive torches, etc, etc....If you and LM believe you can survive in this economy while actively alienating parts of your market segment then keep on keepin on...aint no one gonna stop ya.

Sure, a business can stand to lose a client or 2 here and there, but how many until it becomes a quorum? how many before the problem is not the client but the business and/or its product, staff, etc. Why go through the trouble alienating a customer when, very often with very little effort, you can turn them into your brand ambassador and they will go out of their way to evangelize your product and company for free.

But hey, I don't own a SCUBA related business...so what do I know?

-Z

 

[halocline]

And to succeed as a liveaboard owner, you also need a tremendous amount of ego.

Hmmm, thinking of anyone in particular?

Actually, I went on the Spree a few times when you were in TX and I can't remember anyone being abusive or rude. So somehow you must be able to contain your tremendous ego!

 

[rddvet]

I would suggest you contact the OP and request and read the emails exchanged.

I am not here to be apologetic for either party in the aforementioned situation this thread is about, but if you see your clients as a pain in the arse/arseholes, etc...perhaps you are in the wrong line of work.

For Corey, it was not just his pejorative comment, there were follow-up remarks as well. And despite how the OP came across in the emails, I think he was trying to be constructive about his concerns with the specific part of the strobe in question...I don't think he was telling them what to do but instead citing a possible material deficiency. The whole situation could have been defused with something a long the lines of "hey, thanks for the feed back, we will look into it, in the mean time here is is what we suggest from a post dive gear maintenance standpoint."

Things seemed easy enough for DGX to navigate and diffuse the situation...how hard would it have been for LM to have said, "here is a new screw-thingy, perhaps we had a bad batch of steel, let us know how the replacement part works out for you". Instead they stated, "look at the satisfied customers we have" which translates immediately into "you are the problem, not use" when it really indicates that their is a good chance there might be an issue with the product.

I have no idea how solid a business LM is, nor do i know what their specific margins are...what I do know is that margins in the dive industry as a whole are fairly tight. Not may folk are repeatedly dropping $200+ on marker strobes, and a lot of what LM sells seem to be once and done kind of things....how many pee valves does one tend to buy, how many expensive torches, etc, etc....If you and LM believe you can survive in this economy while actively alienating parts of your market segment then keep on keepin on...aint no one gonna stop ya.

Sure, a business can stand to lose a client or 2 here and there, but how many until it becomes a quorum? how many before the problem is not the client but the business and/or its product, staff, etc. Why go through the trouble alienating a customer when, very often with very little effort, you can turn them into your brand ambassador and they will go out of their way to evangelize your product and company for free.

But hey, I don't own a SCUBA related business...so what do I know?

-Z

I definitely don’t disagree with anything you’ve said and even agree with Sergei that he really shouldn’t have been treated that way.
At the same time I’m only pointing that as a business owner with experience dealing with people, a lot of people suck hard and make you just want to be an ass to them regardless of if you lose a few clients. I think that’s what was happening here. In my business I generally do anything I can to make my customers happy because I can’t afford to lose clients. But with some of them you just can’t win. It’s possible Sergey just got the brunt of Corey’s frustration. Doesn’t make it right, but I can see that side of the coin.

 

[rddvet]

He suggested to improve a, in his mind, already good product by switching to a different bolt. What is wrong with that? I call that initiative and it should be rewarded.

nothing wrong with constructive criticism if it’s constructive. A lot depends on how it’s relayed. I’ve had clients try to give constructive criticism but it comes out as more of a demand and isn’t as well received as a well thought out constructive comment.

 

[Hartattack]

This situation sucks on both sides of the argument. I don't know Sergey, but I do know the folks at Light Monkey. As a customer, I don't blame either side, but I think a telephone call might have been able to quell some of the miscommunication here. Also, the United States is still in the preverbal death spin with COVID. Small businesses are dying left and right while our neighbors and family members die alone in hospital beds. A little slack would be nice here, considering Scuba is a niche sport that is being hit particularly hard by this pandemic and the subsequent lack of assistance from the federal government. I hope that both Corey and Sergey can find a middle ground; however, I will continue to support LM as they have helped me as an independent instructor during these crazy times.

 

[Wookie]

Hmmm, thinking of anyone in particular?

Actually, I went on the Spree a few times when you were in TX and I can't remember anyone being abusive or rude. So somehow you must be able to contain your tremendous ego!

You probably didn’t suggest any upgrades....

 

[StefinSB]

nothing wrong with constructive criticism if it’s constructive. A lot depends on how it’s relayed. I’ve had clients try to give constructive criticism but it comes out as more of a demand and isn’t as well received as a well thought out constructive comment.

]
As a customer facing person one also has to take into account who gives the criticism by looking where the person comes from.

In any case, I would say grow some balls LM. Your products may be good but not to a point where they couldn’t be improved.