Shameful service at Dive Sports with Phil

[mdb]

Phil is human and he certainly isn't perfect. Mistakes do happen and occasionally a cascading series of "who'd-a-thought" mistakes like what happened in this instance. But in my experience he's always worked very hard to make me happy if issues arise. In this instance it certainly looks like Phil admitted his mistakes and has gone to extraordinary effort to make things right. Yes you got your tank late ... really late ... but assuming he straightens out the CC credit issue (which I have no doubt he will) ... you now have a FREE AL40. Not many businessmen out there would go to that extent to make a customer happy.

Divin'Hoosier: I agree. Phil Ellis is a very straight up guy who always, in our experience, goes the extra mile. We have enjoyed working with Phil and his crew for several years. We have never had a customer complaint regarding Dive Sports. Of course, we all make mistakes, the difference is what you do once you have realized your error.

 

[PhilEllis]

Phil - I do appreciate the fact that you responded. I also appreciate the fact that you are taking ownership of the problems because as you pretty much said yourself...the mistakes on this order were at an absurd level.
However, I cannot believe you were ignorant about which Dan I was. Once I got wind of the utter chaos going on with this order (after the 3rd or so call) I always referred to myself as Dan from Schaumburg IL. I always left my phone number for you too and usually gave you my entire address so you could personally get it shipped for me because of your computer problems. I can only assume you wrote it down or were creating a shipping label for me while I was giving you my address. Once when i didn't give you my address you said yourself the street name because you heard it from me so many times. You knew exactly who I was. You really can't blame this on a computer problem. That would have been remedied in one call or at most two. When we get to 8+ calls there is not a computer problem. As we say in IT there is a "user problem".
It is as it is though. You can't change what happened but you can follow through on your word of issuing a credit.

Again, I agree with you completely. It was USER error. The computer routine that merges the duplicate customers only helped me screw it up very efficiently.

If you will phone me with your credit card number (we don't keep these) and expiration date, I will issue you a credit while you are on the phone. You get the cylinder and the money back! How can I do better than that? Again, sorry for this confusion. Give me a call and I will close the circle. Thanks.

Phil Ellis

 

[PhilEllis]

Phil - any chance you have a backup of your access db from prior to this mixup?

and if not, any chance you're doing backups now??

kari

Hi Kari. I no longer use the Access db. The routine for "merging customers" or any other db maintenance now automatically makes a backup prior to making any changes. Much better now. Thanks.

Phil Ellis

 

[PhilEllis]

... you now have a FREE AL40. Not many businessmen out there would go to that extent to make a customer happy.

We have been known to give $50 Gift Certificates for orders that we "screwed up" when the order total only amounted to $25. In fact, a couple of people here on ScubaBoard can probably attest to that! Anyway, refunds, gift cards, apologies, and the like still don't solve the OPs basic complaint.....he got some really shameful service on this order.

Phil Ellis

 

[ReefHound]

Hi Kari. I no longer use the Access db. The routine for "merging customers" or any other db maintenance now automatically makes a backup prior to making any changes. Much better now. Thanks.

Phil Ellis

I would still recommend nightly backups, preferably stored offsite.

 

[Peter Guy]

As the former owner of a mail order business that processed several thousand (10's of thousands) of orders a year, I feel for Phil.

I can absolutely guarantee you that once an order gets screwed up in such a system, it will REALLY get screwed up. It isn't a case of being venal, stupid or anything else -- it is merely a matter of being at the mercy of "the system" that works 99.99% of the time. But that 0.01% is a real doozy -- and for the poor customer, there is a 100% case of NDIR (NOT doing it right).

 

[scubacoots3]

Phil Ellis and Dive Sports reputation speaks for it's self - Great prices and great service. I along with several other people have purchased several, if not all of our gear from them. My experience along with hundereds of others have been flawless, they have bent over backwards to make sure we are satisfied with our purchases.

All this does is prove that they are human just like the rest of us and that they are willing to work through any situation. I know alot of DS that would have completley blown you off, and would have never given you your money back and let you keep the product.

The fact that they did admit to error and you did get the tank at no charge, They come on this forum and took full responsibility just proves the type of operation they have.

I will fully continue to order from them with no hesitation what so ever.

-SC3 out

 

[Blitz]

the guy gets his cash back and get to keep his gear? most people would be happy with a percentage off or something of the like. A total refund is completely above the call. Any further complaining at the point seems.... Whiney?

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Agreed, Blitz.

 

[DirtRider]

the guy gets his cash back and get to keep his gear? most people would be happy with a percentage off or something of the like. A total refund is completely above the call. Any further complaining at the point seems.... Whiney?

The point is that I shouldn't have had to post it here to have things made right. If you read from the original post you'll understand that I exhausted every reasonable measure in trying to get this resolved without bringing the drama here.

I will call Phil in about an hour and a half and as soon as I see that the credit has posted on my credit card account online I will post here to let everyone know he has made it right. I agree that if I get the tank for free he has gone above and beyond to make things right and I would purchase from him again. Did it end up being a good deal??? Well that all depends on how much ones time is worth... I know that most shops wouldn't offer this no matter how much time of yours they wasted though. Looking forward to resolution as much as anyone... Talk to you soon Phil.

Dan