Legal Commentary

Kodak: Worst Customer Service In History

By Patrick J. Lamb

All I wanted to do was order a Kodak zi8 video camera.  How hard can that be, right?  I went to the Kodak website and ordered it.  At the end, I didn't get an order confirmation.  I got a cryptic statement that my order was "under review."  No information on how long it would be "under review" or when I would learn if I had qualified for the purchase.  After a few hours of silence, I called Kodak, and I am writing this entry while listening to the horrible music they make customers listen to while we wait.

Here's Kodak's story: The review process is 72 hours. 72 HOURS!  That's 3 days.  Just to find out whether I qualify to purchase a $150 product.  I can have the same product in hand from Amazon by tomorrow.  So I told them to cancel the order.  Kodak: "I'm sorry.  We can't cancel the order.  When your receive it, just ship it back."  Isn't that wonderful treatment of customers--make them ship back something they don't want.

I begin these conversations with the premise that if the CEO of Kodak told them to cancel the order, they would find a way to do so.  In other words, its a matter of will, not technology.  So I asked to speak to the phone person's supervisor.  She gave me the same party line, but did acknowledge that if the CEO said to cancel the order, they would figure out how to do so.  So I asked to speak to her supervisor, who "isn't available."  I'm now on hold waiting for the supervisor's supervisor's supervisor.  We're at 32 minutes and counting.

Congratulations  Kodak. You're now in the No. 1 position in the Customer Service Hall of Shame.

Full post as published by In Search of Perfect Client Service on June 22, 2010 (boomark / email).