Customer Service?

As part of phase 1 of the our house remodel, we ordered two rather expensive pendant lights from Riverside Lighting.   Now Riverside Lighting has been around since 1954 and is a family-owned local business here in Santa Cruz.  My wife and I were happy that we could buy locally and were pretty happy with the service.

So on December 19th we place the order in the store with full payment.  Since the product was not in stock, we were told that the following Monday that the store would call with a delivery date.  No call was received, but since it was around Christmas we were preoccupied with other events.  After Christmas, I called the store on the 28th of December to check on delivery.  The store was unable to give a date but stated that it would arrive most likely the first of the year.

So on Monday, January 4th I called the store to get a delivery date.  After a few hangups due to being put on hold, I was informed that they did not have a date but would call me later in the week.

So now I am getting a little concerned.  Heck we already have paid for these things and at a price of over $800 I am beginning to worry.  Why can I not get a date of delivery?   The answers were vague and mostly blaming the manufacturer.

So today (Saturday, Jan 9), my wife and I went into the store and much to our surprise – and after waiting 10 minutes – out came two boxes.  As I was shaking my head and laughing, my wife inquired when they had arrived.   The clerk blankly looked at us for a moment, then looked at the paper work and stated January 7th.  How come we did not get a call was asked to which we got a shoulder shrug.

At no time did the clerk offer any explanation about why it took us walking in to receive this news.

So if we had not walked into the store, would we have received a call with news of the lights arrival?  If we had not taken the time, to go out of our way to revisit the store, would we have gotten the news?  I doubt it.