Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Weekend Recap and a Beef.

Fri April 6: 8.5 mi BIKE ride. Yep, I said bike. The last time I rode my bike was January 7th.  I was so happy to be reunited with my bike, I didn’t even care that I got grease from my chain all over my arm while loading my bike into my car.

Sat April 7
: Unplanned 2.5 mi hike at Griffith Park.  Griffith Park is the one with the Hollywood sign, except we didn’t go on that side of the mountain.  We did see our first coyote though.  No picture because I was somewhat surprised to see it peeing, and by the time I got my phone out it had moved on.  But we did see this view of the LA skyline:

image

Sun April 8: 10.15 mi run in the morning, avg pace: 9:43 + 3 mi hike at Haskell Canyon in the afternoon. Awkward self-portrait to serve as proof I was actually there.

IMG-20120408-01074   558214_627962566523_70200002_32970458_1461109880_n

Now for My Beef.

beef-cuts-LSince there are vegetarian readers, I opted not to go with a fleshy depiction of beef.

I know on Friday I posted about liking my new TOMS, and while I like the shoes themselves, I have a beef with their customer service.  I placed my original TOMS order at the end of February. I got them both in my usual size and both styles were big, so I exchanged them for a half size smaller. Some companies will cover return shipping, especially if you are exchanging (not just returning), but with TOMS, you are fully responsible for getting your package back to them*. 

They advertise needing 10 business days to process returns, and they weren’t kidding.
  • On March 5th they received my return (I had a tracking number).
  • On March 7th they emailed me to confirm receipt of my return. 
  • On the 19th, they emailed me again to confirm which items I was exchanging for (same styles, 1/2 size smaller).
  • New shoes shipped on the 20th (11 business days after receiving my return).

While TOMS does good things, they are still a for-profit company. I’d cut them some slack if they were non-profit and had more limited resources. I think the timeline of this really bugged me, too, because the returns/exchange warehouse is 14 miles from my house. I can drive there. I feel like I could have shown up, knocked on the door and picked out my own shoes.

*still responsible for return shipping even when there is some serious inconsistency in their sizing.  The old grey pair is a size 6; the tan pair is the new size 5.5.  I never bothered to take a picture of the tan size 6s because they were so ridiculously large I just packed them back up to return them.

100_7364     100_7362

To completely contrast the Slow-As-Molasses TOMS exchange, enter a very recent experience with Running Warehouse.

  • Tuesday afternoon (4/3), I dropped off a pair of shorts I was returning to my local UPS store, using the prepaid return label RW gives you (return shipping at their expense).
  • Thursday morning (4/5), I receive an email notifying me my return was received, confirming the new pair of shorts and the price difference. I responded, questioning whether I had store credit still (thought I did).
  • 7 minutes later they responded, apologizing for the oversight with a new invoice reflecting the applied store credit .
  • Thursday afternoon (4/5), I receive notification the package has been shipped; scheduled to arrive Friday.
  • Late Friday (4/6) the package arrives (Note: RW has free 2 day shipping, but since I’m only 3 hours away it seems to arrive next day).

PS: RW did not pay me to say this.  But having ordered from many companies online, I can say RW has amazing customer service.  And being peeved with my slow TOMS exchange, I felt compelled to share that there are companies that handle exchange/return processing much better.

Moral of the Story?
I think this means I should only buy running clothes and shoes.  All the time. 

9 comments:

  1. Wow! Crazy how some companies take so long. I had a similar experience with an amazon order, but it was mostly because it took so long for them to receive my package back and then credit me back. I hate returning things!

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  2. Customer service &sales return policies do var wildly between companies. I can't believe TOMS really have gone up in size. The picture says it all. Anyway, how are you doing? When I moved from boston to small town Pennsylvania, it was hard. It was lonely and I didn't have a job to meet people. Plus, my husband was teaching and worried abut publishing and since you are the new person, they try to stick him with all the committees. He was Always working so I ran and cooked. A. Lot. That's great that you get to trail run a ton, do you get cell service in the woods? Just curious. You do here in some of the parks but not all of them.

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like we have a lot in common...It's definitely been an adjustment, not knowing anyone here. Joining the running group has helped me meet people and I'm waiting for my fingerprints to be processed so I can start volunteering while I work on finding a job. Doing a lot of running and cooking too. Haven't done much trail running alone yet because I'm afraid of finding a rattlesnake. Hiking has been with my husband or a friend. Some parks around here have cell service, some are in "unincorporated" areas and have no service - I think the ones with service are the only ones I'd try to run in alone!

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  3. I hate bad customer service! I had a really bad experience with Tiffany's because my husband got me a ring and within HOURS it turned brown and tarnished and they were like "Well, that's the nature of silver". Really? That's your response?

    I'm glad that Running Warehouse treated you well!

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    Replies
    1. That really sucks...maybe their jewelry is only meant for display in an air tight case :) Did it at least clean up with a polishing cloth?

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  4. Sorry you had a bad experience with your TOMS. You should check out Nordstrom.com. They have free shipping/returns and a good selection of styles. I really like Running Warehouse too. I've always had super fast shipping and great customer service from them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good to know, thanks! I think I'd try to find a place to buy them in person next time since their sizing was so off. I checked the stores near me but they only had the original style, not the wedges.

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  5. Nice job on the biking! Now every workout shirt I own has bike grease on it. Descriptions of beef don't bother me, since I'm not the one eating it. You have some tiny feet!

    We are fighting with comcast right now. As always. I hate them so much.

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  6. I don't care for Tom's personally. But I do think that bad customer service can make or break a company.
    In any case I love the moral of the story :)

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