Smart Parts Europe... where customer service died

[H]

OK, I completed a phone call with Smart Parts Europe earlier and once again I'm left dumbfounded by their total lack of competence when it comes to giving a damn about their customers.

OK, here's the story: Last time I had a faff with my marker was at Christmas, just shooting some paint and doing some snap shooting down the site. Anyway, when filling it up something went a bit baa baa and the pressure relief valve on the front reg went pop. Fair enough, no biggie, I was just having a practise and I wasn't likely to be playing properly any time soon. I didn't have my tools available so there wasn't much point ordering the replacement part until I was back home and 'ball was on the horizon. Fast forward to last week where I decided to give Planet a ring where I could order the part I needed along with a couple of other bits like a new lens, unfortunately Nicky T was away in 'Dam and he is the Impulse man. The same was true for Smart Parts Europe (SPE), i do think that it is rather ridiculous that major companies like them shut up shop entirely leaving nothing but an answer phone behind.

So anyway, yesterday I gave Planet a call hoping that Mr Truter would be back and he could sort me out. Nicky was in but unfortunately did not have any spare pressure relief valves to hand, he recommended that I should give SPE a ring. Begrudgingly I did, as it was pretty much my only option if I wanted to get my marker up and running to I could practise on Wednesday ahead of playing on Sunday. I say begrudgingly because my previous experiences with SPE have been a whole lot less than satisfactory since they refused to repair my marker under warranty soon after I purchased it about 18months ago. My Nasty Impulse was imported from the States where I was assured (after a check) by Mike Raab at PB Wholesalers that SP's warranty was worldwide. To cut (this) long story short after some extended too-ing and fro-ing between SP and SPE Europe they did cover my marker under warranty.

When I phoned SPE they proved to be very helpful and courteous, Phil (i think) said that the replacement PRV would cost £15 plus shipping. After I picked myself off the floor on hearing the price of such a rather small and simple component I decided that I had no other option if I wanted to play. So, fair enough, it turned out that shipping would also cost another £5 on top of this. I enquired if there would be any other cheaper option, Phil said that it could be sent standard 1st class for about 30-40p but then it would not be covered if it went amiss in the postal service. Once again, with little other choice than to pay a ridiculous amount I chose to accept the £5 charge after Phil stipulated that I would be getting the part the next day. After exchanging card details I was fairly satisfied that I'd be able to get my darling rocking the next day to get some snap-shooting in.

Today I come back from a rather hard day's work expecting to be able to Loctite my newly arrived PRV into my Impy ready to rock for tomorrow. Shock of horrors it hadn't arrived, so slightly miffed I decided to phone SPE for an explanation. It turns out that the part, contrary to being assured yesterday HAD NOT been sent out yesterday to arrive today. Phil cited unpacking from Amsterdam as the reason why it was not sent off. I guess that is a fair enough excuse if i hadn't been assured that I would get it today and I hadn't been charged such a large sum for postage. The part in question weighs a minute 16g, which to send Royal Mail Special Delivery would have cost £3.75, plus maybe a few pence for the padded envelope. So that's about £1 of clear profit on postage, i was told that that was to cover insurance...err Special Delivery includes up to £250 in insurance, taking the wee to try and fob me off like that I thought

What pissed me off was the total and utter reluctance to do something useful about the situation, even getting an apology over the situation was an uphill struggle. The general response to to my legitimate complaints was one of indifference that was bordering on rudeness. When compared to Planet or any other decent mail order company, SPE's customer service was awful. When you are assured that you will get an item by a day and it doesn't arrive (through the fault of the company) at the very least you'd expect a refund on the shipping as a gesture of good-will. When I presented the person I was speaking to with the question of 'what are you going to do about it?', the response was a rather abrupt 'there is nothing I can do about it'....... bull....

I'm sorry to have gone on and on about it but it just seems that certain companies, especially in the paintball world feel that when they have a monopoly over a certain product or service that they can get away with such pitiful customer support. The paintball industry is getting bigger and if companies expect their clientèle to have a buddy-buddy attitude where customer service policy is made up on the fly then they hopefully will run into problems.

 

[Gyroscope]

my sympathies.

Go buy an Intimidator, my friend. Sounds like you need a back up anyway.

 

[Gibbsey]

Thats not on, i would write me a letter of complaint. Or is that me being a ponse

 

[L J]

SPE seem to over charge on alot of things. at campaign last year, i required green and blue loctite, the only trade stand that i could find that had it was SPE. i was told the 15ml blue loctite was £15 and the 3ml green was £15 to!!! was shocked but i didnt know about the loctite prices so i paid up, then a while later, looked up prices and was shocked to find that blue was about £6 and green was about £4

what the hell is that about

 

[Skeet]

Its quite simple really..they like to con people..like sell them paint that is so utterley old and pitted and crap its unreal...amongst other things.

 

[Mark]

Normal post is insured for up to £20 regardless of the contents, the Royal Mail Special Delivery is an excuse by the Royal mail to gain extra money though to be fair it is a garranteed delivery time.
To find a UK company making money on postage isn't a surprise as it happens all the time in all countries...a while back I ordered some barrels from the states and the cost of postage to the UK was more than the barrels would have cost in the UK at the full price...more annoying still was that for the stated weight I could have sent the same to the states for less than half I was being quoted...of course I declined the sale at the point of the postage costs being totalled up.

Planet have been accused in the past of charging a lot for postage on small items...they will include several items in a package and waive the postage on the other items...same as Smart Parts will. The arguement for high postage costs could be that the listing of the item the removal from stock etc etc all takes man hours and that has to be worked into the cost some how. Take items on a one by one basis and it will seem over charging.

 

[Tom Allen]

You could just blank off the port, this will allow you to use the gun. Albeit without an effective safety device, but working. I have one here if you are desperate. What has happened to it, as they rarely fail.

 

[H]

I realise the whole shipping issue is common, but it is really another bugbear that adds insult to injury. The fact is that the service that was provided was substandard and did not meet (not astronomical) expectations.

I use Special Delivery on a regular basis as it is sometimes the only way to be utterly sure that something will arrive by a certain time....as RM will compensate if items do not arrive on time. Also, when you live in a rural area like I do it means the postie will have to pull their finger out to get here before 12 instead of the usual 1-3pm.

A side note.... I am not levelling this overall statement/complaint at Smart Parts generally. I understand that their customer service in the US is very good and problems are dealt with in an effective manner. When I have dealt with their US office they have been both helpful and competitively priced. An example of this was at Toulouse where I had a dodgy solenoid, SPE had previously told me that to fix it would cost around £70 for the part, plus labour to fix. At Toulouse i spoke to a really nice American guy at the SP stand and a few hours later he had fixed the problem. All he did was dismantle the solenoid and replace an internal part for a negligible cost, he didn't ask for any charge for the limited work that was required. I still bought him a drink and some fries

Again, this isn't an Anti-Smart Parts statement...just an anti ****e service one.


---EDIT----

Originally posted by Tom Allen
You could just blank off the port, this will allow you to use the gun. Albeit without an effective safety device, but working. I have one here if you are desperate. What has happened to it, as they rarely fail.

Cos of pervious solenoid problems, I can't say I really want to take the risk of that going pop as well when I don't have a helpful american in the vicinity. Not sure what went wrong, it made a pop and it leaks, i have the busted one on my desk in front of me. Thanks for the offer though mate, unfortunaly its too late as SPE have (aparantly) sent it off and probbaly charged my card.

 

[npp]

I may be out of turn but I have had my Impy for 14 months and have had amazing customer service throughout my ownership.. Any replacement parts have been covered under warranty, every major event I have been to ie Germany and Paris this year they have been on hand and have bent over backwards to assist. At one point they removed a brand new regulator from a shocker to replace my persistently leaking(1 STUPID O-RING) reg. I have been lent some of Phil's employees markers to get me out of trouble.

Now I do hear every point you are making and in my opinion a legitimate complaint but everyone is entitled to one mistake or oversight. To say their service is terrible is a slight overstatement. You do seem to have got the rough end of the stick, but heh I would recommend Phil and his staff all day.

Peace

 

[Uncle Fester]

Sorry to hear about this but I must say that blanking off any safety device is a pretty silly thing to do they are fitted for YOURS AND OTHERS PROTECTION.