Facepalm: The Afghan Edition

[lydy]

So, remember that most recent afghan I finished, the one with the brilliant array of colors. I think I mentioned that the inner border was Michael's Brand Soft & Shiny Butter. A color which I truly love. And I ran out of well before I ran out of afghan. I went to or called every Michael's store within a 30 mile radius. I also contacted Michael's online customer service, asking after it. I put in a request to know whether or not it had been discontinued. This was quite some time ago. (Eventually, I found some people on Ravelry who were willing to sell me sufficient amounts to finish the afghan.)

So, yesterday, I get this email:

On 2/18/15 11:56 AM, Michaels Customer Care Team wrote:

Dear Lydy,

Thank you for contacting us regarding the availability of the Soft & Shiny Yarn, Color Butter. Please accept our sincerest apologies for the delay in response. We were unable to determine if that particular color has been discontinued. Please also note that the Loops and Threads brand of yarn is selling out online and will only be carried in stores only.

We hope you are having a beautiful day!

If we may assist you further, please feel free to reply to this email, or call our Customer Service phone number at 1-800-MICHAELS (1-800-642-4235). You will reach a Customer Service Representative Monday – Friday, 7AM CST – 9PM CST and Saturday and Sunday, 8AM CST – 7PM CST. Thank you again for contacting us.

Sincerely,

Amanda
Michaels Customer Care


Here's my response:


I am stunned by the complete lack of any help or use this email has. In the first place, my inquiry wasn't recent. It was months ago. Moreover, you are unable to tell me if the yarn has or has not been discontinued. And then you refer me to my local store, since it's not being carried online. How is this in the least bit helpful? I am flabbergasted by the idea that you don't know, and cannot find out, whether or not you are making a yarn that you yourselves are making. Or, probably not making. Indeed, probably this is a resale situation and someone else makes the yarn and you just put your nice, pretty label on it. But this is a house brand, people. I'm not asking you to render an opinion about whether or not Lion Brand Yarns or Caron is going to continue to produce something. I am asking if you are or are not actually selling a thing which is your own house brand. If you don't know, who on earth does? And if you can't find out, then I must assume that you are a mushroom. Mushrooms make terrible customer service representatives. I realize that you, Amanda, are in a terrible position, and it's not your fault that no one will give you the information you need to do your job. But this is not customer care, or customer service, or customer information, or indeed any useful thing at all. I'm a little confused as to what, exactly, this is, other than frustrating. And remarkably untimely.

By the way, the yarn I was seeking is an exceptionally nice color, and it is a real shame that it's no longer available. But if you can't even keep track of what you have available, it's not a surprise that you can't keep track of what is particularly desirable to your customers.

Sincerely,

Lydy Nickerson

Comments

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

That’s frustrating and awful customer “service,” for sure. I am kinda unsurprised, though. I rarely set foot in a Michael’s store any more. These days it’s equally (in)convenient to go to a Jo-Ann, or if I need art supplies, a real art supply store, and I’ve hit the Must Stop Buying Yarn And Knit Faster phase of yarn stashing, anyhow. Back when Michaels was my nearest craft store they were always a mess and seemed to have staff who didn’t know anything and didn’t care that they didn’t, which I took as a big ol’ sign of poor pay and poor, uncaring management. I don’t like to support that. Michaels are probably less evil than Hobby Lobby – and their yarn selection is certainly less horrifying – but I’m not convinced they’re really that much less evil, just less overt about it. Also, I really dislike their new, re-designed logo, and ridiculous as it may sound, I’ve tended to observe that a decline in graphical sensibility can be a sign that other things are amiss in management.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

New, terrible logos often seem to be a part of "rebranding" which is often a desperate attempt to gain market share without actually improving anything. Or as a way to paper over recent decisions that make the brand even less desirable than it was.

[sraun]

My father had an interesting way of dealing with such issues - if he was sufficiently annoyed at the company. He'd dig out the name and real address of the President (with suite / mailstop, if possible), and send a letter to him/her. The salutation would be "Dear Mr. Computer". Everything else would be as calm and rational as possible - personally, I think your e-mai reply would do.

He said it never failed to get a reasonably (allowing for snailmail time) quick response, that was also useful.