[QUOTE=amastrike;7439862]
Really? OP admitted she behaved badly. I think she did learn a thing or two from this.[/QUOTE]
Not my take on what she wrote. I didn’t read any remorse or intention to do anything differently in the future into what she wrote. It was more, I did a kind of bad thing because I was so upset, and they were mean back, and now I’m going to really get them back by putting it up on COTH.
But hey, to each their own.
I am feeling bad for the boyfriend. I’m sure he had no idea this would happen. It does seem to be a major cluster****.
I spent my working life in Customer Service.
Both for:
#1 - the hospitality industry where even if the customer was a flaming A$$ you had to smile & let them think they got it right. Just in case they wanted to come back. And we had some annual repeat A-holes - SOS Every.Single.Visit.
#2 - Medical Collection where the providers (my clients) are shafted by the purposefully obtuse system insurance companies have for reimbursing claims.
I must say I preferred #2, as once I got past the useless 1st Line of Defense CSRs (generally offshore) and spoke to a Supervisor I could set aside the sweet-talk and apply some force to get our payment.
HOWEVER, I always considered it a Victory to get what I needed and have the Big-L Loser on the other end go away thinking they had done what they wanted.
IMHO the OP was making waaaaaaaaaaay too much of an offcolor hat.
Ordered as a gift.
WhattheF-bat???
I too feel for the poor, well-intentioned BF and cannot wait to order myself one of those nifty shite-brown hats :yes:
Team Katarine.
OP, you have a lot of nerve smearing a company over a hat you got as a gift, just because you didn’t like it.
Be forewarned, people. Nothing you do or say is private anymore. Everything you do or say that can be pasted all over the Internet may be subject to public ridicule and shaming.
I think your email was very, very rude. If you want something (you wanted to return a purchase and you have no idea what their policy is), you really should be polite. You catch more flies with honey, than vinegar and all that…
Having said that, their response was very unprofessional. But they’re French.
Go ahead, blast away…
Had to find the hat . . . here’s link . . . scroll down
http://en.voltaire-design.com/accessories.html
As for the rest, well, life is too short to get so worked up about a $20 hat . . . JMHO
I think that’s a good looking cap BTW
Just wanted to pop in and say that this weather absolutely stinks and I am SO grateful for this entertainment :lol: there are so few captivatingly asinine threads these days to take the grey out the day.
Please proceed.
(sits back with an oatmeal stout wearing my Voltaire trucker cap and “AK Can’t Ride” t-shirt while waggling my finger at Horseloverz)
[QUOTE=Jealoushe;7439744]
AI have to say, the OPs e-mail was rude and ranty, but honestly…this is NOTHING when you work in customer service. I have worked in the industry for 10 years and have been told to f myself I don’t know how many times…not to mention now that I work in Insurance I am constantly accused of “robbing” people blind, stealing, being in a cahoots with the government, so on and so forth.
If you can’t handle one ranting client over a hat they think is ugly, how will you handle a rider with an ill fitting saddle that has damaged their horses back (in their mind). This is the least of worries in the CS industry. Voltaire needs a thicker skin and PR management STAT.[/QUOTE]
Right?
I don’t expect a company to take personally a complaint that I have with a product. I don’t bother to write any explanations why I am seeking to return a product, but the OP’s e-mail was really not that bad. I think some of the people thinking she’s a horribly rude person have never EVER dealt with customers. There are no curse words, no threats, no screaming, no personal attacks in her message.
The company’s response is completely absurd. The correct response would be “We’re sorry that you were dissatisfied with our products. We have thus sent you a return label to send back the hat.” The representative ought to remain polite and professional, neither of which he did.
[QUOTE=Horse with No Name;7439929]
Why is it acceptable for you to send a rude, snippy email and expect him to take it lying down? The customer is not always right.
It’s a hat, a $20 hat. Talk about first world. Sheesh.[/QUOTE]
Agreed. So much of a first world problem that it had to be posted and then dissected and rehashed on message board for (mostly) women who participate in an elite/expensive sport/hobby? My violin weeps…:rolleyes:
Oh to have such problems!
This thread is amazing. All upset over a hat! I too looked at the picture online and the hat looks fine-in fact, the shape of it NEW reminds me of the hat I bought from Antares that once smooshed onto my pumpkin head, looked great.
I think the truths of this thread are: OP’s email while snarky wasn’t horrible. The comment about French people and customer service differences is spot on. And Claude really shouldn’t have responded that way. I also want a Voltaire hat.
So c’mon Voltaire, free hats for everyone on this thread? 
I like my Voltaire hat…and so do all of my friends who wear theirs often…wore mine last night to the barn.
Oh, and I recently witnessed (on fb) Claude offer a friend a Voltaire saddle pad when she mentioned that she liked them (in someone’s comments…nothing to do w/ Voltaire page). He sent it over ASAP. She rode in it last night. I am jealous. It’s beautiful!
I have worked in customer service for the last 5 years (at a chemical plant so a bit different, but CSR nonetheless!) and what’s the saying? You attract more flies w/ honey than vinegar? OP should take that into consideration in the future. Mistakes were made on both sides, but at least Claude apologized…
Also…poor bf. My bf would have called me out on that behavior (like he does when I’m ranting and raving in traffic lol)
So c’mon Voltaire, free hats for everyone on this thread?
I have my free hat already. I want a saddle pad 
It was a freakin’ 20 dollar baseball cap. And they sent you TWO. And you didn’t even pay for it? Your boyfriend did. Over reaction. Big time. I would have sent the same response back to you. You come off a spoiled brat.
I would love that hat. I wish someone would send me a free hat.
I’m starting to think it was all a conspiracy to get more of the (bad batch) of hats sold.
I don’t think that OP’s email was bad at all. But the company rep should never question the customer and send emails as he did. I’ve been in line at a vet hospital where an old lady tore up a check into tiny pieces and threw them on the young girl who was working there, because the girl gave her the cost of that day’s bill, and the woman wanted to pay her preexisting bill also. The young girl apologized. The customer did not apologize. When the customer left, I complained to the office manager, who had not been present. She said the old lady’s husband had died recently and that could have been the cause of her anger. Customer service is important. If you don’t like the color of a cap, you should tell the store why you are returning it. Ditto the quality of the item. Too often we do not return things, or keep things that aren’t what we want, just so we won’t hurt someone’s feelings.
I’m sure the boyfriend wants OP to be happy. She didn’t say it was his fault that he was trying to get her the cap she wanted.
I too have seen really bad things happen with customers in stores, etc. The store employees never talked back to the customers. (They do compare bad experiences with each other, however. And with other customers. The other day in Publix I witnessed a rude customer in front of me. The cashier and I laughed about it when the customer left.)
Ha! Thank you all for the entertaining responses. I appreciate all the feedback on what a terror I am, what a terror the CSR was, and what a terror I clearly must be to my boyfriend.
For all of you making vast assumptions about the type of person I am and the relationship I have based on this small clip-it of life are HILARIOUS. Really? I hope every stranger you meet extrapolates your every asshole moment out to every facet of your life.
I have repeatedly acknowledged the lowliness of my initial message. Move on, Ladies. I actually have to find synonyms for I’M AN ASSHOLE now. I get it.
I’m glad you have all so thoroughly dissected this conversation and have taken whatever position you have chosen in such enthusiastic ways. For those of you buying hats, I hope you have odd shaped heads. I guess this truly proves that there is no such thing as bad press.
As I said before, I am returning the hats. They were deposited at UPS this morning.
A few of you have had very well expressed points that I acknowledge as true and have made me think much more thoroughly about how I will handle situations like this in the future. Thank you.
To the rest of you: I am most thankful for you; you insulting, judgemental, and cross old bitties. I have learned more about terrible I looked in this exchange by looking at how terrible you look now than by what you said.
As a certain CSR would say,
Have a beautiful day.
And for those of you who wanted it:
I wish I had gotten a sideview before I packed it away.
http://postimg.org/image/fu6etwhu3/
(I thought you’d all enjoy my facecovering )
You really are a peach, aren’t you??
You bring this to a message board and are upset that not everyone agreed with your point of view?
Okie dokie…I’m just gonna go do old bittie stuff now.
But if you post like an a-hole on the interwebz and we do not, in fact get to see all of your life, what was your part in the creation of your reputation?
FWIW, I like the color brown of the hat. Also, I think it looks like the one pictured on Voltaire’s website.
I wish I didn’t look so horrible in baseballs hats, otherwise I would order a Voltaire hat from Claude.
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