While the OP’s initial email signified one frustrated customer, Mr. Mode should have remembered : The customer is not always right… but the customer is always the customer!
Rather than send off a snarky reply he should have acknowledged her frustration, asked what he could do to right the situation and stayed pleasant. Had he done that I am sure that the OP would have felt like she had been heard and would have positive things to say about the company.
Both sides lost on this one 
For what its worth - we have an actual saddle and have had nothing but excellent customer service (from Ann in Atlanta) We are on our second saddle being in the junior program and love the quality and everything about them. DD gets to ride in lots of high end saddles riding for other people and always says she likes hers best. We have a hat too, have never heard her comment about it -but thinking its not a priority…but when I go up to her room next time I will definitely take a harder look 
I’m confused on the whole issue here.
OP sees a hat at Devon in May 2013 and likes hat.
OP’s BF decides to surprise her with hat for Valentine’s Day 2014.
Package arrives, OP opens and it seems to be a different hat. Op advises BF of difference. BF calls company, gets machine and says he’ll call back during work hours Monday.
All of that makes sense to me.
The parts I’m just not understanding are why the OP got so angry when she saw the box of hats again before the Monday BF was going to call the company. Why the anger? People receive incorrect items in the mail all the time, mistakes happen. I can’t understand getting so pissed off as to write an e-mail like that before even giving the company notice of an incorrect/unwanted shipped item and finding out what might have happened or what to do regarding a return.
Did the BF order the right hat? There was a substantial amount of time between the hat sighting and hat purchase. Since the color and design are very similar, is it possible this was what the BF ordered having mistaken it for the hat the OP liked? It’s a brown cap with logo, just seems to be a different shade of brown and cap-shape. Seems likely just a mix up, nothing to become that “ignited” over.
And it’s not like the company was refusing to do anything or even knew of any problem yet.
Quality control might be an issue, but then companies don’t normally test every item they sell. They’ll pick a random few out of shipped batches for checking quality, not check every single item.
I don’t understand the anger that sparked the e-mail in the first place. It was simply a box with a hat the OP didn’t want in it. I could see having some low-level disappointment, a let down of expecting one thing and getting something different shipped. An “aw darn it, I would really have liked to have that hat and now I have to find out what went wrong and how to get these swapped for the right one” type of thing.
[QUOTE=Horse with No Name;7440693]
couldn’t resist posting this, it made me think of anev and Claude’s email exchange …
http://www.tickld.com/x/i-wish-i-worked-with-this-manhes-hilarious[/QUOTE]
That’s David Thorne and his website is http://www.27bslash6.com. He is hilarious --check out the snowboard e-mail exchange.
[QUOTE=MistyBlue;7440783]
I don’t understand the anger that sparked the e-mail in the first place. It was simply a box with a hat the OP didn’t want in it. I could see having some low-level disappointment, a let down of expecting one thing and getting something different shipped. [/QUOTE]
Perhaps the OP was expecting a dozen long stemmed roses and tickets to Tahiti? Lol. Getting a cheap baseball hat instead could certainly account for the disproportionate disappointment.
[QUOTE=MistyBlue;7440783]
I’m confused on the whole issue here.
OP sees a hat at Devon in May 2013 and likes hat.
OP’s BF decides to surprise her with hat for Valentine’s Day 2014.
Package arrives, OP opens and it seems to be a different hat. Op advises BF of difference. BF calls company, gets machine and says he’ll call back during work hours Monday.
All of that makes sense to me.
The parts I’m just not understanding are why the OP got so angry when she saw the box of hats again before the Monday BF was going to call the company. Why the anger? People receive incorrect items in the mail all the time, mistakes happen. I can’t understand getting so pissed off as to write an e-mail like that before even giving the company notice of an incorrect/unwanted shipped item and finding out what might have happened or what to do regarding a return.
Did the BF order the right hat? There was a substantial amount of time between the hat sighting and hat purchase. Since the color and design are very similar, is it possible this was what the BF ordered having mistaken it for the hat the OP liked? It’s a brown cap with logo, just seems to be a different shade of brown and cap-shape. Seems likely just a mix up, nothing to become that “ignited” over.
And it’s not like the company was refusing to do anything or even knew of any problem yet.
Quality control might be an issue, but then companies don’t normally test every item they sell. They’ll pick a random few out of shipped batches for checking quality, not check every single item.
I don’t understand the anger that sparked the e-mail in the first place. It was simply a box with a hat the OP didn’t want in it. I could see having some low-level disappointment, a let down of expecting one thing and getting something different shipped. An “aw darn it, I would really have liked to have that hat and now I have to find out what went wrong and how to get these swapped for the right one” type of thing.[/QUOTE]
You are not accounting for the EtOH factor.
I would love to see how this thread has effected the sale of Voltaire hats.
wow OP. Your first email just made my jaw drop, and really set the tone for the rest of the correspondence. I can’t believe you think it’s okay to speak to people like that. :eek:
Happy frickin’ Valentines, am I right Voltaire?
I think the OP saw this hat at Devon.
https://www.google.com/search?q=voltaire+saddle+cap&client=firefox-a&hs=XF3&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=lpMFU86bD8STkQfD2oDYCA&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg&biw=1395&bih=775#facrc=&imgdii=&imgrc=RidcAU0uffUr_M%253A%3BLkxzzvBOOhGW3M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.monsieurboon.com%252Fimg%252Fp%252F20-76-large.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.monsieurboon.com%252Fproduct.php%253Fid_product%253D20%2526id_lang%253D1%3B300%3B300
Absolutely no comment on the emails.
Trade ya for one “ratty t shirt?”
[QUOTE=shadytrake;7440889]
I think the OP saw this hat at Devon.
https://www.google.com/search?q=voltaire+saddle+cap&client=firefox-a&hs=XF3&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=lpMFU86bD8STkQfD2oDYCA&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg&biw=1395&bih=775#facrc=&imgdii=&imgrc=RidcAU0uffUr_M%253A%3BLkxzzvBOOhGW3M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.monsieurboon.com%252Fimg%252Fp%252F20-76-large.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.monsieurboon.com%252Fproduct.php%253Fid_product%253D20%2526id_lang%253D1%3B300%3B300
Absolutely no comment on the emails.[/QUOTE]
Which appears to be the exact hat she received, from the looks of the picture she posted.
I think we as a society have gotten too much to the point that people feel like they can act any which way they please and the guards of Buckingham Palace will not respond in kind. They can post anything they want, anonymously, on the internet without having to face consequences. They can go to a sporting event and yell slurs at players and expect the player to smile and walk away. They expect to be able to behave like a demanding brat to customer service representatives and be bent over backwards for.
I couldn’t work in customer service. My response to the OP’s first e-mail would have been much worse. I don’t speak French but I am fluent in bitchy sarcasm and that’s about all that e-mail would have consisted of.
Why am I am not surprised that OP is in the Devon area but clearly young. She would know better if she weren’t so entitled. I live next to these princess’s. I am so over them all, I likely grew up with more money, I was also raised with manners.
[QUOTE=right horse at the right time;7440892]
Trade ya for one “ratty t shirt?”[/QUOTE]
I’ve been following this post all day long, and this post has me laughing the hardest! I remember that thread!
I’m surprised at the few stereotypical “rude French” comments. Just curious, have those of you making these comments been to France? Granted, I’ve only been twice (a week in the Vosges mountains, and then several years later a week in Paris), but I found everyone to be extremely pleasant. Yes, one man at the Pompidou was ever-so-slightly snippy to me, but everyone else was lovely. Also had a few hours in Nice and, again, nothing but friendly, polite people.
And that baseball cap looks very cute! I prefer visors, but the colors look fab.
Vive’ la difference!
Frizzle, yes, I’ve spent a lot of time there, my parents had a second home there when I was growing up in England, we spent summers in Nice. I didn’t mean to imply rude French at all (if you were talking to me). I meant that it’s different, if someone comes in and complains - fine. Someone comes in being a bitch, then you can come back as much.
I am almost fluent in verbal French, not written or read. I can understand everything I hear, I have a harder time responding.
Why is someone deemed as rude when they respond in the way they were spoken to, I don’t really see it that way.
AlexS, I don’t recall posters’ names, just remember seeing a few remarks about the French being rude, or “well, the guy is French” type of comments, etc. It seems to be a widely-held stereotype here in the US, and in my admittedly limited experience, I have not found it to be deserving at all.
[QUOTE=Frizzle;7440930]
AlexS, I don’t recall posters’ names, just remember seeing a few remarks about the French being rude, or “well, the guy is French” type of comments, etc. It seems to be a widely-held stereotype here in the US, and in my admittedly limited experience, I have not found it to be deserving at all. :)[/QUOTE]
I am over sensitive, and I was one of the latter to respond so I thought you were talking to me.
I do agree, and I think it’s all racial anyway, the fact that no one else saw that it was a fitted cap but blows my mind. Surely people watch TV at least?
I don’t think he’s being rude because he’s French. I think he behaved the way he did because his culture indicates a different response to the type of customer the OP is. That combined with a language barrier means the intent of the words might be different than what he assumed they were.
I agree with Mistyblue, why fire off a pissed off email Sunday night when your boyfriend says he’s going to call on Monday?
[QUOTE=Chall;7440636]
Poor Claude. And he apologized personally and publicly.
One customer’s vent and he could lose his job, not cool.[/QUOTE]
Claude’s an a**hole. And French, to boot. Bleecchh…
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