The Ref Stop

A & H Customer Service.....

Padfoot

Padfoot

The Persecuted One
I have borrowed this from another site, because i believe that the more referees who know about this, the better....

Basically, a referee complained to A & H about how long it was taking to complete his order...and their response is not really a good advert for them....

My Email:
Good Morning

I wish to make a complaint with regards to the level of service I have received with a recent order.

I placed an order (31015) on the 13th of August. I then received an email on the 27th of August advising that you would not be able to fulfil the order which I understand is completely out of your control. I emailed asking if you could provide a rough estimate on lead time to which I was told you are unable to state this. I replied asking if I would be kept up to date with the progress surrounding the order to which I received no reply. I have attached this email for your reference.

I emailed on the 28th asking for the order to be cancelled with no response. I then emailed again on the 29th to which I again received no response. I have attached both emails again for your reference.

I then called your sales office on the 2nd to ask for the order to be cancelled to be told that it had already been done! The lady I spoke to assured me that she would send a cancellation email and this again has not happened.

I understand the kit problems are out of your control, what is not out of your control is offering a good level of customer service.

I have been left very disappointed with A and H after this experience and at the moment don’t see myself using you again or recommending you to other referees.

I look forward to your response.

Regards

Ollie

Response from A&H:
Ollie,

Thank you for taking the time to complain about my company on Facebook; thank you for taking the time to write in and tell me how bad my company is at customer service.

Thank you for opening an account with me on the 13th August 2014.

Thank you for telling me that you’re not going to use me or recommend me to your colleagues.

Running a company is a bit like refereeing; no in fact it’s a lot like refereeing – sometimes when the brown stuff is hitting the fan you have to make decisions about how you’re going to react to situations.

When your embroiderer is taken to hospital in an ambulance – someone has turned the fan on.

Consequently we’ve concentrated on getting orders ready for despatch so referees who forward ordered can get their kits.

This obviously is not good enough for you – which I can accept – so whilst thanking you for your input I will also wish you well in your refereeing and tell you I’ve closed your account with us.

Best wishes.

Regards
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The Ref Stop
Oh dear... Not the professional response you would expect, and you hope that the individual will be dealt with. Although it will have no impact on my, or I would assume others, future orders from A&H. You don't not go on holiday because of one bad review on Trip Advisor!
 
I agree not a great response (funny but...), I disagree with the whole thing though, I have had a few things from a and jp hand they have all gone really smoothly :)
 
The stress in the reply from A&H pours off the screen! It might have been better if the person responding had written their reply, walked away from the keyboard, came back and read it again, edited it, then sent it.

I know what it's like to be let down by staff (often through no fault of their own) and/or circumstances. When it happens and you can do nothing about it, the stress levels rocket leading to replies like the one above.

It's not a good response but in the circumstances it is restrained.
 
A very poor response to what is, at least in my opinion, a reasonable email.

Having said that, I've had nothing but good experiences with A&H over the years and will happily continue to use them.
 
Fantastic, thanks very much for sharing Padfoot. This is my complaint. Glad A&H are getting the exposure that this response deserves.

As many people on here have said i too have had no issue with them in the past (the bit where he says thanks for opening an account on 13th of August 2014 is incorrect,i opened my account on the 26th of October 2010).

Mike and Brian, the scary part is that the email cam from a Mr Jeff Pettitt, the owner of A&H International.
 
Just to really go for gold, the owner of A&H has decided to make a complaint to my place of work (I use my work emails for everything). He has stated that i have threatened him. All I said was if I don't receive a reply to my emails that i would be reporting him to Trading Standards. Which i havent received a reply so he has been reported.
 
that response would have only come from an owner Ollie, i for one assist in the running in my business with my dad - if any of our staff were to respond to a client (remember you are a client not customer...a customer buys fags from a newsagents, a client has an account) then i can assure anyone that the member of staff respoisbile would be severly disciplined/relived of their post...

that being said, i have and my dad on occassions, have sent similar emails when the pressure really has been on and you get that one nagging client just bugging and bugging and bugging - you then reach boiling point

the thing that bemuses me is that you placed an order on the 13th, 2 weeks later there is an issue - as you have said yourself, it is out of their control... no less than 24 hours later you have asked for closure of your account - followed up by another email a day later followed by a phone call 2 days later (remember there was a weekend seperating the 29th and the 1st) im assuming that A&H arent a massive organisation so sometimes it does take a little time to respond to an email...

yes the response isnt great, but for me i feel you may have antagonised a situation - got a tongue in cheek, off the cuff response and you havent liked it...maybe he didnt appreciate the barrage of emails? and maybe he doesnt like his company being so damningly exposed on a social network - maybe you dont know the damning effect a squibble complaint can do to a business reputation...
 
trading standards?

has he refunded any money?

has he closed the account?

if the answer for both is yes, then trading standards wont be interested
 
I didn't ask for my account to be closed, i asked for my order to be cancelled having found another site to supply it. He decided to close my account.

I think you need to re read the original post. I emailed twice asking for the order to be cancelled and received no reply. When i called on the Monday to cancel the order i was told it had already been cancelled and assured that a cancellation email would be sent. This didn't happen which then lead to my complaint email.

I'm not sure which part of my email provokes a response like the one i received? I think i was completely fair and polite.

I havent pestered in the slightest, i sent 2 email asking for my order to be cancelled and when this didnt happen i phoned. I dont think this is pestering.

Yes i do accept that it is out of their control, but providing a good level of customer service is not. It would have taken seconds to reply to my email saying your order has been cancelled.

That may be the case but i don't think it will hurt. Just wish he was BSI accredited cause they would definitely take it seriously.
 
What Charlie says is essentially true. Trading standards wouldn't do anything however

What you say Ollie about them emailing your work is disgusting behaviour on their part. An argument over a purchase is one thing but potentially putting your livelihood and thus mortgage, family, house, bills etc in jeapordy is beyond acceptable
 
it si the time scale you left between each email and phonecall that bemuses me - you have stated that it would take '2 seconds' for a response...coming from sombody like myself that has business relations with many companies that dont have someone by a computer screen all day, can sometimes take upto 2-3 days for a response - if it is urgent then maybe a call would had been ideal first?

i agree with @HertsFinest the email to work is outrages - but would definitly be sometyhing id take up with the police as this would be down to harrassment...make it sexual harrassment as well? sod it! lol

also...if he were BSI registered than that would only make trading standards less interested...if thats his only complaint to them then i doubt theyd even set up a file for him lol
 
I think 24 hours is more than enough time to respond to a complaint email, coming from someone in a sales environment. The only reason for the phone call was due to the lack of response.

Is it really something i can report to the police?
 
some people work and think differantly...you sales guys are persistant little f***ers!! lool ;)

id definitly say it is! he has taken the time to get your email address, search your business, find out the suitable contact (presumably rang up and asked for your managers name as he wanted to make a complaint, negating the info that it was froma personal siuation) and then emailed him?

any decent manager would laugh it off and maybe have a word about using the company email in working hours, unless you are allowed to, in which case he'll probably just laugh it off
 
Ollie said:
I think 24 hours is more than enough time to respond to a complaint email, coming from someone in a sales environment. The only reason for the phone call was due to the lack of response.

Is it really something i can report to the police?
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Absolutely. Its threatening behaviour, harassment and potentially libelous.
 
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