CompUSA Sells Empty Camera Boxes, Blogging Resolves The Issue
Hey Steve Rubel, here's a company that learned how powerful a blog can be. Chalk this one up to the power of the blogosphere, that CompUSA recognized just how powerful negative word of mouth marketing can be.
Terry Heaton, from Grapevine Texas, and Senior Vice President, Media 2.0 of Audience Research & Development, went to a CompUSA and purchased what he thought was a Canon digital camera. He also proceeded to buy a lot of other items from the now closed CompUSA store, his total when he walked out the door was over $3500.00. Not small change, certainly he bought much more than just that digital camera.
A problem became apparent when the camera, bought as a gift for his step-daughter, wasn't in the box he walked out of the CompUSA store with. To Terry's dismay and his step-daugher's disappointment, the box only contained the peripherals - no camera. To further complicate the story, Terry bought this from a store that had been closed.
Terry didn't know this was a "liquidation" company closing the CompUSA store. To him and probably all the other CompUSA customers that day, the people in the red shirts that had the "CompaUSA" logo on them - were CompUSA employees. How would they know they really weren't?
Terry tried to get the problem resolved through another CompUSA store, but got nowhere but a basic "Talk to the Hand" type response from a store manager who couldn't care less. Terry then proceeded to write CompUSA. The response back? Priceless, as priceless we bloggers would love:
"Thank you for contacting compUSA regarding your purchase at our Lewisville store; we regret any difficulty you encountered or misinformation you may have been given.
The Lewisville CompUSA was one of 126 stores that was liquidated and closed on 5/7/07. The return policy for all merchandise, as printed on your receipt and posted throughout the store, clearly stated ALL SALES FINAL.
Keep in mind, new digital cameras are usually sold in a factory sealed box; if the camera you purchased was a clearance item, you should have inspected its content prior to purchase.
Although we apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused, we cannot honor your request for return or exchange."
Frustrated (as any of us would be), Terry turned to the internet, in particularly to his own blog, "Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog". He posted in great detail about his misadventures with CompUSA on June 2nd.
June 4th, his telephone rang with CompUSA on the other end apologizing for his situation. Today (June 5th) they called him back to let him know he'd be receiving a $300 gift card from CompUSA, FoxNews.com's Audrey Bright detailed the whole story as well.
This really goes to demonstrate the power the consumer is gaining and that companies really do need to monitor the internet for their brands. Kudos to CompUSA's team for picking up Terry's post, rising to the occasion and doing the right thing!
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