Crosman Customer Service...a special kind of stupid.

[airriflenut]

There are too many quotes for me to quote so I will just interject my thoughts.

Customer service levels vary greatly just by the people providing the "service".  Go to a call center or customer service department and look at the people, whether its 10 or 500 there are 10 or 500 different personalities, attitudes, moods, stress levels, etc.  Each individual will most likely approach the same scenario in a different way, the resolutions may given may be similar, worlds apart or not resolved at all.

If you want to get down to brass tacks, almost any job has some type of "customer service" related to it.  It all boils down to how each half of the scenario acts.  My last job was a call center for a large cell phone provider, we handled calls from billing to technical and had over 850 reps in that center alone.  My call stats sucked, not because I didn't care but because I refused to adhere to the "acceptable stats" they implemented YEARS prior.  They did not allow a rep to do what was needed to get a resolution to an issue.  I was called into the supervisors office numerous time "to address my out of adherence stats".  Long story short, after my ass was chewed on my response was the same..."tell me why the stat criteria can't be re-examined to provide better customer service for a growing customer base?".  "Because" or "no" was the usual reply, I don't accept "because" or "no"!!   In short, my stats did such and I should have been fired...why wasn't I?  My calls checked by QA were 100%, my post-call surveys were always a 5 of 5, I de-escalated more calls than they had seen, I retained 10+ year customers calling in wanting to cancel service, I've had customers send me gifts of appreciation to the call center.  Am I patting myself on the back or tooting my own horn?  Hell yes!!  I did customer service my way, not theirs!  600 seconds per call, only 30 seconds of hold time, placed on hold only twice, only one out-bound call to another department...bull$hit!!  I had many calls over an hour, several spanned two hours and past my shift...I resolved issues instead of "adhering to stats" by telling the customer, "power cycle your phone and wait 24 hours, if you're still experiencing issues call back then"...this was noted in WAY TOO MANY ACCOUNTS!

Flip the coin now.  My prescription meds are filled by mail thru my insurance.  From day one it has been nothing but screwed up.  Fills placed on a hold for "X" or "Y" reason, none warranted and obviously no concern that I received crucial meds before I ran out.  High blood pressure, diabetes, COPD, asthma, genetic lung defect, not to mention needed meds for other serious issues...placed on hold for no viable reason.  I've had to take anxiety medications after numerous calls.  One call was escalated to a supervisor, I demanded OOP contact information...he deliberately and maliciously gave me a different number for customer service and an address to a warehouse!!  Some, not many at all, of their reps have resolved any issues.

I could give real-life scenarios of good and bad for a long while, I'm not.  I apologize for such a long post but I felt the need to give both sides of the coin.  Excellent, good, bad or horrible customer service is what it is.  I made the same mistake of bashing a vendor shortly after I joined CAPOF, I was corrected and with time to think it over my reprimand was justified.  You may be totally pi$$ed but remember...there is always an appropriate time and place to say what's on your mind.

All that aside, welcome to CAPOF!!!  I consider CAPOF my second family, I hope you will feel the same!

[williesurvive]

Crosman customer service is the best I have ever dealt with in over 60 years hands down. My latest problem had to do with one of their authorized repair places. 10 days before the warranty ran out my 1720t the gauge started leaking. I contacted the closest repair center to me to get it repaired. Communication was really slow in reply and finally I shipped it to them on 11-19-2013. After that crickets. Last monday I called Crosman and was put through to their head of customer service (very pleasant lady by the way). After explaining my problem she said she would get a hold of him and get my gun returned. She called me back today and told me if they don't hear from the guy by monday they will ship me a new 1720t and I will have it by the 14th of this month. I know of no other company that would do that.

[breakfastchef]

They did not allow a rep to do what was needed to get a resolution to an issue.  I was called into the supervisors office numerous time "to address my out of adherence stats".

Sterling, that is the most important factor - empowering the employee to resolve problems when they are first recognized. A truly customer-focused company will adequately train and empower the folks that are on the front line. And, they should'a fired your ass! for being effective.

My prescription meds are filled by mail thru my insurance...

Don't get me started on the insurance industry. Huge scumbags; awful customer service.

[agninja]

Ok, I have to chime in here. Some things I agree with PestControl on and some I don't.  Regarding the packaging issue. Yes, I think Crosman fails there. They use these extra long one size fits all boxes, because you "could" be ordering a 24" barrel. Yet the gun is sitting loose in the box. No regard for extra packing measures for each unique gun which could easily be arranged. That explains why the packing guy, who slaps a hundred guns in boxes a day, was oblivious to the measures you put in place for them with the foam. To him, the gun looks nice and neat laying flat in the box. Do you think anyone from Crosman actually follows their packages to Fedex and watches the 18 y/o package handlers violently throwing the boxes around in the back of the truck because they hate their job? Crosman probably assumes the package floats on a bed of air all the way to your doorstep.

Second, I don't see how you couldn't screw the cap on tight enough. It doesn't require a super tight fit. Also, did you lube the end of it beforehand? If it was a user error you really should've been able to figure it out with the help of the guys here. We've been there done that when it comes to nearly every imaginable scenario. You just need to be patient and listen to what people tell you and try not to get flustered (which is not always easy).

Another thing, Crosman isn't set up like your typical company as far as "customer service" goes. They have a very specific way of doing things which for whatever reason they have chosen to do. Still don't know why the hell I have to call in and talk to somebody to order parts, in this day and age of computers and websites.  But once you get caught up in their system, which is not designed to do anything other than the status quo day after day, then yes, the people you speak to are going to come across as inept. Their whole mindset is "make airgun, ship it, make money". They aren't good at fielding questions and looking into personal queries for you.

[mudduck48]

And this was PestControl last post. He couldn't take the heat. Everyone told him not to bash the venders and he ran away. The bottom line,IMO, is, think before you post. We are all just human and we Duck up from time to time. Communication works pretty good some times.   

[jSan22]

And this was PestControl last post. He couldn't take the heat. Everyone told him not to bash the venders and he ran away. The bottom line,IMO, is, think before you post. We are all just human and we Duck up from time to time. Communication works pretty good some times. 

I just read the entire thread and those "issues" there arent really ISSUES persay.