Caveat Emptor: Let the Buyer Beware.

In December, my family attempted to purchase a Canon Powershot digital camera from the Circuit City online store. The camera looked excellent, and we had tried it out in the store first. However, it was out of stock there, and Circuit City had a special price that was about $20 cheaper than other stores. So, on about December 18th or so, we bought a digital camera. We received free shipping with it, and the website said it would be at our home by December 24th.

December 24th came and went. I checked the tracking info regularly online. Our package was sent from Dallas, TX, to Wisconsin, to Earth City, MO (wherever that is), and finally to our home in Lincoln, AR. We got it on the morning of December 31st. We opened the package, expecting to finally have our camera that we had been waiting on for a week. The Canon Powershot box was inside, but it was opened, and felt very light. I opened the lid, and the camera and cables were gone, but the manuals and CD were there. Upon further inspection of the shipping box, we discovered that the original tape had been ripped off and stuffed in the box, and it had been quickly re-taped. In short, our Camera had been stolen en-route, probably by someone at one of the arbitrary shipping detours.

So, we called Circuit City, hoping that they would give us a refund or replacement. We called, and we got a customer service representative in India who could speak little English. To make the story shorter, they repeatedly told us that a replacement camera had already been shipped, and then they called us back a few days later to explain that it could not be shipped, and that they would issue a refund. Five or six customer service calls later, we finally got a person that could speak English with some proficiency, without relying on buzzwords that they had obviously been taught in one hour customer service training seminar. This person told us that a refund would be issued in 7-14 days, which we had been told several times before. We were not expecting the refund to come through this time either, but it finally did on Monday, February 11. Over a month since we'd received the empty package. A month would not be bad, if only the customer service representatives had understood as, and we them.

I'm sure that this sort of problem is not limited to Circuit City, but after this experience I doubt I will ever shop with them online again. The problem: poor customer service.

It's not that I have anything against workers in India. However, it is common sense that customer service representatives should be able to speak the language of the country they are providing services for. If Indian customer service people are providing customer service to other Indians, that is fine with me. If Indian workers are providing other corporate services to US businesses, that is fine with me. However, when they are dealing with English speakers, they need to be able to speak English. This is not neuroscience. In my opinion, the decision to move customer service to India is the most idiotic decision ever made by corporate America.