[at-l] REI

[David Addleton]

I ordered holiday gifts for my parents and my sister and her husband this
year online at REI.
The usual emails followed: expect delivery on 14 Dec. I didn't look for
delivery status until today, Friday, 15 Dec, due to exceptionally busy time
this week at work. (REI's website uses USPS for delivery. You can change the
delivery agents by calling the 800 number to place your order. Online they
offer only USPS. I didn't know this when I placed the order.)
Long story short: to my surprise, USPS's website was reporting the package
delivered on the 13th at 2:20 pm!
( I wouldn't have bothered checking if I'd already rec'd the package! )
I went looking for USPS's number for my zip code PO. All I could find on the
USPS web site was their 800 number with those ghastly computer generated
voices pretending to be human and asking you to say specific words. I
rebelled. I only said " I WANT TO SPEAK WITH A HUMAN!"
I couldn't find the local Post Office's phone number on the USPS web site.
REI's order status page gives you their 800 number on the same page. (Here
is a major clue to retail philsophy.)  I called it. They wanted me to check
with the USPS first.
So I made a second effort to locate the local PO for my zip code. I found
it, not on the USPS web site, but on Google. (HERE IS A SECOND MAJOR CLUE TO
THE VENDOR'S PHILOSOPHY ABOUT ITS CLIENTS.)
I won't go into all the gory details about my conversation with the local PO
staff. Suffice it to say, that when I explained my story all she could say
was "well!" in a smirkey aren't you and idiot sort of way. They couldn't
explain what they'd do to track down the lost package or when I might expect
to receive a call back about it.
So I called REI back with my problem, using their 800 number.
REI's telephone customer service rep [hereafter called (((( MY HERO ))))],
after hearing my story, says she thinks she can help solve my problem and
asks if I'll hold a minute while MY HERO checks.
MY HERO can send a replacement order, over night, on REI's dime, for
delivery next Tuesday, but two items are out of stock. I say, I'm not
worried about the out of stock problem: lets just find something comparable
in price and color and material, we can go up or down 5 or 10 on the price
and I'll pay the difference.  We find replacement items for the out of stock
items. MY HERO states REI'll eat the difference of price and still send it
overnight UPS on their dime. (I'll let you know if UPS comes through!)
There are other reasons why I think REI is "DA BOMB" but they'll make me
seem biased. My daughter, who works at REI's Atlanta store, had nothing at
all to do with this situation and the customer service rep didn't know my
daughter worked at the Atlanta store. My daughter got pretty pissed at me
for not using her to use her employee discount to get these gifts, when I
told her this story this afternoon.
All's I can say is I've never met a retailer like REI for customer service
and, yeah, you can get gear for cheaper, but I've NEVER found customer
service at any retailer as good as you get at REI