[Chad_Henry]

I just got off the phone with DeepDiscount (formerly DeepDiscountDVD) where I was told that they not only didn't care that I wasn't happy with their service, they also didn't care if I ever ordered from them again and didn't care if I described my latest experience with them to anyone who'd listen.

The short version is that I placed an order on Dec 27 for two DVDs, one of which I was told was on backorder. They did ship me the DVD that was in stock. I checked today to see the status of the backordered DVD and was surprised to see that it had been cancelled.

I called the "Customer Service" number to see what had happened and was told the warehouse cancelled it because they were no longer stocking that item. When I inquired as to why no one had informed me I was told that sometimes that happens. I asked to speak to a supervisor to let her know I was unhappy about the situation.

The supervisor basically told me, "too bad". She told me it only happens sometimes and that if I were a regular customer I'd know that. I admit I'm not the biggest customer they've ever had but I have ordered from them for years.

I told her Customer Service is only partially about the orders being right, the other part is about how they handle when things go wrong. She gave me an attitude and asked me what I thought they should do about it. I told her as a courtesy they might offer a credit toward a future purchase, her response was "We don't do that". When I asked what they did do she told me "Nothing".

I'm in sales, enterprise software to be exact. If I treated a prospect/customer that way I'd lose my job, and I'd deserve to. Admittedly I'm talking $1M+ deals versus a $12 DVD but the principle is the same. It's unfathomable to me that someone with that attitude could be in a supervisory role. Clearly the company doesn't care about servicing their customers.

It was the bad attitude that was the problem. I asked her if they cared that I was likely never to order again given how I was treated and her response was to the effect that they'd probably manage to survive as a business. When I told her I'd be sharing this experience with thousands of HT enthusiasts her response was "Go right ahead".

DeepDiscount is attempting to become a much broader merchant and carry other products besides DVDs. I don't know how successful they'll be, but they'll never see another dime from me. There are plenty of other merchants out there who don't [censored] on their customers when their company screws up.

BTW, I was told I was speaking to a new call center they had opened in IL to handle overflow from the original one. I don't know, maybe they're just not training the new people right.

[Will_B]

(deleted...no point)

[JohnRice]

Chad, I'm a bit baffled. For one thing, I'm not sure why you should receive a credit when something you didn't pay for was cancelled. What should you be credited for? I don't see why this is more than an "oh well, I'll look for it somewhere else" situation rather than spending all that time yelling at people on the phone. No, DDD does not have the greatest customer service or the fastest delivery. Shop at Amazon instead and pay the difference.

[Radioman970]

I'm saddened by your experience. I had problems with DDD years ago and stopped using them for about 3 years. I came back and felt they've improved. I just haven't had to use customer service it seems.

Yeah, amazon.com is a great alternative. Can't go wrong. Worth the extra $$$.

Although I only ordered from dvdplanet once, I can recommend them too somewhat. Although I had a bad experience with a female customer service person, I called back to clean up what she f-ed up and a dude fixed it. So with dvdplanet if you get that chick, ask if that dude is in instead. Plus dvdplanet has points you collect when you buy and you can get money off future purchases. I like that.

I feel dvduniverse is also a decent place to order. A little higher than everyone else. Also, overstock.com, although they dont' seem to have as much in stock as others.

[Mark-P]

I will admit I was a little bit alarmed at the title of this thread. DeepDiscount has been an invaluable service to me. I always stock up on their 20% off sales, and I also often benefit from their smaller sales. A while back they had a BOGOF sale of Paramount titles where I was paying only $3.17 per title!

While I agree, that a customer service rep should never cop an attitude or be rude to a customer, even when he is wrong (as you were), I doubt that this one particular supervisor is representative of the whole company. And may I ask were you immediately hostile and belligerent with her when she got on the phone?

I say you were in the wrong because a mail-order company like DeepDiscount is run with mostly automation and very little human interaction. It's because of that low overhead that they can give us such great savings. For a backorder which has become unavailable to be cancelled without notice is certainly not as heinous as you make it out to be. You can check the status of your orders at any time.

I love DeepDiscount because they save me money and I'm willing to wait 2-3 weeks to receive my order. After all, remember the olden days of catalog mail-order service? The fine print would say "Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery"

[Marty M]

I have only dealt with their customer service department once, but it was a good experience. I didn't get a shipment of a DVD once. They did make me wait three weeks to make sure the shipment was, indeed lost. I waited three weeks and they readily agreed to send a replacement shipment, without giving me any grief. I think they are as good as most internet companies.

[Bonnie*F]

I've just had a similar experience as Marty. Ordered some DVD's, they mailed it to my old address. I caught it when I got the confirming email and immediately contacted them. They said they sent it to the correct (new) address. It didn't come and didn't come. CS asked that I wait 3 weeks to give it time to follow up. I e-mailed them after 3 weeks and explained (again) what happened and what I would like them to do. I kept the initial e-mails prepared for a bit of a fight.
Nope! They re-shipped the order, adding shipping so I could trace it and three days later - it was here.
BTW, this entire exchange happened through e-mail. I didn't speak to a live customer service representative at any time.
The only thing that was slightly wonky was they charged my credit card for the re-shipment and then credited it the next day. Which I think was more of the bank being slow with credits rather than DDD.
I've learned my lesson. The small amount of money DDD charges for shipping (a fraction of what they save me in DVD's) is more than worth the ease of mind knowing that the order is traceable as well as my being able to check where the order is in the UPS package-stream. I even checked up on it in the morning and called home to say that it was going to be delivered that day.

[Robin9]

My basic attitude is the same as Mark-P's, and I've had similar experiences as Marty-M and Bonnie*F.

I've been buying from DeepDiscount for some time and have only once had a problem when a John Wayne box set did not arrive. I informed them by email and they sent me a replacement set. No problem at all.

[Chris S]

Like Chad I too have had bad experiences, even some recently, with DeepDiscount's customer service. My most recent problem was that, for whatever reason, during the check out process my order was placed twice. I didn't refresh the browser or anything like that so I'm still baffled as to how it happened. Maybe just a simple hiccup/glitch in their system. Well anyway, I submitted an order cancellation request since I really didn't need two copies of these films. (Note to DD - you need to implement order cancellation directly on your website). A few days later I got an email saying my order had been canceled but the problem was that the order they canceled wasn't mine. I double checked the request I had sent them and the order number and neither matched in any way whatsoever. Emailed them back again saying that the order they had canceled wasn't mine (lord knows who really had their order canceled...) and I reemphasized my order number. Waited another day and got another order cancellation. Again, not my order. So yet again I contacted them but this time I also submitted another cancellation request. Finally, on the third attempt, my mysterious second order was canceled.

I feel bad for the persons that may have had their orders canceled without their knowledge. At the same time I am astounded by the level of failure on their part to cancel a single order. I did at one point try calling their customer service number, well within their CST business hours, but was told they were closed and that I should call back tomorrow.

Because of this situation I'll definitely be thinking twice about placing another order through them. Thankfully the items I had ordered were on backorder thus affording me the luxury of having the 3+ days to get this resolved. I have a feeling if I had placed an order for in-stock items I would be sitting here with two identical copies.