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depakote

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 16, 2003
36
0
I pre-ordered my iTrip from Griffen back in early July and after much delay I was informed that they were still not going to be released but that they are going to release a release date in Oct and once shipped will take at least a few weeks to get. I emailed Griffen and told them in a professional manner that I was disappointed and received this email:

Sorry you are so upset about our release of the iTrip. It is only a $35 silly little transmitter. I wouldn't let is ruin your life. We still have no release date. There are far too many variables in getting this product out other then just a simple "reach into a bucket an pull one out" type of thing. I would feel a lot better knowing that you are not stressed about the
release date of this thing. I cannot change the release date for you in any way what so ever. Perhaps a good way to alleviate the stress would be to suggest that perhaps you just cancel your order so that you will not be under so much pressure. None of us here knows for sure when it will be released. You can talk to our CEO (Jeff Pack) or to our operations manager (Van Thompson) and I am sure that they will be glad to give you a wonderful answer. They may even give you the same answer but I doubt it. All I know for sure is that no answer will be worth the effort of breath until we actually start shipping the product. There is no reason that I or anyone else can give you. There is no explanation. You will just have to accept it as a reality. It will ship once it becomes available. The absolute best that I can do for you is to pull your order and put on top of a smaller list of about 2000 people instead of the big list of 20,000 people who are waiting for the product to be released. We have orders going back as far as January 9th. I kid you not. We will start shipping in the sequence that the orders were placed. You are no where near the front of the list. Since you have taken the time to write us about this several times I will honor your request for additional information by this reply. You can always call our upper management for one of their responses if you like. In the end, you will still not get it until we start shipping it. Our number here is 615-399-7000 9-6 central M-F. For a particularly charismatic response to this issue you can try talking to our marketing rep. His name is Andrew Green. He will give you the best spin and I'm sure that he will bend over backwards to give you best service possible. But again. We have none to ship
yet so it is really a moot point. Once we get the product in stock then we plan on being able to ship them all out within several weeks. I hope this helps you with your disappointment and delay issues. Life is way to short to stress over such a silly thing like the iTrip. Give the upper management a call and perhaps they can soothe the pain.

Best regards (identity protected)

This is the definitely the worst customer service I have ever received! It's totally unbelievable! This guy really took his time to cut me down. I guess I don't need to get into though because his words really speak for themself. Since he was so rude and mentions upper management I like to this he just really hates his job and is taking it out on me hoping to get fired otherwise Grifffen must not really give a rats ass about their customers. Any similar experiences? I doubt I'm alone..
 

legion

macrumors 6502a
Jul 31, 2003
516
0
That email cracked me up! :cool:

All I can say is at least he was honest. I'd prefer a direct and informal email than a PR press release in a form letter anyday. Obviously this guy is on the same wavelength.

Though it does seem a little rude, his points in the email are still valid. When it comes to pre-ordering a product, you have to expect delays (see Apple.. though they don't usually refer to it as "pre-ordering" even though they really should.) Did you really expect something constructive to come about from emailing or calling them? If the products not there, then they have nothing to sell you (I'm sure they would like to sell it to you too because they can't make any money off of a "preorder.")

This guy just decided to give you a little dose of reality. It seems you have a sense of entitlement that's just been dashed by his response (and maybe your pride was hurt a bit too.) In either case, the sentiments he expressed are pretty much the feelings of any "upper management" type in any company though it's usually filtered into a gentle statement by those on the frontlines to irrate customers.

Well, here's to you getting your iTrip :D ! (..hope they don't sabotage it.)
 

rainman::|:|

macrumors 603
Feb 2, 2002
5,438
2
iowa
yeah, it seemed somewhat rude and unprofessional, but i too would rather get this than a form "we have put you on a newsletter to be contacted when our product ships" that most companies use. you have to remember that they work very hard to get the iTrip to their specifications, and they're certainly not happy about this... they haven't gotten paid yet, remember. the original iTrip took a looong time to ship too, and then a month later it was outdated. kind of a kick in the teeth. i waited about six months for mine, and i made due, and i love it. so, as he said, perhaps you shouldn't get so stressed about it?

in retrospect, i'm glad that they took the time to put in the status light, etc. as i'm much happier now having waited than if i got my itrip two months earlier as less quality...

pnw
 

macrat

macrumors regular
Mar 21, 2003
202
12
Maui
I suspect this guy probably received a few hundred (or even thousand) letters like yours and finally lost it. It all happens to us but there is still no excuse for such unprofessional reply, IMHO. Either that or he won the lottery before he wrote the letter.

Reminds me of a reply I got from a small software company after I complained that the registration code for the downloaded shareware software was a "mile" long that won't even allow me to copy and paste it, all for a a $15 app. The guy went on to tell me a sarcastic history of how much work he did on the software and how thousands of cheap Napster-like users are depriving him of what is legally due him.
 

StealthRider

macrumors 65816
Jan 23, 2002
1,065
16
Here and there!
im sorry, but thats inexcusable...if i was talked to like that the company wouldn't hear the end of me until the offender was transferred to Tierra del Fuego or was fired.
 

eclipse525

macrumors 6502a
Aug 5, 2003
850
0
USA, New York
Hey, at least he isn't blowing sunshine up your ass. It's better than some idiot stroking you all the time and promising you that it's on it's way when in reality it isn't. Some people just can't handle the real answer. It's too much of a blow to the EGO. EGO will/has been the downfall of many.

Now, i'm not saying that the company is on holy ground here. They sure dropped the ball and should really be updating(unless they haven't) there customers as to the status of production and shipment. At least that it show's some respect and might ease the anticipation of the customers.

~e
 

mstecker

macrumors 6502
Jul 16, 2002
300
0
Philadelphia
I have to agree with the rep's response. Griffin is a great company and they'll get it out as soon as they can.

I've been on that waiting list for a long time. Would I like to have it? Sure I would. Am I willing to wait? Sure I am.

If you're not willing to wait, for goodness sake, just cancel your order.
 

depakote

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 16, 2003
36
0
Just thought I should let everyone know that today I received a call from Griffin's CEO Jeff Pack. He was very nice and apologized for his employee's attitude and said he would be shipping me a iTrip ASAP. I look forward to receiving it and future products. I definitely recommend Griffin to everyone!
 

eclipse525

macrumors 6502a
Aug 5, 2003
850
0
USA, New York
Originally posted by depakote
Just thought I should let everyone know that today I received a call from Griffin's CEO Jeff Pack. He was very nice and apologized for his employee's attitude and said he would be shipping me a iTrip ASAP. I look forward to receiving it and future products. I definitely recommend Griffin to everyone!


OoooooooH.....now you're a happy camper. Trash the company based on one bad Apple(perspective) and then Praise it for one good Apple. Something twisted about that.

~e
 

Gus

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2002
1,078
0
Minnesota
The compamy should never have sent an e-mmail like that, amusing or not. They are a business that depends on reputation as much as the product itself. Yeah, maybe it's refreshing to get an honest answer, but not like that. I'm glad you are getting the iTrip sooner than later.

Regards,
Gus
 
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