Re: H&M customer service department??
Hence the reason I started this forum, to help educate folks. No one else was doing it! So you get the best of what I know, and if I don't have an answer, I'll try to shake one loose from the Tree of Knowledge by making a few phone calls. All free of charge!
The furniture industry has no money. Simple as that. You're not going to see innovations like on iTunes, or Build your Car on the web, its not going to happen any time in the near future. I can't even get a cool Flash or Java Script on the forum because I don't know how to do it and can't afford to hire it out. This is a low margin business, with a lot of players in it. Customers have demanded China-like pricing but want USA builds, try to do that and have a killer web site person on staff at the same time! How thin does this industry run? Well, I'm a 1-man operation with two Saturday delivery people. That's it. Hancock and Moore has no middle management. There's the three owners and then right to the customer service ladies. The CEO of Taylor King was in my store last week pulling discontinued fabrics. The Owner of Bucks Country Furniture and his wife do the deliveries to the stores in their one truck. I could go on and on, but you get the point.
Right now the USA furniture industry is in survival mode. Trying to keep the doors open. And if they have a little spare cash they are more likely to spend it on an ad in a magazine like they've done the past 30 years rather than try something new that may not generate results. New technology and ideas are plentiful, the money to implement them is not. Most are trying to keep their employees employed - and pay their supplier bills. We don't have conventions in Vegas or Hawaii, no one can afford them. I have never been taken out to dinner by a single supplier in this industry in 25 years, though once in a while they'll pop for lunch at Wendy's. Suppliers are so tight with the money that I frequently go out of pocket for repairs that I know need to be done (such as shipping rub marks, etc) because to try to get them to do it at no charge can be as tough as a root canal.
The Retail Dealer is your contact point, not the factory. That's the way the system is set up and its not likely to change. If you go to the factory for answers you make get a luke-warm reception at best, the customer service ladies have been caught many times in the middle between a dealer and a customer and they want to keep their jobs like everyone else, so they will tell you only the very basics when you get them on the phone. They don't want you to call them, and that's why you don't find their phone numbers easily. They want you to call a dealer. Now if the dealer isn't up to speed on a product line, who's fault is that? I blame the dealer. Their job is to provide you the answers you need to make an informed decision. If they fail to do that, then why give them your business? They haven't earned it. I've been told I call H&M more on a daily basis more than any other dealer in their network (by far) and that's because I have a natural curiosity of things and truly dislike being caught unaware with a customer question. I make trips to the factory to see how its built, and I learn more by looking around and observing than I could ever learn by reading the sales materials. I don't quit at quitting time (5:30 pm) and you'll find me most every night answering questions on the forum after 9 p.m. if you look at the time stamps of the posts.
I present new ideas to all these companies almost weekly. They listen, but then its business as usual. They tell me I'm a smart guy with great ideas, but if I was that smart I'd OWN THE COMPANY, wouldn't I? <g> So the real key is find a dealer that knows the product line and buy from them. If you can't find them locally, there is one (me) as close as your computer and I will try to EARN your business.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.