Sage customer service
 

Sage customer service
 

rw wrote in news:YdBfc.11825$A_4.9197
@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:

I didn't think you were coming across as sarcastic, Tyler. My point was
that there is a psychological approach to dealing with customer service
reps that works -- and not just those of rod makers but all of them,
especially computer hardware and software reps.


100% agreed, and it goes further than customer service reps. Most people,
given the opportunity, are actually happy to please other people,
especially if it doesn't require much extra effort on their part. Polite
requests, an indication of how much you would value their effort, and a
thank you at the end, go a very long way.

In the end, you go away happy haven gotten what you need, and the person
helping you goes away feeling happy that they've helped you.

The only exceptions I've found to this took place mainly in the New York
City area. I have a wonderfully amusing story about how I ripped up my
credit card form at the Long Island Marriot the morning after my wedding,
when far too much of my effort went into actually getting my $350/night
executive sweet cleaned up in the middle of the night, after they rented it
out for a nooner, to be followed by demanding they contact a locksmith with
a torch to open up the safety deposit box that they managed to jam shut.
It was great. I've never yelled so loud since.

Scott

Sage customer service
 

Well said, and good perspective. :)

----
I didn't think you were coming across as sarcastic, Tyler. My point was
that there is a psychological approach to dealing with customer service
reps that works -- and not just those of rod makers but all of them,
especially computer hardware and software reps.
These poor employees are always dealing with people who have problems.
They get lots of calls from irate, dissatisfied customers. It must be a
lousy way to make a living. I find that if I introduce myself in a
pleasant, cheerful way (even though I might be really ****ed off), they
often make a special effort to help. If I can make them feel good about
what they're doing -- that is, helping me -- it gets results. I try to
remind myself that the goal is to fix the problem, not to vent my
spleen. :-)
--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

Sage customer service
 

Glad you have a sense of humor about it! $350.00 a night?!? and rented
out for a nooner? LOL


-----
The only exceptions I've found to this took place mainly in the New York
City area. I have a wonderfully amusing story about how I ripped up my
credit card form at the Long Island Marriot the morning after my
wedding, when far too much of my effort went into actually getting my
$350/night executive sweet cleaned up in the middle of the night, after
they rented it out for a nooner, to be followed by demanding they
contact a locksmith with a torch to open up the safety deposit box that
they managed to jam shut. It was great. I've never yelled so loud since.
Scott

Sage customer service
 

6 months on a T&T? ok, i have a new perspective on it all i guess. I
didn't mean to bring up brand name "bashing" or anything. I like my
Sage rods for how they cast, period. My lack of experience dealing with
broken rods had my expectations skewered i think.. The concept you
shared on how Kaufmanns handles things with you is GREAT!!


..Sad story about a broken friend snipped...
I have to admit that I've broken Sage rods 8 or ten times. I take the
rod to the dealer, Kaufmann's in Belleview Washington in this case, and
they send it in to Sage. Once it took 8 days, last week it only took 3
days. I pay for shipping and handling, and let the shop take care of any
discussions. My best guess is that your rod will be promised in 6 weeks,
and will show up in less than 2 weeks.
Had it been a T&T rod, you could expect 6 months. One local dealer quit
carrying them because the service was so bad, I started telling the
story to another dealer, and he popped up with the T&T name in the
middle of the story. "A great rod, just don't break it"
Chas

Sage customer service
 

Scott Seidman wrote:

... I have a wonderfully amusing story about how I ripped up my
credit card form at the Long Island Marriot the morning after my wedding,
when far too much of my effort went into actually getting my $350/night
executive sweet cleaned up in the middle of the night, after they rented it
out for a nooner, ...

Oh man, that is SO wrong on so many levels, I mean at $350 a night
you'd expect she'd be able to clean up pretty well all by herself. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

Sage customer service
 

Snipped Tyler's tale of woe
Sage fixed one of mine in 10 days. Differences between yours and mine we
1. I took it to a Sage dealer who handled it. Cost = $20.
2. A tip was broken.
3. My dealer was in Oregon.
4. It was fixed in the off season.
5. I do not have a favorite rod, but the broken one was NOT the rod I use
most.

FWIW when yours returns, is it as good or better than the original? Since
mine was a tip replacement I cannot tell the difference. Cortland replaced
the butt section of one of their rods for my son and we could tell that it
cast differently.

When you get yours back, give us an update. Good luck!

John

Sage customer service
 

Ken Fortenberry wrote in
:

Scott Seidman wrote:

... I have a wonderfully amusing story about how I ripped up my
credit card form at the Long Island Marriot the morning after my
wedding, when far too much of my effort went into actually getting my
$350/night executive sweet cleaned up in the middle of the night,
after they rented it out for a nooner, ...

Oh man, that is SO wrong on so many levels, I mean at $350 a night
you'd expect she'd be able to clean up pretty well all by herself. ;-)


Splork-vang-mu

Unbelieveable day, that was. I call them the morning of the wedding,
asking what time I could check in. They told me 4PM!! OK, I say,
realizing it might put a kink in my day, but I'm still nice at this
point.

I get there at 4, about an hour before I need to show up to deal with the
photographer. They tell me my room wasn't ready. Keep in mind, I'm
paying $350 for this room. But, I'm still nice at this point. I ask
very nicely if it would be OK if I left my bag, if they could take my
imprint and check me in when they can, and if I could drop my travel docs
and cash in their safe deposit box.

I get there around 1AM, and go up to the room. Given an early departure,
I want to grab my safe deposit contents, so I go down to the front desk.
The place is still real busy. I give them my key, and they can't get the
damn box open!! I suggested very nicely that they work on it somehow and
get it open before early morning. I go back up to the room to (well,
never mind why). My new wife, who had expected me to be gone for only
five minutes, which turned into about 20, had been poking around the
room. The towels, the soap, and such were clearly wet, there were
unopened (thankfully) condom packages on the nightstand, and there was a
pair of panties on the couch that didn't belong to either one of us (at
least that was her story).

Back down to the front desk. I was testy by this point. I reach the
front desk to find a custodian behind it, wailing away at my particular
safe deposit box with a big sledge!! No ****, this was just the way
things were going down. Enough was enough. I asked immediately for the
manager, and just blew up. I told her that this was unacceptable, and
asked if they were running a hotel or a brothel. I informed them that
their housekeeping staff had better beat me back up to the room to take
care of things. I told them that they were off their rockers if they
thought I was going to pay for this room, and they ripped up the bill. I
informed the manager that as soon as I left the desk, her next action
would be to call an on-call locksmith, and get the guy over there with a
torch. As soon as the safe deposit box was open, they were to call my
room, and the manager on duty was then to walk the contents of the box to
my room and hand it to me personally, and god help them if anything were
missing. I couldn't believe that my 2AM tirade in their lobby was
actually gathering a crowd. My requests were pretty much all honored!

Flew to Alaska the next morning. Rembering that I needed to fly back
through New York and spend a night in order to close my round trips, I
called another hotel to make that reservation, cancelling my Marriot
stay. After the Alaska trip, I get to the new hotel, to be told "we're
sorry sir, but a jury has been sequestered here, so we don't have your
room." Maybe it was the look on my face, but the night manager
immediately upgraded me to their biggest suite at no extra cost. The
place had a terrace as big as my living room, bathtub, jacuzzi, stand up
shower, bidet, full bar, full entertainment center. Plus, down the hall,
there were two really nice bailiffs stationed, making sure the
sequestered jurors didn't get into trouble. They told some wonderful
stories about Al Sharpton's courtroom antics.

Scott

Sage customer service
 

wrote in message
...

Finally some nice weather here in Michigan, and having a day off
work i headed north to fish a favorite stretch of the AuSable. Water
levels now down from the snow melt, temp rising, and it feels great
being on the water again.. until, one hour downstream my favorite
streamer rod (sage xp) for no apparent reason, breaks near the butt
section. More then likely it was nicked, or chipped somewhere last fall
and just gave way.

God's river, gonna be up there for opening weekend and again on May 6th. Can
not wait.

Upset (the fishing was great until then) i made the trek back to my
truck and drove home to call Sage and inquire as to getting the rod
replaced. The "official trout" opener is in just over a week here and i
don't want to be without my go-to rod. I'd never broken a rod before so
had no experience in dealing with an issue like this first hand,
however, i as upset as i was at the rod breaking (i understand this
happens, and will probably happen again) i was more upset at the 6 week
time Sage told me it would take to "fix or repair" the rod... 6 weeks???
thats a healthy portion of trout season. [snip], but for a rod company
that
promotes itself as a world leader (with world leading prices i may add)
6 weeks seems a bit unreasonalbe to me.. Are all rod companies as slow
in turning around on a repair or replacement? Sorry to carry on about
this. Just wanted others experience or thoughts.


I don't find six weeks to be excessively slow, diamondback took two months
to fix two rods, T&T took 6 once (In their defense it was a rod they had
quit making 4 years early but they went out to the "shack" and found a blank
and made me another). When I sent my sage LL in for repair I was quoted six
weeks but the conversation went something like this...

Sage: "Mr. Knight, we will repair or replace your rod and it should be ready
in about 4-6 weeks"

Me: "That's my favorite dry fly rod and the sulfurs are coming off great in
SW Wisconsin"

Sage: "I know Mr. Knight but we do have a number of folks ahead of you"

Me. "How do you file those warranty cards people send in?"

Sage "Alphabetically by name"

Me: "Is it nearby?"

Sage "yes"

Me: "will you go look me up?"

Sage: "sure, just a minute Mr. Knight"

small delay....

Sage " er, Mr. Knight, we'll speed you up a little, would that be
satisfactory?"

Me. "yes and thank you"

a few days later Fed Ex delivered a new sage 389-3 LL to my door.

Being a gear whore has it's benefits.

Sage customer service
 

"Scott Seidman" wrote...
snip
After the Alaska trip, I get to the new hotel, to be told "we're
sorry sir, but a jury has been sequestered here, so we don't have your
room." Maybe it was the look on my face, but the night manager
immediately upgraded me to their biggest suite at no extra cost. The
place had a terrace as big as my living room, bathtub, jacuzzi, stand up
shower, bidet, full bar, full entertainment center.

Ahhhh, travel/hotel stories - I know them well. One particularly grueling
episode in Biloxi, MS involving lousy flights, lost baggage, a nauseating bus
ride, and a hotel manager telling me they had no rooms available ended with my
wife and me in the honeymoon suite. There was an incredible amount of red and
pink decor, but a nice, comfortable room. Meanwhile, my convention-attending
cohorts were unable to SSS because all the pipes in the other convention hotels
were frozen (coldest winter on record in Biloxi.)
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj