Diesel - Only The Lame
Posted by John Sobol on August 1st, 2008
You may be familiar with the Italian clothing brand Diesel. Trendy, cool, hip stuff. And generally very creative campaigns highlighting their edgy brand. (For example, their logo is a guy with a Mohawk and their slogan is “Only the Brave”).
I recently visited the Diesel website and sent them this email via their customer service page:
“Hi. About 10 years ago I purchased a pair of silver Diesel glasses. I have worn them ever since. They are not only the best glasses I have ever owned but probably the best value of anything I have ever bought. They have endured despite the arrival of my two kids, who grabbed and flung them around more times than I can remember. I also love the look. You can see a picture of me wearing them if you search my name - JOHN SOBOL on Facebook. (I’m the guy with the flower on his head!
But I am not just writing to praise your glasses but to ask whether or not you still have any pairs like mine kicking around anywhere in storage. Mine are on their last legs and I haven’t found anything like them in any of the many stores I’ve been to. I would be very happy to buy a pair, or a few pairs from you, if you can locate any. Thanks.”
The next day I got this response:
John,
Thank you for contacting the Diesel Online Store.
We would like to inform you that we are the Customer Care exclusively for the Diesel Online Store, and that on the Online Store you will find a selection of products from Diesel’s latest collections. If you cannot find the product you are looking for, unfortunately this means it is currently unavailable.
We suggest you visit or contact the nearest Diesel store in your location. In order to find the store nearest to you, click on Diesel Store Locator, from the Online Store, or from the Diesel Home Page. Once in the Diesel Store Locator page, you will find the full contact details.
Please do not hesitate to contact us again should you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you,
Carlotta
Diesel Customer Care
It is not possible to reply directly to this message.
Now I know Carlotta was just doing her job as she’s been told to do it (assuming Carlotta is not simply an automated reply function, which I suspect she may be) but considering the unusual (for me, anyway) degree of loyalty I expressed to Diesel in my email, this response amounts to a complete kiss-off. How disappointing. I mean, if you are going to bother having a “Customer Care Centre” you should at least show that in some small way you do actually care about your customers. Unfortunately for me, Diesel apparently doesn’t.
Posted to Branding, Human Resources, Marketing, Positioning, Staff
August 1st, 2008 » 10:47 am
Last year after the tainted mass-produced pet food scandal I did a lot of research and switched my dog to human-grade natural dry food. The first brand of food I tried was Innova. After a few days I noticed that my dog was urinating more and that obviously worried me. So I wrote in to the company via e-mail asking if frequent urination was normal and asking advice on exactly how much of this food I should be feeding my dog, since it was very high-protein.
I got a generic e-mail reply. Seriously. I was writing in about the health of my beloved pet, about a very specific problem I was noticing, and they sent me a generic reply.
Needless to say I’ve switched to another brand since then.
BTW, I think your glasses ARE pretty fab. Too bad Diesel doesn’t care.
August 4th, 2008 » 8:40 am
Welcome to the idea of customer support in Europe
A lot different then in Canada. Been in Munich for 5 years now, and its totally different.
August 6th, 2008 » 4:14 pm
Agreed. I wish some companies were aware of what they’re leaving behind when they send out what amount to auto-replies like this. By contrast, after I bought my first pair of shoes from Zappos Canada last year, I got a hand-written note — signed by several employees and posted by mail — a couple of weeks later, welcoming me aboard. That kind of personal touch has cemented me even more firmly to ordering from that company.
BTW, groovy glasses!
August 7th, 2008 » 5:44 pm
I completely agree about Zappos. I wrote this over a year ago about the customer service ninja skills.
November 2nd, 2008 » 1:57 pm
Don’t you have anything better to do with your time than bitch about Diesel?
Yes, they don’t care about you, your 10-year old glasses, and the fact that you were left unsatisfied.
Get-over-it, and move on.
November 4th, 2008 » 1:14 pm
Diesel glasses really sports great design. In fact I would say that italians have a great sense of good design. Having Gucci glasses for many years now That was the best glasses I ever got. The frame is awesome and the glasses are really comfy.
Viva Italia!
November 7th, 2008 » 6:46 pm
that’s crazy !