I’m surprised at how much I like the little Canon I picked up before my last golf trip. The high-speed video mode works really well for dissecting a golf swing. The only problem is the beating it takes bouncing around the golf cart. I was careful to keep the screen side up to avoid banging it up too badly, but the lens side is pretty scratched up after just a couple of rounds. I decided to get an Invisible Shield to protect the big screen before it was too late.
I’ve been a big fan of the Invisible Shield since I got one for my BlackBerry. Everything was as smooth as I remembered as I placed the second order, paid via PayPal and choose the free shipping option.
The next day was when things got a little weird.
The day after I placed my order I received an e-mail notification of a “customer appreciation” sale, which offered me 20% off on my next purchase. I replied to the e-mail with a quick note. I figured that like most businesses I’ve dealt with in similar situations they’d apply the discount to the order I’d just placed. I was wrong.
Me: Can you apply the discount to the order I placed yesterday?
Them: Sorry, no.
Me: Can you cancel my order then so I can re-place the order with the discount?
Them: Sorry, no – it shipped already.
After trading a half dozen e-mails it was clear that they were quite happy to give me an RMA, let me return the original order, then place a second order using the discount. However they were just not going to apply the discount to the original purchase.
I tried one more time, a little more pointedly:
This is ridiculous. You are the ones that sent me the “we’re having a sale” e-mail a day after I placed an order and before I’ve received the product. You’re willing to have me ship it back, place a new order and ship me the product again, but you aren’t willing to cut out the middle steps and just apply the discount? Surely someone there can see this is ludicrous and simply grant the discount to the existing order and save us all a bunch of hassle.
For what it’s worth, I’ve been a big supporter of your products. A Google search for “invisible shield review” shows my very positive blog post as the first hit:
http://www.google.com/search?q=invisible+shield+review1
I’m really disappointed in how this has been handled so far. I’m hoping you’ll fix it in your next response to me.
Their response:
I am sorry, this promotion is only available through the link you received in that email, and is meant for customers to do repeat business. I am unable to extend a partial refund to you, but you can still place a new order, and return the first order for a refund.
I’m not sure if they somehow thought this was my first order from them (if they did, then they are guilty of not reading my e-mails to them) and was trying to take advantage of the offer for repeat customers (which I already was), but I think they made a mistake.
The kicker in all this? The 20% discount offered is only 2 bucks.
Before I got the “customer appreciation” e-mail I was happy with the price I paid for my order. I was an enthusiastic supporter of their product which helped drive other sales for them. And I didn’t go looking for the discount in question here, they e-mailed it to me.
ShieldZone made a mistake in how they handled this with me. They can keep their $2 – they lost a lot more than $2 worth of goodwill in this exchange. They’ve still got a great product and I continue to use it on my camera and BlackBerry, but I’m no longer a cheerleader for them.
On the bright side, this sort of experience makes me think hard about the customer service and support I offer my customers; which is definitely a good thing.
- My post has since moved down to the middle of the first page for that search. [back]
I’ve switched to buying from BestSkinsEver; it’s the same product (3M Paint Protective Film) at a much lower price.
http://www.bestskins[...]t/StoreFront
When I ordered an iPod protector from ShieldZone, they sent me the wrong item at first. After they sent the correct protector, they wanted me to send the first one back – and I know it cost them less than a dollar to produce.
Did you see this guy refutes your claim that they are the same product?
After your last review I purchased two Invisible Shields for both my Smartphone and Canon D400 and I love them. I also really like the fact they offer free international shipping as well. With my order everything went a-okay.
I can understand your frustration completely. On the other hand they do make a great product (I keep on cheering) so I want to thank you for pointing me to them.
Alex – I saw that, but I have reasons to think they’re just trying to BS and justify their higher prices.
I can’t tell any difference between my ShieldZone iPod protector and the material for my MacBook protectors I got from BSE.
(I have no affiliation with either company except as a picky customer..)
Ugh – sometimes companies really are pretty dumb. I already recommended them to my Dad after seeing your recommendation and buying one myself, but this makes me think twice about continuing to recommend them if this is their idea of “customer service”.
It also makes me wonder how helpful they will be if you take them up on their lifetime guarantee.
wow. doesn’t seem to make any sense at all in terms of business sense on their part, and they may have lost a customer (more, really) by making such a decision.
Bill, can you share these “reasons”?
With permission from Alex, I am sharing this email which was sent to him today – – –
Alex,
I wanted to write you and apologize for your recent negative experience with ShieldZone.
Also, I wanted to thank you, because this issue has always been an ongoing concern for us. When we saw your posting. it made us reconsider and re-evaluate our process which then led to a decision to make a change.
Here is our new policy:
When we offer a sale on a specific item, and any customer has purchased that item within the last 30 days, we will honor the sales price for that customer.
Alex, I have always been a HUGE supporter of over-the-top customer service, and we at ShieldZone have tried very hard to provide that kind of service to all of our customers. I hope this new policy accomplishes that goal.
Warm Regards,
Phillip Chipping, Founder
ShieldZone Corporation
http://www.invisibleshield.com
– – –
In closing, I would like to say two things to address other comments made here.
1 – when coming up with policies and procedures, it’s hard to know up-front exactly what to do. It’s only with the feedback from customers that we can find a good balance. Obviously there still need to be policies and procedures for any company as large as ShieldZone, but we hope that this new policy meets your needs better! We are honestly very interested to know your thoughts and feelings regarding our new policy on this matter.
2 – I can definitively say that the invisibleSHIELD is a superior product. We do not use 3M film. The Lifetime Guarantee is for real. We have a full call-center and email support staff who help customers get replacements every day. 🙂
Alex – I feel you here. I had the same experience with Adobe over the last couple weeks over Lightroom and a 15% discount. Instead of just crediting my card or account the 15%, I had to spend 6 weeks taking care of a Letter of Destruction and then battling with their online help because the coupon code I had tried to use expired in the meantime. So aggravating.
Glad you are focused on customer service – it’s what’s important, period.
I placed an order on Sept 29th, received the wrong item, emailed them last Monday (a week ago), still haven’t received a response, and their phone number doesn’t work (its just a looping automated message tellign me to leave a message, which you can’t because the message loops).
I’ve placed about 6 orders for 8 shields, and I am not happy with their customer service, even for repeat customers.
@Bill — Thanks for the link to Best Skins ever. I was trying to purchase another full-iphone skin from ShieldZone and noticed their shipping had changed to the point where it would take weeks to get my skin or would cost me 70% of the cost of skin to get it this week.
Plus, having put the ShieldZone skin on my last iPhone, I can tell by the high-res photos that the Total Body Skin will work better on the corners of the iPhone. The Invisible Shield has little drop-shaped cut-outs that are tough to apply (for me, anyway).
I spent 30 minutes trying to get the corners as neat as possible and the cuts just didn’t lay very nice. Hopefully the TBS from Best Skins will be better.
I think you are acting like a typical American consumer. The deal was extended to you as an offer to retain you as a repeat customer, you tried to trick them into using the offer against it’s ultimate intent, they said no, you acted like a douche. The customer, it needs to be said, is so very often fucking wrong. Maybe China does need to take the world away from you Americans.
I dissagree with the above comment about American consumer. I do believe Alex is right in the request for the discount. The reality is the invisible shield is very much overpriced. It’s a good product, but it should not cost anything near the amount that they charge. The least they can do is provide good service to a returning customer who paid for their overpriced items.