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They took my money, made mistakes, then refused to give me a refund
Published on May 20, 2005 By Pranay Gupte In Business
The following is the text of a letter I sent to Gary Kusin, president of Fedex Kinko's, and Maggie Thill, of the company's media department. Neither has responded.

Dear Maggie Thill:

I write this to say how disappointed I am with the service -- or lack thereof -- at the fedex Kinko's center at 16 Court, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

I had placed an order three weeks ago for 500 business cards, and paid in full (the invoice was for around $35).

When I went to check the page proofs yesterday, I found several mistakes.

I went at 2:30 p.m. today (Thursday, May 19) to collect my cards, and was brusquely told to come back in 15 minutes. Then a representative called me on my cell phone to say that the original computer files couldn't be found, and that I should return at 3:30 p.m.

When I returned to the shop at 3:45 p.m., I found that the finished product had several mistakes -- including misspelling "The New York Sun" as "The New Yory Sun."

I was then shuffled from one representatives to another. Finally I asked to see the manager. A young man identifying himself as Martin John Jr. came. I told him that I found the entire experience totally unsatisfactory and that I wanted a refund. He asked for my receipt, which I didn't have on me. In a loud voice, and much to my utter embarrassment, he said I wouldn't get my money back unless I produced a receipt. I offered to show my driver's license and other identification. But he simply walked away.

This is no way for your company to treat a customer.

What do you suggest that I do about recovering my money?

Please let me know.

Thanks, and kind regards,

Sincerely,
Pranay Gupte
Business Columnist
The New York Sun

Comments
on May 20, 2005
Wow, talk about a bunch of rude, inempt people who know absolutely nothing about customer service! That was a very nicely worded and calmly worded letter too I might add. Hopefully they will respond and will fix your business cards and give you your refund too! That much you deserve!
on Jun 06, 2005
This kind of misbehavior is rarely seen in smaller cities like St.Louis. Cutomers are highly respected here. Maybe Kinko's [Brooklyn ] should send their employees here for training.
on Nov 13, 2005
If I were you, I would stay away from any and all Fedex Kinko's. This is comming from a person who used to work for the company. FedEx Kinko's current polices are slash and reports. They don't care doodly about the customer. The current goal is "Operational Excellence," which is a direct contradiction to the parent company's "Purple Promise" directive (make every FedEx experience outstanding). Management is subject to a barrage of reports, and "effieciency" is over emphasized to the point that too few employees are forced to do more and more with less time allowed to do a quality job and give even acceptable customer service. In the name of effieciency, the current regime, led by Harvard flunkie Gary Kusin, continues to promote substandard systems like "Express Pay" (dumped on the stores to capture revenue, yet costs the stores more in equipment and irritated customers, and the latest fiasco, "Order To Pay," a computer based order taking systems that is, at the very least, cumbersome and unstable. OTP, as the acronym-happy FedEx Kinko's calls the system, was rushed into the stores even after beta tests showed the system to be totally flawed. Looks like somebody took a payoff somewhere, eh Gary? And the Dallas based corporation continues to hand down poor machinery, continues to slash the payroll, continues to rely on consultants who have no idea what great customer service is all about and openly wonders why sales are going down. Hmmmm.

To give you an example of how responsive the company is to "the field" (what they call the store fronts), when the new Order To Pay system was rolled out, employees were told to tell customers with Kinko's accounts to make sure that they had FedEx Kinko's credit cards because OTP wouldn't allow for people to charge without a card. Then the corporate office branch that handles accounts payables decided to temporary close, ensuring more hassles and customer inconveniences. Operational excellence?

Yes friend, if you have any inkling of visiting a FedEx Kinko's, I urge you to run, not walk away. You will be given the treat of waiting in line to place your order, the employee who finally waits on you won't be able to because he or she has to leave so they won't get fired for working overtime, and he's probably has three or four people waiting at the FedEx counter anyway. (I did forget to mention that when FedEx bought Kinko's, and gave Gary Kusin lots of FedEx stock for his troubles, full serve FedEx counters were put into the store. Yet interestingly enough, no extra people were hired to run these counters, more lines, less customer service and more profits for Gary's Dallas villa and country club fees.

Gary and his Harvard gang simply don't care. I somebody wish film maker Michael Moore would do an expose on Kusin and what he did to ruin a terrific, family-friendly company.