Borrowlenses Vent

Sam

I spent three hours and $40.00 in gas trying to pickup a Canon 300 2.8L IS lens and a Canon 1.4 MK III converter I had ordered from Borrowlenses on 9/25/11.

I opted to pay the $15.00 extra to pick it up in San Jose Rather than San Carlos. The San Jose location didn't have it????

I called Borrowlenses and they said the order was never placed??? I said OK we can talk about this later but do you have the lens and extender? Yes they had it. I said put on the counter I'll be up in an hour.

I arrive and it seems that I didn't press all the right buttons online and the order wasn't actually placed. Hummmm.....OK..................

I inspected the lens and there was no lens cap or any type of protection. I asked if they had a lens cap. They said the box would protect it. I explained that the lens would be in a back pack or maybe slung over my shoulder when not in use and the lens could easily get scratched. They responded with a well maybe we could look in the back and see if we have any extras. Extra???

OK I'm thinking. I will take care of it like is was my own but if the front lens element gets scratched because I didn't have a lens cover I don't intend to pay for it. I just thought this I did not say it.

Now I am told I need to place the order on their computer..................I go to the order page and try to place the order. Once the items have been selected I try to check out and I need to log on to my account (I have an account and they new this) I can't log on because I can't remember all the damn passwords I need on the internet!!! They will email me the password. Great..........except for one thing I can't access my email from their computer because I would need my gmail password, and I don't carry that around with me. OK I'll create a new account........no the computer won't allow two accounts on the same email.

At this point I ask OK what do we do now. They said you have to log in and order. I said I can't log in and order, besides you have all my account info. They said create a new gmail account. I am not inclined to do this.

I said OK I am here I have the money the lens and converter are on the counter and I want to rent it what do we do.

I was informed there was nothing they could do. So I left empty handed. :scratch:cry:scratch

Now I full well know they won't be effected by my not being able to conclude a $250.00 rental, and I am confident whatever future business I could have done most likely wouldn't be much, but whatever it could have been won't be.

Now let me tell you a story of another local business, Keeble & Shuchat. I called and while they didn't have a 300 2.8 L and a 1.4 Converter, they did have a 400 2.8. I explained the days I needed it and they quoted a price. I accepted and asked if would be possible to pick it up a day and a half early, not because I would be using it but because of my schedule. They said fine. I asked what they needed credit card etc. They said we know who you are we'll takes care of it when you pick up the lens.

K&S can't compete with the inventory of Borrowlenses but they sure could teach them a thing or two about customer service!!!

Sam

Dan7312

Yikes!!! Reminds of an ad currently running on tv.

If you want Support say one,....

Support.

Sorry we don't understand your request. Goodbye.

BTW you know there are a lot of password wallets you can put on a thumb drive or even your phone. You store all your passwords on it but just have to remember the password for the wallet to access them. Keepass is one http://keepass.info/

Lastpass.com is another, but it stores all your passwords on line. Very convienent but you have to be comfortable with your passwords stored on a server in the cloud.

Dan

Sam wrote: »

I spent three hours and $40.00 in gas trying to pickup a Canon 300 2.8L IS lens and a Canon 1.4 MK III converter I had ordered from Borrowlenses on 9/25/11.

angevin1

WoW! Great Vent!

I have said this for years....all you have is Service...You have nothing else, Service.

I think your post reflects this precisely. You are going your own way with a different lens, and all you needed was some Service and you'd have been a BL customer right on~

Nice to know!

angevin1

Also it comes to mind, BL has a pick-up at locations. They ought to know by now most/many of us are tied to our computers and let our computers remember passwords and so forth. I can tell you if it were my business, I'd have a log on for my Staff so that they could rent the thing to a customer right there on the spot, as if that person was just a walk-in. Credit cards are the reference, not some goddamn log-on!

sara505

Computers are great, can't live without them, but life screeches to a frustrating and maddening halt when things - such as this situation - go wrong.

The classic story is where someone is attempting to make a small purchase of, say, .49 for a pack of gum, and the kid behind the counter says, "Sorry, the computer is down."

System

We sat at a restaurant for over an hour waiting for our check. We asked several times and got no reason why but our server said they couldn't print out the checks just yet. I told her she had 30 seconds to come up with something or we were walking out. Their computers were down and nobody had a calculator to figure out our bill...DUH? Ever hear of a pencil and paper? Add it up then add 7% tax and away you go.

I was at a fast food place just this morning. The bill was $3.21. I gave the girl $20.26...she hands me the change back saying that the $20 would cover it...again I say DUH!

borrowlenses.com

Sam wrote: »

I spent three hours and $40.00 in gas trying to pickup a Canon 300 2.8L IS lens and a Canon 1.4 MK III converter I had ordered from Borrowlenses on 9/25/11.

I opted to pay the $15.00 extra to pick it up in San Jose Rather than San Carlos. The San Jose location didn't have it????

I called Borrowlenses and they said the order was never placed??? I said OK we can talk about this later but do you have the lens and extender? Yes they had it. I said put on the counter I'll be up in an hour.

I arrive and it seems that I didn't press all the right buttons online and the order wasn't actually placed. Hummmm.....OK..................

I inspected the lens and there was no lens cap or any type of protection. I asked if they had a lens cap. They said the box would protect it. I explained that the lens would be in a back pack or maybe slung over my shoulder when not in use and the lens could easily get scratched. They responded with a well maybe we could look in the back and see if we have any extras. Extra???

OK I'm thinking. I will take care of it like is was my own but if the front lens element gets scratched because I didn't have a lens cover I don't intend to pay for it. I just thought this I did not say it.

Now I am told I need to place the order on their computer..................I go to the order page and try to place the order. Once the items have been selected I try to check out and I need to log on to my account (I have an account and they new this) I can't log on because I can't remember all the damn passwords I need on the internet!!! They will email me the password. Great..........except for one thing I can't access my email from their computer because I would need my gmail password, and I don't carry that around with me. OK I'll create a new account........no the computer won't allow two accounts on the same email.

At this point I ask OK what do we do now. They said you have to log in and order. I said I can't log in and order, besides you have all my account info. They said create a new gmail account. I am not inclined to do this.

I said OK I am here I have the money the lens and converter are on the counter and I want to rent it what do we do.

I was informed there was nothing they could do. So I left empty handed. cry

Now I full well know they won't be effected by my not being able to conclude a $250.00 rental, and I am confident whatever future business I could have done most likely wouldn't be much, but whatever it could have been won't be.

Now let me tell you a story of another local business, Keeble & Shuchat. I called and while they didn't have a 300 2.8 L and a 1.4 Converter, they did have a 400 2.8. I explained the days I needed it and they quoted a price. I accepted and asked if would be possible to pick it up a day and a half early, not because I would be using it but because of my schedule. They said fine. I asked what they needed credit card etc. They said we know who you are we'll takes care of it when you pick up the lens.

K&S can't compete with the inventory of Borrowlenses but they sure could teach them a thing or two about customer service!!!

Sam

Hi Sam,

We're very sorry to read about your experience. Normally in a situation like this someone would alert a manager and we would be able to log into your account for you or change the password on the back end. I'm not sure why this didn't happen, and I apologize. We certainly would have been able to help you! We have all read this thread internally and everyone has been made aware of our policy so this will not happen again to you or any other customer.

In regards to your other comments, you are right about the lens pouch and it should have been on the lens. Occasionally customers lose these items or don't return them so there are gaps in our inventory. We usually will buy a replacement ASAP in order to prevent this situation, so I'm not sure how it came to be that the lens you were examining didn't have one. For what it is worth we have also discussed this issue internally and will do everything we can to make sure all of our lenses have soft pouches on them. Thank you for the feedback.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience - that is definitely not the norm. We receive a ton of praise for our customer service and go WAY out of our way to make sure everyone has an amazing experience, and I'm sorry you did not. If you decide to give us a second try I can assure you it will be a flawless experience that will exceed your expectations.

I'll be contacting you directly as well. Thanks again for all your valuable feedback and for taking the time to write this. We really appreciate it.

Josh Norem
Director of Marketing
BorrowLenses.com

mercphoto

captain78 wrote: »

I was at a fast food place just this morning. The bill was $3.21. I gave the girl $20.26...she hands me the change back saying that the $20 would cover it...again I say DUH!

Math is hard.

idiotabroad

A bat and a ball cost 1.10$ The bat is a 1$ more than the ball, how much is the ball?

As for borrowed lenses - never use them.

BradfordBenn

I have not used BorrowLenses before but have been dealing with customer service for a long time. The one thing I have learned is that asking for a manager when you are not getting help at the front line is sometimes the right thing to do. The issue could be something as simple as the person just started a few weeks ago and doesn't know all the ins and outs of the company. The key though is to not yell at the person who has the opportunity to help you. People want to help people who are nice and amiable, not cranky people. I see this at work every time I travel.

Glort

More than a reasonable "Vent" to a moronic problem that should have never occoured.
Surely any sales/ service person with half a brain could figure that was a totally unacceptable situation and do something about it? It's true people are getting dumbed down these days and forget the basic premise of their employment in a situation like that is to help the customer and relieve them of their money. I think the company wants to take a real good long look at who they are employing if they have people there that will let paying customers walk out the door because of something as stupid as logging onto an account.
If someone that woked for me did that they would not get a second chance to be so dim witted.

Lucky for me and my friends, we have combined about any lens we would ever be likley to need or something that would get us by anyway. We don't buy anything now one of the others has, there is no point. We rarely have all our own stuff in our possession anyway. Even got to the point a couple of weeks back where a friend and I literally took 5 min to work out who owned a 70-200 because there are 3 of them in " the pool" and as they always do the rounds, we just couldn't remember who owned which one.
With a mate buying a 28-300 the other day, I think we just about have the white zoom collection covered and have made good inroads into the black series as well! :0)

As for passwords, they drive me insane. All these things you do online that want complex passwords like you hold secrets of national importance when you log onto a forum or want to order some bits and pieces for your computer that have to be prepaid before being picked up anyway.

I always try to keep to the same passwords as my memory is crap for these things but that dosen't work out and satisfy thease security zealots. you can't have something simple and easy to remember, the standard now seems to be 8 charachters with upper and lower case and numerals as well. Can't use your birthsay, street address, part of your name or anything else relevant.
The stupidity is, I have to write these passwords down in a book so if anyone got the book they have the keys to the castle as it were a lot easier than if they just let me use the simple password I preffered in the first place!!

I just set up a new server with win 2008 and that forced me to use something I'll never remember so what did I do so I don't forget it? Wrote it in texta on the front of the machine of course!!

Security for all my future of the world dependent secerets at it's finest!

fredjclaus

Sam,

When we spoke on the phone yesterday you mentioned this post. I didn't think it was this bad though. Customer service is everything in this country. If you don't have great customer service, you won't have customers. Word of Mouth is also very big, and unfortunately negative word of mouth travels farther than possitive.

I do agree what what you were saying and from the sounds of your post, the counter person didn't know what the heck he was talking about. I do however like the fact that Borrowlenses.com chimed in and is attempting to make it right. That shows the company it at least owning up to the mistake and not washing it under the rug and hoping you will just forget about it. I've never heard of Borrowlenses, but I don't think they have an outlet here in Buffalo for me to use. They do seem like a company worth looking into though, and I hope you are going to give them a second chance.

Since I'm on the younger end of the "Old Guys" comment, I don't think I will comment on it. I do hope you got your issue resolved though.

kdog

Fascinating story, Sam. I would expect some heads to be rolling at Borrowlenses over this. :whip

At any rate, I'm glad you got a lens for this shoot as I know how much it means to you.

David_S85

Encouraging that Josh came in here to help smooth this situation out. As you can see, Borrowlenses has over 400 posts here, so this company has a history with the DGrin and Smugmug community. Thanks, Josh!

angevin1

David_S85 wrote: »

Encouraging that Josh came in here to help smooth this situation out. As you can see, Borrowlenses has over 400 posts here, so this company has a history with the DGrin and Smugmug community. Thanks, Josh!

It is encouraging, and I expect no less from a reputable and responsible company. Yet he (Josh) didn't say anything that would lead me to believe they (BL) did anything to Wow Sam. So I've been waiting on the OP to come back in here to tell me about his potential Wow moment.

And isn't there a post or three missing here from this morning?

Angelo

angevin1 wrote: »

It is encouraging, and I expect no less from a reputable and responsible company. Yet he (Josh) didn't say anything that would lead me to believe they (BL) did anything to Wow Sam. So I've been waiting on the OP to come back in here to tell me about his potential Wow moment.

And isn't there a post or three missing here from this morning?

Josh said a lot and the definition of a Wow moment for Sam can be defined only by him. Josh said he would be contacting Sam directly, so that may happen privately.

Yes, there are some posts gone. Someone came in, made a comment that added nothing to the discussion and laid bare what came very close to a personal insult. Where there's smoke there's fire so I snuffed it out.

borrowlenses.com

I wrote to Sam in IM to see if we can help him in the future. I'm waiting to hear back at the moment.

borrowlenses.com

fredjclaus wrote: »

Sam,

When we spoke on the phone yesterday you mentioned this post. I didn't think it was this bad though. Customer service is everything in this country. If you don't have great customer service, you won't have customers. Word of Mouth is also very big, and unfortunately negative word of mouth travels farther than possitive.

I do agree what what you were saying and from the sounds of your post, the counter person didn't know what the heck he was talking about. I do however like the fact that Borrowlenses.com chimed in and is attempting to make it right. That shows the company it at least owning up to the mistake and not washing it under the rug and hoping you will just forget about it. I've never heard of Borrowlenses, but I don't think they have an outlet here in Buffalo for me to use. They do seem like a company worth looking into though, and I hope you are going to give them a second chance.

Since I'm on the younger end of the "Old Guys" comment, I don't think I will comment on it. I do hope you got your issue resolved though.

We don't have an outlet in Buffalo per se but we do ship to all 50 states

josh

angevin1

Angelo wrote: »

..............the definition of a Wow moment for Sam can be defined only by him.

Yep. Thats what I said. But BL also had the op to say right here in this thread what if anything they were willing to do. Though I admit that could easily be misconstrued as gratuitous.

And We may or may not find out more on this, thats also up to the OP. But I would really like to know. Customer service means so very much to me personally. And personally I have had nothing but great experiences with this company. I follow them on FB, and have used one of their weekly coupons to help pay for a rental, as well as always using the Smugmug discount.

Angelo, I can dig what you must deal with to moderate a forum. I have no idea! I will say though that in March (snip). No one came to my censuring rescue from a fellow dgrinner when he was obviously rude and apparently looking for a fight. Not that I need you to do that for me...just interesting the differences we perceive over words.

(snip)

Angelo

angevin1 wrote: »

Yep. Thats what I said. But BL also had the op to say right here in this thread what if anything they were willing to do. Though I admit that could easily be misconstrued as gratuitous.

And We may or may not find out more on this, thats also up to the OP. But I would really like to know. Customer service means so very much to me personally. And personally I have had nothing but great experiences with this company. I follow them on FB, and have used one of their weekly coupons to help pay for a rental, as well as always using the Smugmug discount.

Angelo, I can dig what you must deal with to moderate a forum. I have no idea! I will say though that in March (snip). No one came to my censuring rescue from a fellow dgrinner when he was obviously rude and apparently looking for a fight. Not that I need you to do that for me...just interesting the differences we perceive over words.

(snip)

angevin: I can't catch everything, hard as I and the other mods try. (I snipped the link out of your post to avoid rehashing bad old news, but I will go read through it)

And I hope you and all members know, despite our volunteer status, you can reach us anytime via PM or email to bring my attention to any problematic post(s). There's also the "Place Requests to Moderators" sticky in the dgrin forum support thread

.

angevin1

Angelo wrote: »

angevin: I can't catch everything, hard as I and the other mods try. (I snipped the link out of your post to avoid rehashing bad old news, but I will go read through it)

And I hope you and all members know, despite our volunteer status, you can reach us anytime via PM or email to bring my attention to any problematic post(s). There's also the "Place Requests to Moderators" sticky in the dgrin forum support thread

.

Cool~ Never would have dawned on me to actually PM you/you folks for something such as that.

Sam

borrowlenses.com wrote: »

I wrote to Sam in IM to see if we can help him in the future. I'm waiting to hear back at the moment.

Please note I did not receive any message. To those following this I will update this when I have something to say.

You have my e-mail and you can contact me through this forum.

I would however recommend waiting a week or so before contacting me.

Sam

Sam

angevin1 wrote: »

Yep. Thats what I said. But BL also had the op to say right here in this thread what if anything they were willing to do. Though I admit that could easily be misconstrued as gratuitous.

And We may or may not find out more on this, thats also up to the OP. But I would really like to know. Customer service means so very much to me personally. And personally I have had nothing but great experiences with this company. I follow them on FB, and have used one of their weekly coupons to help pay for a rental, as well as always using the Smugmug discount.

Angelo, I can dig what you must deal with to moderate a forum. I have no idea! I will say though that in March (snip). No one came to my censuring rescue from a fellow dgrinner when he was obviously rude and apparently looking for a fight. Not that I need you to do that for me...just interesting the differences we perceive over words.

(snip)

Tom,

I don't need protection............I suspect they were protecting the other person.

SmugMug discount????? Who knew???

Sam

angevin1

Sam wrote: »

Tom,

I don't need protection............I suspect they were protecting the other person.
Sam

Yeah?:D

That ClubSmug discount is here. Funny I tried the Search feature on Smugmug proper and it didn't return anything! No wonder you couldn't find it.

Enjoy that car Shoot!

borrowlenses.com

Sam wrote: »

Please note I did not receive any message. To those following this I will update this when I have something to say.

You have my e-mail and you can contact me through this forum.

I would however recommend waiting a week or so before contacting me.

Sam

I just checked and my message to you is in my sent box Sam. I'll resend it though. Let me know if you still don't see it.

josh

Sam

OK, the Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV is over and I have spoken with Josh, and Jules at Borrowlenses.

When a company or an individual makes a mistake they can not go back and make it not happen. The real measure of the company is how do they address and deal with the issue after the fact. I really do need to say I think they couldn't have done more. They made no excuses. They took my vent seriously. They took an objective look at the basic issue and addressed it internally so it won't happen again to anyone.

They offered to provide a meaningful discount on a future rental as a tangible way of apology in addition to their verbal apologizes.

While they do have a good reputation for their customer support now I think their customer support will be even better in the future.

At this point the actions taken by Borrowlenses is a win for both of us.

Sam

angevin1

Sam wrote: »

OK, the Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV is over and I have spoken with Josh, and Jules at Borrowlenses.

When a company or an individual makes a mistake they can not go back and make it not happen. The real measure of the company is how do they address and deal with the issue after the fact. I really do need to say I think they couldn't have done more. They made no excuses. They took my vent seriously. They took an objective look at the basic issue and addressed it internally so it won't happen again to anyone.

They offered to provide a meaningful discount on a future rental as a tangible way of apology in addition to their verbal apologizes.

While they do have a good reputation for their customer support now I think their customer support will be even better in the future.

At this point the actions taken by Borrowlenses is a win for both of us.

Sam

Thanks for the follow up on this Thread!

borrowlenses.com

Thanks for the update Sam.

Andy

Marc Muench and I just used a Nikon D3X and 200-400vr and a Canon 500 f/4L for 3 weeks in Africa - the service, shipping and quality of the gear couldn't have been any better. I BL, always have. Sam, i'm sure your experience is not the norm and you ought to give them another try. We at SmugMug love BL, and that's why we feature them on our ClubSmug page.

Harryb

Andy wrote: »

Marc Muench and I just used a Nikon D3X and 200-400vr and a Canon 500 f/4L for 3 weeks in Africa - the service, shipping and quality of the gear couldn't have been any better. I BL, always have. Sam, i'm sure your experience is not the norm and you ought to give them another try. We at SmugMug love BL, and that's why we feature them on our ClubSmug page.

<img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/15524779-Ti.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" >

I rented two lenses and a TC from them for the Africa trip and had the same expereince as Andy and Marc. I have used them a number of times in the past and have been more than satisfied with the equipment and their service.

Sam

Andy, Harry,

They have resolved the issue and we are good. When I have a need I am sure the service will be good.

Sam