I aim to solve your immediate and long term Talent Acquisition issues and challenges using insight, experience and innovation

[tweetmeme source=”GaryFranklin”] Follow @garyfranklin

On 6th March 2011 I wrote a blog explaining how deceptive calling the Kodak ESP9250 a printer is and how dissatisfactory Kodak’s impression of Customer Services had been to that point. I am sorry to say not much has improved and it’s not likely to either until they admit they have a major problem and speak to customers about what matters. I won’t go through the Oct 2010 – March 2011 events or thoughts, I’ll let you read it for yourselves

So where did I leave off, oh yes a rant at Kodak on the blog and via email at the beginning of March.

On Monday 14th March I finally got a phone call from someone at Kodak in the UK offering to help. Unfortunately this was a bad day at work for me; I was winding things up at work so that I could take two-three weeks out of the office for surgery and recovery. I suggested that I would have to call them back a few weeks. But of course that was a touch too difficult for them to understand, they called me back twice. The first time was an hour or so after I had woken from the anaesthetic and then the second time a day or two later, when I still didn’t know my up from down.

I finally called them back at the beginning of April to move things along and yes you guessed it, they hadn’t actually given much thought to resolving the issue despite the detail provided to them, along with the content of the blog which I know they were fully aware of.

After a number of conversations and then several emails with Customer Support staff in the USA on 3rd May I was promised a new replacement printer; a brand new model. It was promised fast in a number of emails, all apologetic about the delay and yet it still didn’t arrive until 25th or 26th of May; 3 full months after I posted the blog and 9 months after I made the initial mistake to buy a Kodak device (I have trouble calling it a printer).

So we have (or did have at the start of last week) the new ESP2170 printer installed and running as advertised or so it seemed.

During the conversations with the Customer Support personnel in the USA I was given a choice of accepting a newer model i.e. the ESP2170, an older model or yet another ESP9250. I think I snorted at that last option.

I asked one qualifying question to the lady I was speaking to; did the cartridges that we had purchased for the ESP9250 fit the new ESP2170. The question was answered in the affirmative. And as a show of good faith a few additional cartridges would be delivered. So I elected to go for the newer model on the basis that we would only have to wait a week. This was important because Mrs F was studying and revising for exams. Her revising techniques called for a lot of printing and without a printer she was in trouble and very very stressed. So you can imagine the relief we both had when the new printer finally turned up and she was able to print, albeit without the extra cartridges promised.

Mrs F then proceeded with her printing and use a full Black cartridge in a day and then tried to replace it with one of the older ones we’d purchased for the ESP9250. So having waited for so long we had a brand new functioning printer…………….for a day.

Yeah you can guess, we’d been lied to and they weren’t compatible at all. I don’t suppose for a minute that this was malicious just, very pathetic and doesnt even come close to the defination of the word ‘service’.

I then sent an email to the one person throughout of all this who has been very responsive and to a large extent reactive, asking him to call me. His name is Ricky Frazier and is a very good Customer Service rep that has to be embarrassed to be working for Kodak. He seems to be doing all he can with inadequate support from the infrastructure he works within.

He promised to send me 3 colour print cartridges as well as 3 colour cartridges along with details of how I could trade the old non-compatible cartridges with new ones that will work and details of which UK retailers stocked them.

I got a confirmation email from him and was also rewarded with further emails from the despatch teams confirm that 3 of each cartridge had been ordered and then expedited. You can image what I was feeling when I opened the package to find only one of each inside.

Not only does their definition of expediting mean sticking the parcel in the post, but it would seem that they cannot count. Just plain stupid.

There have been so many inconsistencies, so many failures and so many untruths told. Many had seen my rants on Twitter including @Kodak. Whoever was monitoring the @kodak mentions contacted me asking if they could help. On the assumption they would be able to concentrate for sentences longer than 140 characters I asked them to read the blog. They didn’t read it or didn’t respond. You can only laugh can’t you?

Whilst I was waiting for the printer to arrive I read this blog post on MonsterThinking.com “How Kodak Learned to Listen to the Social Media Conversation” apparently and of course I commented. Another joke in their repertoire is this article in Amateur Photographer last year.

They really should go on tour.

Anyway today I wrote an email to my mate Ricky and this time copied on the Exec VP responsible for InkJet Printers, Susan Tousi. This time I have asked for a full refund or a replacement with an HP or Lexmark printer. I do not see why after all of this crap I can’t get my money back a formal apology and some kind of compensation. What do you guys think?

So when the tv ad says that they will save my money from draining away, they should try harder to stop their customers from draining away.

I have no confidence in Kodak and do not want to use their products. I do not have any interest or wish to contribute to Kodak’s balance sheet.

I will leave it to you to decide if you wish to.