How hard do you think it is to buy a Fridge? The answer, if you want to buy it from Curry’s or Creation Finance, is almost impossible. You wouldn’t believe any company could make it so hard for you to give them your money.
Moved house this week, and had space for a new Fridge Freezer. Have always had a decent experience with Curry’s before, so went on their website. 9.30am. Found the right one, priced match, and then up comes an offer for interest free finance. Great, always happy to use someone else’s money before I start on my own. However, here’s where the trouble starts.
Go into the basket, add finance. You have an account with Creation Finance already, you need to log in. Tried that. wants to send me an activation code. However, I’ve changed mobile number in the 2 years since I last used them, and its only option is to send the code by SMS, and its going to the wrong number.
After a search through their website that a krypton factor contestant would be proud of, I finally found a phone number to call them. Press the IVR option for updating contact details. “The best way to update your contact details is to log into your online account” then cuts me off!
Ring again, find a way to cheat the IVR and get through to an agent. 45 minutes on hold. When I do get through, agent updates my SMS, and sends me a new code. Offers to wait while I go through the log in. “This website is unavailable due to an internal server error” Oh she says, I’m not aware of any IT issues, let me call IT and see what’s going on. Comes back, “you need to clear your cache and cookies and try again”
So I do this, and re start my laptop, and go through the whole process all over again. Go to log in to the account, “This website is unavailable due to an internal server error” Hmm, she says, I really don’t know what the issue is. Well I’m trying to spend a thousand pounds with you and I cant. “Can I suggest you go into a store and do it from there” she says.
Really? This is 2021. Meanwhile, the account is still blocked, issue remains unresolved and I have no access.
Right, more than one way to skin a cat, so I will use a credit card. Go through the whole process with Curry’s once again, go to basket, enter card details, await confirmation. Sends me back to basket. No other notification. Try again. Sends me back to basket.
Then get a call from my Credit card provider to say my card has been blocked so have to go through the whole security process with them to unblock it.
Try another card. Go to order. Unable to progress transaction. So have to clear my cache and cookies, restart my laptop and start the whole thing, yet again. Its 4.30pm by this point, and as anybody knows, moving house is stressful enough as it is
Finally manage to give them some money at 5pm, with a different card. A wholly unsatisfactory experience.
Delivery came yesterday. 2 young lads. Turns out the fridge was a bit tight to get through the doors, so they offered to take the doors off to get it through. No problem they said. Took it in, reassembled. “where’s that old one going?” “Oh, I need to move that one into the garage at some point” I said. “No problem, were going that way, we’ll do that for you”
Saved me a massive job, and a very sore back. What great experience.
My reflections are this : Yet again, its left to the front line staff to rescue the customer experience from shocking head office CX design and process fails. This is going on at companies up and down the country every day. Where are the people that design such appalling processes? Who are they? No one in CX world would dare allow such dreadful journeys to happen and be embedded, so who is allowing this to go live? They are certainly not living in the real world faced by people actually talking to their customers. Maybe they should try it.
Onwards
