When I went online to find a new printer/fax/scanner, I never imagined I’d have such a wonderful experience. Before I go on, I’d like to say that I’m by no means an Israel basher – I’ve had some recent customer service issues with companies all over the world. But the stereotype remains that Israeli companies lack customer support, and hopefully we can rid ourselves of that concept shortly.
I began browsing around zap.co.il for a good-looking, affordable printer in Israel. I found a model I liked, being sold the cheapest at some site I’d never heard of, officer.co.il. I placed the order online and went on with my day. Later that day, I get a call from the company stating that they have a similar model in an open-box, and they can guarantee that it works like new, and give me 33% back on my purchase price. I hesitantly accepted the offer.
The next day, which happened to be the day before Passover, a messanger arrived with my printer. Maybe I glossed over the fine print, but I didn’t realize the free shipping meant it would come the next day. Wow!
I opened the box that afternoon to realize that the model I bought was an older model (without a paper feeder, a feature I rarely use), but the sale price was still a great deal. But when I looked through the included items, I couldn’t find the ink cartridges. I opened the printer case, and they weren’t there either. I left a message with the customer service, as they had closed for the holiday already.
They got back to me after the holiday weekend, and had me look through the box and the printer. They then sent out another messanger with the replacement printer ink. When it arrived, I tried to stick it in, but sheepishly realized that I incorrectly identified the spot that holds the cartridges, and that I had to plug in the printer to expose the correct spot, which already held the 2 cartidges. After some moral deliberations, I called the company and admitted my mistake, offering to pay for the extra ink. They told me that they’d check with management, maybe they will include it in my next order. But in the meanwhile, I was to write a recommendation for them at Zap.
I noticed that I was the 80th recommendation, and they already had a perfect 5 star rating on all fronts. Well, 80 people can’t be wrong. Customer satisfaction does exist in Israel.
You’re lucky. I hate to be a ‘basher’ but I’ve just had too many lousy experiences buying online in Israel and it’s irritating to say the least. When I wanted to place a negative review on Zap, they gave me the run-around and despite complying with all their requirements, proof, etc, my review was never posted. Caveat emptor.
To end on a positive note, I personally had good experiences with Hashmal Hakfar and Pompa (despite somwhat silly names…)
Nice pessach story Zvi… though maybe there’s a more cynical slant we can specualte..
Zap is a very popular site in Israel, a merchant will do well to gain a 5 star rating there with lots of positive feedback (just as with ebay, just as with JobShuk 🙂
So, perhaps a cost of a few dollars 80 times is smart use of a marketing budget….
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in 2 days and you kindly also gave officer.co.il a link… could they already have recouped the cost of your cartridges from your recommendation alone
🙂