Anyone know what is happening with Lee Valley Customer Service?

Hi chaps, does anyone know if there is a problem with LV? I have been dealing with them for a number of years in person when I lived in Canada and online since moving to New Zealand. I have not had problems in the past.

On the 21st of August I placed an online order for a value in excess of 2.5K USD, which is my annual tool budget - I am disabled and have no income. The order was shipped on the 23td but the next correspondence I got was from both NZ and Australian Customs who were both sent paperwork and tried to extract duty from me for the items I was importing. I paid the NZ duty (painful but I expected it) only to find out that my parcel was actually in Australia. I had contact with LV who said they would reship directly to me as it would be quicker than having the parcel come from Australia. This was Aug. 30 NZD time, Aug. 28 CDN time. I haven't heard from LV since. I emailed last Friday, their time and again Tuesday but no reply.

Does anyone have a contact email f0r someone or a Manager in Customer Service? I need to email rather than call due to hearing problems but if anyone can give me some advice, I would really appreciate.

This is my first post so please forgive me if its in the wrong place or I shouldn't be asking these question here.

Thanks for reading
Robyn

Hi Robyn.
Their website has this email address: customerservice@leevalley.com.

Sometimes folks also post here and Rob Lee sees responds. But I think I'd email them instead of counting on that.

Good luck!
Fred

Hi Robyn -

I will look into this - copying Chief Customer Officer right now....!

Will have an answer for you shortly. Once a parcel leaves our warehouse, it is at the mercy of carriers and customs officials, though we should certainly be able to handle correspondence. Please accept my apologies for the delays.

Robin Lee

Thanks Fred, good advice but the better advice was about Robin responding....And he did!!!

I am sure that my problems will be sorted shortly now:)

Cheers
Robyn

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Originally Posted by Rob Lee

Hi Robyn -

I will look into this - copying Chief Customer Officer right now....!

Will have an answer for you shortly. Once a parcel leaves our warehouse, it is at the mercy of carriers and customs officials, though we should certainly be able to handle correspondence. Please accept my apologies for the delays.

Robin Lee

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This is right here is why LV's reputation is as stellar as it is.

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Originally Posted by Kevin Perez

This is right here is why LV's reputation is as stellar as it is.

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+!.

Wish more business owners could be so in touch with their customers.

Simon

Exactly why Lee Valley gets my money. My shopping logic pretty much goes . . . "if Lee Valley sells it, I buy it from them". Second choice is Amazon sourced items from Amazon, then everyone else.

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Originally Posted by glenn bradley

Exactly why Lee Valley gets my money. My shopping logic pretty much goes . . . "if Lee Valley sells it, I buy it from them". Second choice is Amazon sourced items from Amazon, then everyone else.

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I wasn't interested in Amazon, but the B&M businesses with their lousy or non-existent customer service have successfully pushed me over and I now buy from it constantly (especially for orders entitled to free shipping) as well as from other online retailers. Frankly, many customer service associates do not enjoy (some even hate) their jobs and should not be in the retail business.

Simon

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Originally Posted by glenn bradley

Exactly why Lee Valley gets my money. My shopping logic pretty much goes . . . "if Lee Valley sells it, I buy it from them". Second choice is Amazon sourced items from Amazon, then everyone else.

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Amen to that. Especially for someone like me who lives at the arse end of Africa as I can't afford to send stuff back if it's faulty so I choose to purchase from reputable suppliers and Lee Valley is right there at the top along with a bunch of small USA based businesses.

Robin,

Thanks very ,much for responding so quickly to my post. I am really looking forward to hearing from you with am update. Please let know by email rather than on here. My address is on my account with LV.

Regards
Robyn

Howdy Robyn and Welcome to the Creek.

Hope your situation works out well.

Please come back and let us know when it does.

jtk

Hi all -

Have now replied personally to Mr Hawkins, and have in front of me the 34 different events that occurred 25 days. We all agree here that this was the largest most complex screw-up we have made in almost 40 years of shipping parcels. While I won't bore you with the details, what I've told Mr Hawkins is that "These were all simple human errors – made by good people who care about their work. It was a lightning strike: a one in several million sequence of independent errors." It all started with mistakenly entering the country code for Australia into our manifest system, instead of New Zealand....

I have to acknowledge what a class act Mr Hawkins has been to deal with - I am not sure I would have had the patience he has continuously exhibited. His correspondence is calm and pleasant - and stands in sharp contrast to the comedy of errors we have made.

I trust we have put the situation right to the satisfaction of Mr Hawkins, and hope we can continue to earn his trust....

Rob Lee

Thanks Jim for the welcome. As requested, I am updating this thread with the present situation concerning my LV order.

I am very pleased to report that as Robin promised, I received an email from LV Customer Service apologising and explaining the status and the steps they are taking to have my items here at my home in NZ sometime next week, hopefully. They have also indicated that they are covering my expenses so I am not out of pocket.

In actual fact, LV in the manner of a company who cares about it's customers and it's reputation. has generously offer me a gift card for future use at LV. Among the reasons that so many of us use LV are the quality of the tools and the satisfaction that we get from dealing with a knowledgeable customer service team. Although there has been a total comedy of errors on this file, I do believe that LV earns its reputation.


I am so excited to receive my new kit (it includes a starting set of hand planes) that I have signed up again for hand tool lessons starting at the beginning of February when school holidays end. They are being given by a former cabinet maker and I am really looking forward to learning how to sharpen my plane blades and chisels properly. I missed the start of the current course because I didn't have my tools!!

Thank you to the chaps who commented on this thread, just knowing that other people had not had problems with LV helped lessen the panic that I was feeling from being on the other side of the world and being deaf so not able to call or walk into a shop, leaving me with no options for getting in touch with LV. Your assurances that nothing had changed at LV was reassuring and correct....so thanks!!

So very glad it seems to be working out, but then again, there was a very high degree of expectation that LV would make it right. A starter set of planes and a class booked with an ex cabinet maker sounds like fun and kudos to Rob Lee for making it happen.

There was never a doubt. LV understands that their customer service builds a loyal following. I'd guess that's part of the reason Rob Lee monitors the web forums like this one - for opportunities to show off their service.

I know a guy who owns a small business that sells stuff to large companies.
He always says "I love it when my customers have problems. LOVE it!"
"Huh?", says I.
"Yup", says he. "They can buy this stuff cheaper elsewhere. But when they have a problem, THAT'S WHEN I GET TO SHOW THEM WHY I'M WORTH THE PRICE." (Meaning that he takes real good good care of problems.)

Whenever Rob Lee weighs in here I think of that story. (And I've heard plenty of folks say that they'll buy an item from LV even if someone else sells it a little cheaper. Me too.)

Fred

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Originally Posted by Rob Lee

Have now replied personally to Mr Hawkins, and have in front of me the 34 different events that occurred 25 days. We all agree here that this was the largest most complex screw-up we have made in almost 40 years of shipping parcels. While I won't bore you with the details, what I've told Mr Hawkins is that "These were all simple human errors – made by good people who care about their work. It was a lightning strike: a one in several million sequence of independent errors." It all started with mistakenly entering the country code for Australia into our manifest system, instead of New Zealand....

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IMO this is a great example of how to acknowledge and apologize for human failure without blaming/scapegoating. It happens, it's how you recover from it that really matters.

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Originally Posted by Frederick Skelly

There was never a doubt. LV understands that their customer service builds a loyal following. I'd guess that's part of the reason Rob Lee monitors the web forums like this one - for opportunities to show off their service.

I know a guy who owns a small business that sells stuff to large companies.
He always says "I love it when my customers have problems. LOVE it!"
"Huh?", says I.
"Yup", says he. "They can buy this stuff cheaper elsewhere. But when they have a problem, THAT'S WHEN I GET TO SHOW THEM WHY I'M WORTH THE PRICE." (Meaning that he takes real good good care of problems.)

Whenever Rob Lee weighs in here I think of that story. (And I've heard plenty of folks say that they'll buy an item from LV even if someone else sells it a little cheaper. Me too.)

Fred

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This is what great companies do. In fact, it is a pretty well known way to build loyalty by delighting the customers when they have problems. I am also one of those people who consider LV as number one when it comes to anything I can buy from them. My loyalty exponentially increased about 14 years ago when they addressed a problem (not really their problem as it was a case of lost package) very quickly and to my satisfaction. After that, I knew I could always count on them if anything did not go as expected. Over many more orders since then never another problem. Always predictably high quality items (in particular anything Veritas brand) with stellar customer service to back it up.