Le Creuset Customer Service

[shel]

Yesterday I contacted Le Creuset for the third or fourth time about a damaged lid. I carelessly dropped and broke the lid to my Dutch oven. This was quite a few years ago. I didn't think to ask for a replacement then, and I had a lid from another pot that fit pretty well.

This morning I received an email from Le Creuset Customer Service indicating that they'd not received any previous emails, which were sent through their web site. The recent email went directly to Customer Service, circumventing the web site.

Le Creuset wouldn't replace just the lid, but they did offer a complete new pot for 25% of the list price. That seems to be a fair deal.

Since I mentioned my dissatisfaction with Le Creuset's Customer Service in another thread, it seems right to update the situation.

Shel

[KYHeirloomer]

Hmmmmmmm?

Glad to hear they finally offered you a nice solution. But I don't know if I completely buy it, Shel. For two reasons.

1. What's the point of having a web page contact button if nobody looks at the emails?

2. If you go for it, you are still stuck with a pot without a proper lid. Sure, you can use the new one interchangeably. But real customer service would have been to find a way to satisfy your actual needs. Which in this case means selling you just a lid.

[Free Rider]

I don't think that sounds like a great deal at all.

[shel]

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer

Glad to hear they finally offered you a nice solution. But I don't know if I completely buy it, Shel. For two reasons.

1. What's the point of having a web page contact button if nobody looks at the emails?

2. If you go for it, you are still stuck with a pot without a proper lid. Sure, you can use the new one interchangeably. But real customer service would have been to find a way to satisfy your actual needs. Which in this case means selling you just a lid.

Well, we don't know if the web page contact was working properly. This is not the first instance in which I've gotten results from a direct email and didn't get any reponse from a web page contact.

Be that as it may, my old pot is something like 25 years old. I was not asked for proof of purchase, a receipt, or any such thing, just to call their 800 number and give them the number on the bottom of the pot.

While I'd have liked just the lid, the new pots don't come in the color of my old pot, so a lid would have been mismatched. Further, for what seems a very reasonable price, I'm getting a new pot and lid, with a fresh warranty, and I don't have to look at twenty-five years of scars and imperfections on the old pot any more. Plus, I'll now have two pots which will allow me more flexibility in cooking with the Le Creuset - I can have one in the oven with the lid on and the other on the stove with the lid off, making another dish.

I feel pretty OK about the whole thing. It may not be the perfect solution (perfect might have been to give me a free pot, pay for the shipping, and get a bonus gift added to the package).

Shel

[Free Rider]

Or give you a new one at cost. At a 25% discount, they're still making a healthy profit, I'm sure.

[shel]

Originally Posted by Free Rider

I don't think that sounds like a great deal at all.

See my comments to KYHeirloomer. I never said it was a "great" deal, but it certainly seems fair to me. The CS rep was pleasant and friendly in his/her response, and replied pretty quickly to my email - less tha 24-hours from the time I sent mine to the time I heard back from Le Creuset.

It was explained to me that the pots come into the distribution center already packaged, so separating a lid would have been difficult for them to do.

Shel

[shel]

Originally Posted by Free Rider

Or give you a new one at cost. At a 25% discount, they're still making a healthy profit, I'm sure.

They are giving me a 75% discount. I was only asked to pay 25% of the cost of a new pot. 25% seems to be about cost, maybe even less - at least from what I remember about retailing markups.

Shel

[Free Rider]

Originally Posted by shel

They are giving me a 75% discount. I was only asked to pay 25% of the cost of a new pot. 25% seems to be about cost, maybe even less - at least from what I remember about retailing markups.

Shel

That's better. When I read your initial post, I thought there was a typo on "of" and took it as "off"... 25% off the list price.

[shel]

A while ago KYHeirloomer commented on the poor customer service she received from All-Clad. There were a few other comments in a similar vein as well.

Recently I contacted Amy's, a maker of frozen foods and canned soups, with a small question. Within FIVE minutes, before I could even go off line, I had a response. The response led to another question, and again within a few minutes I received a response, actually two responses. One dealt with my specific question (which had to do with ingredients) and the other was to thank me for my interest in Amy's products and which contained an offer to send me some coupons. I received the coupons a few days ago. They totalled about $10.00 worth of savings, including one or two coupons that allowed me to get any Amy's product free, a couple for $1.00 off, and several for 55-cents off. I used the free coupons to get about $9.00 worth of frozen dinners, so I guess the total value of the coupons was closer to $14.00

Amy's seems to be a very responsive company.

Shel