Basco Lake Oswego
I have heard saying the saying the customer is always right. I have also heard the customer is not always right but always the customer. Sometimes a business forgets both. Basco seems to be one of those businesses.
Delivery is a 0 star
Store ambiance is a 3 star
Value for your dollar is a 3 star
Salesman is a 4 star
Let's start at the bottom and work our way up. Salesman, Aaron N, he's cheerful and always ready to tackle any problems that arise. He knows how to adapt to each customer. He finds a common thread and leans into it. With me, it was the Chicago Cubs. We discuss baseball every time I visit the store. When I find someone good, I tend to keep using that source. This is why I have purchased several items at Basco over the last year. When I pick up the phone, Aaron always makes it happen. We have had a couple of mishaps with ordering, however, all it takes is one phone call and Aaron fixes the hiccup.
Value, that's very relative. I have purchased Viking, Wolf, Cove and Sub Zero. Not everyone will agree that these are good values, however the price point from Basco was within range of every other store and most websites.
The store's ambiance is smooth. You walk in the front door to a table with candy and dog treats. There's a small refrigerator with bottled water for guest. The bullpen, as I call it, where all the sales team sit is a little boring and could use a update or reconfiguration. There are enough brands around for looking at products, but somehow the store always feels a little incomplete. I'm not sure what needs to be done to warm it up, but it could use a small refresh.
Delivery, here's where the failure and improvement are greatly needed. The delivery team arrived at my driveway to unload the Wolf 36-inch oven (Model # GR366). The lead asked me to show him where the product was going in the house, and I said sure. We arrived at the front door, and I asked him to take off his shoes and I proceeded to keep walking. When I stopped to show him the location to place the cardboard for delivery, I noticed he did not take off his shoes nor had he indicated that he was not going to or that it would be a problem to accommodate that request.
The guys used a hand cart to move the oven from the truck down the driveway and again I mentioned we have hardwood floors and that I did not want things on the floor. When they arrived at the door, my wife kindly asked them to remove their shoes, or provided the option to wear shoe covers. We have industrial covers for the tradesmen anytime that they come into the house. The lead delivery guy barked at my wife stating that it's unsafe to carry the oven with shoe covers or socks because if they trip or slip it would cause more damage to the floors than their shoes. First don't yell at any customer. Second, I'm calling bullshit on the shoe covers. The third penalty was he then walked in and placed a three stack of stove top grills onto my wood dining table. I asked him to take them off and he said, "they're covered in styrofoam". I informed him that you never place any product on someone's furniture and to please get out of my house. I told the delivery team to keep the product and not to deliver it, however since our kitchen was in the middle of the build process, the wife wanted it delivered. All three guys proceeded to bring in the oven, shoes, and all.
We have had over 20 deliveries from other companies where guys have carried large heavy furniture to furnaces through the house and yet somehow have managed to wear the industrial shoe covers with no problems. I'm not sure why Basco refuses to get it right.
The guys left two 220W cables at the house for the Wolfe Range however, the oven is 110w. The delivery guys specifically told my wife the knobs were located in a box inside the range itself. There were not there, inside the box was the oven racks. No one at the company knew where the knobs were located, so Aaron spent another day chasing down knobs for us. It turns out the cord and knob were located packed in the grill of the styrofoam. Amazing no one at the company knew this.
When I contacted Aaron during this ordeal, he informed me that the owner of the company would give me a call. It's been over 72 hours, so I guess that's another failure from the customer service side. Unfortunately, I must take my business elsewhere even though Aaron tries to patch up the problems. There's not much he can do at this point after being blatantly disrespected in my home. The first step is admitting they have a problem. This seems to be a problem for their leadership. You must lead from the top down, so I suspect leadership doesn't care about the long history of serving on their website. read more
