Because I believe in Karma, 'Good things go around' and other healthy points-of-view, I HATE writing poor reviews for any company, especially smaller ones who are 'hard at it' trying to compete and to make a living for themselves and their families. In this case however, I felt compelled to WARN FELLOW CONSUMERS of the 'Black hole' of wasted time/dollars that they will likely experience when they try to buy from US Carburetion of Summersville, WV.
Hoping to find a conversion kit for my Honda 13HP gas generator, I went to the US Carb website. The first thing I noticed was that their drop-down Product-Selector tool only provided Part nos (no Kit description was offered), thus forcing me to call up their online chat tool, so as to clarify that which I was hoping to buy.
15:00 minutes in: After interacting and receiving helpful assistance from Laura LaRusso, I was re-directed back to their website. I was unable to complete the transaction however, as their site wouldn't allow me to add a credit card no (nor did it accurately list shipping costs), so I went back to Laura; she apologized for the incorrect data/inconvenience, and recommended that I call the West VA office and speak to supervisors Mike or Michelle.
25:00 minutes in: I called the office and Jim answered. Jim, who was unable to help me, asked me to hang up the phone so that he could call me back(?) Upon calling me back, he stated that I needed to speak with Lisa (at this point Ive spent 35:00 minutes trying to buy a conversion kit).
It was my most unfortunate displeasure to have to speak with Lisa - my guess is that she must be new to Customer Service/untrained in how to communicate with others/related to the owners, as she continually interrupted me, talked over me, argued with me and otherwise refused to hear or listen to my issues. Even after sharing my frustration at her lack of listening skills, she continued to repeat that "the information is right there on the website" - unbelievable!
Finally, stating that someone else might be able to help me, Lisa transfers me to John. Within a few minutes of explaining my issues to John, John states "look, there are a lot of folks that sell these kits, why don't you just go and buy the kit from someone else?" - just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, my experience gets even more UNBELIEVABLE!.
45:00 minutes in. I ask John for a Supervisor and he states that there are no supervisors on duty and that I need to call back on Monday, when either Mike or Michele is in the office.
60:00 minutes in. I call on Monday and Jim answers again - he tells me that Mike can only be reached via email, and gives me (then repeats) the email address of Mike.Kay@uscarb.com as my best way to get through.
70:00 minutes in. I send Mike an email summarizing my issues and asking for help; the email comes back 'undeliverable at this address'.
The good news is that, as John stated, there are several other providers of Propane/LPG Conversion kits out there, so don't despair!
It is amazing to me in this day/age of 'Super-competition for quality goods and services' that organizations like this even exist. It is my belief that Customer Service quality is a direct reflection on the value that companies place on their customers - if your time/energy is valuable to you and Customer Service is even remotely important, yow will avoid this company.
regards,
Mi Mullineau read more
