Designer power tools for discriminating tastes!

This is the most ridiculous request we have EVER received here at Master Tool Repair.
It all began when a customer called in to order a 250 lb. pump for his air compressor. His air compressor looks something like this below.

He wanted to know if the pump that goes on his old unit would be the color gray. We told him rather curiously that it should be. We had never really been asked before. This is a picture of what it typically looks like below. He said he did not want the blue color that we had listed. The blue color was what we had our units painted when we ordered them. We were just out of stock and had to have another vendor ship it to him.
I mean, it’s an air compressor pump. These air compressors are typically found in body shops or some sort of commercial garage. Homeowners typically don’t have these behemoths in their home. They are just too big and overkill for Joe Homeowner or Sally Sawzall.
Well, we drop shipped this pump from the factory. It was shipped by truck and delivered to his commercial location. It cost $250 to deliver it to him.
Today our customer service department received a phone call from the customer. This is how the call went, “Hello, I just received the pump that you shipped to my business. You told me that it would be gray, well it’s green. I find it unappealing. I either want to return it or I want to be reimbursed for the cost of having it professionally repainted.” My customer service agent just sat there staring into the phone with a blank expression on her face. “Sir, you don’t like the color of the pump?” she asked. “No, I don’t want it in green.” he replied.

You have got to be kidding. In all of the years that I have been in business and the thousands of pumps that I have sold, I have NEVER had someone complain that their equipment didn’t come in designer colors. I mean seriously, we should have offered it in Practical Beige. With online companies now having to bend over backwards to please customers, we are bending over so much, we are kissing our own behinds!

I feel that much of this is due to Amazon who says, “Hey, if you don’t like it, you can return it for whatever reason. We will pay the shipping, we will give you a discount on the next purchase and we will send you a free puppy!”

The expectations that we as Americans are starting to expect are getting to the point of absurdity. I do believe in customer service. We do try and do what is best for our customers, but having to offer a drop down on our website for color choices for our tool parts is getting crazy! 

Oh well, a new project for my purchasing department, only sell parts that come in designer colors. “Would you like that in pumpkin orange,
cool cucumber or celery green sir?”

 

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