Negative Reviews Deleted

by **fletc3her** on Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:24 am

I posted a complaint about a Home-Barista sponsor on one of the forums and my post was deleted. This site does not present an honest forum for discussions about purchasing espresso machines and supplies since any negative views about the site's sponsors are deleted. Caveat emptor.

by HB on Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:36 am

I believe you are being disingenuous, but I will let others decide. Here's what you posted:

fletc3her wrote:I got a Gaggia New Baby from WholeLatteLove earlier this month. Unfortunately, the machine arrived broken. We've been waiting two weeks (and counting) now for the return shipping label so we can send the machine in for an exchange. The customer service at this site is changing what should be a simple return into an ordeal. I can't advise purchasing from this site.

And my note:

HB wrote:Sorry, please read the site's Guidelines for productive online discussion about vendor complaints. Please note that Coffeegeek has the same policy.

FYI, I moderated on CoffeeGeek for over five years and assure you that your post would also be deleted there and a strike issued.

UPDATE: As I predicted, your cross-post to CoffeeGeek was deleted. In the unlikely event that you wish to contribute to this site, I agree with Mark that a three-month pan/praise probation period is warranted.

by **fletc3her** on Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:14 am

Here is a summary of my email contacts with Whole Latte Love. They were originally contacted on 12/21/2009 by phone to arrange the return of a broken machine. We had to do some paperwork to arrange an RMA, but expected it within a day or two. At the start of the new week I emailed them to inquire about the return label we expected.

Note that all this is just to get a mailing label! We aren't even talking about a delay waiting for a replacement machine yet. And I can assure you we have been checking the spam filters on several accounts religiously and we receive messages from Whole Latte Love and UPS with no troubles. This is my correspondence with the company, but there were also several contacts by telephone.

[series of e-mails removed by moderator]

by HB on Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:25 am

Sorry, e-mail correspondence cannot be reposted in the forums without the author's permission. As I mentioned in my note to you, I have e-mailed the service manager at WholeLatteLove on your behalf. Tomorrow is Sunday, but hopefully there will be progress towards resolution early next week.

by **fletc3her** on Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:35 am

I was the author of those emails.

I seriously wonder if this site and CoffeeGeek are affiliated with Whole Latte Love. It is amazing how far you will go to protect their interests. It is rather convenient to delete my email correspondence since that prevents me from telling my side of the story with any way to back it up.

by HB on Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:49 am

Honestly, I didn't read the e-mails, but I'll take your word for it that they depict an accurate timeline of your service woes. As I mentioned earlier, I've written the service manager on your behalf and hopefully this will be resolved next week once they've recovered from the Christmas/New Years rush.

by **Mr Kenco** on Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:59 pm

For the benefit of other potential buyers perhaps you could elaborate more so regarding details of your correspondence now that Mr HB has realised his error.

Please keep us updated.

HB wrote:As I mentioned earlier, I've written the service manager on your behalf

Interesting to think this intervention may have been necessary to reach the desired conclusion.

by **michaelbenis** on Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:30 pm

Wow!

I'm over the Pond and have never used WLL, but do know they have a good reputation here and elsewhere.

While I can understand the frustration of receiving a machine you'd hoped to use over Christmas and found it was damaged, it's hardly surprising that there have been some delays at this time of the year. I'm in a similar situation myself and have managed to keep my cool.

As far as I see it, as someone who has been in similar situations in the past as a journalist writing magazine reviews, Dan was simply trying to be helpful and went out of his way to do so. There was no need for him to do anything. I think the way he has handled the situation has been very much to his credit and the credit of HB.

I hope WLL are able to sort out the original post swiftly now that everyone is returning to work.

Cheers

Mike

by **Mr Kenco** on Tue Jan 05, 2010 8:17 pm

michaelbenis wrote:they have a good reputation here and elsewhere

With such swift deletion of posts its no wonder.

You have to bear in mind the number of machines dead on arrival is probably somewhat rare, which is why it is especially important for such instances where a customer deems the service offered as unacceptable to be documented.

If not as a warning to potential buyers, but to give companies the opportunity to take such criticisms on board and then improve in areas they may be lacking.

by **Randy G.** on Tue Jan 05, 2010 9:03 pm

michaelbenis wrote:I'm over the Pond and have never used WLL, but do know they have a good reputation here and elsewhere.

In years past, WLL had more negative comments posted about their customer service on alt.coffee than any other USA supplier. There were not a lot, but more than others. You must take into account that at that time they were also one of the two or three largest online sellers of equipment, so we have no way of knowing any sort of ratio of negative comments to sales... Still, when I was involved in retail (brick and mortar) customer service it was my goal to be sure that every customer was happy before they walked out regardless as to how pissed they were when they walked in... But as we all know, some goals are more difficult to attain than others.

With that said, remember that this problem with WLL is happening during the holiday season. Be patient. Document everything, and make duplicate print outs, with dates, of all communication. Contact your credit card company and be sure that you are following all their steps in resolving this, just in case. I have done that (non-coffee-related purchase), and keeping a .txt file of everything as it happens is a lot easier than trying to remember it later.

Two weeks is not a terribly long time at this time of year, and while I do agree that a pickup tag should have been issued, there are two sides to every story, and since WLL has not replied here to this situation (and well they should not), your posting of the one side of this situation really serves no real purpose other than making you sound pissy. Keep E-mailing them, and calling if you have a number, be civil, and remember that you are protected through your credit card company.


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