Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Does anyone know much about this company? I have ordered a few things from them in the past and have always been happy. However, I ordered Peugeot S & P shakers for my daughter for Christmas. One of them was corroded and damaged. When she contacted them about replacing it, she was told she would have to pay for shipping to both return the damaged item as well as to receive the new item. Is this normal? It is certainly not the customer service I am used to from other companies I deal with. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I've had good luck previously with them, but never returned anything. Charging you shipping for a damaged item is outrageous.

I order from them all the time too. I've always had a positive experience....but have also never had to return anything.

Their return policy suggests that you do need to pay return shipping, but it is not clear if this applies to damaged or defective items. For that they say:

"If your order has been received damaged, defective, incomplete or incorrect, please save the carton and all packaging materials. Contact us within 5 days via e-mail or call us toll free at (800) 650-9866. Our Customer Service hours are Monday - Friday 9 am to 5 pm CST, Saturday from 10am to 2pm CST."

I would call the number and clarify the issue - and ask firmly but politely that they cover the shipping costs in light of the fact that the item that was delivered was defective.

2 phone calls…they will not cover shipping charges. I bought it several weeks before Christmas and they said my daughter was 5 days past their policy of returning damaged goods within 6 weeks. I will never buy from them again.

BBB has this to say and they would be my next move:
http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/kitchen-accessories/cutleryandmorecom-in-east-dundee-il-88004287

Additionally, from their web site:
Contact Information for Cutlery and More:
Principal: Mr. Michael Beltrami (President)Customer Contact:
Ms. Lucresia Boulahanis (Customer Service Manager

Corporate Address:
Cutlery and More, LLC
135 Prairie Lake Rd.
East Dundee, IL 60118

I would DEFINITELY NOT let it go. I would also mention that you are a member of numerous cooking groups.

In the end, however, I would not ever deal with them again. Their action on this wrong.

One last thought; I would contact Peugeot through their web site.
http://www.peugeot-saveurs.com/Contact/

I agree you should contact the President's office. I had a horrible customer service experience with a reputable company last year, and the customer service people just spoke their rote script. It took a stink on FB for someone in the President's office to contact me. Once that happened, absolutely every issue I had was resolved to my satisfaction, although, in this particular case, I think I'm done buying from them. Not because of customer service, but because their quality took a nosedive when they were sold to another company.

Amy

Thanks everyone. Daughter just called me…she called them for the third time and asked to speak to someone higher up in customer service. She started out re-explaining the problem, reading from their own website on rules for exchanges. Didn't get anywhere. She then started getting more assertive, still no positive response. They went back and forth for quite some time. Then she just said,"I am not hanging up until you give me the customer service I deserve. This is no way to handle the situation. You sent me damaged goods. I am not going away." They again suggested she contact Peugeot. She told them to do it themselves if they thought they could solve the issue…after about 30 more minutes of sticking to her guns, they finally relented, after, of course, checking with a higher-up and placing her on hold forever. Of course they wouldn't send it directly to her, it has to be sent to me! Never again….let this be a lesson. I'd rather pay a bit more and go with a company I know will give me the service I should expect.

I run a complaints department. Many places think that job is to deny, deny, deny and give them budgets of how much they can spend in refunds a year. The good companies consider each case on their merits and take responsibility. Glad this was resolved but sucks that your daughter and you had to go through it.
They've lost your and her business for life now.

I had a similar experience with a company a couple years ago, in which I could get no satisfaction talking to people on the phone, or sending emails. So I posted my experience with the company on facebook and twitter (links J don't really spend much time on, but I know others do), and I got a response in less than an hour, stating they wanted to help straighten out things with me. Amazing how fast that worked! Having these kind of things posted is not something these companies want, so if I do have a problem like this unfolding again, I'll threaten them with this early on, and if no response, let everyone know about it!

I had experience with one company who simply did not care about those kinds of threats (i.e., that if they were unwilling to try to make things right with me, that I would report them to the BBB and post negative reviews about my experience online). I couldn't understand why at the time that they were so unconcerned, and then I googled them and discovered thousands of negative reviews all describing the same situation that I had experienced with them (which was a complete refusal to offer a refund, no matter how messed up the service provided was). I realized that it simply would not matter if I added my drop to that ocean, so I elected to let it go and simply never use their service again. Voting with your feet is probably the most powerful tool to send a message, anyway.