FedEx Office
Remember Kinkos? That cool place that prints all of your stuff for you for a relatively decent price? And then one day you may have noticed that I was FedEx Kinkos. About the same time, you may have noticed that Federal Express package delivery was FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight. So there had been some cool changes to the names. But FedEx Kinkos was still that cool printing place.
Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you, and
look forward to better serving you in the future. If you need
immediate assistance please feel free to contact me at 800.463.3339.
Thank you again for letting us know about this, and have a great day.
Sincerely,
And if you've gone there recently, you'll have noticed that they now have signs up that say "FedEx Kinkos is now FedEx Office!" Um... Okay... So I think it is a bad marketing plan, but sure, whatever. Just as long as I can still get my stuff printed off without having to use all of my own ink and paper, right? Right.
So, I went to Kinkos (sorry, FedEx Office) this afternoon so that I could print off a bunch of stuff that I needed done for Simply Spotless. The reason I decided to go was because, honestly, I feel that I have more important things to do with my time than to sit around and print off a massive sixty-page document that needs to be collated and hole-punched. I also needed to print off this really cool brochure that Gretchen designed.
Continuing my new-found hobby of sending emails and posting them on my blog, here is the email I sent to the FedEx Office Customer Relations folks:
To Whom It May Concern:
I am a representative of a professional cleaning company in Champaign, IL. For many years, we have relied upon FedEx Kinkos (now FedEx Office) for our professional printing needs. From bulk printing of simple documents to brochures and promotional posters, we have always turned to you for help. I have typically found the employees at our local store [address removed] to be friendly, courteous, and extremely helpful. I realise that it must be frustrating at times to have a customer come in with a large printing request that is not always clear, but the employees have taken the time to make sure they knew exactly what I needed done, and when I wanted it done by.
Unfortunately, my experience at the store on Saturday, 21 March 2009, was not at all what I have come to expect from FedEx Office. When I walked into the store in the mid-afternoon, I noticed that I was the only customer present. There were two gentlemen working in the front, and two ladies in the back office. I walked up to the counter for print services, and stood there for several minutes waiting for assistance. None was offered.
Finally one of the gentleman, who was not wearing a name tag, asked if I needed anything. I explained that I had several documents that I needed printed, along with a full-colour brochure. Instead of offering to help, he shrugged his shoulders and told me to ask "Pete" for assistance. I quickly surmised that "Pete" must have been the other gentleman working up front and walked toward him. I then found myself explaining, again, what I needed done. Instead of helping me get my print order made, Pete (he was actually wearing a nametag, that proclaimed him to be a team member since 2008) told me to use "one of the computers in the back". I was stunned. If I had wanted to print the documents on my own, I would have stayed home. My purpose in coming to FedEx Office was to willingly pay to have someone else do the printing, so that I could go about my business for the day.
I explained, for the third time, that I had a large print order, and that I was hoping to leave the order over the weekend so that I could pick it up on Monday morning. I also explained, again, that I had several different documents that needed printed in varying quantities. Finally Pete suggested that I place an order and leave it for the weekend. (This is what I had just said I had wanted to do in the first place.) I wrote down what I needed printed, with their file names, along with the number of copies, and gave the USB flash drive to Pete.
Instead of starting on my order, he went to the back office and told the lady still there (the other had left) what I needed done. This took several minutes, during which time I was standing around in an empty store wondering why on earth the exceptional customer service I have come to expect from your team members had completely vanished.
Finally, the lady Pete had been talking to (I don't know her name, either, as she was not wearing a name tag), came out and started to work on my order. She immediately began to chastise me for not having my documents available as PDF files, and said that she would have to charge extra to convert them. I found this extremely confusing, as I had just had the exact same documents printed off just one week before, and there had been a) no mention of PDFs and b) no extra service charges. Finally, I told her that I would simply do the printing at home if it was going to be such a hassle, but I did need the brochure done.
Although the brochures were not printed in quite the way I had hoped for, I found myself so frustrated by the lack of customer service that I simply paid for them and left the store feeling frustrated, angry, and annoyed. I am also wondering if I should continue to bring my company's printing needs to this facility.
I would appreciate a response to my concerns.
~Alex T. Valencic
Operations Manager
Simply Spotless, Inc.
I am a representative of a professional cleaning company in Champaign, IL. For many years, we have relied upon FedEx Kinkos (now FedEx Office) for our professional printing needs. From bulk printing of simple documents to brochures and promotional posters, we have always turned to you for help. I have typically found the employees at our local store [address removed] to be friendly, courteous, and extremely helpful. I realise that it must be frustrating at times to have a customer come in with a large printing request that is not always clear, but the employees have taken the time to make sure they knew exactly what I needed done, and when I wanted it done by.
Unfortunately, my experience at the store on Saturday, 21 March 2009, was not at all what I have come to expect from FedEx Office. When I walked into the store in the mid-afternoon, I noticed that I was the only customer present. There were two gentlemen working in the front, and two ladies in the back office. I walked up to the counter for print services, and stood there for several minutes waiting for assistance. None was offered.
Finally one of the gentleman, who was not wearing a name tag, asked if I needed anything. I explained that I had several documents that I needed printed, along with a full-colour brochure. Instead of offering to help, he shrugged his shoulders and told me to ask "Pete" for assistance. I quickly surmised that "Pete" must have been the other gentleman working up front and walked toward him. I then found myself explaining, again, what I needed done. Instead of helping me get my print order made, Pete (he was actually wearing a nametag, that proclaimed him to be a team member since 2008) told me to use "one of the computers in the back". I was stunned. If I had wanted to print the documents on my own, I would have stayed home. My purpose in coming to FedEx Office was to willingly pay to have someone else do the printing, so that I could go about my business for the day.
I explained, for the third time, that I had a large print order, and that I was hoping to leave the order over the weekend so that I could pick it up on Monday morning. I also explained, again, that I had several different documents that needed printed in varying quantities. Finally Pete suggested that I place an order and leave it for the weekend. (This is what I had just said I had wanted to do in the first place.) I wrote down what I needed printed, with their file names, along with the number of copies, and gave the USB flash drive to Pete.
Instead of starting on my order, he went to the back office and told the lady still there (the other had left) what I needed done. This took several minutes, during which time I was standing around in an empty store wondering why on earth the exceptional customer service I have come to expect from your team members had completely vanished.
Finally, the lady Pete had been talking to (I don't know her name, either, as she was not wearing a name tag), came out and started to work on my order. She immediately began to chastise me for not having my documents available as PDF files, and said that she would have to charge extra to convert them. I found this extremely confusing, as I had just had the exact same documents printed off just one week before, and there had been a) no mention of PDFs and b) no extra service charges. Finally, I told her that I would simply do the printing at home if it was going to be such a hassle, but I did need the brochure done.
Although the brochures were not printed in quite the way I had hoped for, I found myself so frustrated by the lack of customer service that I simply paid for them and left the store feeling frustrated, angry, and annoyed. I am also wondering if I should continue to bring my company's printing needs to this facility.
I would appreciate a response to my concerns.
~Alex T. Valencic
Operations Manager
Simply Spotless, Inc.
I received an automated response that said, "Thanks for contacting us. Hopefully someone will actually read your email and respond. If you are lucky, it'll be in the next day or so." (Okay, no really, but that was the general gist of it.) So now I get to wait for a response from FedEx Office.
UPDATE:
The following email came on Sunday afternoon (about 24 hours after initial email was sent):
Dear Alex Valencic:
I apologize for the extremely poor customer service you received from
the employees at the 505 S Mattis Ave location. At FedEx Office we
strive to provide our customers with prompt, courteous, and
professional service, and I take it very seriously when we fail to
meet these standards. Your comments have been forwarded to the branch
manager and district manager for resolution. You should be contacted
by one of them within 48 hours. If you are not contacted, please feel
free to call me at 800-GOFEDEX, please ask for FedEx Office.I apologize for the extremely poor customer service you received from
the employees at the 505 S Mattis Ave location. At FedEx Office we
strive to provide our customers with prompt, courteous, and
professional service, and I take it very seriously when we fail to
meet these standards. Your comments have been forwarded to the branch
manager and district manager for resolution. You should be contacted
by one of them within 48 hours. If you are not contacted, please feel
Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you, and
look forward to better serving you in the future. If you need
immediate assistance please feel free to contact me at 800.463.3339.
Thank you again for letting us know about this, and have a great day.
Sincerely,
Alisa Nielsen
FedEx Office Customer Relations
FedEx Office Customer Relations
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