My experience with Cyberdyne
The issue is not who is right or wrong, but the way they treat their customers. This is highlighted in the original posts of this thread.
Matthew Greenway (Managing Director).Tries to come across as a strict headmaster admonishing a errant adolescent. Unfortunately he doesn't quite pull it off and he reminds me of my 4 year old glaring at me with a scowl on his face and hands on hips when I have told him to do something he doesn't want to do. Stamping his feet and screaming "the issue is now closed" over and over again completes the picture.
Chantelle Kie. (Customer Services). She reminds me of a pit bull terrier. Grabs hold of an issue and has to rip it to pieces. Will not let go until the customer relationship is completely destroyed. And even then she yelps to her boss (Matt) who stomps in again with his finger wagging. I said in a phone call to Matthew that a mountain had been made of a molehill and we should all just drop it with no bad feelings. He agreed, but Chanty unfortunately could not leave it. She had to come back with an long email reading me the riot act. This included quote" This 'mountain of a molehill' has been caused through (a) Your total unresonability (her spelling) i.e. expecting us to operate like a Pizza Delivery service in the area and deliver an order from Robertville within minutes of you placing it and (b) through your inability to read correctly any of the correspondence from our organization - please don't try and apportion the blame here to CyberDyne as we have gone out of our way to assist you."
Her comment about expecting delivery within minutes is somewhere between a blatant LIE and gross EXAGERATION. I said I needed it within 2 days as I was going overseas. Not what you expect from customer services.
I know many people happily use Cyberdyne. I have no problem with that and encourage you to continue. I happily used them virtually since they started trading in Illovo and actually recommended them to colleges on occasion. I didn't buy much stuff from them as I had better options. Just be aware however of the likely reaction should you ever disagree with them. I am amazed that they were prepared to put so much energy (7 emails and two phone calls) into a cancelled order of R336 odd. Chantelle and Matthew are not people oriented persons, and seem to take great pleasure from “putting you in your place” rather than sorting out the problem.
Cyberdyne really could really learn customer recovery techniques from the likes of Web Africa and Discovery Card both of whom I had recent disagreements with but have left me raving about their customer services.
For the record this is a copy of my (very offensive - quote Matthew) email which triggered their (over) reaction. You can judge who is being reasonable.
[INDENT]Dear Mr Lategan
I take exception to your email.
1) You should have phoned me if you couldn't deliver immediately to prevent delay. I was assured you have access to my phone number on my customer profile.
2) I NEVER changed my mind about delivery. I was never asked. I assumed that it would be delivered as you have my delivery address in my profile. Nowhere did I select "collection". (Note - I did agree I was wrong about this, but I did correct the delivery option within minutes on the phone to Mark Johnson (He was the one who said it would be delivered the next day, and if they couldn't, they would phone me).
I am going overseas on Thursday. Should you not be able to deliver before 13:00 on Thursday 28 August 2008, please arrange for my order to be canceled, my money refunded, and my personal profile on your database permanently deleted.
Your faithfully[/INDENT]
I have used actual names here as Matthew opted to use my name in his reply to the Hellopeter complaint.