Robot My Life and Australia Post: customer service fails
Australian robot mop/vacuum company RobotMyLife is a failure at customer service, but does provide Lee Hopkins with a useful case study on poor customer service
On the 16th January 2023 I bought a robot vac and mop from RobotMyLife.com.au.
I wish I hadn’t.
Dear Lee Hopkins,
Thank you for your order from Robot My Life AU store! We wanted to let you know that your order (#…) was shipped via Australia Post, Express Post + Signature on 16/1/2023. You can track your package at any time using the link below.
Thank you for your business and we look forward to serving you in the future!
Robot My Life Phone: +61 3 7003 8791 Email: customerservice@robotmylife.com.au Website: https://robotmylife.com.au/
25th January 2023
G’day,
On the 16th of this month I asked and paid (#…) for this product to be shipped Express, but it’s been sitting in Ferntree Gully since 18th Jan.
Are you able to follow up on this, please? I am really quite disappointed that the unit hasn’t arrived yet.
Many thanks,
Lee
25th January 2023
Hi Lee,
Thank you for reaching out and we apologize for the delay. Kindly give it 24-48 hours to update and hopefully there should be a movement by then. We appreciate your patience an understanding. Have a great day.
Sincerely, Mario
25th January 2023
Hi Mario,
That’s not good enough. I bought the unit on the 16th, with Express delivery. It’s now 9 days later and still no sign of it. What are you doing to make sure I have a good customer experience?
Thanks,
Lee
26th January 2023
Hi Lee,
We apologize for the delay, it was actually sent express and awaiting update from Aupost. Thank you for your patience and understanding regarding this matter.
28th January 2023
Hi Mario,
Ever wonder why McDonalds keeps earning accolades for its customer service? It’s because Maccas, and many other large customer-facing corporates, realise the damage to their reputation that one disgruntled customer can wreak. So they go out of their way to keep the customer happy, including replacing the customer’s order at no charge. Because the reputational benefits of a happy customer far outweigh the cost to keep a customer happy. Even when the company is not at fault (it might be one of their contractors who stuffed up). They don’t play ‘blame someone else’, they don’t ask the customer to wait, they immediately sort the problem out, there and then.
Have a think and see if you can see a parallel with my current order.
Lee
[No reply from Mario]
31st January 2023 to Mario
Screenshot from this afternoon. Nothing is happening at Aus Post. What are you doing to fix this?
Lee
To say I am disappointed is an understatement. Because of Long Covid I am often not up during business hours, so cannot call the company’s telephone number, leaving me to email with Mario, who now doesn’t reply.
I extend this case study as an example of how not paying attention to your customers will backfire on you. Expect me to leave a review on Google.
2nd February 2023 (after I had contacted Australia Post myself to find out what has gone wrong).
Good Afternoon Lee,
Thanks for your patience while we’ve been looking into the delivery of your Robot Mower that you’ve been expecting to receive. I can understand that you’d be concerned that your parcel is still in transit and you haven’t received it yet. My name is Michael, and I’ll be able to help resolve this for you. ?
Lee, I have checked our records for your item and can see that we have only received the sender’s electronic manifest. We do not have a record of the parcel physically moving in our network. With that being said,?sometimes scans can get missed.?
In the unlikely event you are still waiting for your item by 06/02/23, I would suggest that you contact Robot My Life in the first instance and ask them for help with your order. I can see that they are a business customer of Australia Post and I am sure they will be able to provide a suitable resolution. We trust that the sender would be the best equipped to offer a solution in line with their Terms and Conditions. If the sender is unable to assist you, please let us know.
I do sincerely apologise for any stress or inconvenience caused in relation to this article’s delivery. Thank you for your ongoing patience and I hope this information has provided further clarity on your steps moving forward and have a wonderful day.
That last email reply to Australia Post, cc Robot My Life, seemed to have a magic effect. Within 30 minutes I received this from a customer service rep at RobotMyLife:
Hi Lee,
Thanks for passing this on, while we are quite certain this has already been sent, we want to get this resolved for you ASAP.
As such we will be express shipping another one out.
We are incredibly sorry for any inconvenience that this has caused, please feel free to reach out though if you don’t receive this next week. 🙂
Sincerely, Cambell
3rd February 2023
That’s how it stands at the moment. I’ll be watching my emails with interest, waiting for notification from Aus Post that a delivery is imminent. I wonder if me blogging the correspondence on this site has played any part in RobotMyLife’s change of engagement stance.
In case you think I’m being harsh or overly-sensitive, have a read of a thread about RobotMyLife on impartial review site Trustpilot.
More news as it comes to hand. Back to the studio…
7th February 2023
An email to me from Australia Post, Monday 6th February 2023
7th February 2023. Email to Aus Post and R0bot My Life
So, I cancelled a doctor’s appointment and stayed in all Monday to sign for the unit.
No one rang on my door all day.
Tuesday, I woke up and checked my Aus Post app, which said the unit would arrive today. It didn’t.
Based on my experience I have lost all hope that it will be delivered Wednesday, so I’ve gone away with the gf for a long weekend.
I didn’t think I could get any angrier, but here we are…
Lee
7th February 2023
I am now incendiary. Aus Post has closed my case and the email I just sent them has been returned unviewed. The Aus Post is so badly designed from a customer perspective that there seems no way I can lodge a complaint or request support. I am out of ideas of how to escalate this matter.
This is what the Aus Post AI robot just told me:
I’d like to transfer you to our Live Chat team for help with your enquiry, but they’re not available right now, as it’s outside of business hours.
If you come back during our business hours, 8am and 9pm (AEDT), our Live Chat team will be happy to help.
Furthermore, if I use the website’s online forms to complain about a late delivery, I cannot do it the same day as the delivery was supposed to, but didn’t, happen. So I can’t fill in a form on the 7th to complain about a non-delivery on the 7th, even though the time of day that I am filling in the form is nearly midnight. I don’t think there’s too many delivery drivers out at midnight.
Wednesday 8th February 2023
Acknowledgement screen from submitting a webform on Aus Post’s website
In the webform I said the postal date was 18th January 2023.
