I received an email from Belisol today and I couldn’t believe what I was reading. A few months ago (in April or so) I was looking for solutions like sunscreens for my children’s bedrooms. These rooms have windows directed to the south and there’s only a curtain to block the sun which obviously is not the best solutions during hot summer days. Belisol is a company in Belgium that sells sunscreens so I wanted to find out what that would cost. Just like on many other customer unfriendly websites, there’s only one way to get in touch for this and that is to fill in a form. No telephone numbers or anything, just the form. So I filled in this form. By doing so you have to provide all kinds of data that is only of use for the company like ‘how did you get to know Belisol?’ but by then again, if they help me out I don’t have too much of a problem with that.
So what happens? Nothing at all. A week, a month, 2 months pass and until today I didn’t receive the quote I asked for. That obviously upsets me and at a certain point in time I was even wondering that the reason for that maybe is the fact that it’s not a really big job. In the form you have to fill in the number of windows etc you want a solution for so maybe there wasn’t enough business for them in my request. Anyway, they aren’t the only solution out there and we just looked further for other solutions. Luckily also the summer in Belgium was crap so we didn’t really need it this year. The search is still on by the way :)
And then today in my inbox: “jobs at Belisol”! Are they kidding me? I’m so totally fed up with companies that deal with personal data this way. Basically they figured out how to store my information, how to do some research on their most efficient promotion channels, … but actually providing me with the information I need is too much too ask. And then they start spamming me?! As I said, I couldn’t believe what I saw. Sigh. It shows again that we have to stop blaming the technology as the technolgy works most of the time, it’s our attitude that needs a fix.
Update: Some might have noticed that I’ve deleted a few comments on this post. Initially someone working at Belisol shop contacted me saying that it would never have happened at their outlet. Today this person requested these comments to be taken away. After some thought, I decided to follow the request and canceled the comments made here. There are 2 reasons why I decided to do so:
- The person that made the comments did track the Belisol brand (unlike their HQ) and did come back to me on the issue I talked about for which she might get into trouble, which is the last thing I want
- Although I agree that this person could have been smarter in the comment itself (saying they each operate separately), being asked to delete it sort of proves my point about that it still is one brand umbrella so that I don’t really care as a consumer if they did operate as separate businesses or not
Anyway, in the end, we’re 2 months after I wrote this and many more months after trying to get in touch with Belisol and I didn’t get what I asked (no need to bother anymore by the way), so still pretty ‘customer last’ if you ask me.
Technorati Tags: customerfirst, customer, belisol, sunscreen, service
'Cross The Breeze 
At least their e-mail segmentation was right … it seems they can use you for their (online) marketing strategy to ‘bring the love back’ ;)
The least they could have done was to actually send you what you needed. I have heard and read that these things are happening more and more often. Personally, if I can avoid it, I don’t fill out forms of any kind. Instead, I simply look for another place to get where I want. Hopefully, you’ve seen the last of that spam.
A few comments have been deleted because this was requested by the writer of the comments – I’ve updated with more info in the post.
My experience with Belisol has been terrible. Just before Christmas 2007 I signed a contract with the Belisol branch on Ave Souverain, Brussels for the replacement of all of my windows – 23,000 euro contract. We finally agreed that they would fit the windows on 10 March. A huge delay but the best they could do. They didnt turn up until 28th March. When they finally arrived, two of the windows had been incorrectly measured and had to be sent back to the factory. I was assured they would be back within 3 weeks. I was informed yesterday that it would be 19 May before they could be fitted so I will have had two very large holes in the side of my house for 7 weeks. They never respond to my calls and act like they have every right to make mistakes and to make me wait as long as suits them. When I mentioned compensation for the delays/mistakes they laughed in my face. The salesman I have been dealing with (Olivier Ronin) is nothing more than a cheap con-man who lies through his teeth to make a sale. I would advise anyone to avoid this company and look elsewhere.
@Adrian: sorry to hear about your indeed lousy experience with Belisol – keeps amazing me how they seem to treat there clients. I hope you get it sorted out alright.
ik ben ook niet te spreken over BELISOL. Een firma met onbekwame medewerkers die trouwens ook niet weten hoe de klant tevreden te stellen….