SimpleHuman-Simply frustrating

christy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:25:00 GMT

Have you ever seen one of these?

It is a refillable motion sensor soap pump. And I have one. It sets on the counter at the back of my kitchen sink and I use it, like, a bazillion times a day. It's sold by a company called Simplehuman.

My loving husband bought it for me last year knowing how much I like gifts I can use. Not that I don't appreciate the occasional BLING, it's just I like gifts that do more than just sparkle. Not that this baby doesn't sparkle, cause let me tell you....ok, it doesn't really sparkle. But it's brushed chrome finish does kinda gleam.

Recently, however, it stopped working. After a quick call to customer service I learned the pump mechanism on this model was bad and had been replaced by a newer one that they would send to me! KEWL. And since they had a 2 year warranty, all I had to do was take a pic or two of mine and email it along with my personal information. Which I did that very day on January 22nd, 2010.

I went about my day happy to know I would be getting a replacement dispenser soon. I was expecting a follow up email telling me they were processing my request and a date of delivery. After five days of waiting, however, nothing had transpired. So I sent another email and waited. After another five days on January 28th I finally recieved an email from the company telling me they had in fact received my initial email and my request was being processed and expect a delivery in 7-10 business days. That was February 2nd.

Whoooo hooo! It wouldn't be long now.

Is it weird that I get excited over a simple soap dispenser? No? Ok, good.

So according to the calendar, I should be receiving my package by February 16th at the latest.

Well, guess what? That's right, I didn't. I gave customer service a call and spoke to another very nice lady that said, although she didn't see my order "give it another day". Being up to my elbows in work to do, I agreed and waited two days!

I called back, left two messages in two days. Having had enough of that crap, I called and spoke to a different person. She advised me that she didn't see anything but my intial email. Nothing of the second email. Nothing of the confirmation email they sent me. Nothing of a replacement ordering having been sent. GREAT!

She apologized and finally processed the order and said to expect it in, you guessed it, 7-10 days. By now it has been 25 days since my first phone call and email. Unbelievable!

I'm really missing my soap pump! I've already gone through two bottles of the regular manual hand pump variety and am frustrated.

While I am waiting on that delivery, my Graviti Battery-Operated Pepper Mill stops working (I know, I'm spoiled). But this thing is awesome too. I mean look at it!

Sleek. Efficient. And fun too. All one has to do is turn it upside down and it quickly grinds peppercorns into fresh pepper. Freshly ground seasonings is always the best way to get the most flavor out of them. I use this almost just as much as the soap pump.

So when it died, I thought, what else? I was worried it would take another month to get this replaced. But you know what? I called them and within 4 days I had the replacement battery pack! I didn't even have to send them a picture or make any follow-up phone calls! And I still received it BEFORE the pump!

By now I bet you're wondering if I am EVER going to come to the end of this story. Well, yes I am. But at least now you can understand a little of my frustration on this thing dragging on!

I finally did get the newer pump on Monday March 1st! That is 26 business days since my first phone call. I don't think I am being too picky in expecting better customer service than that.

Even though I've had trouble with getting this new one, I am still very happy with the product itself. I never have to touch it after cutting up chicken, dicing sticky fruit or sprinkling streusel over a coffee cake. Simply run your hand over the sensor and it automatically dispenses a pre-set amount of liquid soap into your hand. Perfect. Now all I need is the hands-free faucet and I'm all set!

If you wanted to get either one of these beauties for yourself or as a gift for a friend, try Amazon or Williams Sonoma.

Now, go forth and buy something!

Life and stuff : amazon

SimpleHuman-Simply frustrating