First-World Problems...Lockness Monster And Customer Service Edition

I am reasonably mechanically inclined, but I have no idea what the hell happened to this lock. I even had visions of repairing it, until I saw the number of pins and tiny springs strewn over the floor.

On the other hand, the Baldwin company was very helpful, and promptly sent me a replacement lock; except it was the wrong one. And while that was partially my fault for not explaining exactly what kind of lock it was (two-sided deadbolt), the customer service agent immediately told me that she would send out the re-keyed lock the next day, so I assumed (wow...I should know better by now) that she knew which one it was.

And of course the parts arrived at 6:01pm, just after their offices closed for the day. To be fair, it could have worked had there been less damage to the external locking mechanism, but the little tab that connects it to the deadbolt had sheared, so I needed both, or a locksmith. And as you know, I am a cheap bastard, so no locksmith for me thank you very much!

But the next morning I called them up, and they were efficient and apologetic (not necessary at all) and sent me the correct lockset, and even tossed in early delivery, which was much appreciated.

Installation was not obvious, and the amount of tightening of the screws holding the two locks together is definitely not intuitive. My first instinct was to tighten them a lot. But that introduced far too much friction in the system and it didn't function. Great! How about a simple torque value so it isn't a guess?

I am sure I could have called Baldwin and they would have told me exactly how to install the locks, but damn it! I'll do this myself.

I was pleased with their customer service...not everything works perfectly, and they were more than willing to make it right, and didn't even ask for the return of the first lock. They were also very pleasant, which makes everything very nice. The first agent even pretended to laugh at one of my jokes, which I think is wonderful training on Baldwin's part.

Anyway...what positive experiences have you had with companies that obviously want to do the right thing for their customers? We all have stories of the opposite, but let us set those aside and talk about the good ones.

[Well, unless you have a great "lousy customer service" experience]

posted by CBD at 02:00 PM

| Access Comments