Common Sense eCommerce

Have you heard that when calling certain companies?  Does it seem like you hear it every time you call? Such is the case with Monster Commerce.  I have called them many times over the past few years and each and every time I hear the message (aka excuse) “We are experiencing longer than normal hold times”.

Today I called. It said that message as usual and my call was answered in less than 2 minutes.  So Monster Commerce, do you really mean it? I guess not. I think they just have the message there to cover themselves when there are long hold times.

Later I had to call GoDaddy.Com for a related reason.  There was no announcement to the effect of ‘longer than usual hold times’ and it took over 10 minutes to get the call answered.  That by the way was not a toll free number. GoDaddy, since you are making the customer pay for the call don’t you think you should warn them of longer than usual hold times or give them an estimate of how long they’ll be on hold?

F minus on Business practices for both!

CompUSA - memba them? Well they’re still around, sort of. CompUSA was once one of the top electronics retailers in the US but fell on hard times. Last March, they announced the shuttering of stores in many states (including Washington where I live). Then late last year, they announced they were just calling it quits.

However, Systemax (the parent company of TigerDirect) didn’t want to let that name go to waste. They must have believed there was some value left in the brand because soon after that towel was tossed in, they announced they were buying the name, 16 of the retail stores and of course, the eCommerce website of CompUSA. The eCommerce part of CompUSA has always been a seperate entity than the physical storefronts.

You can read the announcement here. Just today I checked to see if the CompUSA website was still there and this is what it looks like.

So it appears Systemax will keep the brand as is rather than overlay TigerDirect on top of it. Will customers continue to buy there? That remains to be seen but in the world of eCommerce, if there is power in a brand, it would be worth hanging on to.

Tags: CompUSA, Systemax, TigerDirect, CompUSA Closure