Service Chain is also important: (Written by a poor supply chain writer)

Filed in archive Basics on March 15, 2006

I feel totally pissed off. Today, definitely I'm not in the mood to write about supply chain. Maybe about service chain, because actually that's about what has happened to me...Well here is the story:

There is this chain store in Sweden called OnOff which I bought my notebook from. I spent like crazy amount of money for extra service and guarantee. Last month, the adaptor for the note book broke down. I went to one of their stores and they told me since adaptor is a peripheral !!! it is not part of the guarantee agreement. So they sent it for the repair and now after one month it's not ready yet. I talked to the store manager about this and even though they had missed their promised delivery date, they did not give me a new adaptor and the reason was "I have to open the box of a new notebook to give you a new adaptor and then I won't be able to sell it anymore...You have to wait till next friday at least."

What do you think about my situation? Do you think I have been treated fairly? Have you ever seen such level of customer service?

But anyway, the thing is that the service chain is as important as supply chain. All the concepts and methodologies like agile, lean, etc. can and should be applied to this chain as well, otherwise the companies will end up with customers like me saying goodbye to them for ever...