ACK !! HANG ON !!! It’s not what you think. Hang with me for a moment.
I’m not a huge fan of frozen meat. I’m not a huge fan of freezing many foods. Ice cream freezes really well and so does stock. Ice cubes are a perfect candidate for your freezer, either a top mounted rig or the fancy bottom freezer models. And I’m still not a fan of frozen meat. Mostly because living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I can get some world-class fresh meat on a daily basis with little or no effort. So, why should I bother with Omaha Steaks?
Because sometimes sending flowers to a friend doesn’t say it loud enough. But bacon wrapped pork chops? That right there says love.
Here begins our saga of, “That sonofabitch stole my meat!”
Thom isn’t feeling well these days and I’m too far away to bring him fresh meat. So, I figured I’d send of a load of Omaha’s best. Yes, I know. Once you get on their mailing list, it will never end. But Thom is worth the effort, this time.
It all seemed easy enough and it was to arrive on his doorstep on a Thursday. This Thursday arrived and the UPS driver knocked, counted to maybe 10 and left. Thom made it to the door only to see the guy driving off. There was no note and after making a quick survey, there was no package. He waited Friday for a redelivery, nothing.
I tracked the package and it’d been marked as delivered.
“That sonofabitch stole my meat! It is’t the principle of the thing, he stole my meat!” heaved Thom.
He decided he’d get Metro involved and have a talk with the local UPS manager guy on the coming Monday.
I called Omaha Steaks several times and they kindly resent the package via FedEx, no hesitation. Just so you know, usually when UPS marks a box as Delivered, it’s absolute hell attempting to get any satisfaction from either side. Not this time.
Omaha marked the package as stolen and all seemed back on track. Until last night, when Thom took out the trash and found a styrofoam cooler tucked deeply next to the trash can, out of the way, out of his sight. In a non-obvious area. The UPS guy had delivered it, just not left a note as to where it might have been.
Since most of you don’t really know me, one of my trips is that I like to keep things honest and let people know the scoop. This isn’t to say I tell all truths, especially when it’s detrimental. No, I called Omaha (for the forth time) to let them know that it wasn’t stolen and that since it was our error, they were welcome to charge my card for the 2nd delivery. And to let them know that while the UPS driver wasn’t a thief, he didn’t bother to leave a note.
The woman said, “No, that’s fine. They should have left a note, don’t expect an extra charge and thank you for letting us know.”
Aroo? Listen up, I made 4 calls to these people and not once was on hold for more than 8 seconds. Each time I needed to be forwarded to their Customer Care department and they had been completely briefed on my situation. I didn’t have to retell my story, ever. And again, this was all done promptly with NO grief whatsoever. I can think of no company I’ve ever called that is this well managed.
Thank you Omaha Steaks for taking care of business with a degree of professionalism rarely found on this planet.
Biggles
Good customer service is like common sense..not too common. So many call centers have been outsourced your lucky to get even bad service.Bravo to Ohmaha Steaks.
Well, rock on, Omaha! That is really cool.
BTW–Zak does a bit of trade in used guitars–and he absolutely, positively WILL NOT ship via UPS.
Not ever.
It is Fed Ex all the way.
I commend you on your honesty. I think to makes sure this was not a freak incident,and to restore good will to all parties involved, that you should send another package of Omaha Steaks to me. I will report back!! Chilebrown
There was something about your story that had me tossing and turning. You know I am a big fan of Buster Brown. Why didn’t Thom call the 800 number and say “Hey, You have a driver playing Ding,Dong,Ditch” The tracking may have said delivered,but the operator can access the delivery records. When a Driver leaves a package without a signature he has to enter a location where he left it. If that did not clear things, the operator can forward a message to the local dispatcher, who then intant messages the driver. The driver has to respond immediately to continue using his delivery board.This takes a matter of minutes. The driver is required to leave a note. Boy, I glad I got that of my chest.
I am glad everything worked out in the end. I hope Thom is feeling better.
Doc,
Chilebrown is right. And we should probably test few other companies. S0 I’ll make the sacrifice and stay home all next week to receive a package of Neiman Ranch steaks.
That kind of customer service in practically un-heard of these days. Well done Omaha Steaks! No pun intended ;-}
Hey CB,
The problem was that on Thursday when Thom sawr them drive away, he figured the guy would return on Friday for a second try to deliver. This is pretty much standard for what us users expect. No big deal and Thom had NO IDEA what was IN the package, heh.
It’s all good today, yum.
Biggles
Unlike most hardcore foodies…I love The Big O…sure they aren’t super fresh, but fresh enough to have a good supply in your fridge for when the boys come over to watch the fights…
….And I’ll bet their customer service center is not in Bangladesh.
If those steaks had been left anywhere in my yard, they would have been dispatched by a local dog or renegade coon!
Thanks for giving credit where credit is due and for making a good name for consumers. Nice post.
You give good, you get good. Good on you.
I’m in the process of negotiating with FedEx for the DIF site, too. UPS sucks, but USPS Priority Mail has done a surprisingly good job for us.
And good on Omaha Steaks for doing the right thing.
Hey Prag. C,
We’ve been using UPS here at work for over 25 years and I’ve been here 15 of those. We ship both regular old stuff and also hazmat, hazmat air and non-hazmat world wide. We have a daily pickup and have a computer dedicated to our UPS process, it isn’t a web based app.
So far UPS has spanked the competition and mostly due to the shipping software/tracking system. It’s solid, easy to use and we’re well taken care of. Our ground shipments have an exceedingly large percentage of success. This is where especially FedEx falls to pieces. We’ve attempted to start using FedEx, just in case UPS has another strike. But their software is so clunky, poorly written and hard to use that it’s been cancelled.
That being said, one bad driver on your route can sour the experience.
Biggles
No big problems with the UPS site really, except that I get dinged a lot for extra charges when I get my bill, which kills me. I haven’t used the Fed Ex site much yet, but it seems fine. And I haven’t had any real horror stories, it’s just my UPS sales rep has been absolutely full of crap, and Fed Ex has been very effecient. My Dad even works for UPS.
do you ship in Canada?
I recently purchased 4 filet mignons for $19.95. I was disappointed to say the least. I cooked them on the grill and I have to admit, they were tender, however, there was hardly any taste to them and they were very dry. If this is the quality of all of your meat, I certainly will not be ordering anymore.
You have got to be kidding? Omaha Steaks is running one of the biggest scams around. They lure you in with great pricing and then pull the rug out from under you when you place an order. I placed an order for $315 and was charged over $700. Customer service is staffed by morons who would rather DITCH your order than honor their commitments. This is not a reputable company.