Telescope Reviews: Celestron Customer Service

I have to say I see both sides of the problem. As a veteran engineer in a relatively small high tech company with a very focused niche market but a wide variety of products, I see these exact same issues with our own operation. Thus, I should have known better than to be an early adopter on the CGEM, although I'd waited long enough for the first couple of reports to come in before I jumped. Unfortunately I don't think those really told the whole picture.

Working in an engineering department that seems to spend more of its time reacting to customer problems than we do developing new products, it's easy to get the feeling that we don't have any happy customers and that we can't ship a single thing out the door that works! However, as my boss reminds me on occasion when I'm ready to roll some heads, that's not really the case. We ship millions of dollars in product each month made up of 100s of different product lines from a manufacturing facility of less than 100 manufacturing employees. MOST of those ship and arrive without a hitch, but some percentage are problem designs and some percentage someone somewhere along the line manages to royally screw up! THOSE are the ones I end up seeing, and so from that perspective it would appear we just don't know what we're doing!

So, from my perspective, while I understand what's likely happening at Celestron, I know that our customers aren't happy when it happens to them; I'm not happy when I see it happen to them; and I'm also not happy when it happens to me from Celestron or any other vendor. Still, there's a significant difference between being understanding about why it's happening (which when no one SHARES why it's happening makes that difficult) and believing that it's acceptable to receive a defective product and then take forever to get a repair/replacement. While I may not be losing the business income that my company's customers might while they're waiting on us to respond, I am still losing time/money. I'm losing the ROI that the money I spent on a Celestron product could have given me if spent elsewhere (granted return on investment in the market sucks right now, but I'm actually refering to buying something else I could be enjoying now) or just left in the bank. I'm also losing the time that I would have spent using the product that I'll never get back. Not to get too morbid here, but I am starting to get a sense of my own mortality and the fact that I need to enjoy things while I can! If nothing else, I'm probably losing the time out of my two year Celestron warranty!

So it's not like the quality of their product and/or customer service isn't costing me anything either. And it certainly costs the manufacturer, both in direct cost (having to repair something that shouldn't have broken to begin with) and in customer perception and repeat sales.

And on that last point, while I agree that there is the squeaky wheel behavior that means that maybe only problems get posted to sites like this, it still is good to let potential buyers know that there is a chance they'll get into the same situation. As with all information on the internet, it's up to the consumer of that information to decide just how much/who to believe. Kind of like it's up to the consumer of a product to decide who to buy from.

And while I'm on a roll here, I wanted to share another realization after visiting one of the (not so) "happiest places on earth". It struck me that many organizations have come to define "customer service" as having a smile for the customer. It's all about just being nice (which is of course important) but not about actually solving the customer's problem. To me, good customer service means solving the customer's problem with a smile, since they typically DO have a reason to be a bit irate. Really great customer service includes doing a bit extra to help alleviate any frustration (and Telescopes.com has given me GREAT customer service, BTW). But telling me, "Sorry, but there's nothing I can do to help.", which is what I have typically heard from Celestron, is NOT good customer service.

Ok, end-rant!

Beo

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Celestron 8SE w/ Zhumell Focuser, Orion ST-80 & StarShoot AG. 11" NexStar GPS w/ MotoFocus.
CGEM w/ ADM Saddle, Knobs, and SBS Dual Saddles.
Modded Canon 450D & Nikon D90 DSLR w/ various adapters.
Denkmeier PowerxSwitch S2, WO 1.25" & 2" Dielectric Diags.
TV 8, 13, 17 mm Ethos, 1rpd 30 mm, Astro Tech 40 mm, Celestron 1.25" EP & filter kit.
1.25" Filters: TV OIII Filter; Lumicon selector, UHC, H-Beta, & Deep Sky.
f6.3 reducer/corrector & SCT filters.
Various custom carrying cases.