Talking about dbrand's customer service

third time's the charm?

dbrand makes one of the best skins for tech related items, there's no denying that but (in my opinion) their customer service needs to be improved. As of today, I have bought their skins for three times (all three during their storewide sale. bamboo, concrete and hyperblack skin launches). During the first time, everything went pretty smoothly but the second time was a complete nightmare. Not only did I have to wait nearly three weeks to receive my skin but one of my skin ended up being wrongly cut.

To a certain degree, dbrand's customer service is good in the sense that it is systematic but depending on your mood, their "robots" can either be a humorous thing or be something that ticks you off especially when you are trying to get a legitimate response from them about a problem.

being treated as a human being

My story

So, here's what my story is all about. Back in June, I ordered a set of dbrand concrete skins when they had a storewide sale. But I ended up (only) receiving the skin nearly three weeks later and while I was already a little disappointed about the delay, what came to me next created more frustration. The cutout for my Surface Pro 4 Microsoft logo was oversized. Initially I tried doing a little DIY work with an x-acto knife but I gave up after failing to get a clean cut. 

Read more: dbrand concrete skin review - an alternative to carbon fiber

After that, I decided to contact dbrand to express my concern about the over-sized skin that they sent me. Two days later, I received a reply from dbrand and they said that the over-sized skin that I receive "it's a rare occurrence, sometimes we (do) make errors during fulfillment". They re-assured to me that a new set of skins that is the right size will be sent to me at no extra charge.

The following week, I received a new set of skins and out of luck, the skins ended up being over-sized yet again. Once again, I contacted dbrand and sent them the following set of photos to show that the skins are still over-sized. Additionally, I did notice that the newer set of skins that I received was the exact same size as the first one that was over-sized. At that point, I had a hunch that they might have gotten the measurements wrong, so I told them about it in my email response.

After sending out that email, I waited 2 days before getting feedback from them. My first form of feedback from dbrand about the over-sized skin was a refund invoice from PayPal. Only a couple hours later that I officially received a response from them that they suspect that their machine might have been calibrated wrongly which would explain why the measurements were wrong.

Other than the refund invoice from PayPal, dbrand never issued me a message stating that they were regretful of the inconveniences that I was facing and that they will be refunding the full price that I paid for the skin(s) in that order. If dbrand is really committed to the persona of a robot then their email replies are a perfect representation.

In about a week, I received yet another replacement which will supposedly justify their tagline of "the most precise fit on earth". I can tell you that I was so determined that the skin will end up fitting perfectly but the truth is that the new set of skins from dbrand ended up being over-sized yet again.

At the end of the day,  I just gave up at the third time because it was such a hassle to just tell them once again. Also, I feel a little indignant to them since they refunded the money I paid for the skins. But anyways, I ended up getting the skin to the right size with the help of an x-acto knife. It's not perfect by any means but it should do the trick.

Personally, I am a little skeptical as to why the skins ended up being over-size three times in a row. I doubt it has anything to do with the calibration of their machine. But then again, the dbrand bamboo skins that I received earlier this year was a perfect fit.

Wrap-up

But bottom line, dbrand has a pretty solid customer service if you can close one eye about their robots and human relationship. Over the course of 6 weeks, their robots provided me a response in approximately 2 days (which is pretty consistent) and the full refund shows that they are committed to providing customers with the best experience possible.

Read more: experiencing amazon's a+ customer service

While their customer service is decent, I wouldn't say it's the best thing out there. My personal favorite is still Amazon's customer service which is so much quicker compared to dbrand's 48 hour response time. Waiting up to 2 days for a response is not a bad thing but given that they are quoting that fulfillment errors rarely happen but I would like to see the option to contact them directly via a live chat or phone call.

Another thing is that, I hope that dbrand can work to improve their logistics and performance in the future. Especially when they plan to have a massive storewide sale. I actually got myself another set of dbrand Microsoft logo skins a couple days back during their storewide sale for the return of the hyperblack skins and I am definitely hoping that I get it in a timely manner and that the skins will be the right size.

I am a little skeptical about how dbrand actually manufacturers their skins. Being hopeful that someone will do a video or feature article about it. 

Insider Talk

I swore that I would never bought another dbrand skin when they had a sale but I just could not resist it as I recently got the Note7 and I was thinking of styling it with a skin. Hopefully, dbrand has one-upped their skin-manufacturing performance since the last time they had a storewide sale.

This article was supposed to come right after the Amazon customer service review but I just couldn't cope with my real-life schedule in the last couple of weeks. Hoping to get more articles out in the remaining of the year. I have got a list of things to write about it's just that I don't have the time to write them.

The next article will hopefull be my review of Samsung Pay.

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