Dear Sir/ Madam:
It will be my pleasure to look into this matter and see what I can do to help you.
Cornerstone is closed today and tomorrow for the New Year, so I will call Cornerstone on Monday and ask to speak with Tina.
I would ask that you help me help you. While you have provided a lot of information here that should make it straightforward for her to identify you, it would still be very helpful if you would please call me or email me with your name and home telephone number, so that I can make certain I'm able to advocate on your behalf.
You can reach me using the following contact information:
Noah Tepperman
[protected] ext. 1495
ntepperman@teppermans.com
I look forward to hearing from you, and I hope that I will be able to bring this matter to a speedy resolution.
Sincerely,
Noah Tepperman
Dear Darryl:
I haven't heard from you since I replied to your original post, but I have followed up with Cornerstone this week.
Although we didn't have much information to go on, we were able to figure out who you were and track down your service file. I reviewed it with one of their front line service reps, and had it escalated to a Service Manager shortly after that.
I understand that the last 2 months have been frustrating for you, and on behalf of Tepperman's, and Cornerstone, please accept my apologies. I'm sorry for the frustrations that this delay has caused you.
I also hope that you understand that no one has been trying to take advantage of you. It seems like after the initial service call/ diagnosis on Nov. 3rd, there were 2 subsequent attempts to repair the microwave that were not successful. It seems that part of the challenge was that the servicer was telling YOU that he wasn't going to be able to fix the unit, but he wasn't communicating that to Tina at Cornerstone. Tina actually called the servicer on Dec. 23rd to get a final call as to if the unit was repairable at all, or not.
While all of this doesn't make your experience of the last two months any less frustrating, I do hope that it gives you the confidence of knowing that you're not being given the short end of the stick. Some issues take a little bit longer to resolve than others- but there's a BIG difference between slow service and unfair business practice.
I just got off the phone with the Service Managers, and it is my understanding that Cornerstone has authorized the replacement credit for you of your full retail price, to be used at Tepperman's towards a new microwave. I'm certainly glad you made the decision to get that warranty when you got the microwave originally, or else you'd be totally out of pocket!
The owner of the store you purchased your microwave from has been advocating directly on your behalf, and the full terms of your warranty are being fulfilled. I look forward to seeing back at Tepperman's in 2010 and for many years to come.
Sincerely,
Noah Tepperman
Thank you for taking the time to post your comments. I really appreciate your comments, and I’m optimistic that I’ll be able to clear up many of them and shed some light on the situation. I will include my contact information at the end of this post, and I hope that you’ll use it to contact me directly so that I can talk to you about the specifics of your experience.
I’m glad I noticed your post here, but in the future, should you have any frustrations with Tepperman’s that you feel haven’t been addressed properly, I encourage you to use the following resources to guarantee that your comments are reviewed:
a) Teppermans.com. By using our online form, you can send us questions, comments, or whatever you like. Our Customer Care team reviews all submissions daily, and ensures that customers receive a prompt response.
b) The Better Business Bureau’s of Windsor-Essex (Windsor; Chatham) and London (London, Sarnia). The BBB is an accredited, not-for-profit organization focused on protecting consumers, and their web-sites are very easy to use. They ensure that all communication is received by Tepperman’s, and responded to in a prompt fashion.
The most important reason to use either of the above communication tools is to ensure that your comments reach us here at Tepperman’s, and that we have the opportunity to review them and take care of you properly.
As it pertains to your particular comments, I’d like to respond to them properly. I’m going to respond in point form since there are a number of different comments, and I want to ensure I respond to each of them. I should point out that because I don’t know who you are, I may not be able to provide the level of detail that I could provide if I had the specifics of your account history with Teppermans.
Q: Is Tepperman’s misleading with our definition of an account?
A: Not at all. We have a DIFFERENT type of account than a Sears or Home Depot account. Tepperman’s accounts are structured as instalment credit accounts, not revolving credit accounts.
Q: How are Tepperman’s accounts different? How do the accounts work?
A: Let’s say you’ve been approved for a Tepperman’s account, and your “open to buy” is $10, 000. In addition, you make a $1, 000 furniture purchase today, and you make a $1, 000 appliance purchase two weeks from now.
- Each of those purchases is associated with your account, and your “open to buy” will be reduced by the total financed amount.
- Each of those purchases may have separate terms. For example, one might be a “90 Day Interest Free”, while the other might be “No Payments, No Interest for 1 ½ years”.
- Each purchase is tracked separately in our system, and because the terms are different, each purchase has a different “due date” and minimum monthly payment.
Q: Does each transaction at Tepperman’s result in an application for financing?
A: No. Your initial request to open an account will require you to submit a completed application. The only other time you might be required to complete a new application is if it has been a very long time since you last used your account.
Q: Does each transaction at Tepperman’s result in a credit inquiry through Equifax?
A: No. Tepperman’s typically sends inquiries to Equifax under the following circumstances:
- if you’re applying for a new account
- if you’re at your limit with Tepperman’s and are requesting additional credit
Q: Does a credit inquiry w/ Equifax automatically damage your credit report?
A: No. Equifax inquiries are not automatically damaging. It is my understanding that Equifax allows 3-4 separate inquiries in a 12-month period before there is any negative impact on your credit score. Further, there may be certain circumstances (mortgages, for example) where multiple inquiries within a narrow time period are not counted as individual inquiries.
Q: Is there any stigma associated with applying for credit with Tepperman’s?
A: None whatsoever.
Q: Why would a Customer Assistant at Tepperman’s ask if customers waiting in line were paying cash or purchasing on an account?
A: There are a couple of possible answers to this question.
- If it is a particularly busy day, we may have a separate “cash line” set up to help us manage traffic.
- As some customers may be applying for a new account, asking this question can help identify those customers. To expedite the process, we can provide them with an application form to complete while they’re waiting in line
Q: Why would we ask again if a customer standing at their station were paying cash or purchasing on an account?
A: The order entry process is different depending on the purchase type, and so the Customer Assistant would double-check at this point.
Q: Why would we ask questions that we might already know the answers to, when a customer is making a new purchase on an existing account?
A: We will often double-check that the information we have on record is accurate and up-to-date. It is very common for important details to change (contact information; employment information; marital status; etc.) and for your protection and ours, we have to ensure the accuracy of all account information.
Q: Why would we have requested a new credit application, when you had an account with us?
A: While it is impossible for me to say for sure without looking at the particulars of your account, typically it would be one of two reasons:
- Either it had been a fairly long period of time between purchases, or
- There were significant changes to your “profile”, possibly changes in employment or marital status.
- A third, less-likely but possible reason, is that someone made a mistake.
Q: Was Tepperman’s overcharging because we were selling a dishwasher for $130 more than the same model was offered at Home Depot?
A: No, not really. Were we more expensive? Clearly we were, but we haven’t reached 85 years of retail success through overcharging our customers. When it comes to the “price wars”, sometimes they win, and sometime (lots of times) we win. $130 seems to be a big difference in price for a dishwasher, so I suspect there is some additional information underlying the difference. That being said, good for you for finding such a good deal!
Q: Does Mattress Depot really sell for $39 the same mattress protector that Tepperman’s sells for $120?
A: Probably not. If you got all of the details from Mattress Depot for their product, and compared it to the details from our product, I feel fairly certain that you’d find some sizeable distinctions.
Q: What else can you tell me about Tepperman’s accounts?
A: There are a number of advantages to having an account with Tepperman’s.
- Tepperman’s credit is entirely in-house, from submission to authorization to bill payment, and everything in between. This means that your information is always protected, and is never sold to a third party.
- For people with no credit history who are looking to build their credit, or for people with some credit problems in their past who are looking to rebuild their credit, Tepperman’s offers a number of different programs designed to help our customers.
- Our credit terms are very aggressive, and our fees are often lower than those of our competitors.
- Our credit approval ratings are significantly higher than 3rd party credit companies like Citi, etc.
- Should a Tepperman’s customer fall on unforeseen hard times, we work with our customers to be part of the solution… not part of the problem.
Its quite clear that you’ve come away from your experience at Tepperman’s with a different perspective than I would have hoped for, but I’m optimistic that my answers have helped to clarify the situation.
It would certainly be my preference to discuss all of this with you in person, so please contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Noah Tepperman
[protected]/ [protected], ext. 1495
ntepperman@teppermans.com
Dear P.J.,
I've just been notified of your comments here. I believe I've been able to locate you in our system based on the information you've provided here. I will be looking into this matter ASAP, and will follow-up with you directly within the next day or so. While I still need to get some additional information, its clear that your recent experiences at Tepperman's have been frustrating, and that's never our intention. Please accept my apologies.
As I said I will be contacting you in the near future, but should you wish to contact me directly, you can reach me at [protected], ext. 1495.
Sincerely yours,
Noah Tepperman
Hi Justin,
I'm sorry that you feel you have to accuse us of dishonest business practices. The records of the ongoing conversations we've had with you at a number of points over the last 12 months seem to tell a different story than what you represent here.
In those conversations between you & various members of our credit & collections teams a number of topics were discussed that related to monthly payment expectations (due dates, minimum payment amounts, etc.) but if it helps I'm happy to provide some of that information again.
There's no argument that both of the interest-free financing plans mentioned in your comments provide for a specific interest-free period (2 years on the TV, 1 year on the air conditioner).
In order to qualify for those financing plans, the customer must qualify for those plans, as well as agree to the terms of the plans. Both of these plans specifically require that customers make minimum monthly payments by or before the monthly payment due date.
At time of sale we provide specific information about the minimum monthly payment amount that the customer needs to make in order to pay off the account in full, without interest. If a customer makes on-time monthly payments using the minimum amount (or more), then the purchase will be paid off by the end of the interest-free period, without having to pay interest. If the customer makes less-than-minimum monthly payments in an ongoing way and does not completely pay off the principal before the end of the interest-free period, then interest charges would apply.
When a customer enters into a financing agreement that requires minimum monthly payments, the customer agrees to provide the minimum payment amount on a monthly basis, by or before the monthly due date. If a customer does not make their monthly payments on time during the period, that would disqualify them from the interest-free benefit.
I hope that this additional information helps clear up why there was a requirement for additional interests & payments.
