'Thanks for f*****g up our Christmas'

[WildestDreams]

Special delivery: Foul-mouthed rant

January 2, 2014, 6:18 pm Kristy Mayr Today Tonight

<object id="flashObj" classid="clsidThis is not what we call good customer service. In fact, it is one of the most extreme cases of bad customer service we have seen in a very long time.

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Dr David Poole runs an online company selling sporting memorabilia.

He was unable to deliver a gift ordered three weeks before Christmas – what he did deliver was an expletive-laden rant in writing to a female customer.

Christmas gifts are a rarity for hardworking mum Lisa Nestor and husband Kirk. And with Kirk recently retrenched, Lisa decided this year she would cheer him up with something special.

Lisa placed an order for a personally signed photograph of Hawthorn star Luke Hodge on December 6 and was told to expect delivery in three to nine days, with a guarantee the package would arrive before Christmas.

However, by Christmas Eve it had not yet turned up.

“I went and found a Luke Hodge personally signed picture. There was only 100 made with a certificate and so I searched around for it. On the Hawthorn footy site it had sold out so I found this one on Sports Online.

“They informed me [on Christmas Eve] they'd checked the courier and it was definitely on the truck and it'd be here by five so I said i'd wait the extra hour which I did. We waited until five and it didn't arrive, by that time they were closed so I was unable to contact them.”

Christmas Day came and went so Lisa cancelled the order.

The email she got in reply left her shocked.

It read: “We cannot provide further information until we are back in the office. In the meantime thanks for f*****g up our Christmas as we clearly f****d up yours. Please check our refund policy and in the 14 minutes in which Christmas remains, try go f*****g yourself.”

Further emails read: “Dr DA Poole. Severely P****d off Owner Sports Online. After all, did you go to church today to actually celebrate the birth of our saviour, Jesus Christ?

“They obviously didn't preach about mercy, Do whatever you f*****g want to do.”

Lisa said: “I thought he'd be in shock that I didn't receive it, but when I opened it I was the one in shock. I couldn't believe what he wrote.

“They were appalling, quite disgusting actually. Iwouldn't think anyone would be silly enough to write anything like that.

“I don't think anyone deserves that treatment. I think he should have been apologetic and done whatever he could to help me find the parcel then I wouldn't have done anything.”

Today Tonight politely approached Dr Poole several times to ask if he would like to give his side of the story. He even phoned us, claiming he was only human and had made a mistake.

However, he only delivered another foul-mouthed rant, this time in our direction. Some of which is in writing, plastered across his Sports Online website.

The statement does apologise for gifts which did not make it by Christmas and gives examples of good customer service and charity.

But there is no explanation for his emails.

Brand and marketing expert Simon Hammond is shocked any business owner could behave this way, let alone someone with the credentials of Dr David Poole who is also a university lecturer and co-author of several books.

“This is appalling isn't it,” he said. “I mean, obviously the guy's got tired and emotional it is the end of the year, but he's a CEO.

“The customer now is not only right but the customer has a voice and the customer has power and the customer is in position they've never been in before and this guy has had a mad moment and he's forgotten all that.

“I hate to say it but I think the outcome here for this business is catastrophic.”

This reporter is on Twitter at @KristyMayr7