A cautionary tale about Borrow Lenses.com

Mistabernie wrote in post #14286252
Well we now know that part of the story is true. The rest (so it seems) is pretty much up to interpretation.

NounStudio wrote in post #14286285
Agreed.

As for me, I will continue to use Borrow Lenses for all of my rental needs. They took extra care of me when they didn't have to.

Thanks for pointing that out - I brought it up because I think some people were starting to suspect this even happened.

One thing is for sure. BL's customer service sucks. I would have done the right thing morally, returning the lenses, however, if I was given an offer of compensation for my good deed, then it was taken away AFTER I did the good deed, then I would be pissed too.

In any case, even if the OP was an a$$ and demanded a reward for doing the correct thing, BL should be HAPPY to offer him a reward for returning the items. Two free rentals is a small price to pay for the return of these lenses. BL went to the EXTREME, they rejected the reward agreement, and then they banned him. Even if they gave him the reward and then banned him, that would have been fine. In this society, lots of people are happy to pay a reward for the return of lost items. Lots of people happily pay rewards for dogs, equipment, anything that someone wants back. OP FOUND something that BL did not even know that they lost.

Instead of coming here and making things right, Markol came and just stuck by his words. Even if the OP was an a-hole and demanded the 2 free rentals, Markol should oblige. It does not actually cost them a huge amount in funds to give him 2 free rentals. BL is running a business. This is a business world. Nothing is done for free. Markol expects him to 'return the lenses for free', but do not want to adequately compensate him for his efforts. If Markol is sticking by his business policy of ALWAYS making money, why should the OP do FREE work for Markol? Shouldn't he get paid as well?

Imagine the HUGE positive PR impact it would have if the OP came here to share his wonderful story about how he found the lenses, returned them, and BL gave him 2 free rentals for his troubles. Instead, we have a huge negative PR impact, and BL is still sticking to their ways.

BL needs to hire someone like Helen from Adorama to work for them. They need some lessons in customer service and positive PR.

All moral issues aside, business is business. Plain and simple. Pay the man for the work he did. Compensate him, call it a day, and move on. It was YOUR mistake. Not his.

chakalakasp wrote in post #14286188
There would have been no theft until the rental period was up. The customer was entitled to use all the lenses he received for RENTAL until the rental period was up. Keeping the lenses past that period would have constituted theft.

And yes, theft of $6K+ items where you know the name and address of the person who admits to still having the stolen items tends to result in law enforcement followup.

If I was at borrowlenses.com, I'd definately have my attorney draft some changes into the Terms of Service that state what must be done if you get a lens that you didn't order.

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professorman wrote in post #14286388
One thing is for sure. BL's customer service sucks. I would have done the right thing morally, returning the lenses, however, if I was given an offer of compensation for my good deed, then it was taken away AFTER I did the good deed, then I would be pissed too.

In any case, even if the OP was an a$$ and demanded a reward for doing the correct thing, BL should be HAPPY to offer him a reward for returning the items. Two free rentals is a small price to pay for the return of these lenses. BL went to the EXTREME, they rejected the reward agreement, and then they banned him. Even if they gave him the reward and then banned him, that would have been fine. In this society, lots of people are happy to pay a reward for the return of lost items. Lots of people happily pay rewards for dogs, equipment, anything that someone wants back. OP FOUND something that BL did not even know that they lost.

Instead of coming here and making things right, Markol came and just stuck by his words. Even if the OP was an a-hole and demanded the 2 free rentals, Markol should oblige. It does not actually cost them a huge amount in funds to give him 2 free rentals. BL is running a business. This is a business world. Nothing is done for free. Markol expects him to 'return the lenses for free', but do not want to adequately compensate him for his efforts. If Markol is sticking by his business policy of ALWAYS making money, why should the OP do FREE work for Markol? Shouldn't he get paid as well?

Imagine the HUGE positive PR impact it would have if the OP came here to share his wonderful story about how he found the lenses, returned them, and BL gave him 2 free rentals for his troubles. Instead, we have a huge negative PR impact, and BL is still sticking to their ways.

BL needs to hire someone like Helen from Adorama to work for them. They need some lessons in customer service and positive PR.

I concur.

professorman wrote in post #14286388
One thing is for sure. BL's customer service sucks. I would have done the right thing morally, returning the lenses, however, if I was given an offer of compensation for my good deed, then it was taken away AFTER I did the good deed, then I would be pissed too.

In any case, even if the OP was an a$$ and demanded a reward for doing the correct thing, BL should be HAPPY to offer him a reward for returning the items. Two free rentals is a small price to pay for the return of these lenses. BL went to the EXTREME, they rejected the reward agreement, and then they banned him. Even if they gave him the reward and then banned him, that would have been fine. In this society, lots of people are happy to pay a reward for the return of lost items. Lots of people happily pay rewards for dogs, equipment, anything that someone wants back. OP FOUND something that BL did not even know that they lost.

Instead of coming here and making things right, Markol came and just stuck by his words. Even if the OP was an a-hole and demanded the 2 free rentals, Markol should oblige. It does not actually cost them a huge amount in funds to give him 2 free rentals. BL is running a business. This is a business world. Nothing is done for free. Markol expects him to 'return the lenses for free', but do not want to adequately compensate him for his efforts. If Markol is sticking by his business policy of ALWAYS making money, why should the OP do FREE work for Markol? Shouldn't he get paid as well?

Imagine the HUGE positive PR impact it would have if the OP came here to share his wonderful story about how he found the lenses, returned them, and BL gave him 2 free rentals for his troubles. Instead, we have a huge negative PR impact, and BL is still sticking to their ways.

BL needs to hire someone like Helen from Adorama to work for them. They need some lessons in customer service and positive PR.

All moral issues aside, business is business. Plain and simple. Pay the man for the work he did. Compensate him, call it a day, and move on. It was YOUR mistake. Not his.

That was pretty much my feeling when I posted earlier in the thread.

aquaforester wrote in post #14282102
Return $7000-8000 worth of lenses and is called a liar? That is just ridiculous. They should have given you a key to the store and put your pic up on their website. I'll look elsewhere for rentals.

They could have made this a nice story. It doesn't sound like anyone is arguing that the OP returned the lenses and they didn't want to give him the $600 credit? And this guy was a repeat customer? Look at companies like Amazon, Costco and many others. The customer is King and could do no wrong.

Karma is a b**tch but now you can add me to the list of people who wont be using BL as a result of your post. You did the right thing, they promised something to you and ended up accusing of being a liar and blacklisted you for no reason.

I was seriously considering renting a lens for 3 weeks. I guess my money will go elsewhere.

@professorman @bikeboynate @aquaforester We certainly do our best to take care of our customers in every regard. Please reread my initial reply. We haven't attained our stellar reviews because we have poor customer service. It's quite the opposite the vast majority of our customers are incredibly satisfied with our service and support. This is one case where our efforts were outright rejected. Every effort was made to amend this situation and unfortunately Mr. Curran decided to refuse our offering to him while simultaneously stating he'd rather not do further business with us.

Overall we provide an incredible experience for our customers and when you try us I'm sure you'll agree.

markol wrote in post #14286745
We haven't attained our stellar reviews because we have poor customer service. It's quite the opposite the vast majority of our customers are incredibly satisfied with our service and support. This is one case where our efforts were outright rejected. Every effort was made to amend this situation and unfortunately Mr. Curran decided to refuse our offering to him while simultaneously stating he'd rather not do further business with us.

So you have just decided to 'write this one off as a lost cause' despite the ability to 'make it right', which you refuse to do? He did the right thing morally, and you REFUSE to do the right thing morally 'because' you have lots of other customers?

Have you ever seen how Helen come on here and HUNT down EVERY SINGLE negative situation and makes it right, despite having a MUCH larger happy customer base than you? Who knows, maybe we are just spoiled by how great Helen is, we are just not used to less-than-excellent PR reps. If that is doing your 'best', it is just not very good. You shouldnt call it your best, because you set your best-mark EXTREMELY low.

markol wrote in post #14286745
Every effort was made to amend this situation and unfortunately Mr. Curran decided to refuse our offering to him while simultaneously stating he'd rather not do further business with us.

Maybe I'm missing something here but the OP closed his initial post by saying he tried to rent again but was refused service. Is that the case?

Yeah, I hate to pile on here, but if he had an order in and you cancelled it because of this situation, you're making things even MORE difficult for him (the first time was by not honoring what was offered by a manager and effectively potentially costing your customer $600, when he just potentially saved you thousands. If he wasn't willing to do business with you in the future, I'm pretty sure he would have cancelled his order.

IMO the negative feelings that have been generated toward BL on this thread with over 3,000 views has lost possibly thousands of dollars in profit for BL. At this point, with their PR rep not willing to concede, Its just hurting his company more.

Yeah, all that BL stuff is basic "cover your ass" speak. Note the very general response and glossing over details. I can interpret BL's response as saying the exact same thing the OP did, just with a lot less specifics.

Banned even though he mailed back $8000 worth of equipment. Called a liar repeatedly and hung up on, even though he mailed back $8000 worth of equipment. He fixed BL's HUGE mistake. The actions of BL speak much more negatively of them than the OP.

Thousands of positive customer reviews for BL doing what they are supposed to do--normal and should be expected.

But reviews of things that occur in special situations, errors, mistakes, emergencies, etc--now THAT's what I want to read. How these situations are handled is the true mark of customer service. And BL failed.

********

I've had a few experiences with BL that were okay, but definitely annoying. This puts me over the top. I dont want to experience the same treatment the OP did even though he saved them thousands of dollars. Moving on!

bikeboynate wrote in post #14286861
IMO the negative feelings that have been generated toward BL on this thread with over 3,000 views has lost possibly thousands of dollars in profit for BL. At this point, with their PR rep not willing to concede, Its just hurting his company more.

Mark's not their PR rep; IIRC Mark is a president.

Mistabernie wrote in post #14286917
Mark's not their PR rep; IIRC Mark is a president.

He's the president of the company?
That makes it even worst!!!

mirrorrim wrote in post #14286892
Yeah, all that BL stuff is basic "cover your ass" speak. Note the very general response and glossing over details. I can interpret BL's response as saying the exact same thing the OP did, just with a lot less specifics.

Banned even though he mailed back $8000 worth of equipment. Called a liar repeatedly and hung up on, even though he mailed back $8000 worth of equipment. He fixed BL's HUGE mistake. The actions of BL speak much more negatively of them than the OP.

Thousands of positive customer reviews for BL doing what they are supposed to do--normal and should be expected.

But reviews of things that occur in special situations, errors, mistakes, emergencies, etc--now THAT's what I want to read. How these situations are handled is the true mark of customer service. And BL failed.

********

I've had a few experiences with BL that were okay, but definitely annoying. This puts me over the top. I dont want to experience the same treatment the OP did even though he saved them thousands of dollars. Moving on!

This is all I needed to not want to ever do business with BL. To call someone a liar and hang up on them after they bailed you out is completely unacceptable. You absolutely cannot treat a customer like that.