JapanNewbie

Japan-quality Customer Service in the States

Posted on 28. Jan, 2009 @ 4:05 pm by harvey in Culture Views: 260

This is a completely out of the ordinary post.

I use backpacks and shoulder bags made by a company called SpireUSA. I have purchased 3 bags from Spire so far. One for someone else as a gift, and 2 for myself (one backpack and one shoulder bag). I recommend them highly.

This company makes great bags. They’re not incredibly stylish, but they’re extremely functional. They are laptop bags with a protective padded sleeve inside that holds the laptop snug and protects it. From the outside you would never guess a laptop was inside which is great for security. They have pockets, large, small, zippered, open, in all the right places inside and outside of the bag. The bag itself is made from a material called Cordura which is very durable, and for some reason even seems to stay cleaner than most materials. I love these bags. I’ve travelled all over with them. Japan, India, back to the States, and countless other places.

Cheesy picture of my bag in Japan. The company was having a “Spire bags around the world” contest or something. I didn’t win.

Now, the reason for this sudden praise…

The other day I was carrying my bag around and the joint where the shoulder strap meets the bag on one side started to tear. I sent an email to Spire with pictures of the damage, and they said that I could either ship them the bag and have it repaired, or they would send me a replacement bag. They said fixing it could take up to six weeks. So I opted for the replacement bag. They don’t make the same model that I had anymore – I purchased the bag almost one year ago and it has been updated since. So you know what? They sent me a brand new bag, of an updated model, the next day. They also sent me a pre-formatted UPS label so I could easily return my damaged bag.

That’s what I call customer service. While in Japan I often wished that customer service in the states was as good* as it was in Japan… This is it. Excellent. It’s not even as if the bag was defective. I was using it for a year without any trouble, just one day I had my stuff in it, and the joint started to rip. I probably could have sewed it up myself if I knew anything about sewing… It feels good to be treated right.

Note, I’m not an affiliate or anything of Spire (but if they had an affiliate program I would jump at the opportunity), I’m just writing this out of the urge to let you know about this little-known company so you too can share in the greatness which is SpireUSA!

Seriously these are great bags.

- Harvey

*good: you get what you are entitled to, the same way, every time. However… in Japan I would often complain about the inflexibility of their customer service. If you wanted service that was on the books you would get it no questions asked… If you wanted someone to go the extra mile or do something out of the ordinary though… それはちょっと(無理です)〜。

Tags: backpack, customer service, shopping