Whatever happened to customer service?

I have a Garmin cycling computer that has a USB port so I can download my ride information to a computer.  I’m mildly obsessed with cycling.  There is a black cap over the USB port that was poorly designed, as it is not attached.  I know this because the little black cap on the recharger on my phone stays attached to the phone when I lift it off.  I will never lose it.  Not so with my Garmin.  In fact, it took less than 30 days to lose the black cap on my Garmin.  Just the kind of guy I am.  I was going to order spares before I lost the black cap, as I was so confident of my proclivity to lose stuff.

So I go online and write customer service at Garmin and ask them if I could buy a new cap; in fact can I buy five, as I’m sure I will lose the “unattached cap” again.  I said I’d be happy to pay for them. 

I get a letter back from “Michael” in Garmin customer service saying, yes, I can buy them, but not via email.  I have to call “Michael” at his 800 number, which he gave me.  Not sure why we couldn’t handle the customer request via email as I give out my credit card over the Internet on an almost daily basis.  If you are a customer service fanatic you listen to the customer and do what they request.  Obviously I’m not dealing with a Tom Peters-like company.

So I call the 800 number and am told by a recorded announcement that there will be a 20-minute wait before I can speak with “Michael.”  A 20-minute wait says a lot about Garmin.  Probably a good time to short the stock. 

I was not blessed with the patience to sit on hold for 20 minutes to order a black cap for a poorly designed product from a non-customer-oriented company.  So I write “Michael” back and ask if we can man up and do this over the Internet, and guess what?  “Michael” writes back and says they don’t have any black caps and he has no idea when they will.  “Michael” was going to make me call and sit on hold for 20 minutes to learn they don’t have the product?  You can’t make this up.

Then “Michael” tells me “I” should check back periodically to see if they have come in.  “Michael” seems incapable and oblivious to the fact that he should eagerly perform this service for the customer.  He is probably overwhelmed in Garmin customer service.  But really, when did common sense customer service in this country die?