I have an excellent laptop bag from STM and it’s been  in daily use for over 2 years. However, recently, the shoulder padding on the strap tore. I contacted STM to see if there was any way I could get a replacement strap.

Their response was that they would be happy to send me one free of charge. Brilliant! I provided them with my address and then they responded to say…

My mistake, since you are located out of the continental U.S, there will be a shipping fee of $30 as our warranty does not cover shipping internationally.

And $30 is about how much it would cost for a replacement bag. No thanks.

The thing is here is that, desperate to provide good customer servicer, they agreed to do something without asking the relevant questions  – i.e. say they’ll provide me with a free strap before asking where I lived. That was THEIR mistake. Most companies, upon realising that would have just replaced it free. But no, and by doing that, they quickly turned satisfaction into dissatisfaction. Indeed, they didn’t even tell me if it was possible to buy a strap nearer to home – you know, where it doesn’t cost as much again to buy the bag.