Customer service

Apple bent over backwards to help me recently – even though it was outside of their user arrangement  (See here).

Apple are a huge organisation and yet still look after the individual (in my experience anyway). This made me wonder how well other organisations fair in the customer services area… more specifically manufacturers or razors and shaving products.

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A while ago I came up in a rash. I was using several products at the time so contacted the manufacturers. I have sensitive skin and had skin problems before.

Firstly I contacted King of Shaves. Very easy to find a contact on the website.

Will King himself got back to me within a few hours and asked if it had happened before, and then suggested options I could try. Then the King of Shaves Master Barber contacted me and gave me some tips and helped out. Great service.

I then contacted Gillette. Finding the right contact on the website was not so easy.

After a few days I received what could only be called a generic email. It said that all Gillette products are tested and it was unlikely to be any of their products causing the problem. Immediate defence of the product and not one question to me, or advice on what to do – apart from linking me to their “how to shave” page… like duh… I’m 37 and suddenly I have forgotten how to shave. The whole experience was very cold as if Gillette wanted to distance themselves from any problem.

I then contacted Raz*War.

I received a fast response from one of the Directors – much like the King of Shaves, Raz*War took it seriously, and did not go into any defence, but asked if I had any history of skin problems. Polite, fast response and helpful.

So King of Shaves and Raz*War came out tops in that, where as Gillette just didn’t seem to care. Now I realise I might just have got through to the wrong person – but so what? I’m still a customer and should be treated with respect by a corporation no matter WHO I get through to (eventually…).

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I wanted to trial some razors – and seeing as I wanted them to review I would expect some very positive friendly help from the manufacturer.

When I saw King of Shaves were launching a razor (the Azor), I showed interest in giving it a try. I was invited to a launch party by Will King himself (I was a total unknown to Will King – He had seen me on Facebook on a shave group). Live music, barbecue, freebies. Honest discussion about what the user wants and a need for people to speak out if they don’t like the product. This was an eye opener for me. When the Azor M was launched I received one of those for review too – and I didn’t need to ask.

I contacted Gillette several times, through their website and Twitter, to try and get a trial on the new Pro-Glide. Eventually someone got back to me and linked me to some websites where I could apply to get a free razor…. only these were only for the USA and Canada! I mentioned this on Twitter and a Gillette member got back to me saying I should try Amazon when it gets launched in the UK… Needless to say I haven’t been able to test one yet, let alone get my hands on one.

I contacted Raz*War and asked if I could have a sample for testing. Straight away I had a sample sent out – I blogged the results of my tests and the Director came back thanking me for my honest review.

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Now I’m not biased, so I conducted a very simple test on the three manufacturers razors – A full head and face shave – with a goatee trim.

King of Shaves Azor – Easily managed a weeks hair and stubble due to 4 well spaced blades, although trimming around my goatee was tricky. Shave was very close and very smooth. Cartridge price and life is bench setting standard. I can go weeks on one cartridge, and as such they work out far cheaper than a disposable.

Gillette Fusion – Struggled with a weeks hair and facial growth due to 5 close set blades, but goatee was easily trimmed with a very neat and smooth trimmer blade. The shave was smooth but not close at all – in fact It left me with enough hair to shave again with either a Raz*War or King of Shaves blade. Price is… well, stupendous. The blade lasts 3 days for me and I can’t afford a shave of that quality at that price.

Raz*War El Fidel – Struggled with a weeks hair and facial growth due to 5 close set blades, but goatee trimming was easy with the trimmer blade – although that blade was a little coarse and uncomfortable. The general shave wasn’t as close or smooth as the Azor, but I still knew I’d just shaved. I’d say it wasn’t as smooth as the Fusion, but it took off more hair. Cartridge price is cheap and they last me about 3 days.

If you like Gillette, then buy Raz*War (shaves like a Fusion, but closer and far cheaper), but for the best shave – albeit lacking a trimmer blade (somewhat essential for a goatee/moustache), then buy the Azor.

KING OF SHAVES

RAZ*WAR

GILLETTE

This is just one users findings – so go ahead and try for yourself and do a little research. We are all different and may well fair better with a different razor/product to one another.