the importance of truly clean contacts

[William Sommerwerck]

You've been around long enough to know how this game is
played, (throw it out and buy a new one). So were you really
that surprised at the outcome of your visit?

Yes, I was. I expected Sprint to at least have a spare charger to check the
unit. I was also extremely displeased that Sprint couldn't be bothered to
hold onto the interface adapter needed to download the contents of my phone.
That's outrageous when they're trying to get you to buy a new one.

Personally I wouldn't have even bothered making the trip.

I combined it with another trip. I rarely go out for just one thing. I've
combined as many as seven or eight trips into one.

I don't know what kind of attitude if any you may have displayed
during the visit because I wasn't there, but in any case I do believe
that the guy in the earlier posting gave you a bad rap as he wasn't
there either.

I started courteously, then became "emphatic". I'm 65, and have reached the
point where I say (when appropriate) "I don't care what your company likes
or wants. All I care about is what I want." Businesses are not people, and
are not deserving of respect, per se. I suspect companies often hire very
courteous and "sweet" people to wait on customers, on the assumption that
most customers won't get angry with them. Well, I ain't "most customers".

I can tell you that I've experienced similar situations and I would
have been upset, as I'm sure you were. You sound very principled...

No, I'm cranky and demanding. I expect companies to value every customer's
business, and to make every /reasonable/ effort to make the customer happy.
The business exists to please the customers -- not just the stockholders.
(It used to be true -- and might still be -- that Costco stock doesn't have
the "high" value it should, because the company is perceived as being
more-interested in customer satisfaction than simply making money.)

...and very much like my brother who lives in a suburb of New York City.
He walks into a store and just expects people to treat him with courtesy
and respect his feelings. Sadly, more often than not he goes home
disappointed. I've tried to tell him that he's much too sensitive but he
keeps expecting everyone to appreciate how he feels. It's wonderful to
have an idyllic take on life. Just don't expect too much because the sad
reality is that plain and simple, some people just suck.

It's not the people so much as it is the company. The head office sets the
policy.


I should report my recent outstanding experience with Hewlett-Packard. After
successfully setting up a local network with my ProBook 4530s, the computer
suddenly stopped connecting. Running ipconfig revealed that all the 802
hardware was disconnected.

When I called HP's 24/7 service line, I was connected with someone in India
who, much to my surprise, proceeded to treat me courteously and
intelligently (for which he received effusive thanks). Even more to my
surprise, he admitted that HP was aware of this problem (!!!), and it might
hardware failure.

After some unsuccessful troubleshooting, he suggested I return the unit. HP
sent me a shipping box via FedEx, and I returned the computer yesterday via
FedEX Overnight, all at no cost to me. In other words, I received "full"
warranty service, even though HP specified only a limited warranty (IIRC).
(The FTC defines a full warranty as not costing the purchaser anything.)

This is the kind of service I expect from HP. I hope HP fixes the computer
properly, because it's one hell of a notebook at a giveaway price.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

I actually had a service manager at a local large auto parts and
service store which is part of a chain here in the Northeast tell me
that he didn't care about one customer's satisfaction, (mine). He had
lots of customers, and didn't need any more. I was so pissed off I
wrote a letter to the president of the company. I was reimbursed for a
79.00 wheel alignment I had to have done elsewhere, I received a
100.00 gift certificate in the mail, and the asshole was fired as
well. Sadly, these days for the most part "customer service" is merely
two words, one that follows the other. And both have been circling the
drain for some time now. But you can always write a letter.
Lenny

I intend to call Sprint, eventually.

By the way, the HP 4530s came back at 11:30 this morning, less than two days
after I'd shipped it, with a note saying the radio was defective and had
been replaced. (I'm not sure it was defective.) Anyhow, it was in the same
condition I shipped it, and another hour on the phone with a courteous,
intelligent (that's not sarcasm) HP guy did not resolve the problem. I'm now
resetting the routing to factory settings, and reinstalling the system, to
see what happens.