Blown away by Customer Service

[Munkay]

I've been very disappointed with a lot of companies' customer service. You name it, I've dealt with it, too many times. I've always been the one who calls and spends hours on the phone with company x or corporation y trying to straighten things out.

So when the cable connecting the LCD to the base on my 6-month-old IBM ThinkPad laptop decided to break, I prepared myself for another round of woe with another big companies customer service.

What I received instead was a pleasant surprise.

I called IBM customer support three weeks ago and explained the problem. After giving the usual information, a box was shipped out overnight. The next day I got a rather hefty sized padded cardboard box in the mail with a prepaid postage (this is all very typical of hardware servicing now-a-days). Due to issues of arranging a pick up date at a dorm, the computer sat in my room hooked up to an independent monitor until thanksgiving break when I could bring it home and ship it out.

By then two weeks had passed, and I was unsure if they would recognize the computer after receiving it so late. I called on Tuesday afternoon after it was picked up at 4 pm. They still had the record and double-checked the information.

They received it Wednesday morning. Thursday afternoon (at 3pm) I was holding my computer, returned from IBM. What did they fix? They went so much further than they had to: the only thing needing immediate repair was the cable connecting the LCD to the computer. They replaced the cable, the LCD itself, the motherboard, put in a new CD drive, and replaced the plastic faceplate around the keyboard (it had a slight 1 inch hairline crack).

My computer was gone for less than 72 hours, and came back fully repaired.

I've never encountered such good fortune before.

On a side note: As many lurkers have probably read in the headlines, IBM is selling its share in the PC market. Hopefully Lenovo will continue this exceptional support.

Any lurkers have stories of praise, or horror, when dealing with big corporations?

Cheers,

Munk

[Armin]

Positive example: Gateway (whatever quality issues they might have had, I was one very satisfied customer ;) )
New PC a few years ago had a broken CD-Rom after only a few days. I was posiitive that it was the drive and not some controller or installation issue, called tech support and expected trouble. The guy asked me only a few questions, agreed that it must be the drive itself and asked if I felt confident to replace it myself. He also assured me that I wouldn't void any warranty by opening the case myself and I had a new drive within 2 days (actually, the next working day, as my phone call was too late for shipping the same day). The box contained preprinted shipping and postage labels for sending the broken one in. Excellent service - and that PC actually STILL serves as my typewriter to this very day (has been running stable for 5 years)...

Terrible example: Alternate.de a pretty big fish in German mail order computers and parts. Their PC (pile of crap that never worked too well) had come with a broken graphics card (just a glitch at first and deteriorated quickly). Again, I was positive it was the card and not a driver issue. Phoned tech support and argued for an hour. The guy insisted, that I would have to send in the thing first, THEY would need to send it to Sparkle, and after they would confirm a defect THEN I might get a replacement within only a few weeks. That was not only a load of bull#$%&, it was also plain illegal, as German civil law clearly states that the SELLER and not the manufacturer is responsible for replacing, repairing or reimbursing defective merchandise.
So faced with probably having a 3000€ doorstop for WEEKS (actually, the Xmas holidays :huh: ) I went to a local store, bought a new card, replaced the broken one with it and sent it to the jerks at alternate with the clear instruction to reimburse my money and NOT send replacement...
You may have guessed - I got a replacement after 3 weeks :rolleyes:
Having no nerve for a lawsuit over a few hundred €, I sold the replacement on ebay at only a marginal loss that I felt totally worth it for having a working comp over the holidays B)

I also told everyone that wanted to hear it (and a lot that didn't want to hear it :ph34r: ) what a bunch of imcompetent weasels Alternate are...

[Wyrm]

Never dealt with them personally, but from what I've heard HP has a pretty good service department.

Story of horror?

Dell. 'nuff said.

Seriously, I was working as an intern and one of the Hard Drives at the place went bad on a machine, so we filled out the paperwork for a replacement and sent it in. Response came back that they wanted us to run a system diagnostics test to make sure it was a bad hard drive. We left the test running overnight and it was still going the next day. Everything said the hd was bad (heck, you could tell just from the BIOS startup screen). Sent Dell the results, they told us to run another test by the hard drive manufacturer to make sure it was bad. We told them to send us a new hd. They sent a 3rd party technician. All in all it took about a week to get the machine fixed, and this was with the 24 hour guaranteed support.

Another time a motherboard went bad and the technician they sent to repair it didn't even know how to get all the components out, took him about 3 hours or so to replace a motherboard, and it still had to be tested to make sure it worked.

[Copadope]

Any lurkers have stories of praise, or horror, when dealing with big corporations?
[right][snapback]61979[/snapback][/right]

I am a faceless corporation. I recently gained employment at a call center for AT&T Wireless customer service (now a part of Cingular Wireless). In my short two and a half months on the phones, I've heard plenty of examples of the good, the bad, and the ugly... Some people call in with a simple request, we process it straight away and everything is hunky dory. Other people call in with an otherworldly situation full of special circumstances and wonder why they have to spend more than half an hour on the phone to straighten it out. Then there are the calls where someone had a simple request, we processed it incorrectly, then the customer has to spend unnecessary hours on the phone to straighten it out.

It's unfortunate, but many customer service representatives are less worried about providing excellent service and more worried about cashing their paycheck at the end of the week. I always do my best do get the job done right the first time, but it's tough to stay positive when I spend all day listening to other people chew me out for someone else's mistakes.

Of course not all the calls are about negative experiences, but the ones that are are the easiest to remember... In any case, send me a message if you have a question about your wireless plan :P .

[Munkay]

I always do my best do get the job done right the first time, but it's tough to stay positive when I spend all day listening to other people chew me out for someone else's mistakes. [right][snapback]62013[/snapback][/right]

I'm not sure if I could handle a job like that. The one situation where I lost my cool was a rep was calmly explaining to me that the processing for my Terry Loan would take 72 hours, when I was staring at a letter from my University that said if I did not pay my tuition, I'd be kicked out of housing in 48 hours.

Now I had been calling every 3rd day for a total of 2 months, due to an error on their side (this is directly following a computer error at univerity which lasted 3 months of weekly calls to clearify).

I'm not sure if I could handle a job that had to take the brunt of peoples anger. So keep up the good work!

Respectfully,

Munk

[Griselda]

Kitchen Aid! :) I got a Kitchen Aid mixer a few years back. It's the kind that you can add all sorts of attachments to. About 11 months after I got the mixer (it has a 1-year warranty), I got the first attachment for it- a veggie slicer and cheese grater. It sorta worked, except that the thing would fall off (spinning blade and all) once you put any pressure on it. I thought I must be using it incorrectly, but I finally figured out that the hole in my mixer where you're supposed to add attachments must have been just a little bit too shallow.

I called Kitchen Aid, and the *first* thing they did was send me out a new mixer. They told me to pack the defective one into the nex mixer's box, and UPS came back a few days later and picked that one up. I guess they just refurbished that one (I hope they didn't just toss the thing, anyway, since the mixing part worked fine).

I didn't have to leave the house, pay a cent, or spend a single day without a working mixer.

One problem with build-your-own computers is that you end up at the mercy of many different companies, all with their own return policies, if something goes wrong. Even if 80% of the companies you buy from have good return policies, you know it's the other 20% of the parts that are going to break on you! :angry:

[Urza-DSF]

Kitchen Aid! :)  I got a Kitchen Aid mixer a few years back.  It's the kind that you can add all sorts of attachments to.  About 11 months after I got the mixer (it has a 1-year warranty), I got the first attachment for it- a veggie slicer and cheese grater.  It sorta worked, except that the thing would fall off (spinning blade and all) once you put any pressure on it.  I thought I must be using it incorrectly, but I finally figured out that the hole in my mixer where you're supposed to add attachments must have been just a little bit too shallow.

I called Kitchen Aid, and the *first* thing they did was send me out a new mixer.  They told me to pack the defective one into the nex mixer's box, and UPS came back a few days later and picked that one up.  I guess they just refurbished that one (I hope they didn't just toss the thing, anyway, since the mixing part worked fine).

I didn't have to leave the house, pay a cent, or spend a single day without a working mixer.

One problem with build-your-own computers is that you end up at the mercy of many different companies, all with their own return policies, if something goes wrong.  Even if 80% of the companies you buy from have good return policies, you know it's the other 20% of the parts that are going to break on you!  :angry:
[right][snapback]62024[/snapback][/right]

Those Kitchen-Aid Mixers are friggin amazing. We use ours to mash potatos, make fig stuffing for cookies or shape italian cookies, and put sausage meat into casings among other things. And we've had ours since before we moved down to Florida...I think the thing is almost as old as I am...and still running like its brand new.

As for build-your-own computers and returs...well Best Buy is always a good place to go to return anything and everything you might need. I know thats what I did when I burned out my harddrive after switching out my cases.

[jahcs]

Cyberpower.

I bought a computer that was one or two steps down from the top of the line that they offered at the time. I plugged it in and XP Home booted up and ran on the first try. :) Then I tried a few built in apps. System Information, Solitare, MS Word, they all worked fine. Tried to install and play Diablo II, install success! Tried to play, crash to black. Installed several other programs, games and applications, and the system locked up, crashed to black, gave windows error messages (which I wrote down), or reset itself. Internet explorer worked, for a few minutes at a time, on dial up only. And the modem would not reset itself, I had to do it manually, every time. DirectX, drivers, XP all showed latest versions.

Contact Cyberpower, they say check to make sure all equipment is seated on the mother board, easy enough. No change. :( Contact Tech support. (The computer came with 3 years of tech support and one year of on site service.) They walk me through reinstalling windows. No change. :( Call again, different operator, we go through the BIOS and drivers. No change. :( I suspect hardware issue and request on site service, request denied at this time. :( Call again, hang up because I can't understand the tech support operator and they won't connect me with a new operator. :angry: Next call, reinstall windows, again. No change. :angry: Next call request on site service, denied. :angry: Next call, operator asks if I have virus protection software, I say yes. He says to disable it and the problem will be fixed. I tell him I have not installed it yet. He then says I must have a virus. :o I don't believe him but I install Norton (that came in the software bundle with the PC) and suprise! It won't run. I request on site service, denied. :angry: :angry:

Contact Cyberpower and give them the rundown. I ask for on site service or an exchange. They say to contact tech support. I then ask for an exchange or a return authorization for the computer. The computer and monitor are then shipped back at my expense. :angry: I even asked to keep the monitor, but it was sold as a package deal and so I had to return it to.

The Cyberpower sales department was speedy and friendly. Shipping was fast and accurate. The return department was a bit of a problem. And the tech support company that they use is completely worthless!

I then bought a Gateway and have had 2 years of trouble free computing. :)

[Kevin]

I actually have had several good Customer Service experiences.

I'll give you a couple.

Crucial - I sent an e-mail with the results of my memtest 86 run. 2 minutes later I had an e-mail back asking if I wanted standard RMA or cross ship. I said cross ship. 2 minutes later I got a phone call to verify my CC. The next day I had the memory and shipped the bad stick back in the box they sent the new stuff in.


IBM - Similar to what was already been posted.


Micron - This was 8 years ago, but I was trying to get a Sidewinder joystick (the original) working under WinNT. While it was wholly unsupported for my system they got me going in 5 minutes on the phone.


I've had lots of good stuff with Dell, but then I'm Dell certified and can generally just slap my Tech ID into things and be done with with and I think that helps with the rare phone support I have to call in as well.


My worst customer service, ever for a tech company, has been with Western Digital. The 3 times I have had to deal with them have been horrendous.

[Crusader]

Having worked for an internet helpdesk for a year, I know plenty of horror stories I tried to solve for poor customers (the company even was discussed on TV as being monopolistic and a non-existent customer care program), but I won't go into those. That was a few years back, but I still use the same provider myself (steady connection for 99% of the time).


The fun begins... (a bit of knowledge on the workings of the internet helps understand the story).

Chello (as the ISP is called) got this great order from UPC (megacorp owning cHELLo) to use one standard modem (external cable modem) instead of 3 different types. Having escaped the dance a long time, finally I got a letter a week or two ago that my modem would be picked up last Friday. They requested the customer to unhook it so the (3rd party) delivery guy can take the old modem and hand me a new one (which a user has to install personally). The letter stated it would all be as simple as connecting the new modem, going to a webpage (provisioning (when a new modem connects to the network it gets a 10.x.x.x internal (for the provider) ip address which only allows a user to connect to said webpage)), filling out customer info and you would be ready to go. I know the system, helped plenty of people through it years ago, so I thought "will be done in 5 mins".

And, as the casual reader can expect, it turned out to be a wee bit more than 5 mins.

The first thing that went wrong that was such a pain to me.... No 10. ip...
From my point of view the modem went through it's initialization perfectly (4 leds on it show it's status and all went well). it connected to my PC, so I went upstairs and booted up the PC. I checked the ip address. 0.0.0.0. ouchies. I did a ipconfig /renew... got a shiny 192.168 address (which is bad, as windows generates these when no internet is found (for short)). I reboot both the modem and PC, no luck.

And thus, the moment I dreaded and dread every time I dare consider it, came to pass. I had to call the internet helpdesk. That's right, the internet helpdesk I used to work for a few years ago...

The second thing that went wrong that was such a pain to me... getting a knowledgeable ISP internet helpdesk employee...

The first internet helpdesk employee (note: 'first') drones the megacorp slogan to me. I explain him my problem in perfect detail. I have a new modem, but I cannot get a 10. ip address. I have tried rebooting both the modem and PC, to no luck. I have disconnected my router prior to starting. Finally, I hand him my address and postal code before he can ask for it (the ISP helpdesk's #1 sign that this customer has been through the process about 100 times). I can hear (with some satisfaction) his mouse scroller rolling through the history. I must have made about 50 calls helping other people. Each one probably states 'this guy used to be in your seat for over a year, so he knows what he's talking about and he's not one of the FAKE ex-helpdesk employees'. And yes. it happened. He tried to do the standard procedure on me. "are you sure your modem is properly connected?".

I fall silent a small moment. I reply, in a casual tone.
"have you read my history?"
"yes"
"do you think you can skip the standard procedure and get down to the problem, as I DO know how to set up things at home?"
"mmmkay, no 10.adress... let's see...."
*soft sound of pages flipping over the phone, the sound of the worst sound a customer can encounter... A internet helpdesk trainee's manual...*
"You have to use the modem reading program, I have my MAC address ready"
"umm.. ok... let's see... yes... ok, what's your mac?"
*me reads up mac*
"ah, yes, I see, your request for an ip hasn't been sent back to your modem yet, you should wait for half an hour and if by then you don't have a connection, reset the modem again."

I was stunned. utterly stunned. not only was the 'support' he gave me nothing more than a cheap excuse to get rid of me, the advice he gave me would not help at all. Worst of all, the things he said were impossible. getting an IP request handled by the modem DHCP server equivalent takes place IMMEDIATELY on connection and takes less than a second. This guy was giving me bogus. And I knew it. and that's something a internet helpdesk employee trainee rarely encounters; a customer who knows you are giving him nonesense...

So I reply calmly.
"I'm sorry, I'm sure you are mistaking, the modem should immediately get a response. if the response hasn't been sent, but the request received, something went wrong on the server." (and there are numerous scenario's, most solved by a simple flush)

"I'm sorry sir, but what's I'm saying is true, you will have to wait for 30 minutes."
*senseless bla bla*
After 5 minutes, I give up on the guy. I request to him that he reenters me into the waiting queue so I can get another employee on the line. he declines and finally hangs up repeatedly stating he can't help me.

*scribbles down employee's name*
*dials internet helpdesk again*
The third thing that went wrong that was such a pain to me.... 15 minutes of waiting, waiting and boredom...

The second helpdesk employee sounded like a total nerd. This is good, mind, as these people can actually help you with even the most complex problems while they play various internet games on the 2 pc's in front of them, spontaneously. I envied them back in my glory days as internet helpdesk employee.

Needless to say, he got things fixed on the server, he did the flush and I was presented with my much needed 10. ip address in moments. Foreseeing no more problems, I was done with this nice fellow in 1 minute 34 seconds, short discussion about trainee included) (I happened to have looked at the times on my phone, which counts minutes and seconds you are calling). Happily, I reboot and proceed to the provisioning page..

The fourth thing that went wrong that was such a pain to me.... No 10. ip...

sound familiar? well, it is, I was puzzled. the flush should have resolved this, why would things go wrong after a reboot?

and thus, I call. 18 minutes of waiting (apparently, 121.000 customers were disconnected from the internet due to a major malfunction somewhere in Amsterdam). I got another employee. I explain the problem, he looks at the logs, and goes off to the senior agents at my request. (there's always a senior agent on duty. senior agents don't handle calls directly, instead, the monitor the network and help with the most complex of issues. I was lucky, the senior agent on duty was one I knew from the old days and was happy to make an exception for me and transferred the call to his telephone. whilst merrily chatting about how UPC had managed to screw the internet helpdesk even more with oppressive and useless forms, he managed to isolate the problem. My old modem had not been purged, therefore, my address was still linked to it, causing some strange interference with provisioning. As the modem would have to be purged by a different department, I dreaded another long trip of calls to the sales department (which has 100x the number of employees and still has an average IQ of 50 or so). Thankfully, the senior agent offered a shortcut by internally forwarding me to the supervisor on the Sales department floor. From there, things went fast, and I was able to connect.

End result:
2 hours 15 minutes on the phone.
135 minutes a 0.10 cents/min = 13.50 euros for what should have been a free replacement.
1 email to internet helpdesk supervisor complaining but one trainee (smart of me to keep those old addresses stored, complaints department is known for it's paper shredder approach to most problems (literally, this even went on TV))
one very tired me.

Yet I consider myself lucky. why? because an average customer (the average customer knows nothing about internet settings) would spend days, if not weeks, trying to have this problem resolved.

[jahcs]

Yet I consider myself lucky. why? because an average customer (the average customer knows nothing about internet settings) would spend days, if not weeks, trying to have this problem resolved.
[right][snapback]62071[/snapback][/right]

My two experiences with my cable internet provider's customer service have been quite good. Both times my issues were solved quickly.

Some help desk people are quite knowledgeable and friendly, while some look at their reference chart for a moment and then make something up (something common to both our tales of woe. ;) ) It was about 2 weeks from the time I plugged in my computer until I said thanks to the UPS driver for taking the thing away.

It can be quite refreshing to hear someone say "I don't know but I'll find out for you right away." It is a lot easier to retain a customer with that kind of honesty.

[DeeBye]

Bad: Bell Sympatico

This was my ISP back when I still had dial-up. They started offering a "Lite" DSL service for about $1/month more than my 56k connection, so I called them up and placed an order to get connected. They said a tech would be out in 3-4 days with a DSL modem and get me hooked up. A week went by, so I called them back. They had no record of my order. I re-ordered it, and waited some more. Another week went by, so I called them back. No order on record. I went through this 2 more times. They lost my order 4 times. The last person I spoke to about my troubles was a senior supervisor who assured me that this would never happen again. Well, it did. I no longer use Bell as my ISP.


Good: Rogers

I was so pissed off with Bell Sympatico, I called Rogers (the other big Canadian broadband provider) and asked what they had available to compete with Bell's "Lite" service. They had a 128kbps/64kbps package that was identical to Bell's, only without a monthly transfer cap (and it was cable instead of DSL, not that I cared much). I told them of my problems with Bell, and the person on the other end of the line laughed and said she heard a LOT of stories just like mine.

The next day, a tech showed up with a Cable modem and hooked me up. He even gave me a free PCI network card (I honestly didn't know my computer at the time didn't have one already installed), and several dozen extra feet of cable just in case I wanted to relocate my computer to another part of the room. Everything was completely free. The modem is a rental covered under the monthly fee, and the installation and network card were free of charge.

I now have Rogers as my ISP, cable TV provider, and wireless phone provider. Last month I found out that since I have 2+ services from Rogers I was eligible for a 15% total discount. I applied the discount towards getting full 3.0mbps/384kbps service. I went from 128kbps/64kbps to 3.0mbps/384kbps as I was on the phone with Rogers. I even had a download going and watched in awe as my speed went from 12 kilobytes/s to well over 200 kilobytes/s.

All told, I pay a little over $80CAD/month to Rogers for my internet, cable TV, and wireless phone. Every time I contact them for help with any of my services, things get done INSTANTLY, often while I'm still talking to them on the phone. I've never been on hold longer than 2 minutes, and everyone there has been extremely polite and helpful to me. They never talk down to me or walk me through stupid procedures like rebooting my computer or rebooting my modem.

The only downside to Rogers is that they have a very aggressive sales department that calls me monthly asking me to sign up for other services.

[LavCat]

Kitchen Aid! :)  I got a Kitchen Aid mixer a few years back.  It's the kind that you can add all sorts of attachments to.  About 11 months after I got the mixer (it has a 1-year warranty), I got the first attachment for it- a veggie slicer and cheese grater.  It sorta worked, except that the thing would fall off (spinning blade and all) once you put any pressure on it.  I thought I must be using it incorrectly, but I finally figured out that the hole in my mixer where you're supposed to add attachments must have been just a little bit too shallow.

I called Kitchen Aid, and the *first* thing they did was send me out a new mixer.  They told me to pack the defective one into the nex mixer's box, and UPS came back a few days later and picked that one up.  I guess they just refurbished that one (I hope they didn't just toss the thing, anyway, since the mixing part worked fine).

I didn't have to leave the house, pay a cent, or spend a single day without a working mixer.

One problem with build-your-own computers is that you end up at the mercy of many different companies, all with their own return policies, if something goes wrong.  Even if 80% of the companies you buy from have good return policies, you know it's the other 20% of the parts that are going to break on you!  :angry:
[right][snapback]62024[/snapback][/right]

Funny this topic should come up today! I have had my Kitchen Aid mixer for ten years. Never had a problem. The problem is the Kitchen Aid ice cream maker I bought recently. Not only is it a pain to clean, it does not make good ice cream. I had a Simac ice cream maker years ago that would make decent ice cream, but was too much work to clean. I gave it to my child so that he would have something to do while not playing World of Warcraft. I was better off before.

I don't think the Kitchen Aid is broken, I just don't think that it is a good design. I hope that I can still return it. I am really disappointed and disillusioned.

[Fragbait]

Negative Example: Acer

I've had my Acer Aspire 1603ELC since Oct. 20 2003. Since then it has been away to repair for 11 weeks.
First repair was after only 2 months, when the display refused to show proper colors and started to give me strange lines on it, until it really didn't show anything that made sense anymore.
This repair cost me 5 weeks of my guarantee time of 24 months.
Second repair request was on Oct. 23 2004. They managed to have the Notebook fetched by Oct. 29. It then lay around in the German repair department until Nov. 24 (!!!). Then the incoming of the Notebook was noted. I don't know how long it took them to repair a broken floppy drive, a loud cooler, a blinking akku lamp (akku inside), a not booting notebook that showed only a black screen and beeped all the time. All I know is that yesterday, Dez. 06, my local electronic dealer informed me that it has come back from repair, waiting for me to use it.
This repair cost me 6 weeks of my guarantee time of 24 months.

I'm a student and have to download a lot for my courses. This really hindered my studies. I'm definitely going to leave Acer alone for the next years now, because I think that's a bit blatant.

Greetings, Fragbait