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Ever had one of those moments when you brain just goes “ooooh shit, I’m really fucked now” ? well, that happened to me today and all I can say is thank fuck KiBab isn’t here this week or I would be up shit creek
Jump back to this time last year. A customer comes in to me with a Lucky Goldstar (false-ish computer brand, although a cookie to anyone who can tell me what brand Lucky Goldstar market themselves as) computer that’s not powering up. I crack open the case and find that the power supply fan has ceased, so the power supply has overheated and blown. Sadly, this isn’t an unusual fault on any computer
I checked their receipt look-up and sure enough, I find a Lucky Goldstar 1909 which never had the warranty take out on it. So It’s £89.99 for the labour and £49.99 for a new power supply unit (Yes, The computer superstore and Tech Direct are expensive on labour) which the customer happily paid.
Jump forward a year, to today’s date and a customer comes up to me with a Lucky Goldstar 1909 that’s powering up but not actually doing anything. My brain immediately says “Blown capacitors” I open the case and sure enough, there was one blown and several swollen, waiting to blow. On a computer that old, when that happens, it’s new computer time.
Thats when I notice the power supply unit isn’t one that usually comes in Lucky Goldstar computers...it’s an off the shelf generic. Just as I notice that the customer says to me “Damn. We only had it repaired last year too” so I look on the system and I find that it was repaired last year...by me.
Then the husband piped up- “I’m sure we had the warranty on this, you know” so I look on our systems. The first 1909 I come across on there address has no warranty, but then I remembered the issue I had with Group Data integrity services a few days ago, so I scroll down and there it is. A 1909 that had the warranty on it. It had expired but the previous repair had been done while the machine was still in warranty “It was you that booked it last time, right?”
This is the point where my brain says “Fuck”. I looked at them and said “Yes, and I dropped a major bullock. You still had the warrenty. Bare with me a second, I’m gonna try to sort this mess out.” So I go into the back and think for a second. I have to refund the money, I have NO choice. So I go back out and do it.
Thankfully the customer is very understanding and they both say “Don’t worry, it’s sorted now. Mistakes happen, you’re only human”
...I just hope that’s how management see it. I had to leave the power supply unit in the machine even though on paper, it’s been returned to the store. We’ll have to write it off as stock in use then “Dispose” of it.
Thankfully our G.M “Tommo” is reasonably understanding, so he’ll probably say “Twat. don’t do it again” My line manager, Alison, as long as the customer is happy and NOT being an arsehole, she’s usually happy, and Jaz, our stock team manager and person I need to speak to so stuff can be written off, well...I’ve not got on her bad side since I have been working there so hopefully, that will mean she’ll be lenient.
If this comes back to bite me, I am screwed.
~UPDATE~
So I came in and spoke to all the relevant people, Tommo, Jaz and Alison were all...well...not happy but not pissed off.
When the psu appeared on the system it came up as £9.97 so Jaz said "Ten quid? Not a problem writing that off"
Alison simply said to me "Yeah, you need to be a bit more careful but I can see why you made the mistake"
And Tommos words? "That was a bit of a brainless thing to do, wasn't it?" lol. For those that think Tommo was being an asshole when he said that; He wasn't. You have got to know his sense of humor and how he builds rapport with people
Jump back to this time last year. A customer comes in to me with a Lucky Goldstar (false-ish computer brand, although a cookie to anyone who can tell me what brand Lucky Goldstar market themselves as) computer that’s not powering up. I crack open the case and find that the power supply fan has ceased, so the power supply has overheated and blown. Sadly, this isn’t an unusual fault on any computer
I checked their receipt look-up and sure enough, I find a Lucky Goldstar 1909 which never had the warranty take out on it. So It’s £89.99 for the labour and £49.99 for a new power supply unit (Yes, The computer superstore and Tech Direct are expensive on labour) which the customer happily paid.
Jump forward a year, to today’s date and a customer comes up to me with a Lucky Goldstar 1909 that’s powering up but not actually doing anything. My brain immediately says “Blown capacitors” I open the case and sure enough, there was one blown and several swollen, waiting to blow. On a computer that old, when that happens, it’s new computer time.
Thats when I notice the power supply unit isn’t one that usually comes in Lucky Goldstar computers...it’s an off the shelf generic. Just as I notice that the customer says to me “Damn. We only had it repaired last year too” so I look on the system and I find that it was repaired last year...by me.
Then the husband piped up- “I’m sure we had the warranty on this, you know” so I look on our systems. The first 1909 I come across on there address has no warranty, but then I remembered the issue I had with Group Data integrity services a few days ago, so I scroll down and there it is. A 1909 that had the warranty on it. It had expired but the previous repair had been done while the machine was still in warranty “It was you that booked it last time, right?”
This is the point where my brain says “Fuck”. I looked at them and said “Yes, and I dropped a major bullock. You still had the warrenty. Bare with me a second, I’m gonna try to sort this mess out.” So I go into the back and think for a second. I have to refund the money, I have NO choice. So I go back out and do it.
Thankfully the customer is very understanding and they both say “Don’t worry, it’s sorted now. Mistakes happen, you’re only human”
...I just hope that’s how management see it. I had to leave the power supply unit in the machine even though on paper, it’s been returned to the store. We’ll have to write it off as stock in use then “Dispose” of it.
Thankfully our G.M “Tommo” is reasonably understanding, so he’ll probably say “Twat. don’t do it again” My line manager, Alison, as long as the customer is happy and NOT being an arsehole, she’s usually happy, and Jaz, our stock team manager and person I need to speak to so stuff can be written off, well...I’ve not got on her bad side since I have been working there so hopefully, that will mean she’ll be lenient.
If this comes back to bite me, I am screwed.
~UPDATE~
So I came in and spoke to all the relevant people, Tommo, Jaz and Alison were all...well...not happy but not pissed off.
When the psu appeared on the system it came up as £9.97 so Jaz said "Ten quid? Not a problem writing that off"
Alison simply said to me "Yeah, you need to be a bit more careful but I can see why you made the mistake"
And Tommos words? "That was a bit of a brainless thing to do, wasn't it?" lol. For those that think Tommo was being an asshole when he said that; He wasn't. You have got to know his sense of humor and how he builds rapport with people
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