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La-la-la-la-la! I'm not listening!
I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it extremely annoying when a customer doesn't seem to be listening to what I say. Sometimes it gets to the point where I can almost feel my blood pressure rising. I had two of them today.
$200 Man
I offered to help one customer because he looked a little lost. The following ensued.
2M: I bought a computer at one of your stores in California a while ago, and it not working properly.
Me: What seems to be the problem?
2M: Well, it had Veesta. I didn' want Veesta. I had my brother put on XP. But we couldn' get it to work. So I called Acer and made them send me some disks, and I put Veesta back on. It worked fine for a few days. Then we move. And now it won' play DVDs.
Me: Is it giving you any kind of error message?
2M: Well, I took it to your guys in California. They charge me $200 to fix it. Now it won' work.
Me: Right, you said it won't play DVDs.
2M: Can your guys here look at it.
Me: Sure. Bring it in any time we're open, and we'll take a look. We may even be able to fix it right here.
2M: 'Cause I paid $200 for your guys in California to fix it, and they said something about a warranty.
Me: Yes, we do guarantee our own work for 30 days. If you want to bring it in, we'll see what we can do.
2M: Yeah, I paid $200 for a warranty thing. You think you can look at it?
Me: Yes, you can bring it in, and the techs will look at it.
2M: It was working fine until we put Veesta back on and moved. Now it won' play DVDs.
Me: ...
2M: So you can look at it, you think?
Me: Yes, bring it in any time.
And then he went silent, just staring at the blank CDs, so I assumed the conversation was over. Not true. He had to come ask me one more time just to make sure the techs could look at his computer.
The Original Problem Man
As I've mentioned before, I sell computers. I don't service them. I probably could, but I am not trained or certified to do so, and I become a liability to the company if I try. Enter customer with a printer problem. He'd purchased a new computer with Vista and couldn't get his printer to work. The printer was not quite a year old. Common problem. Usually involves downloading and installing drivers from the printer manufacturer's website (or, at least, that's the easiest fix we've found).
OPM: (Explains his problem to me over the phone)
Me: Well, I have a couple of ideas, but I'm not certified to help you with this kind of problem. I can transfer you up to our techs. They can help. They are a little busy, though, so you'll probably have a wait time of about 5-10 minutes before they can take your call.
OPM: I don't have that kind of time. I need this fixed now. (Explains problem again--He connected the printer, but it wouldn't work. Vista tried to find a solution for the problem, but it couldn't. He installed the printer's drivers from CD. Same errors.)
Me: It sounds like the computer doesn't have the necessary drivers to operate the printer.
OPM: That's not the problem. The computer's bad.
Me: I don't think so, sir. You said the printer works well on your XP computers?
OPM: Yes, so the problem is not in the printer.
Me: That's probably right. I think the computer needs additional drivers. The CDs that are currently coming with new printers don't always have the necessary drivers for Windows Vista.
OPM: But the original problem happened before I installed the disk.
Me: I understand that. Vista is very new, and it probably didn't come with those drivers either. So typically, you'd just install them from the CD. But if the CD doesn't have them, then you'd have to go online and...
OPM: I said the original problem occurred BEFORE I installed the disk. This has nothing to do with the DISK!
Me: You're right. It doesn't. I'm just explaining what I think the problem is.
OPM: (Explains problem again)
Me: Yes, I understand, sir. My guess is that Vista didn't have the drivers you need, so it didn't work. The CD also didn't have the drivers you need, so it didn't fix the problem when you installed it.
OPM: There you go with that disk again. You don't like to focus on the original problem, do you?
Me: Like I said earlier, I am not certified to support your computer or printer over the phone. Our in-store techs can, if you don't mind waiting about 5-10 minutes.
OPM: I told you, I don't have that kind of time!
Me: Then what would you like me to do, sir?
OPM: Fix my printer! Or maybe I'll just have to bring it back!
Me: You can if you think that's necessary. My guess, though, is that you just need to download drivers from the printer manufacturer's website.
OPM: That's not the problem! The original problem is...
Me: Sir, at this point, you have several options. You can try my suggestion; you can wait for the techs; you can try your manufacturer's tech support, where I guarantee the wait is longer than ten minutes; or you can continue to argue with me.
OPM: ... Fine. Transfer me to your techs.
Call transferred. According to the techs, the problem was solved in about 15 minutes, including his wait time, by having him download drivers. Faugh!
$200 Man
I offered to help one customer because he looked a little lost. The following ensued.
2M: I bought a computer at one of your stores in California a while ago, and it not working properly.
Me: What seems to be the problem?
2M: Well, it had Veesta. I didn' want Veesta. I had my brother put on XP. But we couldn' get it to work. So I called Acer and made them send me some disks, and I put Veesta back on. It worked fine for a few days. Then we move. And now it won' play DVDs.
Me: Is it giving you any kind of error message?
2M: Well, I took it to your guys in California. They charge me $200 to fix it. Now it won' work.
Me: Right, you said it won't play DVDs.
2M: Can your guys here look at it.
Me: Sure. Bring it in any time we're open, and we'll take a look. We may even be able to fix it right here.
2M: 'Cause I paid $200 for your guys in California to fix it, and they said something about a warranty.
Me: Yes, we do guarantee our own work for 30 days. If you want to bring it in, we'll see what we can do.
2M: Yeah, I paid $200 for a warranty thing. You think you can look at it?
Me: Yes, you can bring it in, and the techs will look at it.
2M: It was working fine until we put Veesta back on and moved. Now it won' play DVDs.
Me: ...
2M: So you can look at it, you think?
Me: Yes, bring it in any time.
And then he went silent, just staring at the blank CDs, so I assumed the conversation was over. Not true. He had to come ask me one more time just to make sure the techs could look at his computer.
The Original Problem Man
As I've mentioned before, I sell computers. I don't service them. I probably could, but I am not trained or certified to do so, and I become a liability to the company if I try. Enter customer with a printer problem. He'd purchased a new computer with Vista and couldn't get his printer to work. The printer was not quite a year old. Common problem. Usually involves downloading and installing drivers from the printer manufacturer's website (or, at least, that's the easiest fix we've found).
OPM: (Explains his problem to me over the phone)
Me: Well, I have a couple of ideas, but I'm not certified to help you with this kind of problem. I can transfer you up to our techs. They can help. They are a little busy, though, so you'll probably have a wait time of about 5-10 minutes before they can take your call.
OPM: I don't have that kind of time. I need this fixed now. (Explains problem again--He connected the printer, but it wouldn't work. Vista tried to find a solution for the problem, but it couldn't. He installed the printer's drivers from CD. Same errors.)
Me: It sounds like the computer doesn't have the necessary drivers to operate the printer.
OPM: That's not the problem. The computer's bad.
Me: I don't think so, sir. You said the printer works well on your XP computers?
OPM: Yes, so the problem is not in the printer.
Me: That's probably right. I think the computer needs additional drivers. The CDs that are currently coming with new printers don't always have the necessary drivers for Windows Vista.
OPM: But the original problem happened before I installed the disk.
Me: I understand that. Vista is very new, and it probably didn't come with those drivers either. So typically, you'd just install them from the CD. But if the CD doesn't have them, then you'd have to go online and...
OPM: I said the original problem occurred BEFORE I installed the disk. This has nothing to do with the DISK!
Me: You're right. It doesn't. I'm just explaining what I think the problem is.
OPM: (Explains problem again)
Me: Yes, I understand, sir. My guess is that Vista didn't have the drivers you need, so it didn't work. The CD also didn't have the drivers you need, so it didn't fix the problem when you installed it.
OPM: There you go with that disk again. You don't like to focus on the original problem, do you?
Me: Like I said earlier, I am not certified to support your computer or printer over the phone. Our in-store techs can, if you don't mind waiting about 5-10 minutes.
OPM: I told you, I don't have that kind of time!
Me: Then what would you like me to do, sir?
OPM: Fix my printer! Or maybe I'll just have to bring it back!
Me: You can if you think that's necessary. My guess, though, is that you just need to download drivers from the printer manufacturer's website.
OPM: That's not the problem! The original problem is...
Me: Sir, at this point, you have several options. You can try my suggestion; you can wait for the techs; you can try your manufacturer's tech support, where I guarantee the wait is longer than ten minutes; or you can continue to argue with me.
OPM: ... Fine. Transfer me to your techs.
Call transferred. According to the techs, the problem was solved in about 15 minutes, including his wait time, by having him download drivers. Faugh!