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One recommendation, 2 different responses....

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  • One recommendation, 2 different responses....

    When a customer calls in with a TV that needs repair and I see the TV is approaching (or has passed) it's 7th birthday, I will always recommend to customers that it might be better to just buy a new TV. This is because parts for these TVs are expensive and just not worth fixing. Not only that, our (IMO insane) $150 diagnosis/trip fee is not applied towards labor.

    Most people are fine with my recommendation and agree with me, as in the case here....

    Non-sucky:

    Customer has a TV that was nearly 7 years old and needed a light engine. The light engine (different from the lamp) is VERY expensive to replace.

    Me: I could send the tech out, but after the diagnosis fee and parts and labor costs this TV is not worth fixing considering its age. You're better off just buying a new TV.

    Non-SC: I had that feeling too. Thanks for pretty much confirming it. I'll go to the store tomorrow and pick out a new set. Thanks again.

    Sucky:

    Customer had an issue that was clearly the picture tube going out (this was a larger CRT). Her TV was nearly 11 years old.

    Me: I could send the tech out, but in all honesty you're better off buying a new TV. The problem points to a picture tube which is not cost effective considering how old the TV is.

    SC: Well I can't believe in this economy YOU'RE TELLING ME TO THROW AWAY A TV I PAID GOOD MONEY FOR! Telling me to just buy a new one IS JUST PLAIN INSULTING!

    Me: I'm just giving you my honest recommendation.

    SC: Honest recommendation?! YOU GAVE A SALES PITCH! That's it, I'm going to call someone else! *Click.*

    Enjoy spending $400-500 to fix a set that's worth maybe $50, you bat.

  • #2
    This is exactly why I always hate telling people that it is just simply not worth upgrading their POS computer. No matter what you add onto it, it's not going to be playing Crysis anytime soon without just coming up to the price of a new computer.

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    • #3
      Quoth Hawaiian Eskimo View Post
      This is exactly why I always hate telling people that it is just simply not worth upgrading their POS computer. No matter what you add onto it, it's not going to be playing Crysis anytime soon without just coming up to the price of a new computer.
      I had a customer go SC on me one time when he called up on behalf of his son. Only this time, it was a new PC. It was one of those towers that come with a decent CPU but onboard video (no matter how you slice it, onboard video is crap). So naturally, it wasn't able to play games well.

      SC: My son says this new computer lags when he plays [very graphic intensive game] and he says he can't go beyond the middle settings without the game running slow.

      Me: *Checks specs of computer, checks game requirements.* This computer meets everything except for the video card. You will need to upgrade the video card, and possibly the power supply as well.

      SC: I can't believe I just spent $XXX on a damn computer only to be told it needs to be upgraded right away! Why would they sell a computer like this?!

      Me: If you don't mind, I'll tell you. When major computer manufacturers did a study of PC usage fewer than 10% of surveyed users actually buy a computer to play graphics-heavy games. Because of this, they're not going to be installing an expensive graphics card in a system like this and drive the price up only for most people to never take advantage of it.*

      SC: That's fine and all, but it still doesn't help my son's situation. He wants to play his game!

      Me: *Repeats he can upgrade his tower or....* Another thing you can do is exchange this computer for a computer meant for gaming, which is around $XXX more.....

      SC: That's not acceptable! Either you find a way to make my son's game work - free of charge - OR I'M TAKING THIS SHIT BACK!

      Me: I'm sorry but there is no way for free to make this game work with this computer to your son's satisfaction. You will either have to update the video card and power supply or exchange it for a tower meant for gaming.

      SC: You know what? I'm just going to return it and buy it somewhere else. BYE!

      *click.*

      Yeah, like buying it at another place will suddenly make it play his son's game better.

      *The real PC gamers don't buy the traditional OEM brands. They either build their own or go with a brand like Maingear, Velocity Micro or Falcon.

      Comment


      • #4
        "What do you mean this can't play $game-with-ridiculous-system-requirements? The place I got it from sells the game, so it has to work!"
        "I am quite confident that I do exist."
        "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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        • #5
          Quoth sld72382 View Post
          I had a customer go SC on me one time when he called up on behalf of his son. Only this time, it was a new PC. It was one of those towers that come with a decent CPU but onboard video (no matter how you slice it, onboard video is crap).
          Why yes, yes it is. This is why I bought a video card for my PC after I got it. And why hubby's computer has my old video card. His gaming is a lot better now that he's not using onboard graphics.
          Random conversation:
          Me: Okay..so I think I get why Zoro wears a bandana
          DDD: Cuz it's cool

          So, by using the Doctor's reasoning, bow ties, fezzes and bandanas are cool.

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          • #6
            My mom did just that recently with her TV. She has one of those old, huge, 27" Sonys - which works fine, but she wasn't getting all the channels; it stopped about halfway up the list. So she called the cable co who sent a tech out, and who told her its the tv, not the cable.

            Mom knew the TV was probably 15+ years old, big and bulky,and certainly not worth fixing. So she did her homework, and got a nice 32" LG for a decent price. And is very happy with it.

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            • #7
              I will make a bet

              Quoth sld72382 View Post
              SC: I can't believe I just spent $XXX on a damn computer only to be told it needs to be upgraded right away! Why would they sell a computer like this?!
              Additionally, I am willing to bet money that he *NEVER* told the salesperson that his son would need to play high end games! Or dismissed the needed power if it was pointed out to him originally.

              There are lots of scummy salespeople who will point a customer to a cheaper unit if they think the customer will not pay more money. But lots of salespeople are more than willing to point a customer to a more expensive unit (think of their commission on the sale) if the customer in anyway hints they really need/understand a more powerful machine is needed for the software they plan to use.

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              • #8
                And there are also customers who, despite the salesclerk's every attempt to explain that no, you really do need a video card of at least X quality in order to run the games you want... the customer doesn't want to hear it. They buy something else and then come screaming back in that it doesn't work.

                I've also seen this with HDTVs. One guy bought a standard tv from Walmart, then came yelling back in a day or two later that he'd upgraded his cable, had the right box and everything, but nothing was in HD!! He was not pleased when told he hadn't actually bought an HD TV. It was flatscreen, but not HD.

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                • #9
                  Quoth earl colby pottinger View Post
                  Additionally, I am willing to bet money that he *NEVER* told the salesperson that his son would need to play high end games! Or dismissed the needed power if it was pointed out to him originally.
                  Best I can remember, the customer told me that his son told him he needed X amount of video RAM to run his game. So he saw on the spec tag that the tower had X amount of video RAM and without doing any research bought it. Only problem is, as stated previously that video RAM was shared with the system RAM because it was onboard video....

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                  • #10
                    Ahh, the blissful ignorance of not knowing that processor speed and hard drive size are not the only important system requirements. It'd be nice if the labels on the store displays would actually say what kind of video card the thing has at most places.

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                    • #11
                      That's why, when I went shopping for my computer a couple of years ago (with my tax refund), I had my brother come with me. He's a good for nothing bum on most things. But he's a computer genius who used to build computers from scratch. He knew what to look for - I did not, but at least I knew that and took an expert with me. And took him with me when the video card needed replaced. But that was with money I earned by working two extra shifts.
                      Last edited by Kristev; 03-12-2011, 09:07 AM.
                      Customers should always be served . . . to the nearest great white.

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                      • #12
                        I was thinking about that whole incident with the video card the other day. I feel bad for the guy, but some people are just ignorant. I think, that they think, that just because they refuse to do or not do something, that the problem will fix itself. Even if I were in their situation and things never worked out repeatedly after ignoring advice, I would realize that I would have to change or admit defeat.

                        On top of that, if you're spending that much money on something, wouldn't you want to learn more about? I can see not wanting to feel overwhelmed with the amount of stuff on computers (and it's too easy to get mislead about certain things), but you'd have to start somewhere.

                        To a degree, I think there's a sort of smugness among those who are "in the know" about specialized things. So you may get a new person about to take interest in something (was almost going to spell "noob" or "newbie" there too and prove a point), ask someone educated some simple questions, only to have them excessively sigh or laugh at them over such an easy question to the expert but what the new person feels might be a general question. Heck, back in the late 80's I thought a 3.5" floppy was a hard drive since it was "harder" than a 5.14" floppy disk. i know my computer teacher laughed a bit, but I kinda expected to be guffawed at too. That's why even now when I feel that a question I have is simple I'll ask, "I have a stupid question". So this prepares the expert to dumb down the answer and not be so caught off guard that he or she bursts into laughter. Perhaps customers try to get aggressive or tough ahead of time so that 1. they either become guarded or overprotective if they think a salesperson will try to con more money out of them, or 2. they know that being tough almost guarantees that they won't get laughed at or called "Stupid" because they don't know what the experts know. It doesn't excuse them, but maybe that's just their reasoning method.

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                        • #13
                          The video card is of much higher importance than the CPU when it comes to games and other graphic-heavy applications.

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Daemonmonkey View Post
                            The video card is of much higher importance than the CPU when it comes to games and other graphic-heavy applications.
                            Indeed. A video card is infact a miniature computer within your computer, and it is often times orders of magnitude more powerful than the rest of your computer. High end video cards consume hundreds of watts of power, have thousands of processing cores, and extremely high speed RAM. It makes your CPU and the DDR1/DDR2/DDR3 in your computer look positively archaic.

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                            • #15
                              I agree with emax4. And Hyndis, what you wrote is a perfect example. That's the kind of thing I know nothing about, and had no reason to know since I'm not a gamer.

                              When I bought my laptop, I told the guy at the store that I knew nothing about computer specs, told him what I wanted it for, and let him explain what my choices were.
                              When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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