Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

No good deed goes unpunished

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • No good deed goes unpunished

    So back in my days of a computer repair chap I had this one case come in. Customer is complaining that the new printer he just bought isn't working with the computer he bought from us.

    He's waxing poetic about how we promised him that his computer would be compatible with any printer on the market that has Windows XP Drivers, and how I should be arrested for fraud. I try to step him through the obvious things to try to troubleshoot a printer and I fond out that he doesn't have a USB Printer cable.

    Thinking that this is the problem I suggest that he get one and try it. Big mistake as this causes him to scream that the printer is wireless. Thinking that this guy might be a total idiot for thinking that because the printer didn't come with the cable that it must be wireless I calm him down and find out the model of the printer.

    Son of a bitch it *is* wireless. It has a Wi-Fi network printserver built into the unit so anyone on the network can print to it. Nifty.

    Now this goes from idiocy to honest configuration issue. Since he's a normally good and steady customer I offer to stop over to his house on my way home since he lives about a mile from my house. I also even offered to not charge him the house call fee. Grudgingly this is acceptable and I go about the rest of my day.

    I get there and I find out the problem. The printer was set to the wrong IP address. His address for the network were 192.168.0.x and he had set the printer to 192.168.1.x which for non-geeks out there meant that the printer thought it was all alone in the universe since a 1.x address can't talk to a 0.x address without additional equipment.

    Time to fix? 2 minutes to check the settings, 30 seconds to make the change, 2 more minutes to do a test print. I told him that I'm not even going to bother to charge him for my time since it was a quick fix.

    Did this make him happy? Nope! I got "Incompetent fool" (What for? I didn't @#$%-up the setup ), "Selling my garbage that doesn't work with printers like you promised." (WTF?!? IT did work, you just miss-typed a number), "Make me look like a fool will you?!?" (Jesus Christ! All I did was cheerfully come in, find the problem, and fixed it with a cheery smile on my face since it was a quick fix), and my favorite "I'm not paying for this you know. You owe me for @#$%-ing up my computer."

    That's when I snapped.

    "Listen you! I told you that the computer I sold you would be compatible with any printer on the market that has XP drivers. IT IS! The problem you had with it was a miss-configuration issue that was CAUSED BY YOU! You are the guy who bought the printer, you set it up wrong, I came out to fix it, and I already told you THAT I'M NOT GOING TO CHARGE YOU!. The computer is out of warranty, I did this out of the goodness of my heart off the time clock to keep a normally good customer happy and this is how you treat me? You are on your own with this printer...I wash my hands of it."

    And then I left.

    Never saw the guy again. His wife on the other hand brought me a box of donuts and apologized for her husband. From then on she was the one who called and dealt with me. Funny thing was on another onsite repair he saw me and went down to the basement and avoided me.

    Jackass

    M
    I never lost my faith in humanity. Can't lose what you never had right?

  • #2


    Wow. Every time I think I've come to accept how stupid and mean the human race was, someone has to prove me wrong.
    SC: “Yeah, Bob’s Company. I'm Bob. It's my company.” - GK
    SuperHotelWorker made my Avi!!

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth Mongo Skruddgemire View Post
      "Make me look like a fool will you?!?"
      No, sir. You're doing that perfectly well without my help.

      Rapscallion

      Comment


      • #4
        That's teriffic! You got to tell off an SC just like the rest of us would like to. And, to the bastard's face being many people are not as brave unless it's over the phone.

        Comment


        • #5
          No act of charity goes unresented...

          By the way, props to you for snapping!
          "several million years for a monkey to turn into a man. oh wait thats right. monkeys dont live several million years."
          -FSTDT

          Comment


          • #6
            At least you got doughnuts
            "Sir... sir... diagnosing computer problems over the phone is like diagnosing brain cancer with a pointy stick"
            -ahanix1989, inspired by bash.org

            Comment


            • #7
              I can only dream that one of these days I'll get to do something like that, it would almost be worth the verbal abuse to see the look on the SC's face.
              I used to be disgusted... Now I'm just amused

              Comment


              • #8
                Wait. Not only did you get to snap at a moron..... But you got donuts for doing so?

                I jealous at you.
                Those who are loudest about their qualifications, tend to have the least merit to their claims.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth Rapscallion View Post
                  No, sir. You're doing that perfectly well without my help.
                  Damn it, Raps beat me to it!
                  Sometimes life is altered.
                  Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
                  Uneasy with confrontation.
                  Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Sure I meant well, but look at what well meant did.

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X