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Not covered under Warranty

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  • Not covered under Warranty

    OK these were my favourite class of call when I was grouchy, telling a customer that their PC is broken and it’s not covered under warranty. Here’s fairly standard example that we had to put up with;
    Storm season

    Whenever we had thunderstorms over the UK we’d get a a rash of calls regarding broken computers, ranging from “can’t get connected to the internet” through “whenever I plug the modem in it wipes out the phone lines” and finished at “PC not powering up”. Typical (truncated and paraphrased) conversation follows

    Tech: Blah, blah, blah <intro> how can we help?
    SC: My PC doesn’t work
    Tech: <runs through another painful diagnosis>. Hmmm sounds like there’s a problem with your modem. Did anything happen just before this problem occur?
    SC: Well yes. We had a helluva storm last night and it stopped working about then.
    Tech: Was there a lightning nearby, perhaps a popping sound from the case and maybe a burnt smell?
    SC: Yes
    Tech: So. You had the computer on during a thunderstorm, lightning struck nearby and at about the same time your phones went dead?
    SC: That sounds right, when can you get it fixed?
    Tech: Well, I’m sorry to say sir, that lightning damage isn’t covered under the standard warranty. It only covers equipment failure, not acts of god.
    SC: What! How can you be sure of that?!, I demand an engineer to come out and look at it! You’re trying to rip me off! <continues for a while>
    Tech: Well sir, we accept that it could be a coincidence that that your modem broke in such a way that it looks like lightning damage, at the same time there was a storm overhead we can bring it back to base to have a look at it…
    SC: That’s better, when can you get it picked up?
    Tech:...Unfortunately, as a precaution, we have to take some credit card details because if it turns out to be not covered by the warranty we will have to charge you for the repair and courier, that will cost £80 - £100.
    SC: You can’t do that, it’s illegal , you’ll just say it’s not covered under warranty and charge me for it. Let me speak to your Manager….


    At that point, due to policy, they got chucked over to a senior tech who’d have to run through the whole process again until we either got CC details or the SC hung up after not understanding a simple logical progression. One man even tried to tell us he was a British Telecoms engineer and that there was no power over a standard phone line therefore wouldn’t carry a current Since we weren’t allowed to ask him to strip the cables and touch them to his tongue we had to make do with suggesting he turn the power off at the fuse box and pick up the handset – he’d still have a dial tone and be able to ring out


    Oh, and before it gets asked there were a line of resistors (I think, only pass the current one way doohickeys) behind the cable socket – if they had puffed up in the middle it meant that they’d been subject to high voltage the wrong way and blown. Occasionally you’d see soot marks when they exploded
    Lady, people aren't chocolates. D'you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. Dr Cox - Scrubs

  • #2
    Quoth Naaman
    Oh, and before it gets asked there were a line of resistors (I think, only pass the current one way doohickeys) behind the cable socket – if they had puffed up in the middle it meant that they’d been subject to high voltage the wrong way and blown. Occasionally you’d see soot marks when they exploded
    Either resistors or diodes. They look pretty close to each other. Putting a current throught the wrong way makes diodes go POW! Kinda fun to watch.
    I AM the evil bastard!
    A+ Certified IT Technician

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    • #3
      lol. Just like the woman who told me the other day that we had turned the power off in her house and so we ruined her router.

      Well... no.. power surge when the power went out. Now router isn't working. It doesn't take a whole lot of brains. And we have no control over the power in the house going out.

      yet somehow we were at fault.

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      • #4
        Me:"No sir software is not covered by warranty."
        C:"But it's on my computer and I bought the warranty with it."
        Me:"Yes sir but you installed it yourself. If you need support contact the manufacturer of SpywareQuake" he he he
        "They have the internet on computers now?"
        ~Homer Simpson

        Another day at work, another broken desk

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