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Quick recap: I'm a computer technician at an electronics store.
My electronics store is in a smallish city in Wisconsin. We get a lot of young families who just don't have a lot of money that come in and buy things. Now, being that I too have a family and I too don't make a lot of money, I totally understand this. This particular family had (apparently) purchased our absolute cheapest laptop with nothing else. No accessories and no service plan. No problem, happens all the time. The economy is rough and we're not all made of money. That being said, if you aren't going to buy a warranty that covers accidental/physical damage, you might want to take special care of your expensive electronics.
So he comes in with his wife and their son, who looked to be about 6 or 7 years old. By the look on SC's face I could already see where this conversation was going to go. To be honest, this whole ordeal should have been shorter but at that moment I had a wicked migraine going (a chronic condition for me) and wasn't in the mood for what I knew was coming. So this is how the exchange went:
Me: Hi, how can I help you.
SC: Yeah, my laptop won't turn on and it won't charge, I think the charging port broke.
Me (Looking at it but not that closely): Yep, I see that. Just fill this out with your name, address, and phone number, and I'll go get the service order written up.
SC: How long is this going to take to get fixed?
Me: Well, I will need to send this out to our service department, so the turnaround time will be a few weeks.
SC: Ok, sure.
So here's the thing, I didn't inspect his items all that closely out at the counter because I didn't want to get in a yelling match. I knew that the manufacturer's warranty wasn't going to cover the repairs since it was most likely damaged by being dropped or abused. I had planned on sending it out for service, and then once I got the word back from them that it wouldn't be covered, I could let him know and at least have a little backup so that it wasn't my word against his.
I finished the service order, he signed it and walked out. Somewhat rudely, but not too bad. I put his machine in back and forgot about it.
Fast forward a few hours, I was talking to one of the managers and that guy came up. I told the manager about the exchange and he informed me that we shouldn't send that out for servicing because our store will get charged for the shipping and diagnostic charges instead of the manufacturer of the PC. By this point the store was about to close and his laptop had been packed up to ship out. I went and got it from the UPS area and unboxed it and took a look. Not only was the charging port broken, but you could see that it has been somehow pushed in. Not helping his case were the huge gouges in the plastic near the port.
Then I looked at the charger itself and noticed that the tip was bent at a very funny angle and a lot of the plastic had been cut away with a knife. So, I called the customer and ended up getting a voicemail. I left a message saying that we would be unable to ship his computer out for repair since the damage had been caused by accident or mishandling, and that the manufacturer's warranty does not cover such damage.
Fast forward again two days. I had the day off in between and came in two days later. I noticed that his laptop was gone and asked how that had gone. The other employee who was there related this to me, so it's not verbatim but it's basically how it went down:
Sam (the not-his-real-name of the other employee): Hi how can I help you?
SC: I got a call that my laptop is still here and you guys won't fix it
Sam gets the paperwork and reads my notes, then inspects the items himself: See here sir, this damage is not caused by manufacturer defect. We won't be able to repair this for you unless you pay at least the shipping and diagnostic charges so we can get a repair estimate
SC: This is stupid! That thing broke on it's own, I did not do that to it.
Sam: Well what about the charger?
SC: I needed my laptop for school, I didn't have time to send it in for repair! I cut the end of the cord to make it fit until the semester was over.
Sam: Unfortunately sir, that modification does void the warranty and there is nothing I can do for you other than to sell you a new charger and collect a deposit to send out your laptop.
SC goes on an expletive-laden tirade as he makes his way to the door.
The funniest thing too is that we get this all the time: "I can't be without my computer for that long because of school!" Now, in this town where my store is, there are two colleges. One is the college I went to and the other college is where about half of our employees go to school. In fact, the spouse of one of our employees works at the other college. So I know, for an absolute fact, that both of the colleges in our town have plenty of open computer labs that students can use any time, as well as computers in the library. And what college student these days isn't keeping all their homework on a flash drive anyway?
So that guy was fun. I've got more stories that I'll type out soon. Ciao!
My electronics store is in a smallish city in Wisconsin. We get a lot of young families who just don't have a lot of money that come in and buy things. Now, being that I too have a family and I too don't make a lot of money, I totally understand this. This particular family had (apparently) purchased our absolute cheapest laptop with nothing else. No accessories and no service plan. No problem, happens all the time. The economy is rough and we're not all made of money. That being said, if you aren't going to buy a warranty that covers accidental/physical damage, you might want to take special care of your expensive electronics.
So he comes in with his wife and their son, who looked to be about 6 or 7 years old. By the look on SC's face I could already see where this conversation was going to go. To be honest, this whole ordeal should have been shorter but at that moment I had a wicked migraine going (a chronic condition for me) and wasn't in the mood for what I knew was coming. So this is how the exchange went:
Me: Hi, how can I help you.
SC: Yeah, my laptop won't turn on and it won't charge, I think the charging port broke.
Me (Looking at it but not that closely): Yep, I see that. Just fill this out with your name, address, and phone number, and I'll go get the service order written up.
SC: How long is this going to take to get fixed?
Me: Well, I will need to send this out to our service department, so the turnaround time will be a few weeks.
SC: Ok, sure.
So here's the thing, I didn't inspect his items all that closely out at the counter because I didn't want to get in a yelling match. I knew that the manufacturer's warranty wasn't going to cover the repairs since it was most likely damaged by being dropped or abused. I had planned on sending it out for service, and then once I got the word back from them that it wouldn't be covered, I could let him know and at least have a little backup so that it wasn't my word against his.
I finished the service order, he signed it and walked out. Somewhat rudely, but not too bad. I put his machine in back and forgot about it.
Fast forward a few hours, I was talking to one of the managers and that guy came up. I told the manager about the exchange and he informed me that we shouldn't send that out for servicing because our store will get charged for the shipping and diagnostic charges instead of the manufacturer of the PC. By this point the store was about to close and his laptop had been packed up to ship out. I went and got it from the UPS area and unboxed it and took a look. Not only was the charging port broken, but you could see that it has been somehow pushed in. Not helping his case were the huge gouges in the plastic near the port.
Then I looked at the charger itself and noticed that the tip was bent at a very funny angle and a lot of the plastic had been cut away with a knife. So, I called the customer and ended up getting a voicemail. I left a message saying that we would be unable to ship his computer out for repair since the damage had been caused by accident or mishandling, and that the manufacturer's warranty does not cover such damage.
Fast forward again two days. I had the day off in between and came in two days later. I noticed that his laptop was gone and asked how that had gone. The other employee who was there related this to me, so it's not verbatim but it's basically how it went down:
Sam (the not-his-real-name of the other employee): Hi how can I help you?
SC: I got a call that my laptop is still here and you guys won't fix it
Sam gets the paperwork and reads my notes, then inspects the items himself: See here sir, this damage is not caused by manufacturer defect. We won't be able to repair this for you unless you pay at least the shipping and diagnostic charges so we can get a repair estimate
SC: This is stupid! That thing broke on it's own, I did not do that to it.
Sam: Well what about the charger?
SC: I needed my laptop for school, I didn't have time to send it in for repair! I cut the end of the cord to make it fit until the semester was over.
Sam: Unfortunately sir, that modification does void the warranty and there is nothing I can do for you other than to sell you a new charger and collect a deposit to send out your laptop.
SC goes on an expletive-laden tirade as he makes his way to the door.
The funniest thing too is that we get this all the time: "I can't be without my computer for that long because of school!" Now, in this town where my store is, there are two colleges. One is the college I went to and the other college is where about half of our employees go to school. In fact, the spouse of one of our employees works at the other college. So I know, for an absolute fact, that both of the colleges in our town have plenty of open computer labs that students can use any time, as well as computers in the library. And what college student these days isn't keeping all their homework on a flash drive anyway?
So that guy was fun. I've got more stories that I'll type out soon. Ciao!
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