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Hi everyone. I'm new here. Been reading other posts for some time and have decided to share my own. This happened about 8 or 9 years ago when I was working for a company that no longer exists called Techserv. This is the story about a customer named Shea.
I will never forget Shea as long as I live. I doubt this woman is still alive given the series of events I am about to tell. I was doing technical support at the time and Shea was a customer. When she called she was in the middle of a nervous breakdown.
In between sobs, she managed to explain that she had ordered her computer from the Home Shopping Network and it had just arrived. She followed the printed instructions that were included for setting it up and had no sound. This was a problem that we had been seeing a lot of because the printed instructions were incorrect as to what port to plug the speakers into. This was a really simple fix, unplug the speakers and plug them into the right port. Unfortunately for Shea, things wouldn't be this simple.
When she was unable to get the sound to work she called the Home Shopping Network. Believing that she had received a "broken computer", she requested that they send her a new one. They refused. Due to the agreement they had with us, they could not ship her a new computer unless the order to do so had come from us and we would not place the order unless she had contacted us and we were unable to resolve the issue. This is where it gets good.
Shea explained that she didn't understand this because they had replaced a faulty bar-b-que for her. She went on to explain that she had ordered the bar-b-que at the same time that she had ordered the computer. When they arrived, she setup the bar-b-que and was testing it out when it blew up in her face. Yes, it exploded in her face and shot a metal rod into her forehead. At this point, I'm picturing this bitch laid out on her patio, all charred and smoldering, with this metal rod lodged in her forehead. As she continued to describe the event, I found that that is pretty much what happened.
After being released from the hospital, she called the Home Shopping Network and they sent her the new bar-b-que. While waiting for the new bar-b-que to arrive, she remembered her broken computer. After being unable to have them replace the computer also, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Rather than calling us, as she had been instructed to do, she completely disassembled the computer. At some point she had a moment of clarity and realized she had no idea what she was doing. It was then that she called us for the first time. Normally, when a customer would open the case for their computer without having us on the phone and telling them to do so it automatically voided their warranty. Not this time. Someone must have felt sorry for her.
She was instructed to go around her house, pick up all the pieces of the computer, throw them back in the box and send it back to us. When we received it we would send her a new one. Now, if this had been me, she never would have made it this far. Maybe it's because I'm an asshole or maybe it's because I have no patience or sympathy for people who lack common sense but I would have told this bitch "sucks to be you. Why don't you try following directions next time?" and she wouldn't be getting a damn thing. This was not to be the case, obviously. Shea had also been instructed to call us immediately when she received the new computer so that we could walk her through the setup in order to avoid having another episode like this. Some time goes by and we don't receive anything from her and we don't hear back from her.
Finally, about 6 weeks later, she calls back and gets me on the phone. This is my first time talking to her and she proceeds to tell me the entire saga of the broken computer. She covered everything, from the very beginning up to that very moment. She eventually got to the part that explained why she had not returned the computer and why we had not heard from her until now. According to Shea, she was so distraught over the whole ordeal that, after packing up the computer, she made her way to the post office to mail it even though she knew she shouldn't have been driving in her condition. She explained that on her way to the post office she was having flashbacks of everything having to do with this, including the bar-b-que. That's right, flashbacks as if the bar-b-que incident happened in 'nam and "charlie" was involved.
Well, in her weakened mental state (personally, I doubt she ever had a mental state that wasn't weakened) she wasn't paying attention to the road and got into a horrible wreck. Now, she was out of the hospital for the second time in just over 2 months for, as she put it, serious accidents relating to this computer. My opinion on the matter differed. I believe god hates stupid people and was trying to send this walking disaster a message loud and clear. No, I did not tell her that.
By the time she finished telling me all of this I was at a loss for words and for what to do with her. She was already told that she would get a new computer. No, she had not returned the other but had made the effort (we believed her because who can make shit like that up?). What do we do? It was decided to go ahead and send her the new computer. I have no idea if she called back when she received it or if the cycle of insanity started all over.
I will never forget Shea as long as I live. I doubt this woman is still alive given the series of events I am about to tell. I was doing technical support at the time and Shea was a customer. When she called she was in the middle of a nervous breakdown.
In between sobs, she managed to explain that she had ordered her computer from the Home Shopping Network and it had just arrived. She followed the printed instructions that were included for setting it up and had no sound. This was a problem that we had been seeing a lot of because the printed instructions were incorrect as to what port to plug the speakers into. This was a really simple fix, unplug the speakers and plug them into the right port. Unfortunately for Shea, things wouldn't be this simple.
When she was unable to get the sound to work she called the Home Shopping Network. Believing that she had received a "broken computer", she requested that they send her a new one. They refused. Due to the agreement they had with us, they could not ship her a new computer unless the order to do so had come from us and we would not place the order unless she had contacted us and we were unable to resolve the issue. This is where it gets good.
Shea explained that she didn't understand this because they had replaced a faulty bar-b-que for her. She went on to explain that she had ordered the bar-b-que at the same time that she had ordered the computer. When they arrived, she setup the bar-b-que and was testing it out when it blew up in her face. Yes, it exploded in her face and shot a metal rod into her forehead. At this point, I'm picturing this bitch laid out on her patio, all charred and smoldering, with this metal rod lodged in her forehead. As she continued to describe the event, I found that that is pretty much what happened.
After being released from the hospital, she called the Home Shopping Network and they sent her the new bar-b-que. While waiting for the new bar-b-que to arrive, she remembered her broken computer. After being unable to have them replace the computer also, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Rather than calling us, as she had been instructed to do, she completely disassembled the computer. At some point she had a moment of clarity and realized she had no idea what she was doing. It was then that she called us for the first time. Normally, when a customer would open the case for their computer without having us on the phone and telling them to do so it automatically voided their warranty. Not this time. Someone must have felt sorry for her.
She was instructed to go around her house, pick up all the pieces of the computer, throw them back in the box and send it back to us. When we received it we would send her a new one. Now, if this had been me, she never would have made it this far. Maybe it's because I'm an asshole or maybe it's because I have no patience or sympathy for people who lack common sense but I would have told this bitch "sucks to be you. Why don't you try following directions next time?" and she wouldn't be getting a damn thing. This was not to be the case, obviously. Shea had also been instructed to call us immediately when she received the new computer so that we could walk her through the setup in order to avoid having another episode like this. Some time goes by and we don't receive anything from her and we don't hear back from her.
Finally, about 6 weeks later, she calls back and gets me on the phone. This is my first time talking to her and she proceeds to tell me the entire saga of the broken computer. She covered everything, from the very beginning up to that very moment. She eventually got to the part that explained why she had not returned the computer and why we had not heard from her until now. According to Shea, she was so distraught over the whole ordeal that, after packing up the computer, she made her way to the post office to mail it even though she knew she shouldn't have been driving in her condition. She explained that on her way to the post office she was having flashbacks of everything having to do with this, including the bar-b-que. That's right, flashbacks as if the bar-b-que incident happened in 'nam and "charlie" was involved.
Well, in her weakened mental state (personally, I doubt she ever had a mental state that wasn't weakened) she wasn't paying attention to the road and got into a horrible wreck. Now, she was out of the hospital for the second time in just over 2 months for, as she put it, serious accidents relating to this computer. My opinion on the matter differed. I believe god hates stupid people and was trying to send this walking disaster a message loud and clear. No, I did not tell her that.
By the time she finished telling me all of this I was at a loss for words and for what to do with her. She was already told that she would get a new computer. No, she had not returned the other but had made the effort (we believed her because who can make shit like that up?). What do we do? It was decided to go ahead and send her the new computer. I have no idea if she called back when she received it or if the cycle of insanity started all over.
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