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Part III of our current series on a vanishing species. Competent Technical support. Where did it go? And can you still find it? Well Maybe. But first. The Rant!
It's our fault! We caused this, Are we happy? I think the jury is still out because the dust hasn't settled yet. The fallout is still headed our way. If corporate America can get a grip on this they may have a true American success story on their hands. But I'm getting ahead of myself again. First a story...
Not many people know how someone like TOBY got hooked up with a troublemaker like me. Well, since you asked. Let me tell you. I opened an office just a few door down from MR. SCOTT way back when he was a "somewhat successful" stock broker. "I came in on the tail end of his career so I have to take his word on it". He was a shopper of bargains at the local computer shows. He purchased a "Shamrock" 15" color monitor which promptly began to malfunction (Anyone remember that brand?). Being the man of conviction he began his odyssey of trying to secure warranty repair for his faulty product. His repeated calls to the phone number on the invoice went unanswered. He tried calling at different times on day with no avail. This compiled with having to look at his tired old "hope to be retired" monitor didn't help the situation. So he finally resolved himself to make the sojourn down to the greater Los Angeles area to personally confront the source of his growing discontent.
Arriving at the address on his sales receipt he found himself staring at door between two businesses leading up to a second story something. No one would answer his repeated attempts to gain attention by hammering upon the door of despair. What to do next he thought. Well, I drove all the way down here I might as well stay awhile to see if something turns up. Nothing did. Darkness and hunger took over our favorite hero as he headed home to lick his wounded pride and try to think of another plan.
This is where our hero of the story comes in. While commenting at the office about his plight someone said "Hey, there's a new computer guy down the hall, why not ask him? Maybe he can help". As loathe as men are about asking for directions he sucked in his pride and knocked on our Hero's door. After explaining his situation our hero took pity on a grown man reduced to such a helpless state and offered to help. "I might know of someone to call to help find the local distributor he said. Some wholesaler had to sell it to the company who then sold it to you. Let me see what I can do. I even have an extra monitor that you can borrow while I figure it out for you.
As you can imagine our beloved TOBY quickly accepted the offer and trotted back to his office holding a new "loaner color monitor:. Our hero meanwhile made a few phone calls and found the local west coast distributor and called them to set up a warranty repair. (One of the nice things about monitors is that they put the manufacture date on the product so even if you don't have a receipt it's easy to prove it's in warranty.
Before too long a new monitor arrived at TOBY'S desk and was met with as much appreciation as two strangers can share with each other. Our hero's unselfish generosity was met with countless purchases and recommendations to others. This began a lasting relationship that blossomed into marriage, ER, partnership. Which has amazingly lasted to this day.
There is a moral to this story for those of you who haven't guessed it. Doing someone a good turn is not only good and right in itself but generates GOODWILL Which a little goes a long way. I only more companies would embrace this it would have a profound effect on our buying preferences. That also means being a responsible consumer. Don't buy something and then return it while still sending in the rebate. Don't make companies pay for your mistakes. And maybe, just maybe, we can turn this whole mess around we made for ourselves and actually find a competent person we can talk to when we need one. One who cares more about doing business where BOTH parties benefit. You the consumer gets their monies worth and the seller gets fairly compensated for providing, GOOD products and services. One reason we choose the vendors we use is because of the service and support we get from them. There are others out there that may have lower prices but can be much harder to deal with.
I was going to talk about a very well known computer company but somehow found myself headed down memory lane. For those of us who have been there. The past of computers was not always as easy as it was today to do things. But it sure seems that way now.
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