Time To Rethink Returns
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday August 25, 2008
The pain of extracting a refund for a wonky computer still hurts, writes Nick Galvin.
One of the truisms in business is that a complaint, handled correctly, can become a priceless opportunity to win that customer over for life. You know the sort of scenario: ropeable customer calls because your company has stuffed him around mercilessly. Your canny customer service rep patiently absorbs the abuse, then surprises and delights the customer by fixing the problem immediately without fuss and tossing in a free set of steak knives for his trouble. Result: one super-loyal customer who happily spreads the word to anyone who will listen about what a wonderful company you are.Ah, if only real life was like a management textbook ... but all too often it isn't. Just as a well-handled complaint can pay dividends for a company, the opposite can also be true. Try asking Derek Garson.In June last year, Garson bought a PC online from a company called Eyo Technologies in Padstow.All was well for a while, then things began to go wrong. Badly wrong."In September it became evident the computer was faulty," Garson says. "It would intermittently spontaneously reboot and sometimes reboot repeatedly during boot-up so that it was not able to complete the boot at all. It would even crash at the BIOS prompt if stopped in BIOS during boot."Garson sent the sick computer off to Eyo, which was able to reproduce the problem. It took until mid-January for the computer to be returned."It was obvious fairly soon that the problem had not been fixed," he says.Back the machine went to Eyo. This time it could not reproduce the problem but suggested Garson reinstall Windows. He did. It didn't fix things."It was at this point that I wrote to Eyo expressing my total dissatisfaction with their customer service and requested a total refund."Eyo offered to take another look at the machine or, alternatively, provide a refund of 60 per cent of the new value of the machine - because of depreciation.To say Garson was unimpressed is to understate the situation. After some discussion and an email from Troubleshooter, Eyo made an alternative offer, at which point Garson decided to cut his losses and take the 60 per cent refund.That was where he thought the matter would rest but a few days after bundling up the computer and couriering it back to EYO, the company contacted him to say he had failed to include the software and accessories in the package.With admirable restraint, Garson patiently pointed out he had in fact sent the accessories and software in a separate box. The box turned up at Eyo's warehouse and ... finally ... Garson received his cheque for 60 per cent of the value of a machine that worked only intermittently at best. Whatever is the opposite of being a loyal customer would best describe how Garson feels.Can't get satisfaction from your ISP? New laptop on the fritz? Mobile phone provider driving you nuts? Tell us your problem and we'll try to help: email troubleshooter@smh.com.au.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald