[Betty]

I've been the lucky winner of 3 poor customer service experiences in the last week! I'm beginning to think it's me! (not really though).

1. HP Printer - of which we have (at work) over 10 of this particular kind. I got called because it wasn't working and it turns out that the bottom of is full of ink - which is now contacting some "parts" and the printer no longer works. It is also out of warrenty. The ink cart's are genuine, non-refilled, not expired, HP inks. So I call and tell them that their ink has leaked all over and broken it - but I know it's out of warrenty. I offer that we go 50/50 on a comparable printer. I'm very nice. They offer me $10 off a new printer that's twice as much as this one was to begin with - a super photo one when we need a basic office one. They tell me it's my fault their ink leaked. They transfer me to sales to have them attempt to sell me a new one. We go back and forth. In the end, they send me a printer for $40 - but only after going round and round and in the end, getting a very nice superviser who doesn't understand why they gave me such a hard time.

2. Xbox360 breaks. bought it on 1/1/06. The terrible red ring error that means hardware failure. I call MS and they send a box. we return it- they send back a different one - that is also broken. They make us go through the entire troubleshooting b.s. again. (turn it off and back on, unplug it and back in etc...) He tells me (over a 10 minute lecture) that the xbox has it's own surge protector and that (if) we have it plugged into a surge they cancel each other out and we have no surge protection. (I don't believe this and would love to have someone explain if this is actually true.) He asks me what color the light is on the power - yellow I tell him. "Yellow" he says - "it can't be yellow! It can only be red or green." It's yellow! He leaves and comes back and asks me (seriously) if my xbox has "magically fixed itself" in the 10 minutes I've been on hold. He also asks if the dot is now orange or purple. ( smart ass?) They say it will be another week before I even get the box to return it again. After all that, he has to get a supervisor on the line because this is a "2nd repair" (implying we've broken it twice) and after another 15 minutes on hold, the supervisor is very nice, says he'll send the box early this week and offers us a free (older) game for the trouble.

3. Gateway laptop. Sent in for repair of power cord, power button and possible new motherboard. We pay for the repair and get it back. Turns on fine and runs. I put it back in box and wait for the next sales rep to check it out to - which it turns out is 90 days from the day we rec'd it. I start to load stuff and it immediatley gets the power button stuck when I turn it on. Oh yay. I call gateway and they say it's been 91 days (from the day they sent it - not the day I rec'd it) and they actually lecture me on why I shouldn't wait this long to find out it's broken. I explain it's purpose and that I did check it and it appeared to be working. Not good enough. They want to charge me $200 to fix it. I don't want to pay more money to fix the same damn thing so I tell them I'll think about it. Get off phone and pick at power button for next 10 minutes and get it unstuck. I'm checking this laptop out to someone that - ahem - we refer to as Satan around the office so I'm kind of giggling to myself at the though that Satan may get to enjoy this laptop. Then I notice the power cord is loose and not charging - same issue as before. Yet- because gateway counts from the day they send it, and not the day I receive it, they have lost a customer for life. Between the problems with the laptop (this is not the first repair) and the poor customer service combined with the long waiting on hold, I'm done with gateway and won't buy another one. I know I'm not a big buyer compared to some - but I do buy computers and equipment all the time for the office and frequently am called for advice from our employees on what brand or product I would recommend and you know - I will not only not recoomend Gateway but will now have to badmouth them too. Way to go Gateway.

At least xbox and HP eventually get it right.

Now - you may think I'm a big pain the ass and that I must be really bitchy on the phone and unreasonable... and No! I've worked in customer service and realize, for the most part, the people on the phone are just following procedure. It's the stupid company. Stupid stupid company.


(dang - longest post ever! Don't get me started I guess!)