Peach Microsystems: Timeline of a Customer Service Disaster
- Day 1: Angryman’s laptop is taken to Peach Microsystems with a malfunctioning screen; diagnosis is promised by end of day.
- Day 2: Technician Stan diagnoses a busted circuit board; Angryman authorizes Peach to order replacement part for $159.
- Day 11: Angryman departs country; frequent voicemail checks reveal nothing.
- Day 18: Angryman returns home, still no word from Peach.
- Day 21: Angryman calls Peach and is told by Service Manager Tom that he is sorry, but the laptop has been sitting untouched while Stan has been on holidays. Not to worry, however, as Tom will “take care of it personally” and Angryman will get a significant discount.
- Day 23: Stan calls Angryman and asks for authorisation to order same $159 part that was authorised on Day 2. Estimated repair date is Day 30.
- Day 30: Angryman calls and is told by Tom that earliest possible repair date is Day 37 due to shipping time of replacement part from Hewlett-Packard (HP).
- Day 37: Stan calls Angryman with news that wrong part was received from HP, right part actually costs $500, but regardless is not available in Canada. Stan recommends shipping whole laptop to HP for repair with an estimated turnaround of 21 days and cost of $500. Angryman asks to talk to Tom to discuss other options. Tom agrees to try difficult soldering job (that is unlikely to work but will not make things worse) and call Angryman on Day 40.
- Day 40: Tom does not call. Angryman actually breaks down in tears of frustration – he just wants his fucking computer fixed.
- Update - Day 42: Angryman calls Tom who says that they are still waiting for a replacement part, which doesn't even make sense. After a recap of Day 37, Tom remembers that the laptop is actually sitting in the corner dismantled without any work having been done. From here on in, Angryman will call every single day.
- Day 50: Tom concedes that he cannot fix the damn thing and has to send it to HP, which he could have done 50 days ago.
- Day 58: HP ships the thing back in record time. Angryman has a good long talk with Peach owner Bernard. Service charges are waived. Some sense of closure is achieved.
So why did the Angryman stick with Peach for 58 days? Why didn't he go berserk on these guys? Mostly because Peach felt awful about how bad they screwed this up and I wanted to exploit that. Also because you should never go berserk on someone who is in possession of your laptop. Oh, and I'm comforted knowing that at least for now, googling Peach Microsystems brings up this post about how badly they F'ed up.
5 Comments:
Hey! It's not a software problem!
why to not take charge of the situation
Next time don't buy a laptop; theye're notoriously proprietary and parts aren't standardized. So, any sort of fix job will take forever due to the ordering of parts.
Suck it up princess.
Peach has provided great service and trade-in options for me, for over 8 years. This is more than most pc stores, not to mention the time that the staff takes in educating customers about options and problem solving. Angryman has experienced an error with Peach which could happen anywhere...that's life man.
Peach is the type of place where you will find the part you're looking for which you goggled yourself to death on but, find it in their store. I've worked at Peach as a trainee, and I know they do their best when it comes time to helping their customers. As a technician, I felt I had to respond to the difficulties encountered trying to solve this "Angry Man's" issues. I feel for you "Angry Man," and I also feel for Service Minded Computer Shops such as Peach. Some issues are better returned to the manufacturer and some are more quickly resolved at a computer shop such as Peach. I, myself, rely on a combination of both. I would offer to computer shops and customers that "every issue can not be fixed, but you can do your best to recommend a solution that suites the needs of the customer and that, is customer service."
Sincerely, TweakBOB of CDI College 2002
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