Good Idea. Bad Idea. A Tale of Customer Service

Good idea:

As you read this, I am en route to the Big Apple, the Empire State, my NY state of mind – New York City.

Obviously I needed new shoes. (Don’t judge me. How else am I going to make it through security?) Despite my affinity for 4-inch heels, I was recently introduced to Tieks shoes – foldable designer flats that fit in your purse for when the heels just aren’t going to cut it anymore.

I ordered them on Friday. I decided to pony up the extra dough for 2-day shipping. The whole point was to wear them on my Big Apple Adventure. My phone rang 15 minutes later. It was Tieks. A real live human being. Who had seen my order and wanted to edit my shipping option so I’d receive the shoes faster, for less money.

Sure enough – I walked in the door after work on Monday (strutting in my trusty heels) and awaiting me was a cute teal box, complete with hand written thank you card. On Tuesday @tieks tweeted asking if I was wearing them.

Hell had clearly frozen over.

Isn’t it sad that such positive customer service experiences shock us?

Bad idea:

This happened. Jon got a fancy big new monitor. But when he got it all set up in our adorable new office, the 24-inch LCD expressed displeasure at its new home with an obnoxiously grating chirp. Customer service was contacted in a quest to discover how to make the beeping stop. (Identifying info redacted.)

Dear Jon,

I understand that you get a beep sound from the back of the monitor while watching video.

I can imagine how inconvenient this would be. I will do my best to help you.

I would request you to perform power drain steps given below, in order to resolve the issue:

1. Remove the VGA cable and the power cable from the monitor.
2. Press down the power button for 20 – 30 seconds. (You will not see any display.)
3. Connect the power cord only.
4. Power on the monitor and check whether you get a ‘No Signal’ display.

Please get back to us with the status of power reset.

Thank you for contacting us.

Have a great day!

Respectfully,
Online Technical Support

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Jon followed instructions and replied. “I conducted the power reset and got the message ‘Cable not connected.’”

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Dear Jon,

As per our records your monitor is covered under Standard Manufacturer’s Warranty.

I understand that your monitor is giving an error message that the cable is not connected.

I can relate to how inconvenient it could be. I’ll definitely help you today.

Please be informed that it seems that the issue is related to the computer that you are connecting the monitor to.

I request you to connect your monitor to a different computer and check if the issue persist.

You should also check all the cables once and confirm that all of them are properly connected to the computer.

Respectfully,
Online Technical Support

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Right hand, meet left.

Jon replied, “You missed the first part of the thread, it says not connected when I disconnected the cable as your associate directed. When I hook the cable back up its fine. How do I stop the beeping?!”

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Dear Jon,

I understand that system keeps on beeping.

I can imagine how inconvenient this could be. I will do my best to help you.

Jon, please be informed that monitor does not beep. Please check the monitor with different tower and let us know the result.

Have a great day!

Respectfully,
Online Technical Support

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