Shields Up!

[theBeast]

I just had a very pissy customer in here who sent me into a frenzy.
His first complaint was that his system was in "4 times already!" Well, after looking at our work orders I see that first he brought in a system because it wasn't booting and saying, "Missing O/S". He said that his son had been messing around in the CMOS and may have messed something up. So, I reconfigure the CMOS settings, check the system out, and send him on his way. Four months later he brought in a system because he couldn't install Internet Explorer, and the floppy was dead, and he wanted to know how far to upgrade. Fine, we replaced the floppy, and got IE installed on a Win 3.11 system. A couple days later, he brings it in again because he was getting a "No dialtone" error. I took a look at it, and the modem had physical damage, so we replaced it. Then, he brings in a system again 6 months later and says that it's not booting all the time. We take a look (hmm...odd...there's no modem in here...oh, that's right...the one that we put a modem in was a tower, and it was a Pentium of some flavour). The battery's dead. The customer was a bit grumpy that he "brought it in 4 times, and he spent more than what it's worth, and doesn't want to spend any more on it." I told him that it needs a new battery, and the boss was doing some other work on it. He said fine, so we replaced the battery. The boss ran it for about 4 days, rebooting all the time, no probs.
Customer picked the system up. A week later they just showed up and said, "It's still not working, we've got it in the car. Can we plug it in and see what we're doing wrong?"
Well, me being the only tech here now, with 5 computers in just that day alone, says, "Sorry, I don't have the time right now. You can either leave it with me, and I'll call when I get it on the bench, and you can come down to see what's going on, or you can call me and set up an appointment to bring it down."
They sigh and say, "We don't want to leave it."
I replied again, "I'm sorry, but I have a lot on the go right now, and I don't have the space to set this up right now."
"We'll call you," was the reply.
The father came in hopping mad, and I explained to him that they could set up an appointment, and bring it in and I will look at it then. Right now, I was just too busy to drop everything.
He grumbled about how many times he had to bring it in.
I said, "Bring it in Monday morning, and I will do it right when they come in."
"Fine..."
So, Monday, roughly around 3pm (we close at 5:30), they show up (obviously they're running in a different time zone where 3pm is still morning). So, I drop everything for them, and set their 486DX33 system up on my bench (which we have only replaced the battery in at this point...despite the fact that they insist that it was in 4 times...but, hey, the customer is ALWAYS right). The kid plugs it in, powers it on. 1 beep, 4 beeps, 2 beeps, 1 beep.
Weird. Possibly video. I double check all his connections, power the beast off, then power it back on. BEEP! Away she goes.
I power it off. Back on. BEEP! Away she goes.
I power it off. Back on. BEEP! BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP! BEEP!
Power it off. Back on. BEEP! Away she goes.
I say, "Well, since it's an intermittent problem, I can't track it down right away. Most likely the video card is bad. A new card would be $50, and installing it would be $30."
"Well, I gotta talk with my dad about that. I'll just leave the computer here..."
"Fine, no probs. Let us know what you want to do, and we'll be happy to do it for you."
So, he leaves.
His father just came in today, and was again hopping mad, ranting about how many times he brought the system in, and how it was given to him by the community care group, and how he's spent more than what it's worth, and how he told everybody he knows, and they aren't going to do business with us anymore, and how they have so much equipment, and how we guaranteed that the system would work.
I told him that all we replaced in that system was the battery, and if he had the work orders that said otherwise, to show them to me. I told him that we would be happy to remove the battery, and credit him for it, but we couldn't do anything about the labour charge.
He continued to rant for a while.
I told him that the system was an old system, and that the problem was an intermittent problem, meaning that sometimes it would seem to work fine, then other times it wouldn't work. And if he was really upset at the system, bring it back to the people who gave it to him.
As he stormed off, I called out, "Have a nice day!"

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***the Beast
- Fate drove me here...then told me to get out of the car...

[unikey]

We come in peace shoot to kill

WTG Beast

Simon

[theBeast]

Just an addendum to this:
The customer picked up the computer, then came back in and said, "Why did you remove the battery and CPU fan?"
"Because you told me to. We were going to credit you for that labour done, and you agreed to it."
"No, I want it back to the way it was."
"Huh? Whatever. Just give me the computer, and I'll put it back." So, I did.

I wrote the whole thing out for the boss, and he called the customer and said, "Is there anything we can do to make you happy?"
"No."
"We're offering to give you all your money back for the work previously done to your machine, and that doesn't interest you?"
"No."
"Well, if that's the way you feel, then I'm sorry to see you go." (click)

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***the Beast
- Fate drove me here...then told me to get out of the car...

[theBeast]

Yet another update: AKA Poetic Justice

The customer was upset that his POC 486 was dead, and possibly needed a new video card, that he decided to talk with the people who gave him the system in the first place.
They informed him that they were purchasing a new system, and that he could have one of their old ones.
Well, it turns out that WE sold the company the new system, and WE are taking the old system and cleaning it off.
So, what do I put under the customer name field? "VALUED CUSTOMER"

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***the Beast
- Fate drove me here...then told me to get out of the car...

[Damned Angel]

bet u can't wait for him to come back with a problem.
Round my parts, the warranty is only good for the origional person who bought the machine. So if they sell it 3 months after purchasing it, na-ahh NO WARRANTY FOR U!!

[CREEPINGDEATH]

Originally posted by unikey:
We come in peace shoot to kill

WTG Beast

Simon

hehe kind of like in Mars attacks [newer one]

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~If you can't walk the walk don't even try to talk the talk~