I have just had a less than satisfactory customer service experience relating to0 booking in a computer for repairs. I brought a brand new computer at the start of the year which within the first two weeks had the backspace key break. I took it back to the retailer and after dramas I ended getting it back about a month later. Then three weeks ago the hard drive died so I took it back to the retailer again.
Last time the staff had stated that the fault could be be considered to be hardware abuse (Their way of suggesting I’d hit the thing) so I decided to show that I took good care of the computer by taking it in to the store in the thin fabric bag that the computer came in. So I sat down with the staff member, explained the issue, checked it in with the power supply and white flimsy bag and went off home. Much to my joy I got a call about a week and a half later and picked up the computer and power supply, minus the white cloth flimsy bag. I asked about that and was told they’d get back to me about it.
So after not hearing anything for a week and a half I visited the store on my way to uni this morning and asked to see the manager. She advised me that someone should have called me, and that they had no record of the cover being checked in. I advised that it had been checked in, and she said well she would check the CCTV and that she insisted that I hadn’t checked it in.
Now I don’t have the world’s best memory, but I remember clearly bringing in that flimsy bag and I remember clearly the staff member taking the computer to the cash registerds with it sitting on that flimsy bag before I left the store without that flimsy bag.
As you might imagine, the dollar value isn’t what counts here. I’m sure such a bag could be purchased for a few dollars. I’m sure I could buy a far better one for less than $20. The thing is the principle of it. I take something in to the store and leave it in the care of the staff so I should get it back. Also, if something gets lost, well I should not have to sit there and argue over its very existence and if I actually brought it in or now. Now I’m perfectly willing to accept that the store didn’t have it checked in on their documentation. That’s because I saw he staff member write up that documentation and I know they wrote the computer and power supply and didn’t write up the flimsy cover. At the time I didn’t think anything about it.
In speaking to the store manager over the phone afterwards I advised them that I’d like to see the CCTV footage she did say that she was hardly going to make up that they didn’t have, and never had the flimsy bag considering its value. I can understand that point of view. Who would want to argue over something so trivial? I mean I don’t. But at the same time, I don’t appreciate staff stating that I am wrong and that I never handed in something that I know that I did. She did offer to give me a replacement bag, which I decided to decline until after I had seen the CCTV footage and proven that I was not mistaken, and that I really had checked in the original flimsy bag and that an apology be issued. I encouraged her to check the CCTV footage for herself.
It all seems a lot to do about nothing. But it is about the principle of the matter. I know what happened and what I did. I also know that the staff member that took possession of the bag later incorrectly stated that he hadn’t, saying he had no recollection of it. People make mistakes, and I’m happy to accept that he has. Though personally I think it is a case of a staff member covering his rear end and a manager sticking by their staff (which I guess is a good thing to a point) To get a wall of denial though is really unpleasant, and an apology should be forth coming when the manager examines the CCTV for herself.
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