Computer Solutions in the greater brisbane area.
The difference between “us” and “them”
Don’t take my posting this video as me having a go at HP; They are just the example here. As the video starts, it points out there is nothing unusual about this support call. The guy is right, most large companies offer this kind of support. I’m posting it as a little example of the difference in philosophy between “them” (the large companies), and us, Shift Computer Solutions.
There are several points to the video that are worth noting;
When you call, you don’t get to talk to a person first, you talk to a machine. Most of those automated phone services are irritating enough. I once yelled at one; “just let me talk to a bloody human!”, and it replied “Okay, I’ll transfer you to someone who can help”. That made me laugh histerically, but still, most of us hate those things, which is why we answer our phones with people.
Once you are speaking to someone, they spend a heap of time asking all sorts of inane quesitons about serial numbers and the like; Considering that this call was a followup call with case number and everything, the call centre should have had everything on file. That what databases are for, and thats why I have spent large swaths of time and money developing ours; So we can offer better service.
The person that answered this call couldn’t actually help the guy; While this is always going to be the case in a small number of calls, what this caller wanted was so simple it should have been able to be looked after by the first person to answer. The fact is that they are employing non-techs to answer the phone; At Shift Computer Solutions, the only people answering the phones are technicians who can help you.
The caller wanted to be supplied the original software he paid for when buying his new computer; Had he managed to get connected to someone who could actually help, he would have had the rude surprise that he was going to be forced to pay for the software he already owns. Large companies have found a great way to increase their profit margin; Don’t give their customers the software and make them pay for it later. One company even makes it impossible to install the software if your hard drive crashes, unless you phone them and pay for a special code.
Finally, this call was made because the technician who fixed the customers computer under warranty gave it back without the software installed. I bet they didn’t backup the customers data either. Unless thats the way you want it, we make sure your computer comes back in working order, and that means a working operating system, and where possible, your files saved and put back in place.
