Customer Service

My family returned from a (much needed) vacation on Saturday, and no sooner had we crossed the threshold of our home - the hard drive on my laptop crashed. 

This wasn't a "Please Restart" kind of crash... This was the blue screen of death kind of crash - for which there is no quick fix.  The computer is just over a year old and had been working great - right up until my baby (who is now pulling up on everything) pulled up using my laptop cord and brought the whole thing crashing to the kitchen floor.  Thankfully he was unhurt.  The computer also seemed fine at first, but within a week I started having issues with random crashes (the minor kind).  I am the kind of person who ignores problems until they can't be ignored any longer.  I assumed the problems I was having wouldn't get any worse.

I was wrong.

So, on Sunday night I broke down and called customer service for my computer company (let's call them "Pewlett Hackard").  I was expecting the extraordinarily long hold time that seems to go hand in hand with most customer service phone lines (cable tv and the phone company are notoriously bad at this).  Imagine my surprise when my call was answered within the first few rings!  A soft spoken voice with an Indian accent answered.  I couldn't spell his name if I tried, so we'll call him "Sam".  I explained my problem to Sam, and he asked several questions.  We chatted for a while, and he put me on hold.  After a few minutes of hold time, he came back with the news I'd expected - I needed a new hard drive.  ugh.  Still, this wasn't his fault so I stayed positive, asking what my next steps would be.  He reviewed my options with me, quoting a price that I wasn't thrilled with - but accepted.  After a little while he said, "You've been so patient.  Let me check on something for you."  I was again put on hold, but he came back on the line within a couple minutes.  "I found the same hard drive for $100 less.  Would that work for you?"  "Why yes it certainly would!" I replied.  He went on to say I'd also need a set of recovery disks which would run an additional fee.  I said that was fine, and was connected to a second customer service representative who was in charge of finalizing orders.  We'll call her Betty. She briefly reviewed everything with me again and then she said, "Sam mentioned you were very patient and kind.  I want to see if I can do something for you."  There was silence as I was once again put on hold.  Then she returned to the line and said she could order my hard drive from a vendor that often includes the recovery disks for free!  Eureka!  I was thrilled.  I told her as much and she laughed.  I got the distinct impression that she doesn't deal with nice people 100% of the time.

Maybe I would have gotten these special deals no matter what, or maybe I got the "Wow - there are still nice people in the world!" discount.  I'm not sure.  What I am sure of is that I received excellent customer service and that always makes my day.  I'm sure looking forward to getting that hard drive and getting my laptop back in working order.  I hope I never have to call customer service again, but if I do... I sure hope I can talk to "Sam" and "Betty" again.