Customer is always right???

We rarely get any walk-in customer but when we do, they were not as difficult as this one particular guy. He was very fussy! Must be my unlucky day (and maybe the Tech too)!*sigh*

Mr Fussy came in to get his Notebook(NB) repaired. He claimed that the bluetooth function would some time go on and off automatically. Just like Chipsmore, now you see it, now you don’t. He was so kan cheong and determined to have it fixed before the warranty expires some time this year. But, the weird thing was, the problem seemed to occur only when he was using his NB, regardless whether he’s in the office or house or Coffee Bean or Starbucks.Everywhere he goes, he'll get the same problem, so he claimed. When he sent it to our service center HQ in PJ last month, our engineer there failed to detect the problem. After 3 days of monitoring, it was returned to him.

Since the problem persisted, Mr Fussy was advised to send his NB here. Suspected faulty parts are to be replaced. The moment he came in, Mr Fussy demanded to see the replacement parts. That’s when all the commotion started. “Why only 2 parts arrived? Your boss said he would send 3 – the bluetooth board, cable and antenna. “What happened to the antenna?” “Did you lose it ?” bla, bla, bla….Both the Tech and I had a very hard time convincing him that those were all that were sent to us. Obviously, Mr Fussy did not buy that; he showed us my boss’s e-mail to him. And there it was. Our ‘dear’ Boss DID promised him that he would send us the 3 components. Damn. If only he bothered to inform us earlier we won’t be so dumbfounded. THANK YOU BOSS FOR MAKING US LOOK STUPID IN FRONT OF MR FUSSY!!!

Mr Fussy demanded an explanation on why the antenna was not sent. Fair enough, he deserves one. As I was Skype-ing my boss, Mr Fussy just couldn’t keep his big mouth shut. “What did he say?”, “Did he carelessly omitted the antenna?” etc, etc…Can you believe this guy??? Surprisingly, he was able to sit tight in his chair. I half expected him to peek on my conversation with Boss…hehe. After explaining the situation to him, Boss only came-up with this, “Just tell him that the antenna is not necessary.” Yeah, right. “Easy for you to say Boss!” but of course, I only said those words in my heart.

I didn’t really pay much attention to Mr Fussy after that. I was too tired to answer all his endless "What if...?" questions. Thankfully, he got the message. Alleluia! He shifted his attention to my colleague aka Tech, interrogated him on his experience on fixing this kind of problem. Truthfully, Tech admitted that it is his first and the Engineer would guide him from HQ via Skype video call. From the corner of my eyes, I saw the discomfort and lack of confidence in Mr Fussy’s eyes. He demanded to be present during the fixing and testing process. Made it clear that he wants to see the existing components replaced as promised and make sure every screw, every little thing are in its right place.

Tech was obviously not comfortable with that. Neither do I. I can imagine Mr Fussy scrutinizing Tech’s every move, criticizing here and there. Whoa, how can you do any work in a situation like that? I immediately sought Boss’s advice on Mr Fussy’s demand. Again, Boss-the man with few words said,” Tell him it is not necessary for him to be present.” Just as I expected, Mr Fussy hit the roof when I relayed that to him. ”How would I know if you replaced the parts or not?”, “How would I know if everything are in the right place?” bla, bla, bla…Once again, we tried to convinced him that his property will be treated with utmost respect. Suspected faulty parts will be replaced with new one. Tests will be done to ensure that it functions normally. We’ll call when it is ready for collection and he himself can check his NB performance before signing the acknowledgment slip. Well, all our effort was in vain. Mr Fussy held his ground and insist to be called when fixing process starts. *faint*

An hour after he left, our Engineer launched a video call and begins the fixing process. We told him of Mr Fussy’s firm request but this nonchalant response was all we got, “Takpe. Kita buat dulu, test semua. Bila semua ok, baru kita bagi tau kat customer supaya datang collect. Customer mana boleh tengok kita buat, company policy."(It’s ok. We fix it now and run some tests. When everything’s ok, then only we call customer to come. Customers are not allowed to see the fixing process. It is the company’s policy.") Tech and I were speechless. I’m sure we’re thinking the same thing, “How are we going to tell Mr Fussy about this?” Mr Fussy will sure explode this time! We were in a dilemma, to adhere to our superiors and get slaughtered by customer OR make customer happy and get fired by Boss for violating company’s policy. Either way we’ll get all the bashing. *sigh * We chose the former.

As foreseen, after receiving my call about the parts had been replaced, Mr Fussy disconnected the call and sped to our office. He was fuming mad and bombarded us with his frustration. What can we say? We told him that we were only following order. We offered to open-up his NB for him to have a look at the internal. With a glare, he refused by saying that the act would only cause further damaged to his NB due to frequently loosening and tightening the screw. With that, we both telepathically agreed not to provoke him. We apologized to Mr Fussy and kept our silence and listened to him rant. Eventually, he calmed down and agreed to leave his NB with us for another 2 days for observation.

The unfortunate incident above occurred two days ago. Yikes! Observation period is over. Mr Fussy is coming again today. Maybe he is on his way now. *roll eyes* I have no interest whatsoever to deal with him. I’ll let one of my colleagues deal with him…if I have a choice. *wink* They are already speculating that it won’t be our last encounter with Mr Fussy. He will be back sooner complaining about another problem if not the same. I sure hope that all their speculating is wrong!!! I don't want to see Mr Fussy again!

Now that I managed to get it off my chest, I felt much better. Phew! I hope I didn’t bore you with this long and winding post of mine. :)

Updates:- Mr Fussy was supposed to come collect his NB on Friday but he couldn't make it. Instead he came on the following Monday. He came with a serious face and didn't say much except when he replied my greeting. Packed his NB, signed the acknowledgement slip and go.