A long time ago (when Psych hospitals were all about client focused money making) I attended a course on customer service. I learnt a person who receives good service tells an average of five people but people who receive bad service tell an average of 17.
But first, some background…
Way back in September my amp started to play up. I removed it from the cabinet (in case it was overheating), tried it with different speakers but no, it was still not working right. I took it to Hillcrest and paid a $50 deposit to have them take a look at it. They did and said it worked perfectly. I said there was definitely something wrong and they offered to look at it some more. I’m not sure what “looking at it” entailed but they had it for a few weeks more and said there was still nothing wrong with it. When I came to pick it up, they suggested I take it home and try it again. The bill was $30 and I said hang on to the difference because I was sure I would be back.
I took the amp home and straight away it played up. I rang them and again they suggested it was my speakers and I should try it elsewhere. I tried the amp at a friend’s house and had the same issue.
I returned the amp to Hillcrest Electronics and suggested they try it on something other than the radio. Long story short, they had the amp for a long time. I rang at one stage and they said they still hadn’t found the fault.
Months later I get a “second notice” and a dirty phone call asking why I hadn’t come to get my amp. No one ever rang to say it was fixed and I never got an invoice. When I went it to collect it and pay they bill they wouldn’t take the $20 credit off the account, stating their warranty is only for 90 days. Eh, what warranty? They never fixed anything initially.
In this age of blogging, prolific social networking and Facebook, is it worth the $20?
By the way, I have one four-year-old 5.1 channel Panasonic amp for sale (supposedly repaired). Any offers?
Tell me about it! My iPhone one day decided it wasn’t going to work, hey I know iPhones in and out, but it was under warranty – why not get it fixed for free?
I was charged a $50 deposit (Which is the stupidest fucking dicky move – you’ve got my IPHONE for Christ’s sake, that’s a grand worth of my stuff right there). They came back claiming the problem was unfixable and I would have to get a new unit – which normally would be free (now $400), except I had broken my warranty via ‘impact damage’; had nothing to do with the problem mind.
So I took my iPhone back, demanded my $50 and said I would fix it myself. To which the staff members lol’d and said I couldn’t do it.
After about 2 hours of tinkering I finally gained access to the bootrom and after tinkering more I managed to get it rebooted and running code. To which I promptly went to the store and yelled something along the lines ‘neener neener neener’ and rubbed it in their faces.
Still works ;-D