PC Superstore Admits Linux Hinge Repair Mistake

Erris writes "PC Superstore says their store manager was wrong to turn away a client with a broken hinge whose machine should have been repaired. 'El Reg put a call in to the DSGi-owned retail giant to get some clarification on PC World's Linux support policy. A spokesman told us that there had simply been a misunderstanding at the store and that, in fact, the normal procedure would be for the Tech Guys to provide a fix. [PC World] will provide a full repair once the firm has made contact with Tikka.'

Comments

Only a misunderstanding if you get caught.

[SeaFox]

And the question on everyone's mind is "Would this have happened had the plight not been so well discussed on the internet?"

Also, how many other people have already been turned away for hardware warranty repairs based on what software was on their machine?

Re:Only a misunderstanding if you get caught.

[VirusEqualsVeryYes]

And the question on everyone's mind is "Would this have happened had the plight not been so well discussed on the internet?"

Hardly. I think pretty much everyone here realizes that the reason for the change of heart was the publicity on the Internet. If you're an idealistic optimist, you might try to believe that the higher-ups heard about it through the Internet and righted the wrong simply from hearing about it, but the rest of us have enough experience with these Internet-spread stories of fuckups that it's the bad publicity that causes the higher-ups to take a correctional course of action.

This isn't about Linux. It never was. Linux just happened to serve as an excuse for denial of service. This regularly happens to non-techie customers who don't install alternate OSs. To consumers of all sorts of electronic products. They STILL get denied service. They get convinced by customer "service" that the product is not eligible for free or low-cost repair.

The thing is, American customer service is much like American insurance -- it's nothing but a financial black hole in the eyes of the bean counters. It's about saving a little money now. Every payment, every reimbursement, every repair denied is a few bucks saved. Who cares if the customer is unsatisfied? The corporations certainly don't ... until the customer's story makes it big on the intarwebs and thousands of people start talking about it. Oops, bad publicity causes loads of lost sales! So they better fix it so the plebians don't switch brands!

It's all about the numbers. Denying service to customers saves a little bit each time. If the rate of lost sales because of individual angry customers is less than the money saved from denial of service, it's a win. It's only in their interest -- or rather, the interest of their bottom line -- to service the customer if the angry customer breeds anger among many more customers, say via the Internet, and causes many lost sales that far exceed the costs of the simple customer care they should have provided in the first place.

This is capitalist shortsightedness at its worst. Bad word of mouth hurts more in the long run. Satisfaction leads to good word of mouth which leads to more sales. As a personal example, I always make a note to people about how phenomenal Nintendo customer service is. I tell them about a problem, they fix it immediately. I know for a fact that my advice has caused a few more sales of Wiis rather than (usually) PS2s. See, since Nintendo didn't penny-pinch with the cost of repairs for my system, they indirectly made more money through my satisfaction. This is foresight that I wish American companies had. I think we'd all be happier for it.

Not surprised...

[cyberjock1980]

So PC World pissed off a geek. He told all his geek buddies. Word got around and now PC World has either changed their mind, or announced their mistake as loud as they can for fear of reprisal from tons of geeks. Why am I not surprised? I'm sure they want to stay in business, and even if that was their policy, i'm sure it changed VERY quickly because the community they target is the same community that's now talking bad about them. Change their policy or risk going out of business? Slashdot wins! PC World - 0 Slashdot - 1

Re:Not surprised...

[dfgchgfxrjtdhgh.jjhv]

sorry, but pc world dont target geeks, they target people that don't know any geeks at all & have more money than sense.

i'm amazed that a pc world customer had heard of linux, nevermind installed it.

Good

[betterunixthanunix]

I have wondered for a while what sort of warranty issues surround installing Linux. In the Microsoft mindset, software is considered part of the computer, and therefore replacing it would be analogous to replacing a hardware piece which would naturally void the warranty. Personally, I have always viewed installing Linux as being on the same level as installing any other software; saying it voids the warranty is, in my opinion, like saying that replacing a factory installed MS Office trial with some other office suite would void the warranty.

Also, this is evidence that Linux systems are gaining ground -- issues like this are "growing pains."

As usual...

[Speare]

A junior employee or contractor made an error that is against our policy.

Translated:
A local store manager is foolishly given broad discretion to run the local store and making ass-pulled risk estimates such as "this guy can't possibly escalate his complaint from porch-seat grumbling to global public-relations catastrophe."

Re:Not a big deal

[compro01]

If I owned a store... I wouldn't worry about it at all.

3 words : word of mouth

Us Linux users are the ones that friends/relatives/etc. turn to when they need computer advise. If they piss us off, guess who we aren't recommended to those friends/relatives/etc.