Do Tech Companies Use Their Own Procedures?
The way this Fortune 100 tech company uses technology suggests that they doesn’t really like their customers.
We recently got a combo copier-fax-scanner for the office, replacing a fax machine that had been recalled. The recall itself was a bit clumsy, telling us that the fax machine could suddenly burst into flames, but the remedy required a complete replacement purchase, towards which we could apply a discount. They didn’t want the potentially flammable fax machine back.
This from a well known high-tech Fortune 100 company, known for its printers and such. We decided that a combo appliance was a bargain, even without the discount, particularly knowing that what it was going to replace could start a fire.
Two days later the combo showed up, and installing and setting it up went very smoothly. After all, this is from a highly regarded high-tech company, and we would expect attention to these kinds of details to be standard.
But (always one of these), getting the product registered for the warranty on their web site was something we’d expect from, say, Bulgaria during the bad times. One form after another, combining a meaningless and interminable survey with the warranty registration which, interestingly enough, followed all this other market intelligence gathering.
Nice product, perhaps even the best of breed. Too bad they had to squander the goodwill on a web site that all but shouts that they really don’t know what they’re doing.