Customer Service

Recently I have started in a new job, the new role I have is more customer service focused than my previous job, but it has me thinking back to the job prior where I dealt with the returns and repairs of faulty computer products sold where I worked.

This reminds me of several different incidences that occurred over my time there, and I thought that I would share them.

This one is quite funny, and why it is important to keep your cool. I had a customer come up to the counter, already frustrated, and before I could utter a word, they began their tirade.
They were upset because they had been provided with an ‘Asian power supply’ for their laptop. They continued to berate me and the company, without allowing a response, for what seemed a long time but was very likely close to 5 minutes.
“[Company] Should know better than to sell cheap Asian crap.”
“You should inspect your products so people don’t waste their time.”
“I am too busy to waste time dealing with your shitty service”
There was not too much I could do to interrupt the rant, as I was there solo, and a couple of customers waited for their turn to deal with me.
At one point the customer held the power supply still enough for me to remove a little plastic cap that covered the prongs on the power plug. The customer stopped speaking, looked at the plug and left without saying a word (or an apology).
I held my composure, but the customer behind them found it hilarious.
As a standard, all items booked in were given a book-in sheet that was signed by the customer, and the customer had to return in order to claim their goods. Alternatively, as long as we could verify that the person collecting was the same person, we would allow them to take the item.
One day I had a tradie come in to collect his PC. As per normal, I asked for his documentation, he didn’t have it. Nor did he have a wallet, phone or any other method to confirm he was who he said he was.
His reaction when I declined to release the PC because I could not confirm he was the owner was to knock everything off my counter and threaten to ‘smash’ me if I did not give him his PC.
The training I had taught me that sometimes something ludicrous can break a rage, so I decided to implement it, though I must iterate, if you ever decide to try this, please ensure you evaluate the person you are dealing with. I responded with:
“Go for it, there are camera’s everywhere and I could use the extra money.”
The customer literally did a double-take and walked away. They came back later with their book-in sheet and apologised. After they calmed down they were glad that I would just not hand over their laptop to anyone.
The company I worked for offered different products that had certain guarantees with them, staff were well versed in what products offered what and what to recommend. Some covered the same things as warranties and some covered the products with insurance. In this particular instance, the salesperson involved started as someone who was notorious for returns, but then took the time to work with me and improve himself to the point where it was very rare for me to return any of his products.
So a lady showed up at the counter, with her laptop covered in vomit demanding a replacement, in this particular case she had purchased an extended warranty, not a product that would have covered a replacement claim. It was escalated to me, and upon seeing who the salesperson was, I knew it was not a matter of him providing the wrong information. I managed to calm the customer down after explaining that the extended warranty was essentially an extension of all the things the warranty covered.
Still not happy with my response, I agreed to take on her case and raise the issue as far as I could. I didn’t want to take the PC, but as the client wouldn’t leave with it, I double-bagged it and shelved it. I tried to argue the customer’s case, but it was not successful (as was my job) and in addition to that, my staff member that dealt with the customer originally and I both ended up with gastro.
A very tired looking customer came in with a laptop that, from their description, clearly had a manufacturer defect. The main issue was it was outside of the manufacturer’s time period for DOA replacement (Defective on Activation). The client explained that they had just had a baby, and even had a doctor’s note on hand.
I explained to the client that I was required to run tests to confirm the defect and though I could not guarantee replacement, I would do what I could. The client got very upset, demanded an instant replacement and became unreasonable. I listened to their demands as I booked the item in. I explained that I could not do an instant replacement, as it was outside of the DOA window, and that I could do not anything without first running the required tests on the computer to confirm the fault and that seemed to placate them.
I took the laptop into the workroom and began the tests, then picked up the phone to call the manufacturer’s representative, but due to amazing timing, I had actually answered a call from the same customer, not more than 2 minutes after having seen them leave.
They went on a tirade about having bought the computer in good faith and that I should have instantly replaced the computer. I had been on the receiving end of this customers tiredness and frustration for the better part of 20 minutes and lost my cool. “Sir, that is enough. I am doing what I can to help you, now stop carrying on and let me do my job.”
I received a very quiet “Okay,” and the call was ended.
I called the rep, and whilst on the phone to them, the computer errored. I explained the situation and the rep was more than happy to authorise the replacement. I left a voicemail for the client and organised the replacement.
My boss stepped into the workroom about 20 minutes later and asked about the job, and I handed him the relevant paperwork for the replacement computer. My boss organised the replacement with the client and ensured they were happy and saw them on their way. I was then called into the bosses office.
I was informed that the customer had told my boss how unreasonable they had been and how amazingly I had handled them. In fact, the client was too embarrassed to come to me directly after not only sorting out the issue but getting them the replacement even after how they had treated me. My boss told me he had never in his life experienced someone so grateful, yet so embarrassed at the same time.

The fall of Halo and my gaming community.

I am a Halo FPS fan. Or at least I was.

My story of getting into Halo is pretty simple. I was a Playstation Fanboy. I had decent collection of games, and literally wrote off Sundays as a teen/young-adult to play video games. After a trip to the other side of the country to attend a mates wedding with my girlfriend (now wife), I was introduced to a co-op game of Halo while there. I was hooked, literally bought an Xbox over there and brought it home, just for Halo (2003).

Here in Perth I became part of a community that started with friends (old and new) having LANs at our homes, to then hiring halls and hosting Halo events monthly. It was great, I was part of a community that enjoyed the games and played regularly. I even collected the books and spoke about the lore of the universe with my friends, we shared in the joy that was all things Halo.

It hasn’t been the same since Halo 4 (2012). With the release of Halo 4, the game went from Bungie’s lovingly crafted game to 343’s business investment, and it felt like it. Rather than introduce elements to Halo that felt organic and part of the universe, they took ideas that were popular in other games and tried to skin them in Halo. In hindsight, and something I didn’t want to admit to myself at the time, Halo 4 was a poor effort.

This left our local community divided. Some stayed with the existing Halo games, others (myself included) pushed on with 343’s offering in the hopes that newer is better. But our community was divided, and that meant the end of the way things were. LAN attendance dropped and we held out for a new hope, the hope that Halo: MCC (2014) would save us.

The launch of MCC was dismal. The game was so broken at launch, we couldn’t get matches online, let alone get matches to work when holding LANs. It ended our community. A number of people even got refunds. A number of us turned to Destiny, but the community did not exist as it was, and never would again.

Halo 5 (2015) had a very good avertising campaign leading up to its release, I was expecting to be the MC taking on the remnants of the Covenant, the Promethians, and next Gen Spartans that were hunting the MC. It was far from accurate. In what can only be described as outright falsehoods, the game did not reflect the advertising. Warzone had some redeeming features, but it was not enough to bring the old community I once had back to the fold.

With the run up to Halo: Infinite (2021), we saw a lot if interest from my player group when it was released, and honestly, I felt like it was going to be like it was, but even after getting the game to play as it should and having the old Bungie feel to it, it was missing content. No Co-op on the release of the game, unbeleivable. Next to no multiplayer content with the release either (forge?), obscene, 343 again took something the community held out hope for and wasted it. I honestly have a hard time trying to get my friends to consider playing it anymore, and right now, I am even questioning why I play it.

Then what really hurt me was the Halo TV series (2022). It literally felt like a spit in the face. They took the universe we love and told us it wasn’t good enough and then proceed to make trash. Don’t get me wrong, I felt that Pablo Schreiber was an absolutely fantastic choice to play the role of Master Chief, but what they did to the story and the universe was a travesty.

There are so many existing stories to be told or that could be told that can be kept in the universe, and they instead chose to disregard the entire community and do what they wanted, and it failed, because at its core, they didn’t understand the characters or universe nor appreciate it the way the fans do.

Since 343i took the helm of Halo, I have been repeatedly disapointed with every release. It is also very cutting that the first time we get a proper Master Chief story in film or television, that they make such a mess of it.

I don’t know if Microsoft, Xbox or 343 can undo the last 10+ years of poor helmsmanship of the franchise. I think another poor release could see the game suffer from the same infamy earned by the last season of Game Of Thrones. For that reason, I am not sure if I even want them to try.

I wish I could be more optimistic about the future of Halo, but the “Fool me once…” quote doesn’t go up to “Fool me six times”, and someone should definitely be ashamed.

Aboloshing Net Neutrality hurts everyone.

Right now the world looks on as the US government officials accept donations from lobbyists on destroying net neutrality, and as an Australian looking on, I can’t help but see the end result before it arrives.

In Australia, we have a situation where there is only one choice for pay TV/cable, Foxtel. Foxtel, may not be the only game in town, but due to the buying power of Telstra behind them, if you want the shows that would usually encourage you to sign up, Foxtel is literally your only choice.

foxtel

Now in recent years, there was a report that came out about the large percentage of Australians the pirated Game of Thrones. Given that Foxtel had Game of Thrones episodes behind a two package paywall, the only game in town is literally milking it customers for access to the one specific show, it is no surprise that a large number people turned to the only other game in town to watch the show, piracy.

With the reports that came out during Season Six of Game of Thrones, the Australian government then decided to crack down on piracy by implementing tougher penalties and enforcing actions from ISPs to prevent people from downloading illegally.

The reaction from those pirating was to turn to other methods to get around restrictions, the most common, being hosted VPNs. But here is the rub, people are paying for the VPNs. This tells me that when the only game in town was fleecing people for access to its product, people were still willing to pay for a service to access programs. This tells me that when the price is right, people are willing to pay for a product, and if the price is not right, they will find a way to circumvent any blockages.

The reason that this is a bad thing, is because of the Foxtel paywall, HBO is missing out on receiving substantial subsidies from the airing of its show in Australia, in short, because of the lack of flexibility of the provider, it is literally sending its business away.

Removing Net Neutrality in the US will see a similar scenario play out, people who would be willing to pay a reasonable amount for access to certain sites or services will find other methods to access the content they desire, and in doing so, hurt those offering the content in a legal and fair manner, and then try to penalise those who would ordinarily pay a fair price for those services.

The only winners in this situation are those selling the paywall, and those selling the pirate supporting services, like VPNs and advertising on the pirate sites. Oh, and any politicians receiving contributions in this scenario.

pirate