Your hardware failure is MY fault?

[rakaneth.livejournal.com]

I had an interesting customer today. Apparently, this fellow is an engineer (which, of course, he had to tell me quite a few times during the course of my assistance). His laptop's display adapter is obviously borked. His significant other tells me that she needs files from it tonight. They want to know when they can get it fixed.

I go through a couple of options, including offering a backup to DVD for a fee of $money. Not happy with this, Engineer's Significant Other busts out this line:

'It's your fault this happened; I shouldn't have to pay.'

Of course, she meant the shop at which I work. As a note, no one, regardless of warranty, coverage, etc. gets a backup free. Everyone pays $money or more for backups. This is well-known.

I inform her of this. She asks for someone higher.

Cue my supervisor, who tells her the same thing. Engineer and SO and Supervisor then go to look at external HDDs.

Another thing that made me giggle inside was the fact that Engineer did not hesitate to tell me how much money he spent on the laptop - apparently, over $3k. I had to wonder why, if he had that kind of money to spend on a laptop, he didn't spend an extra hundred and get an external HDD for a backup. I mean, seriously, if I were buying a computer which I knew I'd be using for business, you bet your sweet buns I'd have some kind of backup...

x-posted to my journal and techsupport

Comments

[alysania.livejournal.com]

i love how that happens all the time - people blame the tech when the computer breaks, as if we're supposed to be clairvoyant and know before it's going to break and fix it. On the other hand, few people are going to blame their car service technician when their tires blow or their engine seizes because they didn't take the car in for service. Anything with moving parts is subject to wear and tear, and a computer is no exception - why can't people get that?!