Originally posted by shadow1 He is the type that will never be satisfied, I have dealt with his type and you cannot win. At some point you have to stand firm and say you've done all you can do with his hardware and if he wants to talk and waste your time he will have to pay for it. The ATA 133 thing may be opening up another can of worms you'd have to deal with.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Calpitor
Here is the upshot. I printed off all your responses minus mine and gave them to him at church. Figured this way there wouldn't be a scene. With his wife and the priest next to him he apologized for his behavior and finally relented. Tomorrow I go looking for a new video card and 384 Mb of ram for his system that he is bringing over so I can completely format and configure his drive!
I would say I've won. I have his repeat business, an apologie, and I don't have to deal with him any more, all further business will be done through his wife. Her idea by the way. My business is mostly service related and satisfaction is what counts in my business. The phrase "The customer is always right." is no homily. It is how you achieve satisfaction. I always stand firm, when I know I'm right, but I'll never let the customer feel that he is in the wrong. Telling the customer "you've done all you can do with his hardware and if he wants to talk and waste your time he will have to pay for it." is a good way to lose his business and the business of the 15 people he tells. One of the greatest advantages, and disadvantages at times, of owning your own business is that you din't have to justify the length of time you spend with your clients in order to achieve total satisfaction. I've had my own shop going on five years now and although there have been the occassional disappointment I have always been able to make sure that everyone is satisfied with the service they have received or product that they have purchased. Your attitude shadow1 is far too prevelent in our society try to keep in mind as long as he is dissatisfied he feels you are wasting his time as well.
I do admire your patience and integrity, I too have been in the service business a long time and I can count the number of people on one hand that I could not deal with and at some point had to cut the losses rather than deal with the stress and lost time. It isnt easy but when our paths cross with difficult people and all avenues have been exhausted, there's no other way...everyone deserves to be paid for their time when performing a service. I dont think any person would fault anyone for doing that. I'm glad you have resolved the problem.
This is a bit tongue in cheek, but you might offer to help him get his A+ Certification by loaning him your book.
Maybe people like that should get a freebie such as Sandra or Belarc so they can check their computer themselves.
I have a 450Mhz cpu in one of my compurers (Compaq 5360) and the best improvement and the most inexpensive way to improve the performance with a noticeable difference is to add a bit of memory and maybe a 7200RPM hard drive.
I think you handled the situation extrodinarily well even though you were at max frustration. Congratulations.
Calpitor, if you haven't met a customer that's completely impossible to satisfy, then you have been lucky. And if you're dealing with the wife at her suggestion, I would guess that this story is not over yet.
Originally posted by DVOM Calpitor, if you haven't met a customer that's completely impossible to satisfy, then you have been lucky. And if you're dealing with the wife at her suggestion, I would guess that this story is not over yet.
Two articles for you to take a look at. I would say ceci est tout fini!
First is the bill for work completed earlier today and the second is the body of the text of the email the client sent me when he got home.
Email:
Geoffrey,
When I got home I found the bill you presented my wife. All I looked at was the total billable and to say the least I was displeased. Upon further inspection, some research and a little reflection I am willing to admit that you have done extensive work on my system. According to our local computer shop, Kaylen Computers the work done is in line with that of your competitors and in fact we got of light. I got home and decided to put this puppy through its paces and I am very impressed. This system has never booted so quickly! I can open anything I like with Media Player running my favourite MP3s, of which none were lost, and it marches on like a true soldier. You have our deepest gratitude and I won’t hesitate to refer your company to others. I have one quick question for you. How did you manage to get The Sims to play my MP3s?
to the best of my knowledge ... ive never been able to notice any performance upgrades from hdd upgrades
you want performance upgrades ... 2x cpu speed; increase memory; upgrade videocard and system cleanups provide me with noticible upgrades .... (noticible being the operative word)