A Lesson in Customer Service

Tim sent me an email exchange he had yesterday between a customer service person for an online company he's used for a few years to run the weekly NFL pick'em at work. For a $25 fee, the company allows designated users to make their picks and the administrator, Tim, locks the picks prior to the first snap on Sunday. After eight weeks, they need to renew the service for an additional $25 which is shared across the group of gamblers participants in Tim's office. The computer that Tim used crashed so he had to reinstall the software and ran into problems.

Background: My husband is a network administrator or maybe it's a network manager but around the office everyone including the owner call him "the effing IT guy." The Web Savvy Mom is married to The Effing IT guy. We do not overlap in skills at all. I believe our current count of computers at home is four or five just between the two of us.

First email with the subject: NFL Office Pool - Technical Support

Please restore my pool - SBXXX. I installed the application on another computer and synchronized. Now the Web Data is gone.

Thank you!

Tim Thaxton
IT Manager

Customer Service:

Tim,

It doesn't really work that way. We can't restore an individual pool. That's why there are local backup facilities in the application - as well as a "recovery tool" designed to retrieve data from the online system when you have an empty pool.

Attempting to run the pool from 2 different locations is an extremely bad idea. The synchronization process requires that there is data to synchronize to on the local system - without it - it does nothing - then uploads everything in the local software to the server. That means - if you start with nothing - you get nothing online.

My suggestion would be for you to go to the original computer - resynchronize - and don't run it from 2 locations.

Please advise,
Eric B.
Software - Support

Tim's response:

Eric,

The original computer died! I used the recovery tool but there are not any users or the last 8 games.

I wasn't running from two locations - just one.

Please repopulate my pool.

Thank you!
Tim Thaxton
IT Manager

Customer Service:
Tim,

Perhaps you didn't understand my first email.

We can't restore 1 pool - it doesn't work that way. If you were to have used the recovery tool 1st - it would have recovered all of your information. If you were to have backed up your local computer - that would have been sufficient. In either of those cases - you would have been fine.

If you have print outs of weeks 1 - 8 - you can hand enter all of the prior information - aside from that - you're pretty much out of options.

Eric B.
Software - Support

I understood it. Can't or won't are two different words. Refund my $25.

If you can't restore a couple tables then you don't need my money.

Thank you!
Tim Thaxton
IT Manager

"Customer Service":

Tim,

It doesn't work that way either - we don't guarantee that you won't lose your data due to not taking normal precautions - we have the recovery tool as a convenience - and we offer fairly extensive technical support as this conversation provides evidence.

Had you consulted with us prior to proceeding - we could have instructed you on your options. Seeing that you're an "IT Manager" we would assume that you would keep a backup of your computer because you obviously know the importance of doing so.

Eric B.
Software - Support

Are you the manager, owner or tech support?
Thank you!
Tim Thaxton
IT Manager

Eric Brown, "CEO":
Tim,

I'm all of the above.

Eric B.
Software - Support

That explains your attitude and reference to my title.

As a Tech Rep, you should remember it’s never the customer's fault.

As the Manager, you should have taken precautions in development to include two-way file synchronization with conflict awareness.

As an Owner, understand that customer data is your primary responsibility; whether it’s football pool user names or company financials. Data is arguably the most valuable asset of any business ….. which means you have FAILED. Thank you!
Tim Thaxton
IT Manager

Eric B., "Mr. Anger Management":

Tim,

So - it's our fault that you didn't use the recovery tool to restore your data. And it's our fault that you didn't backup your local computer. And it's our fault that you didn't read the help file. And it's our fault that you didn't contact us before reinstalling and synchronizing.

You're absolutely right - it's not your fault. Failing to backup your computer and failing to contact us when you needed to recover was something you should have done. I strongly encourage you to not backup your computer in the future - and never ever read the help file.

I feel very sorry for your employer. To have an IT Manager that doesn't take the most basic of precautions is unacceptable.

And - while technically we could recover your data - we won't because it's not cost effective and the issue was not caused by us. We provide several self contained methods for backing up your data as well as a very high level of technical support.

Thank you,

Eric B.
Software - Support

You're an idiot!

That was the answer I was looking for - Won't! ...... You should add lying to your mission statement.

No need to feel sorry for me - you should pity the rest of your customers for having to deal with you. I see why you're the owner of a half-assed design company.

Thank you!
Tim Thaxton
IT Manager

Mr. Civil:
Tim,

Up until this very moment - I've been fairly civil - that's over.

I didn't say I felt sorry for you - you are an idiot - I said I felt sorry for your employer. You apparently are also incapable of reading. You're the IT Manager - that's someone that should understand fully the issues involved with information technology - including how to backup your own computer. Since you apparently failed to do so - you are beyond an idiot - incompetent comes to mind. If you were in my employ - you'd be gone - yesterday. I probably should forward your employer this email just to show him/her how stupid you really are.

And - the customer is not always right - the customer in many cases is so stupid they couldn't backup their own computer even though they have been told repeatedly to do so. The customer in many cases doesn't read the instructions provided with the product and they don't bother consulting with the software developers prior to doing something that they probably were just hoping would work without fully considering the consequences. And 9 times out of 10 - the customer is too stupid to admit their own mistakes and blames someone else. It's people like you that force companies to put warning signs on things like knives indicating that they are sharp - because without them (and perhaps even with them) you'd probably cut your fingers off and then attempt to blame the company because you didn't realize that knives can cut things.

And, by the way, my employees have been getting a kick out of your stupidity.

Eric B.
Software - Support

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
- H.L. Mencken

Your civil response ended a few emails ago and your defensive posture was established early this morning.

Thank you!
Tim Thaxton
IT Manager

After re-reading the whole email exchange again, I'm still shocked at how this company's "CEO" conducted himself in email. For the record, my husband kept engaging this dude because he was so defensive. Did you notice the quote he includes in his email signature? Tim didn't hear back from him after sending the image that he's "number one."