Is There Still "Service" in Customer Service? Answer: SEND ME A GUY

TUESDAY, July 7, 2015

Due to a sudden personal crisis, I had been unable to sleep for several nights.  I was a zombie, and, stumbling into the day, I knocked coffee all over my computer.

I looked up Dell on Get a Human and phoned.  In the past, getting a human at Dell has taken HOURS -- hours and hours filled with oceans of hurt. I'd have to book a day off to get help from Dell.

But this time a human immediately confirmed that I had a warranty until 2018 and connected me quickly to another human.  Let's call her Saffron. 

Saffron said, "Pack up your computer and mail it to us."

I said, "SEND ME A GUY."

She tried to do several diagnostics, I pressed F2, F12, start, restart.  She wasn't getting the information she needed.  I said: "SEND ME A GUY."

She said, "I can't send you a guy until I know what parts to send him. If you mail it to us, then we'll have all the parts available."

I said, "SEND ME A GUY."

She said, "He might have the wrong parts. He might have to make several trips."

I said, "SEND ME A GUY."

She said she'd order some parts and send me a guy, and then sent me this personal email: 

"I enjoyed working with you today on your coffee spill issue. I have included your service request and dispatch information below. Please be sure to contact me immediately if you do not hear from the onsite technician by noon tomorrow morning."

WOW.

WEDNESDAY, July 8, 2015

I hadn't heard from the guy so I sent an email to Saffron at 9:46 a.m.

Within an hour, she wrote back saying, "I just checked the status, it looks like the technician does not have the part yet. He will reach out once he picks up the part. I’ll keep you posted."

Around 2:00 p.m., the guy phoned and said the parts were in and he was on his way over.

The guy, Correy, arrived.  He looked at my computer and said, "OY GEVALT!!" -- this is a Yiddish expression, that I wasn't expecting to hear from a techy.  Correy was amazing.  They had sent him what seems to be the Standard COFFEE-WINE Repair Kit. It had a new motherboard, a new keyboard, a new USB port, and other goodies. 

By 4:00 p.m. -- 30 hours after the spill -- my computer was up and running. I am guessing that if I had mailed it to Dell, I'd still be waiting.

I wrote Saffron about the great service.  She wrote back saying this:

"I’m glad to hear you were pleased with the service!! You can always reach out to me with any other issues. It was a pleasure assisting you!"

(The exclamation marks are hers.)

Correy gave me his cell # and told me to contact him anytime.  He said, "You have the complete care warranty. You can throw the computer off the roof of your house and we'll fix it."

It's a brave, new world of customer service.

My new mantra:  "Send me a guy."