When good customers go bad.

[fixthecopier]

If you have done this long enough, I am sure that at some point you have had a run in with someone over a machine. What are some of your worst. I found myself waiting in a parking lot outside the base headquarters for a sergant who had said the wrong thing to me on the phone. I had second thoughts, didn't want to get thrown off base, and called his commander and reported him. I had one location that used to complain that the copier allways jammed and when I show up it runs. So I show up and load the machine, put it in test mode and ran 4,600 test copies without a jam while he was at lunch. When he got back he was not impressed and still demanded I give him a new machine. Not gonna happen bub. We were in each others face yelling at each other and one of his men had to get between us. When the contract got renewed he got a 7255 and for 3 years he was a happy guy. My favorite is the business down the road that pushed his di470 out the door and across the parking lot by the road before the tech could get there. What was your worst?

[djbass]

Fortunately I've been able to defuse most customers when they start getting hot under the collar so I have been lucky not to be in that situation too much. My worst was a customer shouting profanities to me over the phone over an issue that wasn't related to my area (I was just the poor sap that answered the phone at the time), I simply calmly told him that unless he wanted to be civil I would hang up, he continually refused to be nice so I did. I think ultimately keeping your cool is the best way to handle any situation like that, losing it with a customer will only put you at a disadvantage.

Actually when I think about it there was another occasion. I reported to a customer's house to look at his PC because some of his documents had disappeared. From the moment I stepped in the door he kept demanding I make his documents re-appear and I hadn't even had the chance to look at the machine yet. From what I could tell he had managed to create a new profile and delete his old one, meaning short of attempting some time consuming data recovery his documents weren't coming back. When I told him this he kicked me out of his house saying I was the worst technician ever and he refused to pay the callout fee. At the end of the day it didn't bother me much, at worst only my ego was bruised, he however was still missing his documents and with an attitude like that probably wasn't going to get them back either.


If you ever want a laugh (or to cringe in some cases), Computer Stupidities has some good stories.

[Andyrsv]

Dumb customers

How about the time when my wifes boss tried to fax a letter....in an envelope? Or the customer demanded a new copier because it kept printing blank copies. They were putting the originals in upside down.

[blackcat4866]

Ranting Customer

I have never walked out on a customer, but I've come very close....

Many years ago I had a Mita DC142 at a lumber yard. This customer copied a lot of heavy fill documents, and consequently had more fuser jams than the average user.

This guy stood there watching me and ranting while I was rebuilding his fuser. "This machine is the biggest piece of shit..." and so on. Maybe it was, but I wasn't too interested in hearing about it from him. It's best not to get drawn into slamming a machine, even if it's true.

After about 30 minutes of abuse I had decided that I had had enough. The fuser was disassembled on the table and he was still ranting. I started wiping off my tools and putting them away, still listening to his stupidity.

I think he caught on when I closed my toolcase. His eyes got really big, his mouth dropped open, then he stammered something about having a truck to unload. Then he disappeared through the door and I never saw him again. If I had made it to the door first, I wouldn't have come back.

=^..^=

[banginbishop]

customers always right

Had a call at a plastics factory on a sharp sf-2022 for Jamming. Checked the jam log and 95% were in the right hand side. Reading the engineers log book previous engineer had noted customer had broken right hand side door and told them to have it replaced customer refused. Customer had pushed a table upto the side of the machine to hold the door in place. I informed the customer that he needed the door as i couldn't stop the machine from jamming without the door being replaced - customers response "fuck off you dont what your doing" at this point i picked up my tool case and bid him fare well and left his machine in a jamming condition and then billed him for his courtesy. I reported this to my manager and refused to go again when he re reported it.

Had another call for a sharp ar-205 fuser unit - customer snapped all the pick off fingers. customer denied this after i told them they would have to pay. customer complained to my manager who sent out another engineer to fix it free of charge who then admitted to the engineer that the Director/CEO had done it. Told my manager that he was an prick! I felt better for that

[lkrsardis]

A-holes

I had to leave a customer one time years ago when he started getting personal. I left his Ricoh FT6085 in a thousand pieces. Fortunitly my boss was on my side and made the man wait two days before he sent out another tech.

[Rudi]

I Also Get Alot These Problems With Customers And One Thing I Could Establish Is That Sales Reps Dont Give A Damn About Who They Sell To Or What They Sell Because They Know For The Rest Of The Time Someone Else (we) Will Take The Rap But What They Do Not Realise Is That We Make Way For Their Next Sale , And I Dont Know About Your Side But Over Here Youngsters Are Not Much Intrerested In Working With Tools Anymore They Rather Want To Go For Pushing Buttons On A Keyboard.

[SGT_Snacks-64]

Gawd I haven't been in the industry long enough to have one of these yet, but I've had some shitty customers I can tell you that! The worst is when you're at a machine for a long time trying to sort something and a customer noses around you, wondering what you're actually doing. Hate it HATE IT!!!

[blackcat4866]

Here are few tricks for that nosey customer that needs to help you.

Start with a statement like "I'll let you know when I'm done." or "Where can I find you when I need to do some testing?" (hopefully not here....)

If they persist you can:

Open up the stinkiest cleaner you've got, and make sure they can smell it.
Ask personal questions in a rapidfire fashion.

For the person that still can't take a hint:

Start handing them things to hold. First tools, covers, towels, then as a last resort something covered with toner like a leaky waste bottle or a drum cleaning roller. This last one always works.

I usually don't mind is a 5 year old asks 5 year old type questions. It's when the adults are asking the 5 year old type questions that it gets bothersome. "Wow, what does that do?"

=^..^=

[laserman06]

I really like it when I get to the account and the customer meets me at the copier. I no longer set my tools down, when I am asked the question? What is wrong with it?

If I was a psychic, I sure wouldn't be there listening to them gripe. I would have won the lottery multiple times

[pspahr]

Remember the Lexmark 4019???

Whew, long time ago, when I had only been in the trade for about 3 years, I was sent to take a call that had originally been assigned to another tech. The original tech had to order the power supply for the printer, a fairly common call at the time. The part had been back-ordered for a week, then the tech put the call off another week after receiving the part. Finally, he went on vacation for a week.....In short, 3 weeks have passed in which time the customer has had time to stew about it.

So, it's Friday at around 2:00 and I've had a fairly nice, calm, undisturbed day. Until I received a call from my manager, John, who's a pretty nice guy and fair. He's so worked up and worried that I can "hear" him sweating it out on the phone, lol. This customer has called and chewed him a new one (and they are the 3rd largest account). I take the call, which means having to drive to the vacationing techs home to get the part from off his front porch and then back out to the customer on the other side of Atlanta. I arrive at about 3:15 and get to the machine. About 20 minutes in I've got the machine apart and have started unboxing the power supply. I've heard grumblings from behind the cubicle wall since I had arrived but thought nothing of it. Then, BAM, both barrels... This azzclown comes from behind that wall and lays into me. At 20 year's of age I had a very short fuse, but a good ability to work with any type person. So I let him rant. When he started getting personal and questioning my "I.Q. based on my poor carreer choice" I started to get my undies in a wad. I backed away from the machine and started to explain how all of this had come to be and that I was only there to correct what had gone wrong, from the machine to the lack of customer service. He was having none of it and started getting in my face and getting rather personal about my mothers morality.....At this point I've already decided I was done and have started packing up everything, including the PSU. Recognition of this fact made him even more enraged. At the point that he grabbed my bag, then grabbed my upper arm I decided that defending myself was necessary. I grabbed from my bag my largest Phillips #2, a 16 incher needed for working on the old Ricoh FT 7770/7780 machines. I started towards him with the craziest look I could muster and told him I was going to kill his sick bastard azz if he wanted to "eff" with me anymore. He turned fairly white at being stood up to more so than the sight of the screwdriver being wielded in his direction. I let it go for about 30 seconds with no response from him. Then, as I finished packing up I explained to him that I was leaving, my managers name was John "C", and that I would be calling him the minute I got to my car. This was a sham to some extent becuase I had no cell phone in the early '90s. But, payphones still existed and this was my true intent. 5 minutes later my pager is screaming at me, so I make the call to my manager. He's begging me to go back and that the fellow I'd had the problem with would be detained. I explained what had occurred to which he replied, "Don't worry, the office manager already told us what happened!!!!"

In the end I did return, mostly becuase the office manager didn't lie to my manager as to what had happened. I finished the job, even staying over 10 minutes past 5 p.m. with that awful Atlanta traffic to contend with.

I hate to think how much time i'd have had to spend in jail for killing a man had this been one of those chit awful days were everything else had gone wrong previously..........

[laserman06]

When he started getting personal and questioning my "I.Q. based on my poor carreer choice"

Something that I like to remember is that someone may have more education than I, but it is me who they need to fix their copier. If they think that we have a low IQ base on our career choice. Let them explain the whole copy process of the machine. I tried to explain it to a doctor once, he told me it complicated. He just wanted to push a button and a copy come out. So if someone questions your IQ because you work on copiers, just remember not everyone can troubleshoot a errant copier.

[Jimbo1]

Hide N' Seek

Years ago I had a major account, city government. I was working on a Lanier/Toshiba analog machine. It was a Lanier 6525, can't remember what that is in Toshiba terms. Anyway I was doing tech maintenance and had the transfer/sep unit apart and was cleaning it. Putting it back together I couldn't find the plastic guide across the top. Searched for five or ten mintues before a couple of the guys there brought it out of a desk drawer and proudly proclaimed they hid it from me!!!!!

And of course you can't charge a customer like that.

Wasn't that special??

[hodgiepodgie]

Rude Custmrs

Gawd I haven't been in the industry long enough to have one of these yet, but I've had some shitty customers I can tell you that! The worst is when you're at a machine for a long time trying to sort something and a customer noses around you, wondering what you're actually doing. Hate it HATE IT!!!

OR THE ONES THAT TAKE POT SHOTS AS THEY PASS BY MAKING SNYDE COMMENTS.

[fixthecopier]

"Can I have a new machine?" Do they think that we ride around with a spare strapped to the roof of our car? Always remember to let them know that a new machine will not make the people using it any smarter than they already are.