PC Superstore Admits Linux Hinge Repair Mistake

Erris writes "PC Superstore says their store manager was wrong to turn away a client with a broken hinge whose machine should have been repaired. 'El Reg put a call in to the DSGi-owned retail giant to get some clarification on PC World's Linux support policy. A spokesman told us that there had simply been a misunderstanding at the store and that, in fact, the normal procedure would be for the Tech Guys to provide a fix. [PC World] will provide a full repair once the firm has made contact with Tikka.'

Only a misunderstanding if you get caught.

[SeaFox]

And the question on everyone's mind is "Would this have happened had the plight not been so well discussed on the internet?"

Also, how many other people have already been turned away for hardware warranty repairs based on what software was on their machine?

Not surprised...

[cyberjock1980]

So PC World pissed off a geek. He told all his geek buddies. Word got around and now PC World has either changed their mind, or announced their mistake as loud as they can for fear of reprisal from tons of geeks. Why am I not surprised? I'm sure they want to stay in business, and even if that was their policy, i'm sure it changed VERY quickly because the community they target is the same community that's now talking bad about them. Change their policy or risk going out of business? Slashdot wins! PC World - 0 Slashdot - 1

Good

[betterunixthanunix]

I have wondered for a while what sort of warranty issues surround installing Linux. In the Microsoft mindset, software is considered part of the computer, and therefore replacing it would be analogous to replacing a hardware piece which would naturally void the warranty. Personally, I have always viewed installing Linux as being on the same level as installing any other software; saying it voids the warranty is, in my opinion, like saying that replacing a factory installed MS Office trial with some other office suite would void the warranty.

Also, this is evidence that Linux systems are gaining ground -- issues like this are "growing pains."

As usual...

[Speare]

A junior employee or contractor made an error that is against our policy.

Translated:
A local store manager is foolishly given broad discretion to run the local store and making ass-pulled risk estimates such as "this guy can't possibly escalate his complaint from porch-seat grumbling to global public-relations catastrophe."

Re:Not surprised...

[dfgchgfxrjtdhgh.jjhv]

sorry, but pc world dont target geeks, they target people that don't know any geeks at all & have more money than sense.

i'm amazed that a pc world customer had heard of linux, nevermind installed it.

Re:Good

[Anonymous Coward]

it would be analogous to replacing a hardware piece which would naturally void the warranty.

This is wrong. In the US, at least, it is illegal to deny warranty coverage for any hardware modification which is not directly linked to the malfunction. For example, if you replace your hard drive and it subsequently blows your ATA controller then they don't have to fix that, but it is illegal for them to refuse to fix your screen if it is also defective.

Replacing the software will void the warranty on any components which fail due to the replaced software. This is not likely to be anything, unless the warranty actually covers the software. It will not void the warranty for anything else.

I am only familiar with the US but I imagine that the law is similar in any Western country.

Re:Not a big deal

[compro01]

If I owned a store... I wouldn't worry about it at all.

3 words : word of mouth

Us Linux users are the ones that friends/relatives/etc. turn to when they need computer advise. If they piss us off, guess who we aren't recommended to those friends/relatives/etc.

Re:Only a misunderstanding if you get caught.

[VirusEqualsVeryYes]

And the question on everyone's mind is "Would this have happened had the plight not been so well discussed on the internet?"

Hardly. I think pretty much everyone here realizes that the reason for the change of heart was the publicity on the Internet. If you're an idealistic optimist, you might try to believe that the higher-ups heard about it through the Internet and righted the wrong simply from hearing about it, but the rest of us have enough experience with these Internet-spread stories of fuckups that it's the bad publicity that causes the higher-ups to take a correctional course of action.

This isn't about Linux. It never was. Linux just happened to serve as an excuse for denial of service. This regularly happens to non-techie customers who don't install alternate OSs. To consumers of all sorts of electronic products. They STILL get denied service. They get convinced by customer "service" that the product is not eligible for free or low-cost repair.

The thing is, American customer service is much like American insurance -- it's nothing but a financial black hole in the eyes of the bean counters. It's about saving a little money now. Every payment, every reimbursement, every repair denied is a few bucks saved. Who cares if the customer is unsatisfied? The corporations certainly don't ... until the customer's story makes it big on the intarwebs and thousands of people start talking about it. Oops, bad publicity causes loads of lost sales! So they better fix it so the plebians don't switch brands!

It's all about the numbers. Denying service to customers saves a little bit each time. If the rate of lost sales because of individual angry customers is less than the money saved from denial of service, it's a win. It's only in their interest -- or rather, the interest of their bottom line -- to service the customer if the angry customer breeds anger among many more customers, say via the Internet, and causes many lost sales that far exceed the costs of the simple customer care they should have provided in the first place.

This is capitalist shortsightedness at its worst. Bad word of mouth hurts more in the long run. Satisfaction leads to good word of mouth which leads to more sales. As a personal example, I always make a note to people about how phenomenal Nintendo customer service is. I tell them about a problem, they fix it immediately. I know for a fact that my advice has caused a few more sales of Wiis rather than (usually) PS2s. See, since Nintendo didn't penny-pinch with the cost of repairs for my system, they indirectly made more money through my satisfaction. This is foresight that I wish American companies had. I think we'd all be happier for it.

Re:Huh?

[jonbryce]

What's wrong is that it has absolutely nothing to do with PC World's ability or otherwise to fix broken laptops, or about tech matters in general.

If I had mod points at the moment, I would be giving out a few -1 offtopis here.

Re:Don't shop at PC World

[MrNemesis]

For the most part I'd agree with you - but IMHO the appalling treatment of customers starts the second you walk through the door.

PC World employees are, by and large, not the sharpest tools in the box, and their managers are typically worse. They flat out LIE to cusomters about the products they're pushing, and use FUD to cajole people into buying things. Their components sales are horrifically overpriced. Last time I bought a network cable there it was £12 (~$25) for a 3m Cat5. I've heard someone tell a customer that you need "at least" a 3GHz CPU (and 256MB of RAM, no less!) to "surf interweb pages", or how iPods don't work properly with windows, or any number of made-up-on-the-spot bullshit.

And like the parent says, they've caused alot of the smaller geek-run computer stores (which usually contained knowledgable people) to close down.