damhna

Please take this as constuctive not critical.

I ahve no evidence of how you handle your other customers but ....
I gotta say there is no evidence of that in the above.

You say she's a friend ?
No Difference , that relationship changed when she paid you money in return for goods.

Lets take a step back here and think.

You've got someone who is pissed with you bigtime and you are having tantrums and slanging matches with each other.

Not good business.

Look at it from her point of view.

Everyone seems to agree that she has no idea what she is doing (i dont see evidence but what the hey..) ,
but get this........
shes not a technician ,
she doesnt NEED to know what she's doing.

She wanted a box to do X,Y & Z. She told you she wanted to do X,Y,Z , you said "here's a box" that will do that , she hands over the cash.

Now things are going left on her , all her fault ...fine fine... it is... we know that..... but SHE Doesnt) , what she is thinking is that she's been sold a dud by an incompetent.

From HER point of view. You seem to have a solid enough technical grounding to me (grammer does need some work though). But from her side you are coming off surly , incompetant and greedy. Are we surprised she is talking to some other technician ?

There is a huge chasm between you two now in terms of her perception of the kind of person you are and how you really are.

You can wave your A++/MCSE/GSEC/Whatever at her .
You can tell her that noone else has a problem.
You can call her dumb , but in the end of the day this customers experience is a negative one. She feels she has been sold a dud by an incompetent who is trying to get more money.

I dont care if she paid 500 or 5000 for the box. There is no point in telling her about the great deal she got.

Why ?
Because she wanted a box to do X,Y & Z. She told you she wanted to do X,Y,Z , you said heres a box that will do that , she hands over the price you set. (dont bitch about tax or costs , you said $500 and that's what you got)


So the way forward.

Forget the snipping and sarcastic emails. Its accomplishing nothing but generating more bad feelings.

Arrange to call over.

Install and test her new stick of memory which you are providing FREE. (You have 80 customers ? with custom built boxes ? I know you have at least 5 gig lying on a desk somewhere.)


Run a few clean up utilities , tidy the box , defrag , scan and clean that bitch and get it up and running squeaky and new.

Sit her down and explain a few things.

This is the important part. Education is needed here so that the gulf between you two can be lessened. You need to change her perception about the level of service she has recieved.

You have that system up and running as best it can be and that she can now do her photoshoping.

Advise her on the perils of too many apps , downloads , whatever.

Inform her that for 500 bucks she gets a Box , if she wants a support contract and expect you to call out or advice on upgrades , or whatever then THAT is a paid service.

(If she does go for that make sure you get there on time ? Its about service and giving people what they pay for non ? )

She wanted a box to do X Y Z for $500. She now has one. Whatever happens next is up to her

Tell her you are sorry about how things all went down and thats why she is getting the goodwill gesture of a free upgrade.

Go home feeling good and knowing you will have a customer who might well have more respect for you & maybe recommend you to others. Look forward to some new decking and generally feel good because you have a Happy customer. .


Everyone is having a good 'ol "hah ...stupid bitch doesnt know crap " little laugh here and thats just fine ,
Damn stupid bitch probably couldnt ever find this anyway
Right
Right guys ?
Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!

but if you are serious about your busineess and are looking for opinions you might consider what I am saying.

Im not being critical , Im trying to help.

80 satisfied customers means that you ARE good at what you do
It means you are technically proficent and have good customer handling skills and no small amount of business Saavy.

The only thing I'm suggesting that needs a bit of attention is the lack of skill in dealing with unhappy customres no matter how dumb they are.