The Good and the Bad

Read Time:4 Minute, 22 Second

by Candace Salima, Senior Contributor at US Daily Review

Bad customer service is a pet peeve of mine. Literally, it will turn me off a business and I will never return. My laptop had an incident over the weekend and I spent the last three days fighting with it trying to fix it. It started out as a Windows problem, then the computer instructed me to do CHKDSK, which I did, and it froze at 10% and never continued. So I thought I was fighting a Windows problem, but then we progressed to a damaged charging port and cord. Three things at once . . . what are the odds?

I’ve always tended to go to the Geek Squad at Best Buy to handle my computer issues. The service wasn’t awesome, but it wasn’t bad until they set up this new system of taking care of customers. On Monday night I took my laptop in to see what was wrong with it. I was helped relatively quickly, 15 minutes maybe, and confirmed what I knew to be wrong. They couldn’t fix it there, but had to ship it out and it would take a week or two. I didn’t want to do that so I took my laptop and went home.

Dan Young, the owner of PC Laptops, is my friend on Facebook so I reached out to him. PC Laptops is a local company and I knew they were good. He and I chatted and he had his District Manager contact me. I explained to Ryan what had happened and he scheduled an appointment with me for Tuesday. That’s when I realized I’d left my charger at Best Buy.

Tuesday morning I zipped over to Best Buy to pick up my charger. I was relieved to only see one person waiting in line for help, so I took my place in line. Sometimes that wait in line can be excruciatingly long, and it often made me remember the lines during my college days. Fifteen minutes went by without anyone speaking to either me or the young man waiting there, although no less than five employees saw us standing there and completely ignored us. After a few more minutes a man came over, the one who had helped me the night before, and asked which of us was first. The young man stood up and handed over his pick-up slip, the employee disappeared in the back. Another five minutes went by and the employee still hadn’t returned. Another one walked by and asked if we’d been helped. I said, “He has,” nodding toward the young man. That employee replied, “Oh” and disappeared…never to return. Another five minutes passed and the employee who had taken the pick-up slip returned with the young man’s equipment and started entering the exchange of equipment in the computer.

Apparently this was quite a complicated process. What shouldn’t have taken more than two to three minutes stretched into five minutes and more. Finally, I simply interrupted, which I hate to do, and asked if they still had my charger from the night before. It was right under the counter. The employee gave it to me and I was out the door thirty minutes after walking in to pick up my charger, determined to never return.

Witness the difference at PC Laptops. We pulled up to the store. While I was getting my laptop bag out of the back seat when I heard from behind me, “Welcome to PC Laptops. May I carry that bag for you? What is your name?” We were still outside the store. I was shocked. Pleased, but shocked. I told him my name and who I was there to see.

When we walked inside the store, the young man called out, “Ryan, Candace Salima is hear to see you.” Within seconds Ryan was talking to me, had my laptop out of the bag, diagnosis confirmed and we were sitting down getting the paperwork filled out. I was told they would have my laptop fixed by tomorrow night for pick up on Thursday morning. Alvin and I walked out of that store, PC Laptop customers for life.

So why did I dedicate this column to customer service? It is indicative of American society. Good customer service does seem to be a thing of the past, because the entitlement attitude of so many is out of control. That old adage of the “customer is always right” is long gone and you’re lucky if you get out of a business without getting frustrated or angry. However, when the customer service is exceptional we are reminded that we matter and the business understand we’re turning over hard earned money for their service or product. PC Laptops of Utah truly understands this concept is part of what is best about America. So thank you to PC Laptops for treating me like I mattered. It made all the difference in the world.


Candace E. Salima is an author, columnist, public speaker and political activist. A frequent radio guest on shows around the nation, she is valued for her viewpoint on a variety of subjects, particularly politics. Follow Candace on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. Learn more about her on www.candacesalima.com.

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