If I have a bad customer experience I do not write about it. I learned this about 14 years ago when I was new to the writing business. At that time, I wrote about a product which many people were downloading, using and loving. However, I found that it was recording what you did and where you went online and sending your browsing information to large retail chains. I was thanked by many of you for the warning as you uninstalled it. Within two weeks I received an email from their corporate lawyer threatening a lawsuit. Now me, being a regular guy who has never used a lawyer except for closing on a home and had never been threatened by "the law" was concerned. I did not have a lawyer to represent me due to lack of funds. I did not respond and a week later their counsel sent me a free copy of their paid application and asked me to install it, reevaluate it and to immediately issue a retraction of my previous article. If not I would have to take on their huge team of corporate lawyers.
I had written about the free version of the app which was all the rage. So I installed the paid app and checked it thoroughly. Guess what? It was as pure as the driven snow, worked great and sent no information to the retailers. However, I did not trust the situation so I uninstalled that one, reinstalled the free application and tested again. It was still sending my browsing information to about 25-30 retailers.
I recorded all the information I could to prove my point. I made screen shots with dates of the test, a video of the install along with the testing procedure I made a list of all of the retail stores involved. I sent this via email to the attorney including the information it had gathered about me during the one day test. The email stated if they decided to sue me and make me issue a retraction I would. However, I would include all of this information in my final column before I went down.
Wait for it…I never heard another word back from them. Glad that is over!
But now on to my great customer service experience this week. My Google Nexus 7 (I wrote about ten months ago) started having an issue. I called Google’s toll-free customer service number. After poking the standard 2-3 buttons to get to the correct group I was informed there would be a 5-10 minute wait. Soon afterward Logan answered the phone, asked my name and a few other verification questions and I was on my way. By-the-way, he spoke with a clearly understandable voice (I later asked and found he was in Pennsylvania).
Within five minutes we were well on the way to resolving the issue. It is something that will need to be verified over a week or two. He sent me an email with three possible fixes to make sure my issue was resolved. He also told me that my one year guarantee would be up in 6 weeks. However, Google has a policy stating if you call in a problem before your guarantee period is up they will continue to help you until the issue is resolved, including replacing the device if needed.
Can you believe that kind of customer service and backing by this large a company? I can’t.
