Re: Free services-The worst idea ever
 

We are discussing repairs of the camera for something which is broken. We are also taking about customer service while trying to get that resolved. I am not sure why you keep changing the scenario to questions of basic usage.

Re: Sony Professional-The worst service ever
 

Great idea!

Re: Free services-The worst idea ever
 

That's probably because Mark has not thought this through :) He would find it normal when he calls the garage asking when his car will be serviced and if it would take another few days if he can rent a car for the time being that the receptionist would tell him "I can give you that information but that will be 100 dollar" because why not, you as a client are wasting his time and no-one works for free, right?

Re: Sony Professional-The worst service ever
 

That is not what I said. What I said is you pay for a service contract. And then you get better service when you ask a question, because there would be less demand on the system and an obligation of the recipient of your payment to be responsive.

Now, again, you are not making any rational arguments ("that is ridiculous"). If there were a charge per question, then there would be less frivolous questions, better service and that means less time by every person wasted on hold, waiting for call backs. If you do not value your time, the rationing service by waiting times might be ideal for you.

Do you charge for an extra DVD? You do? Ridiculous! Should be free.

Re: Sony Professional-The worst service ever
 

That would be the same as asking a technician to trow in some SD cards when they send your repaired camera back, no-one will argue that they will charge you for this. However, just asking the question if that would be possible is always free, that's called service and whoever charges for that is ripping you off.

Re: Free services-The worst idea ever
 

The point that you get better customer service if you pay for it applies to all services (tech support, repair). And making any services free leads to overuse and rationing (e.g., holding times or waiting times). I am just arguing for tiers of service contracts with different levels of service, with free being the worst.

But, if a payment was made for the repair service, then I agree that what was described is bad service that you paid for and they are holding your equipment ransom (so you cannot threaten to not pay!). It is a very bad situation.

Re: Sony Professional-The worst service ever
 

Mark, you are completely off topic. The thread is about repair. Not about asking how to use the equipment.

Re: Sony Professional-The worst service ever
 

A Video: “Answers to questions aren’t free” with music to the tune of “Jaws”

Script:

Customer: Parks the car in the parking lot then walks into the local hardware store. Walking up to the store he noticed a sign that says “Under New Management.” Upon entering the store he is greeted by a turnstile gate that stops him and the robot says: “You must wait until a salesman shows up” and then goes into sleep mode (it’s run like a computer). Okay, to be politically correct, it’s a Sales Person but for old time sake we’ll use the term salesman.

The customer looks the robot over but can’t find any way to communicate with it. There is no button for “Ask me a question” and the robot seems to just go into hibernation.

After a couple minutes the robot boots up and says: “We apologize for this inconvenience. We are experiencing a high volume of customers and a salesman will be with you shortly.”

Finally, just as the customer was about to give up waiting he [again, for old time sake, “or she”. To avoid politically correct arguments I won’t go into details on this one] a salesman shows up.

Salesman, with a board look about him and speaking as though he doesn’t care: “Can I help you valued customer?” [although he says “valued customer” the customer doesn’t think for a minute that he believes it]

Customer: Yes, do you have a part like …….

Salesman becoming more alert and interrupting: “Sorry, but that will take me time to figure that out. Our customer support service has a minimum $5 fee.”

Customer: “But, but … it’s a common ….”

Salesman quickly turns around and walks away.

The robot reboots and suddenly comes alive [as much as a robot can, anyway]: “Dear valued customer, for our Concierge First Class Gold Service with a wait time of only one minute please insert credit card for the $5 service fee; for second class bronze service and a wait time of only ten minutes the fee is $2, and for cattle class [Ooops, this is not a plane], for third class, there is no charge but you can come back in two days and try again. Dear valued customer, we are here to serve you. Please press the button if you would be willing to take our brief 5 minute customer satisfaction survey.”

Customer, obviously being very irritated and muttering something to himself, ignores the robot, turns around and walks out with plans to go to the other hardware store.

Robot could be heard repeating but voice gradually fades toward zero at the end: “Dear valued customer, we are here to serve you. Please press the button if you would be willing to take our brief 5 minute customer satisfaction survey.”

Note/comment from author:
It’s a good thing they don’t run hardware stores like that in my town!

Re: Sony Professional-The worst service ever
 

I love that. You just described my experience with Sony Broadcast Support.

Keith