Happy Hamster Portland Computer Repair Talks About Assumptions
Hey Everybody in Portland Computer Repair Land,
When a customer walks in the shop, they are not a blank slate. Every customer comes in with a set of assumptions about what the experience will be like, they base it on fears and hopes, previous customer service experiences, previous visits to computer repair shop, and a host of other internal factors. We, the employees of the shop, similarly have a set of expectations about the repair experience, and customer service based on past customers and our own past experiences.
There are 3 major challenges to making the two sets of knowledge match up, and making everybody involved happy.
1) The two parties don’t trust each other
Last month a customer came in, we’ll call him Andrew, and a quick look at his computer showed that he had viruses. So, we took in his computer for a basic virus removal. Now, before we do any work, on any computer, we test the internal components to make sure there are no other latent issues with the system. In the case of Andrew, our testing indicated that, in addition to the viruses, he also had a failing hard drive. This leads to an unpleasant phone call I need to make about once a month in which we have to tell a customer to take on faith that there computer has a deeper issue needing repair, and that suddenly their estimate has doubled.
That call, most of the time, goes smoothly, with a trusting customer who says “okay, go ahead and do the additional work.” Once every 3 or 6 months, though, a customer will get irate, and insist that we caused the extradamage, and whats more, we had better fix it or they’re calling the police, BBB, my boss, etc. Quite simply, they do not trust us to be honest.
2) The two parties don’t understand each other
Lets take customer Betina who came in with a bad motherboard, and a few missing keys on her keyboard. While discussing her computer option, the technician and customer discuss the possibility of replacing the keyboard. The technician comes away from the situation understanding that the customer does not want the keyboard replaced, the customer thinks she has requested the keyboard be replaced.
These sorts of minor league misunderstandings and communications cause the vast majority of unsatisfactory customer experiences. Although usually easily and quickly fixed, the customer feels like the technician did not listen to them.
3) The two parties misjudge each other
We run a fairly boisterous shop, and we tell a lot of jokes and have a lot of fun while we work. Depending on the customer, I will sometimes engage in jokes and bantering with our customers. While most of the time I guess right, or let the customer lead the banter, once a month or so I do something dumb. This dumb thing usually involves making a joke to somebody who just wants to engage in a pure business transaction.
Next post, we’ll look at some of the things we do to counter these major assumptive issues.