Peter wrote in message news:cNwAb.447073$Tr4.1249112@attbi_s03...
Bartow W. Riggs wrote:

I think it is important to have a personal relationship, especially with
your favorite mechanic.

I hope I never own anything so unreliable that I end up developing a
personal relationship with my mechanic. I was getting dangerously close
once with a car but my current one is doing much better. Fortunately my
bikes have never approached that level.

Dear Peter,

Your point about why anyone would want to
get to know their mechanic well reminds me
of how my medical office clients often ask
me which companies offer the best computer
support.

I tell my clients whatever I've read in
customer satisfaction surveys, mention my
more lurid recent experiences, and then
raise the question that you imply:

What does it really mean when so many people
think that a company has such wonderful support?

A few years ago, a doctor ordered a Dell,
asked me to set it up, and watched as I ran
through the initial Windows setup, which
froze and never recovered.

The Seagate hard drive had died.

Dell tech support arranged for FedEx to
arrive the next morning with the right box
for returning the computer alone, without
its keyboard, manuals, or other stuff--no
original packing box was needed.

The box was a nice touch, but it suggested
that FedEx and Dell expected to ship a lot
of dead computers back to the factory from
my little Colorado backwater.

(I have nothing against Seagate, Dell, or
FedEx. And I'm a computer mechanic that my
unhappy offices get know better than they'd
like.)

It's a bit like the daughter who's been
missing all weekend and then shows up
Monday morning carrying a Gideon Bible.
Her religious interest is reassuring, but
her father has to wonder what hotel room
she swiped it from.

A well-run, efficient complaint and warranty
department requires lots of complaints and
broken parts to maintain its high standards.

(But think of the alternative.)

Carl Fogel