Weird customer service policy at Octagon Computer

I’m sure everyone has had their share of computer store nightmares. I know I do. Here’s a couple of stories sent to me by a reader about his experience with Octagon Computer SuperStore.

Just like most PC retail stores situated in the malls, these storefronts are primary there to drive sales. The after-sales support, well that’s another thing altogether. Runel from Cagayan de Oro shares his story:

I bought a PC from them (Octagon Cagayan de Oro) last February and it runs good but then five months after the PC was slowly have problems. It came to the point where in the PC no longer boot. So I brought it to their store and and they run some test. After that they said that I have to used a power supply with bigger wattage and so I did bought one. The next day, the PC is back again which would not boot so again I brought to their store. This time they said they will test my Graphics Card and then they said it may be the cause of the problem. While I am not contended on what they say, I looked for ways to test it with my own. I bought another Graphics card to test it. But still the problem was never resolve. Finally they said, they will ship the motherboard to Manila to replace it as they say.

From the time of the problem till the time they said they will ship it to their main office was almost a month. And so, I let them brought the motherboard to their main office to replace it. They said they will call me if it will arrive. They haven’t gave me any service PC. One month and half later, the package arrived. When I got there they said that they have to send it back to Manila because the box is correct with the wrong Motherboard model. I was really pissed at that time. That was really a negligence of those whoever packed that box. Till Now they haven’t gave me back my motherboard. What a shame on them, a big company with a zero customer service attitude.

Here’s another story by a foreigner who bought a PC for his Filipina wife at Octagon Computer in Ozamis City.

I could understand that the PC retail industry in the Philippines is a cut-throat business and one way of streamlining their customer support is to centralize it. But, if all provincial branches have to send every defective parts to Manila to be serviced or repaired, then there is something wrong somewhere along the service chain. I will not be surprised if other larger PC chains are doing the same.

One technician from a PC store here in MOA once told me that a lot of distributors and suppliers have become stricter in implementing stock warranties that it becomes counter-productive and practically anti-customer service.

I would suggest to Runel that he send a letter to the management of Octagon asking for an explanation on how or why this kind of service policies are observed in their branches. The other advise, and this is generally what I usually do and tell others, is to charge it to experience and never come back.

What about you guys? Any similar experiences you wanna share?

[tags]octagon computer store, octagon superstore[/tags]