Good Support is Important

As developers we usually think that our code is the most important part of the product. We focus in getting the best possible piece of code, fast and bug free. Sadly there's no such a thing like "bug free" software (in fact there's no such a thing like "problem free product". When shit happens then is the turn of our support colleges to solve the problem.

A good support department will make the customer forget about the real problem and be happy for the great help he received. And that's really important if you want to keep your clients/customers happy and loyal to your product.

I'm lucky enough to work in a company where the support department is really friendly and our customers love it. Doesn't matter which kind of problem do they have (bug, feature request or simply a question about how to use our software for an specific task) our support department is always there to help and find some solution or workaround.

But let me talk about a especific issue I had some days ago with my wife's laptop.

In January I bought for her a Dell Studio 17 laptop. Nice computer, fast, big screen. She loved it. But just 2 weeks ago the screen started doing funny stuff. I did some checks and finally concluded that the problem was with the monitor, so I was decided to complain to Dell support about the shitty monitor that broke down in just 8 month.

I phoned, and as soon as I explained my problem, the support guy politely asked me to run some tests through the bios. After that he told me that they would send me home a tech guy within the next 5 working days. The next day I got a call from Dell to coordinate when it would be for me the best time for them to come, so we schedule it for Saturday (2 days later), between 9:00 and 13:00. I was sure I was going to waste the whole Saturday morning waiting for the guy.

Saturday 9:30 I got a phone call from the tech guy to confirm that I was at home. He arrived 30 minutes later with a brand new monitor. Unplugged the damaged one, connected the new one and ask me to check if everything was working properly. Everything was fine :) Even better 3 days later I got another call from Dell to check if everything was still working fine and if I was happy with the tech guy that came to do the fix.

So basically I got a damaged monitor replaced by a new one in less than 4 days. The tech guy came to my home and I didn't pay a cent. And then I realized that my next laptop is also going to be a Dell, why? Because shit happens, any piece of any machine of any manufacturer can break down. But Dell can fix it in just a few days and with a friendly and helpful group of people.

That's why I think that a good support department is important. Because they can change a potential angry customer into a happy and loyal one.

See you soon.