Customer Service

We have dealt with it, sometimes good sometimes not so good. We have a lot of stuff in the house that is still under warranty, including the house itself. Last week the dial tone for our home line (not office or Mother-in Law lines) went dead. I called the phone company and they sent out a technician. We had tone (technical jargon there) to the house, so it must be an internal problem. Past experience with phone companies taught me not to let the guy in the house or it would cost me. So I called the home security folks, who sent out their technician. Turned out to be a short in the kitchen outlet. Now why that suddenly failed after four months, no one knows. He replaced the jack and it has worked ever since. The neat thing is that from initial call to fixed phone was less then 24 hours. Not bad.

We just got a letter from the builder saying that Spring maintenance should be started. It mentioned things like changing air filters, turning on the hose bibs and general cleanup items. They know some lawns still need to amended and otherwise taken care of. They are busy and will get to it no later then June. Nice to get a notice that they understand their responsibility.

I got a call from Dish Network last weekend. Seems they've been monitoring my system and have observed that I'm getting a weak signal. Hmm. I didn't know they did that. We've had a lot of very windy days here and I suspect it may have moved the dish a little. Anyway, they sent a guy out on Monday to realign the dish. I get a much better signal now according to the green bar on my setup window.

Most of the furniture from the Dump is nice, however some of our kitchen chairs came in with some paint rubbed off. Now, this may be one feature of the 'distressed' look, but my wife doesn't like it. Also, some of the glass shelves for the china cabinet appear to be etched and look dirty. The Service Department was cordial and asked us to bring them back for a replacement (or exchange or get a full refund, no hassel.)

I bought a new Home Theater System (HTS) from Crutchfield. I always thought them to be expensive, but Buy.com had them listed in the top three. A few dollars more for a store I've heard of and shipping comes from the East coast made it seem like the right choice. Well, one of the channels (VHS Tape) wasn't working properly. They will send out a new one and a packing slip to return the damaged goods. Also a nice apology from a real person. No issue.

I know that's the way it is supposed to work, but these days seldom does. What with our washer/dryer experience I thought we had used up all of our good 'karma' with the worlds Service Departments, but apparently not. So far, so good.