Thank You Microbytes!

[gogoblender 3,070]

Hey guys!

 

Well, what could have turned out to be a nasty issue, was resolved by Microbytes (Downtown Montreal, Boul Rene Levesque) with absolute professionalism and complete dedication to customer service. As you guys know, I put together my comp with them about a week ago as posted here. As you could tell, I was happily enthused, as this isn't a purchase I make often, it was looking to cost a chunk of change, and it required some planning and forethought. Having chosen Microbytes as the supplier of the computer gave me a lot of advantages... excellent pricing, local area for servicing, warranty, and a reputation for customer service that has grown with them for years now.

 

It's important to take customer service reps to heart. In this day and age, hardware is so cheap that it's easy for almost anyone to cobble a shop together and sell anything they can find cheap to consumers, with no concern for the customer, while listening to the chink of change in their pockets while the client goes out through the door.

 

Leveraging reputation is a funny thing. It works for you, but it can also work againt you. It's an accountability that has to be faced up to daily, and in fact, with each customer.

 

The service we received at Microbytes was stellar from the moment we walked in . From Yannick, the sales agent, to the propriety of the store, the setup, demeanor...everything all looked and did work out to make the buying experience something that was enjoyable and in fact, lol...something that would even want to be repeated.

 

The computer was ordered, and a week later, the call came in...hurrah! We leapt, ran down to the store with cash and credit stowed, looking forward to the glimmer of lights and bell-like noises of a newer, faster, stronger computer being put to it's paces on the up and coming Sacred 2 which is debuting this September.

 

After arriving at the store, we saw the boxed up beast, and received two empty boxes for the en8800 card and am3 motherboard. The gentleman at the cash processed the purchase, and feeling noticably lighter, we then trudged the computer and two empty boxes (yes, friends are good for something ) all the way home, through a light drizzle of rain, excitedly, expectantly.

 

Of course, we had challenges with getting the OS to work, with the new motherboard... the startup disk that came with the am3 just didn't want to install properly, and the frustrations were beginning to mount. A few gallons of coke, and a big bag of Miss Vicky's chips later, we decided to throw in the towel and call Microbytes. I was not sure what to expect, as I'm always afraid of calling customer service for anything, fearing long lines, overworked employees, attitude, and perhaps in fear of my own lack of knowlege regarding this sort of expertise.

 

The employee who answered the phone was polite, courteous, and more importantly... competent. We were given a number of trouble shooting options, and we happily finished the conversation, and returned to the installation. After Schot going on line and determining which precise driver we needed ( no easy thing this ^^) and then individually installing each one while athletically popping out the cd everytime the comp had to boot..success!

 

We had a XP pro 64 installation with the motherboard and all it's drivers. The rest of the drivers went in easy after that...I was starting to see visions of Crysis on my game soon. And then...the strangest thing...when Schot went over the Bios... it then stood out... 2 gigs of ram.

2...gigs...of ram.

hmmm... now this is where we got confused...because during our our early flurry of calls to the store, where which we kept changing the assembly of what we wanted, we had upgraded our original purchase from 2 gigs to 4 gigs.

But the computer was telling us otherwise.

2 gigs of Ram

So why wasn't the comp showing us four then? We checked the invoice...yes, I had paid for 4 gigs...gut the comp was only showing 4. We knew that this could be an OS problem, but the installation was clean, with no problems showing up anywhere else. So we called back Microbytes, and reached another very pleasant employee, Mario, who then asked us to double check the bios, while he checked the invoice. He confirmed that we did indeed buy 4 gigs, and was as confused as we were as to why I was saying there was only 2 gigs.

 

And so...here's the dillema.

 

You see, for me to pick up the computer I had to sign a piece of paper that said I had properly received everything on the invoice. But the nature of store operations being what they were...I didn't get an empty box for the ram, nor did anyone offer to open up the computer and actually point out the ram to me. The box was all packaged up, and at this point...we have to give the benefit of the doubt to a store...especially one with such a great rep...right?

 

So...bascially I was a client who was calling back, to say I had received less, when I had signed a legal document saying I had actually received the order correctly. Technically, legally...Mario could have said...sorry, tough luck...suck it up mister.

But...he didn't. Not once during the conversation did he ever throw doubt towards what I was, and not ever once was I made to feel like I had to prove that I wasn't lying. He put me on hold for a few minutes, then came back saying... "Our apologies, Mister Fernando, with all of the discussions between you and us regarding the building of the computer, the error must have been made with the correct ram...if you come in right now with your invoice, I'll have the two ram here waiting for you" Well, I can't begin to say how happy I was. I was honestly thinking that Microbytes could have left me in the lurch...two gigs less ram. But the professionalism of Mario, added to his "feel" of what may/must have happened, turned this potentially ugly situation into an excellent win on both sides.

 

Customer gets what he paid for, Microbytes stands strong with it's stellar reputation intact and, in fact, made better by this test. Proof of infallibilities but also proof of something else...

 

That there are people in the world that care about and understand exactly what customer service is all about.

 

Thank you Mario, and thanks Microbytes.

 

 

gogo

 

p.s. I was so delighted by the service I received, I returned to the store that day, with a box of Tim Hortons donuts for Mario and his agents.

 

[stubbie 21]

A great story and a wonderful read gogo

These days a lot of retailers forget the importance of service.

I value service over price anytime.

 

Enjoy your new toy matey. I envy you

 

I hope you have sent a copy of your post to Mario............btw he doesn't have a brother called Luigi does he?

 

stubbs

[myles 2]

gez gogo, you must be typing at 150 WPM.

[fRACTAL 0]

Wow, I wish there was a store like that near me! Ye lucky fellow

Enjoy your beast.

Hmm, I wonder how my comp would compare to yours in 3Dmark, I have a worse graphics card, but better processor!

Be interesting to see which came out better

~Doom

[Timotheus 416]

OK I don't know how bad the service over there usually is, but this thing is pretty much normal here in Holland?

Well, aside from competent helpdesk workers that is anyway, grats on getting your baby running!

Edited June 22, 2008 by Timotheus

[Genenut 8]

I wish montreal wasnt such a long drive away. I would love to have a place that close by and that good, but even with how much closer I am than most FDM'ers its still a 3 hour drive away... Its why I usually end up buying a pre built system. Nowhere near by that offers good enough customer svc to want to build my own and the local place that builds them from the ground up does so at a greater cost (atleast 1/3 to 1/2 more) than buying a comperable dell or hp system.

[Schot 407]

Kudos to Microbytes in a big way. Getting that missing 2 gigs of ram could have been excruciatingly difficult had they thrown the book so to speak. With the exception of that nasty driver cd the process of buying, building and installing was a dream. I can't wait till it's my turn in a couple of weeks! Having a reliable pc shop with great prices makes computing life so nice. The peace of mind you get from buying locally goes a long way as well. It means you have the option of resolving problems face to face.

 

*checks watch*

Shouldn't you be going "anywhere" about now. I wants yer beast!

 

 

Gratz on your very awesome new system! For those curious it can run the Crysis demo with all settings at High with the exception of Anti-aliasing which is set to 4x instead of the max 8x. Near perfection and the game looks dang good!

[gogoblender 3,070]

I'm so happy that so many peeps appreciate great service as much as I do. It's not just about having a great product...I've come to understand it has a lot to do with who's selling it, and more importantly these days it seems...who's servicing it.

 

Hoping Microbytes and/or potential comp buyers here in Montreal have a chance to read this thread, and see how great service impacts so much on so many levels.

 

Here's to lots more great buying experiences like that one.

 

 

 

gogo

 

p.s. Gene, sorry to hear no stores like this close by...Geography means so much to me, unless you've got an expert close by who can easily help with the setups. Timo, I'm sure that Montreal's got great vendors all over, I'm hoping that peeps who do get great service do want to post or write about it, and spread the signal, and Myles, lol...not 150...yet

 

[th3undon3on3 0]

I have the same "none nearby" problems as a lot of other people. There's only one place nearby that sells computer parts or builds them for you, and their service isn't exactly great, not to mention their prices around 20% more expensive than online. When I went in to talk about my new system I was literally told "look on our website". Now, for a person who's not exactly clued up on computer parts anymore (industry moves too fast for me to keep track of), their website didn't make a word of sense to me. Others (like Scan and Overclockers) have been far more user friendly. You're lucky to have such a good store nearby.

[gogoblender 3,070]

That's an awful story, Undone. And I know exactly what you mean by being referred to another place. What I"ve noticed lately is that the word "support" has come to be used interchangeably with faqs, guides, and, webpages. It's like they think this is enough, when actually what we really want to do is connect with real peeps that can cut to the chase quickly, answer our specific problems, and make us feel good and excited about our purchase. I actually cringe when I have to call Bell and/or HydroQuebec, and they tell me to refer to the web page...

"That's what you're there for!"

 

Maybe consider calling the manager and tell him about your experience? He'd probably appreciate a customer taking the time to share how they felt about his service, and hopefully, he'd be able to do something about it.

 

 

gogo

[gogoblender 3,070]

Yay Microbyte... live ye on and rule!

 

Bumped for Max

 

Gluck with the new comp

 

 

gogo