OK, i admit to being an Apple fan boy……..anything white or silver with the apple logo is going to get bought.
Recently, my expectations of their service hit an all time high……… my iPhone 4 developed a weird fault where I could hear the caller, but i sounded like a dalek to the caller!
Armed with the box the phone came in, i returned to a local Apple store and had an ‘appointment’ with one of their Genius staff at the Genius Bar (how cool is that!)
He checked the serial number, saw it was in warranty, and duly replaced the phone with a BRAND NEW UNIT…….no questions, nothing, just a new phone which he even activated so that it would work right away…….i hadn’t even bought the unit from Apple direct, but from a mobile phone provider (but we know how useless they are for repairs/returns)……..the Apple database (presumably through my iTunes account) knew who i was and how long the phone had been mine
Coupled with the excellent way iTunes backs up the phone, i plugged into my MacBook, ran the restore option and in under 30 mins, my life was restored to the shiny new iPhone 4 – complete with all texts etc
When we consider how much we rely on phones and how we are lost if they break, this got me thinking about our industry and how we serve our customers.
Say a PTZ dome breaks……..whats the routine to fix?
Some suppliers will want the unit back for repair – similar to the Currys or Dixons method of ‘we’ll fix it but YOU need to arrange to bring it back’
Some suppliers will send an advanced replacement to swap over, and then the option to send the faulty unit back for repair.
Some suppliers even know when there is a likely fault due, and they inform customers not only of the fault, but even sometimes when the product was bought, what invoice number and also their original PO number!!! (that’s showing off, but it is a practice by some!)
In a world where we need to not only minimise downtime, but also minimise restore time………saving the end user downtime that can leave them vulnerable
Facing facts, anything that has moving parts WILL break at some point – even a Ferrari will break and fail if not serviced, maintained and looked after……
So, take a look today at your CCTV Supplier – sure, they may be £’s or % cheaper than their competition, but take a look at their support service AFTER they have taken your money…….will you be looked after or left out in the cold when a problem occurs……….