Defective hardware, deteriorating customer service

Gripe Line reader Joel wrote in with a complaint eerily similar to that of Gripe Line reader John, who was asked to pay service fees for a brand-new laptop that was shipped to him with defective hardware. Also faced with the prospect of having to pay more to get a working version of a brand-new product, Joel wondered whether this was part of a disturbing trend.

“I purchased two identical Iomega 1TB external USB hard drives,” he says. He put the first into service immediately and, two weeks later, installed the second. “As soon as I powered up the second drive,” he says, “it was clear something was wrong. It made clicking noises and was not recognized by the Windows Server system.”

[ Also on InfoWorld: Unexpected support costs can come from all directions, as one Gripe Line reader discovers in “Sony support: From free to fee in 15 minutes” |  Frustrated by tech support? Get answers in InfoWorld’s Gripe Line newsletter. ]

Seeing no other solution but a replacement drive, Joel resigned himself to lining up at customer service.

“I could find no phone number for Iomega technical support that did not require I pay $25,” he writes, so he went online to use the free chat support. “The representative quickly agreed the drive needed to be replaced,” says Joel. “He helpfully told me I could buy advance shipment for $25, expedited advance shipment for $40, or submit to standard response, where they would send a replacement in their own sweet time. He also told me the replacement for my new drive would be refurbished.”

One advantage to tech-support chat, at least for the support representative, is that it is challenging for angry consumers to convey their emotional reactions this way. But Joel managed to express his feelings about this policy: Joel bought a new drive. A new drive was what he wanted. He had paid to have that new drive shipped once. He wasn’t going to pay it again.

“The representative finally agreed that if I emailed him a copy of the sales receipt, Iomega would replace it with a new unit,” Joel says. The free shipping did not come so easily, though. Eventually, Joel relented and agreed to pay the shipping himself.

But that wasn’t the end of it. The representative told Joel to expect an email with RMA information. He was still waiting for that — several days later — when he wrote to the Gripe Line.

I contacted Iomega right away. I was still waiting for a response when Joel wrote again to say that he’d gotten impatient waiting around and had chatted with Iomega twice more after writing to me. The third conversation turned out to be the charm. He was given a phone number to call where the representative offered to treat his case as “special,” waive the fees, and ship a replacement drive.

“It is absurd how much effort I had to put into getting this basic service,” observes Joel. “This surely cost Iomega too much in support time — to say nothing of what it cost in reputation.”

Meanwhile, I heard back from an apologetic Iomega spokesperson. Since it was too late to help Joel resolve his issue, Chris Romoser, the company’s senior director of worldwide communications, instead issued this letter of apology to Joel:

We apologize that you experienced a problem with your Iomega 1TB eGo Desktop Hard Drive. While we certainly hope that our products never fail, we know it is possible to experience a hardware failure with any mechanical device.

Because of the competitive nature of the industry, it’s not always possible to provide free telephone support for consumer products.  Iomega is continually evaluating the competitive environment to ensure that all of our support policies and fees are in line with the competition.  In order for Iomega to keep product costs down for our customers, we provide several free support options including live 1-on-1 chat, online user forums, and our award-winning web self-service support.

Iomega’s return policy has been carefully designed to balance customers’ needs and business requirements. As the cost of shipping continues to rise, and as our competition has elected not to provide free return of defective products, we have made the business decision to move to an exchange method of product replacement.  Customers have a choice of using the free exchange option, or for those customers who need the replacement more quickly than the standard exchange process allows, we also provide the option to purchase an advance shipment in which we will ship the product to you immediately and provide prepaid shipping to return the product for free.

Our customer satisfaction leadership has reviewed your support case in detail. We were disappointed that you did not receive the responsiveness that we typically provide. The personnel involved in your case did not follow the proper procedures. We have followed up with them and reviewed your case to prevent it from happening again.

Again, we apologize for your unusual experience. At Iomega we pride ourselves in providing outstanding customer service to our customers. We greatly appreciate your feedback and the opportunity to continually improve.

In short, Romoser says it is a policy born of the competitive environment. Nice apology aside, I’m afraid this confirms Joel’s suspicion that being asked to pay shipping when requesting a replacement for a defective product is a trend rather than an anomaly, and it appears that he and John won’t be the only people to go through this experience.

Got gripes? Send them to christina_tynan-wood@infoworld.com.

This story, “Defective hardware, deteriorating customer service,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Christina Tynan-Wood’s Gripe Line blog at InfoWorld.com.