Poor customer service — print that, Epson

I don’t normally, or I should say, I never up until now wrote about personal, end user hassles I may have had with a high tech company.

Most of the time, I would consider it unfair to paint a company with a broad brush over an individual problem that may not be applicable to anything more than a customer support representative having a bad day.

I’m going to make an exception here because I think what happened concerns a bigger issue. Two issues actually.

I bought an Epson Stylus Photo R260,color printer, $149.

The printer did not work right out of the box. Called customer support and after going through a few tests the CSR [Customer Support Representative] said, yes, it’s a hardware problem.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. The CSR said I could either return it to the store, which for me would be a hassle or have Epson pick it up and they would send me a new one.

But, if Epson took it back they wanted me to know I might get a refurbished, as in used, model in return.

That’s issue one. That to me is a very poor policy. Paying for a new product then getting a used in return. My gosh, you know it doesn’t even sound legal.

The second and bigger issue.

When I complained the CSR said, it’s right there in your documentation.

This is a tactic that so many companies use. As if putting something in the documentation makes it sacrosanct. They wrote the documentation, for heaven’s sake. This isn’t the Ten Commandments we are talking about here.

Just because something is written down Epson, and others companies as well, think that it makes bad behavior okay. It doesn’t.

Be on your guard against this tactic and don’t accept it. If they made the policy they can change the policy.

That’s it. Do you think I’m whining or do I have a point? Let me know.