Happy New Year all! Playing with those Christmas gifts? Here’s the story of one of mine.
Any hobby that relies on technology will eventually bring you to a point where you need to contact Technical Support. I’m pretty savvy and can solve most technical things on my own. I frankly prefer to do that, as I learn better that way how to avoid the problem next time.
I had a situation recently though that made it necessary to seek help. I purchased a piece of equipment before Christmas through my favourite telescope shop. The item was made by SkyWatcher, a reputable, well-known and trusted brand. Sadly, the item did not work at all out of the box and despite my best efforts, I could not solve the problem. So I contacted technical support, first at the shop where I purchased it, then through SkyWatcher. Here’s what happened…
As with most technical support issues, you first file a ticket online, explaining the problem and what you have done to address it. I did this and withing a couple of days, I got an answer from the telescope shop. I began to work through the problem with the support team, being able to confirm that I had tried all of what was being recommended. When this did not solve the problem, they advised that the next step would be to contact the manufacturer, SkyWatcher. This is where things went from annoying to just bad.
The problem and the summary of all actions taken were provided to SkyWatcher’s technical support team. I guess they chose not to read the information, because they came back with a response that said the issue was one of three things: faulty equipment, mistakes in connections or user error. I do acknowledge that they included faulty equipment as a possible problem.
Over the course of the next two weeks, we went back and forth by email. I’ve learned that documentation is king in these types of complaints, so did not try to call them directly. Each time, it seems, a new person reviewed the file and either didn’t read everything or didn’t believe everything. I kept being asked to try something different, eventually having to buy one additional $20 cable just to confirm that the problem existed no matter how I connected the equipment.
Let me stop here and also acknowledge that in a past life, I have been on the other side of that technical support line, providing help to people having problems. It is totally reasonable to suggest other possible solutions and to confirm carefully that user error is not the issue. I understand that. I expect that. But to repeatedly ask the same questions or to not read through the full story when it is available is just plain annoying.
We went back and forth for 2 weeks, then ran out of options for testing. Still no acknowledgement from SkyWatcher that this product was likely defective. So I decided to contact the telescope shop and to simply say to them that this is your problem since the product arrived with the defect. What will YOU do about it? To my surprise, they agreed to provide a brand new replacement product and took on the task of sorting out the issue themselves with SkyWatcher.
I picked up the new item and it works flawlessly. Although I am grateful for the solution, I do wonder how the defective product made it into the system to begin with. I suspect quality control on all electronics, never mind hobby electronics, has suffered greatly since Covid. I also wonder if somewhere along the way, my new good product was switched out for something less. There does seem to be a tendency to open boxes meant for sale, if only to display the product to a prospective buyer. It’s also possible that my particular box was returned by someone else, who had broken it then sent it back and it was not checked before restocking. I have a suspicious mind, I’m afraid. But the suspicion is often warranted.
In any event, all’s well that ends well. And a big thank you to the retailer for finding a solution. I really appreciate businesses that put the customer first, sometimes at their own expense. It’s just too bad that it took two weeks and I had to drive 90 minutes away to pick up the solution. But I’m sure they will make up any possible financial loss from me over the next few years, lol.
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