An interesting thing happened today, and I guess I could make a blog of it.
I was sitting here doing some work and all of a sudden it sounded like a fax was going to come in on that new used beast I bought, then there was this long beeeeeeep and that was it. I looked over... no fax. Hmmm...
Then I saw the display was blinking on the monitor of my recycled Brother MyMio Fax/Printer/Scanner/Colour Copier beast with some sentences and a number. After I figured out what it said (it can be extremely difficult to read blinking, scrolling katakana), "call call center", I did and guess what? Apparently "Error 41" means that the printer head died and the machine must be repaired.
The tech guy asked me some standard questions (is it attached to a computer, does it have a cordless handset, what is the serial number on back, etc.). He also asked me if I bought the long term warranty on it. I said no and told him truthfully that I just purchased it a few weeks ago from a recycle shop. When he told me that the printer head was broken, I ben thinking that I would have to either take it back to the recycle shop (they gave me a month return-warranty on it), or pay for repairs...
And then... then... the guy said to me that I have the choice of either having it repaired FOR FREE, or that they would send me the next generation FOR FREE!
Holy smokes! I did not expect that, especially since I was not the original owner, nor did I purchase any X-years special guarantee that they usually offer as an "add on" to electronic products (one year included, three years for XXX extra, five years for YYY extra, etc.)
In addition to that he ALSO told me they will send new ink cartridges (four colours) FOR FREE as well!
I had to ask him to repeat it a few times in different ways because he was using "keigo", or polite Japanese which can become confusing as there are some different words and verbs and expressions that are not used in ordinary Japanese. But I finally realized in my daftness that they were actually offering to replace this machine with the next generation... for free!
Wow! Imagine that! I bought this used amazing beast for about $80 (the latest generations are about $400), it dies, and I get a NEW one (not latest generation I don't think, but still new). For free!
It was shipped yesterday, arrived today at 11am, and all I need to do is package this old one up in the box that the other one comes in, and send it back FOR FREE. Talk about the Universe being nice to me! I love you Universe!!
Wow! Talk about something cool happening today!
In Japanese we have a phrase that looks like this: 不幸中の幸い。
It is pronounced FU KOU CHUU NO SAIWAI ("foo co chew no sigh why" if I type it out phonetically for those of you who do not know how Japanese vowels are pronounced) and means "from misfortune comes fortune".
And that is exactly what this was!
Now THAT'S what I call BLOW MY SOCKS OFF CUSTOMER SERVICE, Brother!
I love you!
Cam
P.S. 13:51.... It took about 2.5 hours in total to get it all unpacked set up, installed test printed (wow! Good ultra fine quality photo printing!!), and the old stuff packed up and the courier called. Surprisingly the old software uninstalled and the new stuff installed with absolutely no glitches whatsoever. Even the network printers automatically found it! It's back to business as usual.
That is freakin' awesome! Can I fax you something?
ReplyDeleteHave I told you latley I love you?
Please DO fax me something!!! I'd love to test it out.
ReplyDeleteHoney, I don't have a fax here unfortuantley... I would have to wait until I go to work in oh, 8 hours. But send me your # off line of course and I will fax you something real special later. :)
ReplyDeletethat is some great customer service!! here fat chance
ReplyDeleteWow! That would never, ever, happen here. The Universe is definitely sending good things your way.
ReplyDeleteoh my gawd!
ReplyDeletedrool
I had the same thing happen with my UPS
i will always buy a Triplite from now on
is that a dead bird on your board?
ReplyDeleteQUACK!!!
cam, your background reminds me of all of us
ReplyDeletea bunch of globalized luving flowers sharing the same tree
now
did my previous triplite comment load??
my browser keeps crashing
It did, indeed, Carrie. Though I have no idea what a "triplite" is... It sounds like a third nipple or something...
ReplyDeleteMorning! Getting ready to test here in a minute.
ReplyDeleteSweet!
ReplyDeleteI faxed!
ReplyDeleteNothing arrived....
ReplyDeleteI'm sitting here looking at the fax... no sound, nothing.
ReplyDeleteyeah maybe it is something I am doing or not doing. I tried dialing 0 and tried dialing 1. Maybe just does not work from here. Sorry hon! Well, gotta go and get to work...you know they pay me to do that. Look at the computer reall close and you will see what I sent you.
ReplyDelete*Muah* love you!
That is amazing service!
ReplyDeleteMore companies should do it!
It sure makes me seriously want to look again at Brother then next time I need a peripheral, that's for sure!
ReplyDeletesigh.....I had such a great fax to send to you too. I tried everything other than stuffing myself in the fax to come visit. Oh well. I love you!
ReplyDeletePS>We(I) need explination of all the crap on your wall.
ReplyDeleteMy my. Look what you manifested! Good Job!
ReplyDeletegreat whoo hoo, if only the rest of the world ran this way.
ReplyDeleteHoney this is what Service should be!!!, As someone who is in the hospitality business making sure the guests/customers needs is a given, its sad today that not all businesses are like this. I actually had situation like this with logitech where they replaced my very expensive mouse with no fuss or muss..all of this over the phone no need to send the mouse to them.
ReplyDeleteThis is fictitious....WORK???...YOU????....yeah....right!!!
ReplyDeleteMac has replaced my son's iPod headphones at least three times... no questions asked.
ReplyDeleteAnd i'm pretty sure, as they must be as well, that it is my son who is perhaps too rough on his equipment. Nonetheless, they continue to replace them...good service, yes?
JI - Psssst..... most homes in Japan have faxes. Just feeding you with more information so you can try to continue to disbelieve that I work. Well, at least the fax works again.
ReplyDeleteImpressive, Jen!
Yes folks, I was surprised they did it all for FREE! Only clowns do stuff for free!
Michelle - What is it that catches your attention? (and you know, I could have taken a boring photo of just the fax beast, but I was hoping someone might ask a question or two about that wall...)
Why??? I would think the japanese would find this a waste of paper products, why not just e-mail the info to said person and then let them print it out with a regular printer? I can understand if they are all working from home but if its just to have another gadget???? No wonder you've run out of butter!!! =)
ReplyDeleteFaxes have existed waaaay before email ever did over here in Japan. We've had faxes in home for 20 years now. The internet hasn't existed that long for the general public!
ReplyDeleteSee maybe if they would have upgraded to something more efficient they wouldnt be in the middle of a butter crisis!
ReplyDeleteThen they upgraded to the cell phones which are far superior than the rest of the world. We have had real email (usable) in our cell phones for for forever! And this is also why there was no need to have personal computers because you have to be there to get the message. With real email in your keitai, you can be connected wherever you go, whenever you want.
ReplyDeleteUPDATE: I just talked to my friend Glenn who is Japanese and asked what the deal was on this because I figured there was more to it and he explained a few other things on why the Japanese have the faxes and the different types and how its cheaper then using the computer and printer
ReplyDeleteI already got the lowdown, now they need to work on the butter shortage =)
ReplyDeleteIt might be a bit tougher now with a portion of China being wiped out...
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love gadgets (get your mind out of the gutter, young lady!)
ReplyDeleteYour butter came from China??? I was thinking the other day, how often you hear about the planet being a living thing and like most living things it will do it best to protect itself, You wonder was this the planet way of telling China, "stop poisoning me". A few months ago I saw a show on Discovery channel about some industrial city in china that was so polluted that the children couldnt play outside and everyone wore masks, it was nightmarish
ReplyDeleteI guess you missed the key point in that butter blog.... That was the entire point. The butter industry, moved their milk purchases from Japan to China and India (to cut costs) and now that market has gotten too expensive, and as the economy improves, the masses are all eating cheese, butter, milk products, making the availability for Japan scarce, and costly. Thus... there is no butter as butter is the last thing on the "milk lifecycle" as I learned a few weeks ago when I wrote that blog. And now we pay the price.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same for frozen food and vegetables... 60% of all of our food here now comes from China. It's scary... And with the latest food poisonings in the frozen gyoza dumplings, we have ALL cut back in a major way our purchase of food from China. It is deeply hurting the entire industry as well as our pocketbooks.
Its Margarine for you toots , I can see you now wearing Imperial crown drinking a tall ice cold glass of meatwater =), What a bloody mess China is no wonder mother nature had it with them!
ReplyDeleteThe butter spaces have "We're very sorry but..." signs in them everywhere, and the margarine that is flowing out of the aisles all now says, "butter flavour", "with butter", "buttery taste" to suck people into buying it.
ReplyDeleteI think Jaime actually accidentally got sucked in a while back...
I think were going to have to start sending you those Butter care packages soon, I need to find out from Fed Ex what they have for sending perishables overnight, that would be the safest way to get that to you!!!!
ReplyDelete