New Computer Chapter 2

Several weeks ago, I detailed a miserable experience with a new Signature PC purchased from my local Microsoft store. I’m happy to say that everything has been resolved and then some. I certainly received the red carpet treatment on this issue, I’m happily running a replacement laptop and it’s performing properly. As I had hoped, the dual video with discrete NVidia graphics meets all my needs and the computer is certainly in the fast lane. The backlit keyboard saves my tired eyes from eyestrain daily.

The adventure getting to this point is certainly one I won’t forget. Here’s the abbreviated version of what transpired.

I posted the original saga of my experience on April 27th. On April 29th, I received a LinkedIn connect request stating:

We read your post regarding your experience with the Microsoft Store and I would like to speak with you about it if you have a moment.

from the COO, Microsoft Stores. I immediately accepted the invitation and provided my phone number. I quickly got a phone call and the result of the discussion was a nearly immediate hook-up with the Director, Signature Experience Labs for Microsoft. Had another great conversation, exchanged some emails, and very quickly was engaged with a remote session with a lead engineer on the Microsoft Signature lab team. This all happened on April 30th. They set up the same machine in their Redmond lab and let it soak overnight, but the end result was that they didn’t see the critical issues I had experienced and agreed with me that this was a hardware issue. On Friday, May 1, we agreed that they would overnight a replacement for Saturday delivery.

A little before 9am Saturday morning, FEDEX pulled up. I opened the box without looking at the labels. It was the wrong computer – a 15 incher from the same family. I sent the Director, Signature Experience Labs an email at 9:04M and a second email with a picture of the sticker on the box 9:12am ET and received a reply at 9:16am ET (that’s 6:16am in Redmond, on a Saturday). I’ll skip a couple of phone calls that morning, but the correct replacement computer was delivered to my home, by taxi, from the inventory at the local Microsoft Store, at 12:19pm.

Yep, almost unbelievable.

I’ve been using this computer ever since and I’m happy. Very happy.

With respect to the defective computer and the miss-shipped wrong computer, the Director of Signature Experience Labs explained he’d be on the East Coast in a couple of weeks and would love to meet me, take me to lunch, and retrieve that hardware. That happened yesterday. It was enjoyable, I learned about the QA process and the sampling process on production lines and a lot about the history of the Signature Experience.

While I never should have had the cascade of bad luck on this purchase, it was certainly resolved to my satisfaction, and then some. My thanks to the folks at Microsoft for the efforts they made. I’m a happy customer.