RE: filmscanners: A Good Epson Customer Service Story

["Laurie Solomon" <laurie@advancenet.net>]

>If you get good service in addition to an incredible bargain, it's
>certainly worth noting. I don't like to see a sense of entitlement, here,
>which causes a consumer to become righteous about "getting what we
>deserve." From my perspective, if you spend $300 for high-end quality, I'm
>not sure you deserve much more after that....

Some of us disagree.  No matter what you pay for a product or service $1 or
$1,000 the buyer is entitled to expect and indeed demand the level of
quality, performance, and service that the company has advertised  for that
product and/or service.  It is the company that sets the price on its
products and services not the buyer; and it is the company not the buyer who
advertises and promotes the product and/or service as furnishing a given
level of performance, durability, reliability, and quality as well as being
warranted by a guarantee of a certain level of service repair and warranty
services.  I have yet to see a company sell a $300 item saying in its
advertising that this is an inexpensive disposable item which should perform
at a specified level with a specified level of reliability and last a
specified time; but because it is an inexpensive disposable item, the buyer
should not expect or feel entitled to any of those things or to any level of
servicing.  If that was what was being promised in the promotional and
advertising materials for the items in question, then the buyer would not
and should not have any expectations or feelings of entitlement.

Using your argument, I am left to wonder at what price point one begins to
have a right to get righteous and take on a sense of entitlement.  From my
perspective, that right to get what one deserves is expressed and defined by
the company's claims, advertising and marketing materials, and promotional
statements; and by virtue of making such claims and statements, the company
has committed itself to providing said levels of performance, quality,
reliability, and servicing.  They have a contract with the buyer; and the
buyer is entitled to expect that they deserve the company's fulfilling its
contractual obligation. If this is not the case, then there is no difference
between a legitimate business deal and a scam.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of Charles Platt
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 11:38 PM
To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
Cc: cp@panix.com
Subject: RE: filmscanners: A Good Epson Customer Service Story


The fact is, Epson ink-jet printers are an incredible bargain, even
allowing for the high ink and paper prices. Ten years ago I would have
found it inconceivable that I could get photo-quality reproduction from a
printer costing under $300.

If you get good service in addition to an incredible bargain, it's
certainly worth noting. I don't like to see a sense of entitlement, here,
which causes a consumer to become righteous about "getting what we
deserve." From my perspective, if you spend $300 for high-end quality, I'm
not sure you deserve much more after that....

My original Epson Stylus Photo ended up with a couple of clogged jets
which I could not clear. Possibly my use of third-party ink was to blame;
or possibly I let the printer sit too long (6 months?) without being used.
It never occurred to me to complain to Epson; I just bought a new Stylus
Photo.