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Work or Home Life: Customer is trying to sue Fry's for lost data

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      CommentAuthorAnakin
    • CommentTimeDec 9th 2013 edited
     permalink
    So a customer came in and had us build him a desktop, basic system build, no OS included. He comes back a couple of days later with the build because hey claims the motherboard is going bad. By now, he already had Windows installed, and added a secondary drive.  
     
    Keep in mind the primary (OS) drive is an SSD at roughly 150GB, while the secondary he put on himself is a 160GB SATA HDD.  
     
    It was checked back in for service, but before the service techs got a chance to look at it, a couple of guys back in the Components dept. (one of them being the salesmen who helped the customer) grabbed it and worked on it themselves. The good news is that the issue was resolved by re-installing the OS. The bad news is that they installed the OS on the secondary drive instead. Why is this a bad thing? Because the customer stated that he had a lot of important schoolwork on that drive. The service techs (me being one of them) then attempted to recover the lost data on the drive with no success. The customer is not happy, and is now trying to sue Fry's at this point, arguing that he had years worth of schoolwork on that drive, and that our mishap caused him to miss deadlines for his classes.  
     
    So here are my questions: If the customer takes Fry's to court, what are the chances that the judge would rule in his favor? The data was the only thing here at stake, and it would be hard to verify that any data was lost to begin with. Also, if said data was so important to the customer, why did he not simply keep the drive when bringing it back in? Or at the very least, why did he not make a back-up of his work before bringing the computer back in?  
     
    Last, the store managers are trying to get the service techs, me being one of them, to write and submit a statement on what work they have done for the attempted data recovery on the drive. Is this right of them to ask of us? And would they use this against us as far as trying to get rid of associates? It's not that I have any problems in the store, but Fry's is well-known for firing associates for almost anything, especially if it means to cut back on operating expenses. Maybe I'm just freaking out, but any insight would be greatly appreciated.
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  3.  permalink
    Did the guy sign all the check in paperwork? If so I remember a few clauses that states Fry's is in no way responsible for any data loss. I don't know how much it would stick in court but I doubt it would get that far anyway. I'm sure the worst case scenario for Fry's, even if he follows through with his threat (most don't) is they will settle for some amount of money. Whats really shitty is non-service techs were working on it, that is a big fucking nono. That gives the customer, if he knew, some more ammo I would think (non trained employees that should technically not even be in the service area according to Fry's policies, I would use that line if I was the guys lawyer). Bottomline, I too would be worried about my job.
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      CommentAuthorAnakin
    • CommentTimeDec 9th 2013
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    frysemployee: Whats really shitty is non-service techs were working on it, that is a big fucking nono. That gives the customer, if he knew, some more ammo I would think (non trained employees that should technically not even be in the service area according to Fry's policies, I would use that line if I was the guys lawyer). Bottomline, I too would be worried about my job.
     
     
    I, a service technician, should be worried about my job because 2 non-service techs touched the computer?
  5.  permalink
    I should have been more clear, if I was one of those non-techs then yes I would be worried about my job.
  6.  permalink
    How did the Sales associates "grab" it away from the Service technicians? Did someone in Service allow this? If not, I wouldn't be too worried about my job. The customer has a case if no SRO was created; there is a clause on the SRO that basically says Fry's is not responsible for lost data.
  7.  permalink
    this must be why store 28 is really pushing the rule of no sales associates in front checkout or the service area...they made all sales guys sign a document about not going back there
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      CommentAuthorAnakin
    • CommentTimeDec 10th 2013 edited
     permalink
    Not sure if one of us allowed for the tower to be taken away, but an SRO was indeed created. It's stupid, no one aside from service techs should touch our stuff if an SRO is involved, plain and simple. To be fair though, when the guys from components grabbed the tower, it was during the weekend, the most busiest time of any retail environment and they were only trying to help.  
     
    Because of the whole system build hype though, guys at components just start building towers themselves, just to make sure their sale goes through. They don't even make an SRO when they do it themselves. Some of them would even come to the service department and leave a cart full of the customer's parts and not even leave a receipt of the purchased items or contact sheet, let alone a note on what's going on.
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      CommentAuthorr3j3ct
    • CommentTimeDec 10th 2013
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    Some people just don't deserve to own a computer. Dumbass customer indeed.  
     
    I doubt your job will be at risk here. They are more likely to fire that salesman who jumped in and erased the data on his secondary drive.  
     
    BTW tell that dumbass customer to hand write his assignments from now on, store them in file cabinets, and hand physical copies to the teacher. I'm so sick of tech illiterate people relying on others for simple tasks that any monkey can learn. It's the 21st fuckin century, you shouldn't have an excuse to be tech illiterate. Learning computer basics (parts, data backup, maintenance) is not rocket science. FFS...
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      CommentAuthorAnakin
    • CommentTimeDec 10th 2013
     permalink
    r3j3ct: BTW tell that dumbass customer to hand write his assignments from now on, store them in file cabinets, and hand physical copies to the teacher. I'm so sick of tech illiterate people relying on others for simple tasks that any monkey can learn. It's the 21st fuckin century, you shouldn't have an excuse to be tech illiterate. Learning computer basics (parts, data backup, maintenance) is not rocket science. FFS...
     
     
    It's sad because this guy apparently saved up for this build over a 2 year period.
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      CommentAuthorObiWan
    • CommentTimeDec 10th 2013
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    The customer may have a small claims court case because, at the time of the data loss, the computer was in Fry's "care, custody and control". Add into that, two sales employees of Fry's were responsible for the data loss - i.e. the court can ask if they were really qualified to try and fix his computer.  
     
    As to the store manager asking you to write down what efforts were made to recover the customers data, that's a CYA move. If you weren't given the chance to try and recover the customers data, you can't be blamed for something you didn't get a chance to even try to do.  
     
    The customer also bears some responsibility. Did he tell anyone that there was data on the drive? I have to wonder how, in two days, he created "a lot of important schoolwork" in a mere two days. i.e. was that schoolwork on another computer, stored on line, or???  
     
    The facts appear to be in your favor - that is, you and the other service techs weren't directly responsible for the data loss. But then we're talking about Fry's, and Fry's will do whatever they feel like.
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      CommentAuthorAnakin
    • CommentTimeDec 10th 2013
     permalink
    ObiWan: If you weren't given the chance to try and recover the customers data, you can't be blamed for something you didn't get a chance to even try to do.
     
     
    So you're saying I shouldn't e-mail my manager the statement? If I shouldn't, where in CA law should I cite when I explain?  
     
    ObiWan: I have to wonder how, in two days, he created "a lot of important schoolwork" in a mere two days. i.e. was that schoolwork on another computer, stored on line, or???
     
     
    Keep in mind, it was an old SATA drive. At only 160GB, it's evidently an older drive, so the customer had it for a long time, and presumably saved a lot of important stuff on it over the period. The customer should've backed up his personal data in the first place if it was so important to him, or at the very least, took the drive out before bringing the desktop in. I find it very weird how Fry's is going through all of this legal work with this in mind, especially when our SRO paperwork has a clause on Fry's not being responsible for lost data.
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      CommentAuthorObiWan
    • CommentTimeDec 10th 2013
     permalink
    I don't think that there's anything in the California employment law that would address this one way or the other. You can legally refuse a request of your employer, and they can legally fire you as California is an "at will" employment state. Tell them the truth (even Sith Lords do that every so often). Based on everything you've written, you weren't directly responsible for the data loss. It was the fault of the CS associates.  
     
    Even if it was an older drive, the customer service dunder-muffins had no reason to install WinDoze on that drive. If the SSD drive was the primary drive, then they should have the OS there. It shows just how little they know about computers.  
     
    It would be smarter, and easier, if Fry's were to simply pay for a third party reliable vendor to do the data recovery. There are plenty of reliable places that the drive could be sent to that could do a decent job. I'm not a lawyer (but I work with our Legal department regularly), but it would be double-dumb if Fry's were to do the data recovery. Mostly because if something went wrong, it'd be a double whammy against Fry's.
  14.  permalink
    Welcome to the US, if anything goes wrong SUE. Yeah there is definitely no excuse to be tech illiterate if you are doing all your schoolwork on a computer especially seeing that it's an old harddrive and an SSD which means he has owned a pc for a long time and he even upgraded it with an SSD.
  15.  permalink
    Don't bother writing anything to your manager unless he asks for it.
  16.  permalink
    Frys used to have flyers for data recovery we handed out to customers, I don't remember the company though. I personally think it would cost more in time and effort to sue Frys than it would be worth, and I think you sign away any responsibility of Frys regarding data loss.
    Go ahead and submit a statement of fact to your managers and point out that others were negligent, not you. This will also prevent your coworkers from throwing you under the bus.

    Leave it in the lap of management to deal with from this point forward and don't worry, you did what you could. His secondary drive may have had a problem to begin with, and he should have backed up important data anyway, just for piece of mind.

    Just my 2 cents, I don't think you will get the boot for this one.
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      CommentAuthorskullywag
    • CommentTimeDec 14th 2013
     permalink
    r3j3ct: Some people just don't deserve to own a computer. Dumbass customer indeed.  
     
    I doubt your job will be at risk here. They are more likely to fire that salesman who jumped in and erased the data on his secondary drive.  
     
    BTW tell that dumbass customer to hand write his assignments from now on, store them in file cabinets, and hand physical copies to the teacher. I'm so sick of tech illiterate people relying on others for simple tasks that any monkey can learn. It's the 21st fuckin century, you shouldn't have an excuse to be tech illiterate. Learning computer basics (parts, data backup, maintenance) is not rocket science. FFS...
     
     
    Dude, what kind of a retard are you? A person brings a machine in for work, said machine is worked on by sales monkeys not authorized to do so, who in turn screw the machine royally with their ignorance and stupidity.......and you blame the CUSTOMER? What world do you live in? Or are YOU the monkey that was helping out, by screwing the machine? Evidently computer basics IS ROCKET SCIENCE if you're a Frys sales monkey who installs an OS over a storage drive.  
    Although I have to agree with you on one point...some people DON'T deserve a computer, so my guess is you're typing on Mom's.  
     
     
    Far as the lawsuit goes, it's more than likely just talk, unless the customer is filing a small claims case. I hope Frys has the decency to make this right in SOME way (Give him a coupon for free shelf return?).
    •  
      CommentAuthorr3j3ct
    • CommentTimeDec 15th 2013 edited
     permalink
    skullywag:
    r3j3ct: Some people just don't deserve to own a computer. Dumbass customer indeed.  
     
    I doubt your job will be at risk here. They are more likely to fire that salesman who jumped in and erased the data on his secondary drive.  
     
    BTW tell that dumbass customer to hand write his assignments from now on, store them in file cabinets, and hand physical copies to the teacher. I'm so sick of tech illiterate people relying on others for simple tasks that any monkey can learn. It's the 21st fuckin century, you shouldn't have an excuse to be tech illiterate. Learning computer basics (parts, data backup, maintenance) is not rocket science. FFS...
     
     
    Dude, what kind of a retard are you? A person brings a machine in for work, said machine is worked on by sales monkeys not authorized to do so, who in turn screw the machine royally with their ignorance and stupidity.......and you blame the CUSTOMER? What world do you live in? Or are YOU the monkey that was helping out, by screwing the machine? Evidently computer basics IS ROCKET SCIENCE if you're a Frys sales monkey who installs an OS over a storage drive.  
    Although I have to agree with you on one point...some people DON'T deserve a computer, so my guess is you're typing on Mom's.  
     
     
    Far as the lawsuit goes, it's more than likely just talk, unless the customer is filing a small claims case. I hope Frys has the decency to make this right in SOME way (Give him a coupon for free shelf return?).
     
     
    Did you not get the hint? If the customer had super important data he should've BACKED UP THE FUCKING DATA in the first place. Old hard drive + bunch of stuff on it + no backups = SUICIDE... knowing how prone HDDs are to failure, especially the older ones that weren't as reliable (plenty of Seagates like that). Also, how hard is it to build a computer? Exactly... it's not rocket science... put the damn pieces together by color coordination and WALA you have a fuckin computer. So easy a caveman can do it.  
     
    Yes... I sure as hell don't deserve a computer. I've been building, modding, and repairing systems on the side for 20+ years, with my current system being an i7 3960X overclocked to 5.1GHz with 32GB of Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 1866, 3x GTX 780s in SLI, 1500W Silverstone PSU, 1TB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, 2x 3TB WD Caviar Reds in RAID 1, and a Corsair 900D case... all custom watercooled built entirely by myself. I'll type on my mommy's computer every once in awhile... just for the thrill... ya know?
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      CommentAuthorAnakin
    • CommentTimeDec 15th 2013 edited
     permalink
    Earlier in the week, the customer was having a nice conversation with the store manager about the situation. Everything then began turning around on the customer when he admitted that the drive was originally from a shared computer, which explained the unsuccessful recovery attempts, which mainly consisted of porn and torrented movies.  
     
    To be fair to the salesmen who worked on the desktop, it is difficult to tell whether they were really the ones who installed Windows on the drive, if not the customer himself. It's situations like these why no one aside from service techs should be working on SROs. It didn't seem like the salesmen powered on the desktop for the customer when he picked it up, something that should ALWAYS be done, mainly to cover your ass.
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      CommentAuthorGuest 9240
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2013
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    Glad to hear everything worked out?
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      CommentAuthorAnakin
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2013
     permalink
    Not sure if he's still suing us or not. But nothing seems to be in his favor so far.
  22.  permalink
    Anakin: Not sure if he's still suing us or not. But nothing seems to be in his favor so far.
    All service agreements at Fry's specifically exclude data loss. Not even sure why he would try to sue. I'm sure the court will be happy to take his filing fees, though, before they laugh him out of the courtroom.
    •  
      CommentAuthorGuest 3837
    • CommentTimeApr 10th 2014
     permalink
    That guys ain't coming back, all he had was torrent downloaded files and programs, either way it no court would find in his favor if he illegal downloaded stuff from tpb.
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      CommentAuthorgobo760
    • CommentTimeApr 16th 2014
     permalink
    All customers initial a section at the bottom of the SRO that says Fry's is in no way responsible for any data loss, specifically because it's so easy to forget what you're doing and where you left off when you're constantly interrupted by phones and customers coming up to you and asking you random unrelated questions. Our department used to average about 1-2 accidentally deleted hard drivers per month (which was fairly low company-wide).  
     
    Part of the reason why a lot of sales guys try to fix the customers problems (at least at our store) was because the repairs are often paid for by the department who made the sale. There's actually a function in the POS where Service has the ability to bill other departments if that other departments sale turns into a disaster that Service has to clean up. Our DM used to use it all the time.
  25.  permalink
    Red carpet billing? Our Service DM encouraged it. I would have done it more if it didn't require paperwork.
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    The customer is always right? Not at Fry's (Forbes 1997 Article)
    Fry's Electronics Fry's terminated me for creating a online community for employees and customers
    Happy Employees = Happy Customers = More Money For Frys
    YELPing at Fry's in Southern California- Customer Wants Quote Ripped Up

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