In case you tuned into Uncle Andrew dot Net late yesterday morning Pacific Time, you may have seen a copy of a rather flamey letter I sent to Other World Computing, berating them for the lackluster customer service I had received surrounding the return of a nonfunctional product. Short version: one of their customer service reps wanted to charge me a 15% restocking fee for a product that was incompatible with the other components they had shipped on the same order. I felt that this was unreasonable and asked him to waive the fee. When he refused, I began a dispute with my credit card company and sent the message.

I have since taken down the post. A couple of hours after I sent the email, I received a personal reply from OWC owner Larry O’Connor, apologizing for the incident and assuring me that the treatment I had received was not their standard policy. He more than made up for the deficit by issuing a call tag for the product and refunding my initial shipping charges.

If there’s a lesson in here for the consumer, it is this: don’t necessarily take the word of an individual CS rep as gospel. If you have a problem, escalate it past the first person you contact. If the situation seems unreasonable to you, there’s a good chance that you are not receiving the level of of service that is the core policy of the company. You have most likely fallen prey to a single individual’s inexperience/ineptness/acute gas pain from the footlong meatball sub (s)he had for lunch. If you take the issue higher and things don’t improve, you can always contest the charge with your bank. But that’s your hole card: don’t lay it on the table right away.

Larry, you have fully renewed my faith in your company. Prior to this incident, I have had nothing but good experiences with Other World Computing, and I am sure I will continue to receive excellent service from here on out. I would recommend Other World Computing to anyone in need of computer parts and peripherals.