Q. I have been reading your column for years and enjoy your handy tips and stories. Keep up the good work. However, as a pretty handy person myself, I think you left out something in a reply to someone who wrote about a leaky faucet recently.
You wrote, “If you no longer have the installation instructions, a one-time house call from a plumber will get this fixed.” I have found that most manufacturers of consumer appliances and fixtures have instructions and parts lists posted on their Web sites. Manufacturers save printing and mailing costs and time spent answering phone calls from customers. Could it be, in this information technology age, that Mr. HP is not computer- or Internet-savvy?
A. Thanks for your letter. When I mention a product or service and the company has a Web site or e-mail address, I try to include them. I also try to find out if it has a toll-free phone number, and I usually include a mailing address as well. The reason I do the last two is because (now sit down, this may be a shock) not everyone who reads this column has a computer, or has access to one, or owns a powerful enough computer that can easily zip around the Internet downloading massive files with dancing animated images. It might also surprise my readers to know that around a third of the letters I get are either handwritten or typed.
I get a lot of reader mail, from 2,000 to 3,000 letters in 2004, the last year I kept accurate records. I used to respond to most of them personally but rarely have time now. I stopped counting letters because it was cutting into the time it took me to read them. I do not provide a personal e-mail address to readers because I can’t see the point of getting a few thousand additional e-mails I will not be able to answer or read.
I suppose I could use a new high-powered computer and a full-time assistant to teach me how to use it and help read and respond to the mail. Life would be sweet–for a year or two, until everything became obsolete again.
But here’s my point: If you needed the installation instructions for a 5-year-old faucet, which is simpler? To pull out the original instructions or to boot up the computer, search out a company Web site, poke around until you found something like installation instructions (which may or may not still be available online), and then download or print them out?
I save written instructions and advise others to do so. I’m not anti-technology. My computer is a tool, sometimes useful. But I have a very cool circular saw with a laser-cutting guide that did not come with a 300-page manual I can’t understand, nor was I forced to completely relearn how to use a circular saw to make it work.
As well, my experience with most online customer service (not to mention its crude cousin, automated voicemail) has led me to conclude that it is intentionally designed to cut company costs by preventing direct contact with customers. Companies that think this is a great approach are going to discover, with an already growing backlash, that they are obliterating the last remnants of customer loyalty.
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I appreciate your good intentions and feel your question expresses concern, not a personal jab. In truth, I probably am not and may never be truly computer-savvy. If anything, I’m still waiting for computers, and the companies that make them and push them like hula hoops ($2,000 hula-hoops), to be a bit more people-savvy.
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Mr. HandyPerson wants to hear of home repair matters that are troubling you. Please e-mail Mr.HandyPerson at [email protected].