My experience from hell this week:

I went in to Office Depot yesterday to get new business cards printed (I know, better printers out there, but they're convenient and cheap). After finding out that their system couldn't deal with the way the cards were formatted, I was prepared to go on my way. Then the girl working the counter handed my flash drive back to me. BROKEN. It had been bent and the USB connector was at a 45 degree angle to the drive. When I pointed out that she'd broken the drive, she claimed that it was impossible and must have been that way when she got it. I asked her to pull the file back up to make sure it worked, and sure enough, nothing. After she plugged it into several other computers with the same result, I managed to convince her that her manager needed to be involved. Her manager (the customer service manager, not the store manager) then plugged it into several more computers (Surprise! It still didn't work!) before calling in the manager of their tech department who took one look at it and decreed it broken and beyond her skills. The customer service manager then said she wasn't sure what she could do. I explained to her that she could replace the drive and arrange for the data to be recovered, or pay for me to take it elsewhere and have that done. She squirmed and acted uncomfortable, then finally said her store manager would have to approve it, and it was his day off. She refused to call him and arrange for the problem to be dealt with, and finally grudgingly took my information and said she would have him call me ASAP. I insisted on being given a receipt for the flash drive and the corporate phone number, which I promptly called upon leaving the store. Apparently that lit a fire under them. I got a call first thing this morning from the store manager, who apologized profusely for how I was treated and told me that the data had been recovered (my entire portfolio was on there!) and waiting for me...

My experience from hell this week:

I went in to Office Depot yesterday to get new business cards printed (I know, better printers out there, but they're convenient and cheap). After finding out that their system couldn't deal with the way the cards were formatted, I was prepared to go on my way. Then the girl working the counter handed my flash drive back to me. BROKEN. It had been bent and the USB connector was at a 45 degree angle to the drive. When I pointed out that she'd broken the drive, she claimed that it was impossible and must have been that way when she got it. I asked her to pull the file back up to make sure it worked, and sure enough, nothing. After she plugged it into several other computers with the same result, I managed to convince her that her manager needed to be involved. Her manager (the customer service manager, not the store manager) then plugged it into several more computers (Surprise! It still didn't work!) before calling in the manager of their tech department who took one look at it and decreed it broken and beyond her skills. The customer service manager then said she wasn't sure what she could do. I explained to her that she could replace the drive and arrange for the data to be recovered, or pay for me to take it elsewhere and have that done. She squirmed and acted uncomfortable, then finally said her store manager would have to approve it, and it was his day off. She refused to call him and arrange for the problem to be dealt with, and finally grudgingly took my information and said she would have him call me ASAP. I insisted on being given a receipt for the flash drive and the corporate phone number, which I promptly called upon leaving the store. Apparently that lit a fire under them. I got a call first thing this morning from the store manager, who apologized profusely for how I was treated and told me that the data had been recovered (my entire portfolio was on there!) and waiting for me on a new flash drive with twice the storage of the old one.

Ugh. I appreciate how quickly the manager dealt with it once he got involved, but I don't think I'll ever be going back there.