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Rebecca Wirfs-Brock’s Blog and Informal Essays wirfs-brock.com

Customer service that works!


It is passe to rag on poor customer service. So I won’t. Instead I’m going to praise Interlink Electronic’s customer support. A year ago I purchased a remote pointer from Interlink. I wanted to use it on my new tablet pc. Plug-and-play didn’t work so I went to their website to read the manual which directed me to press the laser button and direct the beam on the receiver’s starburst pattern for 5 seconds to re-program the device. When the green light glows steadily the receiver is programmed to the unique address of the RemotePoint Presenter Remote. After address is established, the LED will return to blinking green.

There was no starburst pattern on the receiver and no matter how long I shined the laser on it, nothing happened. So in a fit of inspiration I sent an email to their tech support. The next morning I received a reply that said that,“my device should require no reprogramming to get it to work.” But still it ended with a polite, “are you having problems with your remote?” I replied that “yes, I was still having problems and it didn’t work.” Within an hour I got a very clear email:

Try this procedure for re-training your receiver:

1. Disconnect the receiver from the USB port and wait 10 seconds.
2. Reconnect and once the LED starts to flash, position the remote no more than a foot away from the receiver.
3. Press and hold the right arrow on the remote for about 15 seconds. You should see the flashing LED on the receiver turn to solid green, then red and back to flashing green.
4. Your remote should be good to go.

And it was. I even sent another email asking for access to downloadable software that lets you reprogram the device and I got another quick reply. I could rag on Interlink’s out of date manual or plug-and-play equipment that wasn’t. But I won’t. Because their customer service (thanks Ody) was so responsive. Helpful customer service. Imagine that.