SJS's Journal: Remote Saga Continued

Where we left off: I wanted a remote for my JVC TV, and I discovered that the JVC website sucked.

But that's not the end of the story.

I still wanted a remote. I googled for the TV's model number, and got a couple of hits that claimed to have the remote for my TV. I went with the less-reliant-on-Javascript site -- PartStore.com -- and by searching on the TV's model number, I found a remote that was "compatible".

Yay.

"Compatible" ought to be good enough. All I really need is a way to navigate the menu so I can change aspect ratios and suchlike without having to stand next to the TV. So I order one.

It arrives in just a couple of days. Far faster than I expected.

Yay again!

So I unpack the remote, verify it's what I ordered, and go to try it out. It's even a JVC remote.

"Compatible" obviously means something different to the folks at JVC. There's virtually no useful feature of my TV that matches up with this remote.

A quick email to the support address and I go to bed, annoyed and frustrated. I am not a happy customer.

I get back a response informing me that I should call the toll-free support number. This I do.

And this is where the story gets short... after a couple of minutes on hold, I am on the line with a real human being. A helpful human being. He determines that yes, I did get the wrong remote for my TV.... and takes care of it.

I'm feeling like a customer. It's amazing. I was expecting to be told I was SOL, that the Computer Does Not Make Mistakes, and so on and so forth, and to end the evening in a lousy mood and a worse temper.

It's almost a let-down. Problem taken care of. End of problem. Finis.

The new remote arrived in two days. It's exactly the remote I need. As a bonus, it also can control the JVC VHS deck. (The remote that came with the VHS deck died. The universal remote isn't. But this one works. It's a bonus.)

This kind of service needs to be encouraged. I'm now wondering what other parts I need. They'll be the first stop.

But I won't use their webpage to order. I'll call to make the order.

And I'll ask for Don.

(The one downside of this is the FedEx website. Javascript Is Required, or you have a ton of manually parsing some convoluted javascript and source. Someone should take a stick to someone's kneecaps and knuckles over at FedEx.)