I recently bought a new desktop gaming computer manufactured by MSI (micro star international).  MSI is a well known Taiwan based manufacturer best known for their GPU’s (Graphic Processing Unit),

Their Geforce brand is considered one of the premium cards.  They also manufacturer motherboards and other peripherals and computing electronics.

Service Experience

Unfortunately my built in network port was malfunctioning and transfer speeds were limited to 100 mbps rather than the specified 1 gbps.

Given my technical expertise I was able to troubleshoot and narrow the issue to most likely a pin mis-alignment in the port.  The network controller is motherboard attached.

The fix is replace the $200 motherboard or add a $20 PCIe card to the open port on the board.  Given the PC is a week old and under one year warranty I submitted a support ticket.

The response from MSI was quick and clear.  I could ship the PC to Toronto for repair.

Corporate Rules Override Common Sense

Clearing my sensitive data and taking the risk of shipping damage (not to mention packaging requirements ) for a $20 part I could easily install myself did not make sense to me.

I suggested to the support rep I could save them on shipping costs and the need to replace a $200 motherboard if they simply sent me a PCIe card which I would install myself.

The response was straightforward .  MSI policy requires them  to do the warranty repairs in person.

Impact of Employee Empowerment Flexibility

As the support rep in this case had no decision making capability, they could not accept a cheaper expedient option which would have enhanced MSI’s reputation.

I understand the support reps response to my suggestion they try the cheaper faster route.  Unfortunately, their lack of ability to accommodate the cheaper and faster approach led me to request my ticket to be closed to unresolved.

I will proceed with the quick and easy solution at my own cost but this scenario does highlight for me a perfect example of where empowerment to not follow rules ridgidly could  have benefited the company’s reputation.