When you pay more, you get more.

I was presented an interesting situation today.  As most of our regular clients already know, we’re authorized Asus and Fujitsu dealers.  We had a new client come to us today looking for an Asus laptop.  He’d noticed how the new kid in town was selling Asus laptops for seemingly crazy low prices.  They really were low, lower than our cost.  Well that’s not right I thought, so I looked closer.

It turns out they bought up a bunch of End of Life product (in other words, discontinued) at a discount from our supplier and then dumped them on the market at a sizable discount over new.  Of course a great discussion ensued, started by an excellent question:  What’s the advantage of buying from you?

When you pay more, you get more.  Let me explain that here:

1) You get current products.  The product they are selling is discontinued.  It’s old stock.  The new models are already out and have 500GB drives in them as opposed to 320 GB in the old model.  When you purchase from us, you get more computer, less leftovers.

2) You get more knowledgeable staff.  When you work on razor thin margins, you can’t necessarily afford to hire the top guns in the computer field.  A prime case in point:  One of my clients bought a monitor from the vendor in question here.  The vendor assured her, swore up and down, that this touch screen monitor would work on her computer.  I took one look at it and knew it wouldn’t.  In fact a quick check on the manufacturer’s website said that it wouldn’t.  She had me contact the vendor on her behalf.  They demanded a 15% restocking fee, despite the fact that it was their error.

We repair your computers.  We know them inside and out.  We know what works and what doesn’t.  We help you make sense of your technology and we’ll make sure you get the right part, the first time.  If it’s our fault, we’ll take it back without restocking charge and make it right.

3) You get better service.  We have an outstanding staff of seasoned, qualified computer repair technicians ready to answer all your questions.  We have in shop, onsite and remote service available, plus telephone support.  We offer free delivery in Barrie on any product(s) that total over $100.  We also offer far better after sale support. 

Consider this.  This particular vendor has a 14 day return policy with a restocking fee if you’ve opened it.  Chances are better than average you’re going to open it before you figure out they sold you the wrong part.

Their warranty is stated as “manufacturer’s warranty only”.  If something happens to it, you’re on your own.  When you buy from us, the first year of any system or laptop purchase is dealt with in shop.  When you sell laptops near or below cost, you can’t afford to offer this kind of service.  Yes, you can buy their “Replacement Plan”, but with the added expense isn’t it better to just do it right and get more computer to begin with?

4) You get better products.  We only carry the best (that means no Acer or Emachines).  It doesn’t do any good to you sitting on our bench, so we’re not going to sell products most likely to get there quicker.

Lori here in Barrie summed it up in her email to us:

“unlike so many other businesses in Barrie, you are of the few who still offer that personal touch and go the extra mile to know and help your customers.”

When you pay more, you get more.  We have better service, more knowledgeable staff and only the best products.

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We can repair your Apple computer.

I’m very pleased to announce that our Apple specialist has just passed the latest Apple certification exams. Apple certification is important to ensure that your Apple receives the best and proper service.

As is the case with all our repairs, we will fix your Apple, or it’s FREE! Contact us today.

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Thanks to you we’re growing again Barrie!

Thank you very much Barrie! We have quickly become Barrie’s premiere laptop and computer repair and sales specialists of choice. Thanks to our valued clients we are doubling the size of our facilities (much of it dedicated to computer repair) and increasing our staff to meet the demand. We want to continue to provide you the level of quality and service you’ve come to expect of us. We couldn’t do it without you and we thank you for your patronage.

Estimated completion date of the renovations is Sept 30, 2010. We will remain open during the renovations. Stay tuned here for updates.

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New onsite tech!

I’m very pleased to announce the newest addition to our staff, Blair. Adding him to our staff will enable us to provide rapid response and continue to give you the level of service and experienced computer repair you’ve come to know us for. Blair is a great guy and very knowledgeable about computers. He’s also very eager to help people.

We’re very thankful to be as busy as we are, necessitating the need for an additional on site computer repair technician. Call us today to book your on site computer repair and thank you very much for your continued patronage. We really appreciate your business.

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If you like editing photos (or videos)..

When you buy a new computer from us, one of the products we offer is Adobe Photoshop Elements, Premiere Elements and ACDsee. This is an outstanding suite (and a $300 value) that’s sure to get your creative juices flowing.

Just tonight I also found a really neat site that allows you to create and edit digital images online. The site is Pixlr. If you love editing or creating digital images and you don’t have a copy of our Adobe Suite, you’ll love the advanced capabilities of the Pixlr online image editor.

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Trademark is officially registered!

I’m pleased to say that sitting here beside me is our trademark registration for “We fix it or it’s free”.  This is a big thing for us.  We’re so serious about our commitment to excellence that we trademarked it to prevent those that would dillute the import of it’s message.

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Experience makes the difference!

I ran across an ad the other day for a job placement at Staples for a “Computer repair technician”. What caught my interest was the qualifications required. “A+ Certification” and “7 months to less than 1 year experience”.

Why did that catch my interest?  What that ad said to me is “We have low standards.  It doesn’t matter if you have much real world computer repair experience as long as you can pass an almost meaningless written test that teaches you little, if any, real world troubleshooting skills”. Indeed, many places hire in that fashion. They can tout “A+ Certification” which sounds impressive, while their technicians may have little or no computer repair experience to back it up. 

That’s one of the big things that makes us stand out from our competitors. We place no meaning on pieces of paper. Sure, our techs are Microsoft, Comp TIA and / or Apple certified, but that’s not what makes us good at what we do. Why “IT (computer repair in this context) is what we do…best” is the fact that each one of our technicians has 10 to 20+ years of real world experience and a genuine passion for computer repair to back it up.

At Northern Protocol we are constantly striving to achieve higher standards.  Call today or come in and see us. Meet Neville, John and Matt. They’re all great people. Work with them one on one and let them provide you the final solution.

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A great client experience to share

Lately we’ve had many customers tell us how happy they are after we repair their computer.  Their friends come in on referrals, etc.  As we grow as a team, we polish our computer repair strategies and systems, striving to ensure that every job is done efficiently, effectively and to the client’s satisfaction.

Today one in particular stood out.  A client from six years ago came in to drop off her computer for repair.  What made my day is what she said.  In paraphrase, she said “I remember you.  I thought you looked familiar.  You came to repair our computer six years ago.  I remember you because you were excellent: you repaired it and you didn’t have to come back again, unlike most others”.  We had lost touch years ago, but was she ever happy to find me again.

It sure made my day and also reminded me what we’re all about.  We do our best to make sure you don’t have to keep bringing the computer back for repair over and over again for the same problem.  We pride ourselves in being good at what we do and our level of great service.  If it’s not right, our promise to you is that we’ll make it right at no charge to you.  As our (pending registered) trademark states, “we fix it or it’s free!”.  When you have a computer problem work with our friendly, qualified technicians one on one and let us give you the final solution.

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The importance of reliability

Tonight I was sent the link to an aging, yet excellent, video that demonstrates the progression of technology.  You can view it to the right of this post.  On the surface it presents fascinating facts and figures of how technology has progressed and how much technology (and in specific the computer) has become an every day household tool.  Between the lines a different message can be extracted from it as well.  It speaks, in essence, of how much we use and depend on the computer and thus, in abstract, how important it is for the computer to be reliable.

Much focus has been placed on cheap, disposable computers.  If it breaks, simply dispose of it and buy another one.  The development of unreliable computers has created a market for ”extended warranties”.  So successful has that campaign become that in Canada we currently dispose of over 118,000 computers a day.  Over 90% of those currently end up in landfills.  However, there are more problems associated with branding the computer as a cheap, disposable commodity, issues that hit closer to home.  These issues include:

1. data loss from hardware failures
2. down time
3. lost productivity
4. increased expense
5. plain grief and headache

At Northern Protocol, we don’t believe computers should be a burden.  They should be a useful, dependable tool to allow us to be more productive.  Our focus is on reliability and long term solutions.  Our goal is to keep you up and running, to prevent failures, data loss, loss of productivity, etc.  We endeavor, through repairs, sales of reliable product, resale of off lease product and recycling to;

• Help you use the computer as a tool to free you of particular chores and problems;
• Keep you productive and connected, preserve your data and save you headaches and money;
• Keep as much electronic waste out of the landfills as we can.

At Northern Protocol, we’re here to help you.  When you have a computer problem, come and see us.  Work with our friendly, qualified technicians one on one and let us give you the final solution.

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Why buy from an authorized dealer?

As many are now aware, we’re authorized dealers for several manufacturers, including Microsoft, Engenius, OCZ/PC Power & Cooling, Asus, Fujitsu, Seagate, Panda, etc. While some big box stores and online stores sell some of these products, they’re not factory authorized to do so. Although it may seem as no big deal, the difference is in the end user experience.

Perhaps the biggest example I ever saw was Tiger Direct selling Dell computers. They portrayed in their descriptions that the product was new (when in fact it was old, outdated stock purchased from third parties) with Dell support and warranty for the end user. This, of course, wasn’t the case. Dell sued them to get them to stop.

A great example, closer to home, is Fujitsu. They often offer an extra two year warranty incentive for customers that purchase their laptops. However, that deal is only available to the end user IF the vendor is an authorized Fujitsu dealer. There are only a couple of them in Central Ontario of which we’re one.

Asus is another interesting example. For some time big box stores attempted to sell Asus. The catch, what they didn’t tell you, is that they’re not authorized to touch them if anything goes wrong with them (doing so will void your warranty). They also don’t tell you that they squeeze Asus on price so Asus only gives one year warranty for any laptop they sell. When you buy a laptop from Northern Protocol, you get a free 2 year Asus warranty with 1st year accidental damage warranty.

There are other perks. If they need some minor repairs, we can fix them in house. Asus will send us the parts. Any issues where we need to send an Asus laptop away (even if it’s one we didn’t sell), we send them to Markham. The turnaround time is exceptionally quick. Asus takes good care of our customers.

Engenius is another example. There are several vendors out there that sell the Engenius brand, including some big, well known online Canadian vendors. However, they’re not factory authorized to sell them. They bring them in grey market from the United States (some buy from Canada, but the wholesaler that sells them to them brings them in gray market from the US). On the surface that doesn’t appear to be a problem….until you need warranty. Engenius Canada will NOT honor the warranty, you have to send them back to the US. We buy our units directly from Engenius Canada. If you have a warranty or technical support issue, you call Engenius in Markham and they’ll take care of you.

These are some of many reasons why you should buy from an authorized dealer. Of course there’s also familiarity with the product and our now infamous after sale service. We’re here to help you and as authorized dealers of many leading brands, we’ll help you find the product that’s just right for you and make sure you get the service after the sale as you need it.

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