Remember back when some individuals referred to good things as “da bomb?” They probably didn’t have the Executive Email Carpet Bomb in mind, since Consumerist didn’t yet exist, but they should have. Here’s to re-branding “da bomb” as shorthand for the EECB. Just look at what it did for c0crusader, a spurned Sony laptop customer who used da bomb to shake Sony down for $99.

c0crusader wrote this complaint letter to Sony:

Dear Sir/Madam:

I purchased a custom configured laptop from SonyStyle – the VGN-SR190. Before placing this order I called Sony technical support to inquire about the availability of an HDMI port on the SR190. I was told by the tech agent that the base model did not have an HDMI output but if I upgraded the graphics card to the ATI Radeon 3400 it would make an HDMI port available, as is the case when upgrading the SR290 to the same graphics card. I relied on this information when configuring my laptop and expended $99 on the ATI Radeon 3400 graphics card. Again, the only reason I made this upgrade was because of the information provided to me by tech support regarding the availability of an HDMI port with this upgrade.

You can guess what happened next. I received the laptop and found that even with the upgraded graphics card the computer still did not have an HDMI port. I called customer service to voice my dissatisfaction about being given false information by tech support and requested an adjustment. Owen R. from the Billing Department denied my request for a credit for the price of the graphics card. After escalating the issue to Beverly W., I was informed that because there was no record of me having placed a call to tech support prior to ordering, there was nothing that could be done. But why would I ask for a record when simply calling to inquire about a product. I assume the information a Sony tech provides about Sony products is accurate and thus verifiable without any extra records.

So I decided to make an after-the-fact record. I called tech support again to inquire about the availability of the HDMI port on the SR190 if you upgrade to the ATI Radeon 3400. No surprise, I was again reassured that the SR190 came with an HDMI port when upgraded to the ATI Radeon 3400, this time by John from Tech Support. I made sure to get an Event Number this time. I called the Billing Department to ask for the credit and again the request was denied. The agent, Daniel (ID# 4978), was very rude and refused to accept the new Event Number as proof. He claimed he had no “authority over technical support,” and could not do anything because Owen R. had already made a decision. He said that issuing a return label was all that Sony was willing to do.

Not content with the free return label to settle the matter, c0crusader dropped da bomb on 40 Sony executives and found immediate success:

Not a day later I starting receiving emails and phone calls from the executives. Suffice it to say they immediately refunded me the $99 and promised to investigate the tech training issue. Moral, ask for a record when calling tech support and when all else fails send an Executive Email Carpet Bomb — it really works!

Oh, EECB, how unhelpful corporate underlings wish we could quit you.

(Photo: adam reker)

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