Sometimes 'software issues' can be solved with a hardware 'solution'

Posted by Emerald_Encrusted@reddit | talesfromtechsupport | View on Reddit | 24 comments

Alright so over 5 years ago I used to work tech sales for a large company and we sold all kinds of electronics, appliances, and technology what-have-you to customers. I wasn't part of our tech-support subdepartment but sometimes I would help out there as necessary.

One of my coworkers (let's call him Nazeem) in the sales department was an absolute rockstar, always was able to sell well and often upsold on the regular. He came from a pretty wealthy family too, but his family was more along the lines of "rich but technologically illiterate" stereotype. One day when I was manning the tech support counter because sales were slow, Nazeem comes in with his mother and his father and an attractive young lady that looks to be his sister. The conversation went something like this.

Nazeem: "Heyo, Emerald. Got the whole fam in here because we need help fixing my sister Saadia's iPhone 8 camera and nothing seems to work."

Me: "Sure, man, what's the problem with it?"

Nazeem: "It keeps taking low-quality pictures. We thought it was a hardware issue, so we took it to [insert competitor company] because they have the licensing to conduct hardware repairs on Apple products. Costed us $220 to have the camera replaced. But the camera still takes low quality pictures. Could it be a software issue?"

Me: "Unlikely, but I don't want to rule that out. Can you show me an example of the picture quality?"

Saadia: "Sure. Look." [Takes a picture of the ceiling of the company, shows me how the lights look all blurry.]

Me: "Yeah, that does look pretty bad. Does it do that with the front camera too?"

Saadia: "No, look." [Takes selfie, shows me. The image looks like a normal iPhone 8 selfie.]

Me: "Let me see it a moment." [She gives me the iPhone.]

Me: [Rubs the camera lens with the hem of my shirt] "Try it now."

Saadia: "It's FIXED! It was just DIRTY!"

Nazeem's mother: "We spent $220 dollars replacing the camera when we could have wiped it clean for FREE?!"

Nazeem: "Oh, for fuck's sake!"