A client wanted me to reformat a laptop, but could not locate the recovery CDs for it. It’s a Fujitsu Lifebook S6231 that is a snappy small and light notebook PC. I have a Lifebook P2110 that’s my coffee shop laptop. I’ve been pleased with it and my client has been pleased with her Fujitsu. Calling Fujitsu’s customer service for her was my first interaction with them. I was pleased with how quickly I was speaking with a real person and even more pleased that the first person I spoke with was able to provide the service I needed. Super-impressed is what I was when the rep told me we’d have the recovery CDs in 24-48 hours… for FREE. I was pretty sure we’d be charged for them, considering a larger competitor charges to replace lost media.

No charge for the media? No shipping charge? Real person within a minute? Real help from that same person? EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE!

UPDATE January 17th, 2007:
In addition to the great customer service mentioned above, I have to tell of the wonderful lack of preinstalled crapware on the Fujitsu laptop after the restoration was run. I just booted a new PC from a major brand and removed no less than 19 (NINETEEN!) individual titles using Windows “Add/Remove Programs” control panel applet. NINETEEN!!! Ridiculous.

I just used CrossLoop today for the first time. A well-timed call from a client allowed me to test it in situ. Having used a variety of remote PC management applications, I was amazingly pleased with how simple it was to guide him through the simple setup and session initiation. Upon completing the session initialization, I was able to remotely manage Ronnie’s PC much like any other remote management application I’ve used. Of course, there is some latency between actions and viewing the results, but that’s pretty normal. The big deal with CrossLoop is twofold: (1) It’s free. (2) It’s simple. My experience today showed me it’s a wonderful tool for helping a client from off-site. While nothing is as good as being on location to help a client, this (coupled with a phone call during the session) is a great next-best-thing for assessing/addressing a minor issue. And it can save both time and money for my client.

If you need help, contact your technical resource and suggest using CrossLoop. If you’re the tech, it’s a super-simple way to see and manage the PC in need.