Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work behind the scenes of FireFold? Ever wondered about the colorful characters that make up FireFold’s customer base? We’d like to give you a glimpse of what it’s like to be a FireFold Customer Service Representative. We hope you enjoy these little anecdotes, written by our own CSRs for your amusement. Maybe you’ll learn something new, and maybe you’ll recognize a bit of your own personality inside these handpicked customer antics. You might recognize a bit too much of yourself, so much so that you might be wondering “are they talking about me?” If that’s the case, then we sincerely apologize. We didn’t really expect you would navigate your way through the maze of HDMI cables to find the FireFold blog. Feel proud of yourself for guiding future customers along the path to cable enlightenment.

I Can Take Off The Protective Caps?

For a FireFold CSR, it is inevitable that once you’re feeling pretty knowledgeable about the products, a customer will call in and shake you down from your technology pedestal. We have a wonderful team of technicians on hand here at FireFold for assisting customers with specific networking and audio/visual needs, but as customer service reps, one of our goals is to guide customers as much as possible and alleviate some of the traffic that commonly bombards the techs.  On one particular day, Mr. John Doe decided it was my turn to squirm.

When I first heard John’s voice, he sounded like a pretty level-headed guy. He politely informed me that he had ordered an HDMI cable from us and was very pleased with our prompt delivery. He thanked me, but I knew there had to be a reason for his call beyond singing FireFold praises. I braced myself for the dilemma Mr. Doe was about to send my way.

“Here’s my question. Are there differently sized connectors on HDMI cables?” John asked.

HDMI connections are standard. The same cable that works for a digital cable receiver works for a Blu-Ray player or a laptop computer. If the unit has an HDMI connector, then it will use one of our standard male to male HDMI cables. For simple setups that do not involve switches and splitters, the only real conundrum is how long the cable should be. “No,” I replied. “HDMI cables are all the same as far as connections go. They are pretty standard across the board.”

“Well…” I could tell John was considering his words carefully. “I’m asking because this six foot HDMI cable I ordered from you doesn’t fit into my TV.” Confident that as long as John’s TV had an HDMI outlet, our cable should fit perfectly, my first assumption was that our friendly customer was trying to insert an HDMI cable into some other connection, like DVI. It’s been known to happen.

I probed for more information. “You’re sure your TV has an HDMI connection? Not something else like DVI or VGA?”

“Oh yes,” John answered assuredly. “It’s definitely HDMI. “ I could envision his enthusiastic nod.

I debated consulting with one of our techs, but even though Mr. Doe briefly had me doubting myself, I was still confident that all HDMI connections are the same. “I’m not sure why it wouldn’t fit. All of our HDMI cables have the same connectors, and they’re the same ones you’d buy in your local store. It’s possible you might have gotten a defective cable. Perhaps you just received one the manufacturer constructed incorrectly. Would you like me to process a return request for you?”

“Well, let me describe the cable to you and maybe you can tell me if it’s defective. There’s a black connector on each end, and there’s this clear plastic thing on each one…wait.”

“Clear plastic?” I interjected, realization quickly dawning on me. “Does it look like a cap? Is there a shiny metal piece underneath it?”

“Yeah! Do you think that has anything to do with it?” By this time, I was quite certain the little plastic piece had a lot to do with it. John Doe had taken his HDMI cable out of the bag, and left the protective wrapping intact. He was trying to insert the cable with the protective caps still in place on the connectors.

“Yes, sir, that is the protective cap. It keeps the metal tip from getting bent or damaged in shipment.”

“So it’s okay for me to take these little plastic pieces off?”

“Yes,” I reassured him. “You have to take those off or the cables will not work.”

John took a little more nudging to actually go through with the complicated process of removing the plastic caps, but once I had convinced him they were not actually part of the HDMI cable, he found they fit quite nicely into his TV and digital cable box. He thanked me enthusiastically before hanging up to watch his new high definition connection. And I moved on to the next call with the satisfaction that another technical crisis had been resolved by the FireFold team.

Desperately Seeking Technical Assistance

Here at FireFold, we always try our very best to fully answer any questions that our customers bring to us in regards to our products, policies, etc. However, every now and then we get one of those unanswerable questions. I can remember very clearly a phone call I received from a customer-we’ll call him Bob- who had questions on our HDMI cables.

Bob had just gotten a new flat screen TV and was interested in purchasing an HDMI cable from us to run from his television to his cable box. After reassuring him that the cables he was looking at were the correct cables for his set up, he then asked me what length he would need. I let him know that we carry HDMI cables in various lengths ranging from 1ft to 200ft and that if he let me know what length he was looking for; I could give him a price on it and get the order placed for him. He then replied by telling me that his television was mounted above his fireplace and his cable box was across the room, and asked again how long of a cable he would need. At this point, I explained to him that I couldn’t tell over the phone how far apart the two devices were, and I recommended that he measure the distance before placing his order to assure that he ordered the correct length he would need. His less than polite response to that was “I called you to help me find out what cable I need. Just tell me which length so I can get my order placed.” After going around in circles a few times, again explaining that without being in his house, I couldn’t possibly know how long of a cable he would need, he gave up on my “poor technical assistance” and informed me that he would be placing the order himself.