In the News: Printers and Accountability
By Stan Cox on Jan 31, 2012
I am sitting in my office, waiting for a call from a service manager about our broken printer. Yes, that printer which broke down back on January 22nd. I called on the following Tuesday morning to schedule a service call, and have been given the runaround since.
It is actually a humorous story. We originally bought the machine from a local company called Denitech rather than online. The reason was the salesman’s desire to “do me a favor” in the hope that if we wanted more expensive equipment in the future, we would contact him. We chose this particular printer because it had a 1 year warranty (rather than 90 days), and because Xerox equipment we used previously proved to be dependable.
Well, when I initially called I was told that we would be billed, as the warranty was only 90 days. When I found the warranty, and proved it was for a year, I was told by the local company that I had to go through Xerox itself. When I called Xerox they gave me a local number for the company that does their warranty work. So, I dialed the number, and guess who answered? Yes, you guessed it, Denitech!
When I called the Denitech service manager this morning he said that as of now it is still a billable call, because they do not do work if there is no maintenance agreement. (Not sure why we would pay extra for such an agreement when the printer is under warranty).
Anyway, long story short you have Denitech arguing with Xerox about who fouled up, whose responsibility it is to fix the printer, and who is going to get charged for the work. Meanwhile I have been waiting for 8 work days, and have never had a single call returned. Each time I have had to call the company to complain regarding our treatment.
It reminded me of the principle of accountability, one which is spelled out with great clarity in scripture. Have you ever come across one caught in sin, whose explanation for said sin placed blame everywhere but upon himself? This is what I am talking about.
Fortunately the Corinthians were not of that ilk. While they were guilty of great and multitudinous sins, at least they had the heart to respond penitently to Paul’s admonition. Consider his words of praise to them when he heard that they had taken responsibility for their actions.
“Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (2 Corinthians 7:9-11).Would that we all would have such a responsible nature. In recognizing ourselves to be accountable for our own actions, we are enabled in our effort to improve our profession, and to serve Him acceptably. (And maybe, if we can be accountable for our promises, there is hope that either Denitech or Xerox can as well!)
