I have three monitors on my computer. I do lots of design and testing on browsers, I write a lot, I work with imaging. So all this extra real estate works for me. I use all Samsung monitors because I have always loved their clarity, crispness, and reliability. The two to the sides are widescreen and the center one is more standard. They all are flat-screen at extremely high resolutions.

All this said, the center one has been giving me trouble lately. When booting up, it flashes on, then just as quickly goes black. By hitting the On/Off switch (or the Source button) repeatedly it eventually comes back to a working state. But this situation has degraded and it now takes many more times to get the thing working each day. I tried everything I could think of: installing new drivers, attaching new cables, checking and testing the graphics card. Nothing. So, I finally decide to call Samsung directly for advice (advice, because I’ve had the monitor for two years and my expectation is that that is about all I’ll get).

I call Samsung and within seconds am talking to a monitor expert. Right there, you got me excited. No long hold times, no uninformed “technician.” I describe my situation in detail, tell him all the solutions I tried. He then asks me, would I prefer a service call or an exchange? I am silent. I tell him I don’t understand the question. He repeats it. I say that, sure, I’d love an exchange. He takes down my address, phone number, and email. He then tells me that in about seven days a new monitor will arrive at the UPS store just a mile or so from here. Bring my old monitor there, they will give me the new monitor, repack the old one, and ship it back. Free.

Let that roll around in your head for a moment. Two year-old monitor, exchanged and replaced for free. Within in days. Transaction complete within five minutes. I don’t know, if you’ve had a better customer support experience, I’d like to hear it. You only hear the horror stories about flight check crews and mobile phone vendors. I don’t care what happens over the next 14 hours, I’m having a damn good day.

Oh, and Sprint, Overstock.com, ATI, Charter, First Data: Please call Samsung and beg them to let you know how they do it.

Update: Monitor arrived yesterday, but couldn’t pick it up until today. That’s three days from when Samsung promised to send it. It is a newer model and the picture is remarkably crisp and clear, definitely an upgrade.