if they had even just said "you are a jerk and no one in this company is paid enough to deal with you; here's how to return your device for a full refund and here is a list of our least favourite competitors for all your internet-of-shit needs" i would have been 100% on their side. effectively bricking his device was beyond the pale, and says that you can't trust them to control your gadget from their servers.
I agree with you, and I don't condone the bricking. I am sure that the rep regretted his/her actions in the cold light of Sunday morning. But I wish that users would also take some responsibility for keeping the conversation civil. I don't like that the user is seemingly always excused for being angry and irrational, but the company, be it a one man shop or a large mega corp is always expected to be a cold, faceless, emotionless entity.
ALL interactions are essentially a 1 person to 1 person interaction where simple things like common respect, politeness, understanding and constructive dialog should be considered.
I don't expect the company to be a cold, faceless entity. I'm not complaining that the owner was petty or unprofessional. I'm very specifically complaining that he abused the power he had to render the device the customer had purchased inoperative.
right, but he forcibly removed the other option, which was for the device he had purchased to simply keep doing what he had paid for it to do. this is typically not something anyone expects a seller to do.