Mostly you hear about ‘horror’ stories of people and their brushes with technical support and product repair.

Here I want to mention the fantastic service I received from the MP3 player people Rio.

My Rio Karma that I purchased last June suddenly locked up, I could not switch it off and no keypress was recognised. Luckily I had a pin and reset it, this turned it off. When I turned it on again it immediately locked up again.

Next I read the manual and tried doing what this said but again it locked up.

Now – Friday Afternoon – I sent an email to their technical support and on Saturday morning I received a reply, tried that, no help, emailed again and got another reply, no good, emailed again and this did not help either. He apologised and said I needed an RMA number. Please ring an (0207) number in office hours.

On the Monday I rang, the phone in London was transferred to the Netherlands and after a few questions was given the RMA number together with the address to send the unit to. I was told it would take up to two weeks.

On the Thursday of the following week a courier delivered a replacement Rio Karma. Yes it was within the warranty period – my word was taken on this – and I had to pay postage to the Netherlands £1.48, but this was how warranty claims should work.

Well done Rio, up till then I had never regretted the purchase and after such good service I still do not. I know it was a different unit returned as mine had a small scratch and this one was perfect.