Tech Support
Here is me all day: *...(breathe)...(sigh)...(look at the clock)...(breathe)...*
It's a little something I like to call, "TECH SUPPORT SUCKS!!!" Seriously, this is day 2 in the battle against Pacific Bell dsl. In fact, I am holding "for the next available technician" even as I type. Before I go into this rant full force, let me just say that these ppl, all 27,000 that I have talked to in the last 2 days, have been exceptionally courteous, just irritatingly uninformed and decidedly useless! (This is not an attack on the individuals, i'm sure they are very nice and treat their pets well.) Anyway, so here I am experiencing technical difficulties, which I have been saying all along was a software problem, which has now been corroborated. But I can't tell you the countless idiots that asked me where I had the modem plugged into. HELLO FRIGGIN' MORON! There are 3 damn cords that come out of this blasted piece of equipment: a power cord, an ethernet cable, and a phone cord. It's not like you can mess that up. "Hmmm, I bet this power cable goes into the phone jack..." NOT!
Okay, here's the next thing...what part of "I'm on a Mac" don't you understand? Here are the some of the questions I got asked:
"Do you see those little computer screens in the right corner of the task bar?"
I'm on a Mac.
"Are you using the right click?"
I'm on a Mac.
"Go to 'Add/Remove Programs'"
I'm on a Mac.
"See the 'Start' menu in the left corner?"
Good thing I can tell the difference between a Mac and a PC or I'd really be screwed. Hey, maybe I should get into tech support, I can BS and tell people to look for things that aren't there, then politely explain that, "It sounds like you need to talk to our (fill in the blank) dept. Here I'll patch you through" and then hang up. Simple. I wonder how much it pays to frustrate ppl for a living.
Anyway... "We appreciate your patience. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order it was received."
"Go ahead and do a full reboot and call back if it's still a problem.... hopefully someone else will get the call......"
Ah the joys of tech support... my guess is some of them are disgruntled from dealing with half-wits all day... but still.. it's horrible customer service if you can't even understand that your customer isn't using Windows...
Posted by
Angela |
August 01, 2006 5:52 AM
I absolutely hate tech support. It's like they assume you are an idiot and don't know anything. I suppose they do get people like that, which is why their scripts are dumbed down, but ugh. I feel your pain. Good luck.
Posted by
amu311bd |
August 01, 2006 2:16 PM
I used to be on the other end, and supported people (in house), many of these people would go weeks, without rebooting their computer. I recall a user who would have multiple (6+) large documents open in office, and be actively working in a state like that for weeks on end and then call wondering why excel was acting quirky. (I don't know if that's a testament to winXP and ofc2003, because older versions wouldn't have lasted that long.. but still.. save, and reboot once in a while)
I got into the habbit of asking people when they last rebooted their computer. I diddn't expect them to answer me by naming the month but some times it had been that long.
I want to think that when a tech support drone asks people to reboot he's coming from a similar position but I don't believe it to be so.
I DID tell people to reboot and call back, but in my case they'd get me again.
Posted by
Farmer Joe |
August 02, 2006 8:37 AM
The reboot thing is usually a two part deal - first off it really does seem to fix a lot of problems and second it gives the technician time to think while the computer is rebooting. Just that small amount of time to think about the problem can sometimes present a solution if the reboot doesn't work. It can be hard to think on your feet especially when you can't see what the computer is doing and have to visualize it in your mind based solely on what the end user has told you. It's a gift really... :)
Posted by
Angela |
August 02, 2006 2:31 PM