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Consumer Reports Discovers Tech Support Sucks
fuzzykitty writes "CNN just posted an article about how commercial software is filled with bugs and customers are used as an army of unpaid testers. It also goes on about the lack of good technical support. Best quote: 'I'm unaware of any company that would shortchange the customer in their speed to get the software to market,' LOL"
From the article: Am I going to use this software as it's been marketed?
Not as it was designed, mind you, but as it was marketed. We all know that in the "21st Century" (TM) marketing is reality.
And tech support is always marketed as a smiling blond woman with the headset on saying, "How can I help you today?"
I get a warm numb feeling just thinking about it. Problem? I don't have a problem...
I'm much funnier now that I'm a subscriber.
"I'm unaware of any company that would shortchange the customer in their speed to get the software to market," said Jonathan Thompson, vice president of the Washington-based trade group, which has more than 650 members.
That's great. I'd put Mr. Thompson right up there with the Iraqi Information Minister, and his "deathless quotes":
"There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"
"God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis."
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
Oh, um... scratch that last one, ok?
And he gets better and better!
Thompson said customers need to have realistic expectations. He urged buyers to ask themselves two questions before plunking down cash for software: "What is it that I want this software to do?" and "Am I going to use this software as it's been marketed?"
Well, if I were to use Microsoft software "as it's been marketed", I'd expect to be using it to magically draw pretty pictures around my everyday activities, transforming a burned-out building shell into a stage with a spotlight.
"Make sure that your expectations are appropriate to what a product is marketing," he said.
What the hell does that mean? Intel marketed its product -- a chunk of finely-etched silicon in a plastic box -- with a bunch of blue guys. What expectations are appropriate in that case?
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Thompson said customers need to have realistic expectations. He urged buyers to ask themselves two questions before plunking down cash for software: "What is it that I want this software to do?" and "Am I going to use this software as it's been marketed?"
I thought that bugs, marketing lies, crappy documentation, and clueless tech support were realistic expectations for most commercial software.
Does it somehow imply open source is better? Yuk yuk MSFT is teh gay!
Yeah right. "Community support", that's where it's at. Have you been on any support channels?
s20451: I'm having trouble getting my ATI card to work under Linux. Can anyone help?
HellDog69: LOLOL u noob RTFM
31337h4x0r: u r gay
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
try to buy only things that are made in the USA.
Doc: No wonder this circuit failed. It says "Made in Japan".
Marty McFly: What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan.
Doc: Unbelievable.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Back in the day (you should be able to determine timeframe soon), I had to call Gateway 2000 tech support to get some information on our spiffy new 386/16. Now, they were pretty good when you finally got them on the phone, but until then one usually had to wait for at least 30 minutes. On one occasion, I ended up having to wait over an hour, which put me in a rather hostile mood. When the support person asked me what my problem was, I asked them to hang on for a second.
I put them on hold, went downstairs, had dinner, watched some TV, and then finally moseyed back up stairs about half an hour later. To my great surprise, they were still sitting there on the line and we got my problem solved.
Now of course I only made the situation worse, wasted other people's time, etc, and that's not something I'd do today after being in a tech support-like position myself and having friends who have had similar tech support roles.
But damn it felt good to do it once, at least.
"A 2002 study funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology estimated software errors cost the U.S. economy about $59.5 billion a year."
And politicians are worried about entertainment piracy hurting the economy. Maybe there are more important things to fix than catering to the entertainment industry...
Yes, but you must understand that entertainment piracy costs the U.S. economy more. In fact, according to the RIAA's numbers, music piracy alone costs the U.S. economy over _six quintillion_ dollars a year. If they could only convince all those 14-year-old kids to spend millions of dollars each on CDs instead of just downloading the same songs via Kazaa, the U.S. would not only be out of debt, but the average American's salary would increase to tens of thousands of dollars a day (just like the average music industry executive).
Now do you see why entertainment piracy is more important?
Same with Bloomberg tech support, Dell, HP, Earthlink and Verizon, all of whom I called in the past month.
I think you need to lay off a bit on the number of calls. Instead of cold calling the tech support department of companies to make friends how about going out and meeting real people?
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address