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Techs Discover End Users Aren't So Bright
hkypipe writes "In response to a CNN story slamming tech support, a former tech fired back. He correctly points out that much of the trouble end users have with their PCs can be traced to their skillset, which in many if not most cases would make them more qualified to operate an Etch-A-Sketch." Not everyone who calls support is clueless though. How many of us have had to sit on hold for hours and reformat a hard drive as DOS just to convince the tech support lackey on the other end that a hard drive really is bad? The article also covers other factors like scripted support, and per-customer time limits, which can make for a poor tech support experience.
Well I never! Here I was thinking people always read the manual, always took the time to understand what they were trying to do, always listened to instructions and never tried to do something stupid.
Who'd have thought?!
From THIS???
My personal favorite is when the RoadRunner tech support drone refuses to believe that some computers don't need to be rebooted to change network settings. But no matter what you tell them, they refuse to put down their precious script and accept that maybe, just maybe, I'm not running windows.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Yep.. end users seem to be getting worse IMO.
:-|
There is no excuse not to be learning how to use a computer in this day and age, yet the majority of support calls I get are for people with most basic problems.
"Oh, my start menu has moved up to the top of the screen! No, I never did anything to it, it just went by itself!"
"Everything in my Inbox has vanished! No I never pressed delete! I think I know how to use the email thankyou!!" - "Funny, but our records show that it was you who deleted the email.."
And so on.. most end users think tech support guys just came down with the last shower, and think they can lie about how they have just broken the machine.
Can be frustrating sometimes
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
I am currently using Comcast cable internet, formally ATT&T internet....formally @home.
We have outtages in our area from time to time, not as bad as it used to be, but they do pop up. Every time I try to call the 800 number to tell them an outtage is in the area, I get the same canned response.
They always say, "sir, we can't see your computer, are you hooked up to a router"?
I say "well, yes, but that's not the point. The connection is out in this area...I'm just reporting it to you as you don't have it on your outtage board."
"I'm sorry, we don't support routers, please plug your computer directly into you cable modem."
At this point, I'm getting a little irritated..."no, I'm not, I'm reporting a outtage...there is NOTHING wrong with my equipment. Nothing has changed on my settings. I'm not going to sit here, re-route my cables and change settings just so you can finally know there is an outtage in my area. Trust me, the problem is on your end."
"Sir, I can't help you unless you follow my directions".
Ok, so the first time through this, I go with everything they tell me, and finally after 45 minutes of trying everything under the sun short of putting all my computer parts in a paper bag, going out on my lawn, waving it over my head and screaming like a chicken...they finally figure out that it's a problem on their end.
Now I don't even mess with it, I call them up when an outtage happens, and get all my neighbors that are out to call them also. I cut them off right away, and tell them they'll be getting 5 other calls from the neighborhood telling them the same thing and hang up.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
Tech support needs to stop thinking of end users as the enemy and start thinking of them as what they really are, its bread and butter.
True. Supporting end users has a lot in common with eating a lot of butter - both lead to heart attack.
I presume this is the same Gateway support that told my dad's friend to run fdisk when he was having trouble connecting to AOL.
I have turned off The computer several times and every time I turn it back on it says "You may safely turn off your computer"
"What does it say next to the power button?"
"NEC MultiSync"
This
Years ago, I had a Sun Enterprise 150 as my "home box" -- it's basically an Ultra-1 with a bunch of disk; looks a lot like an E450.
Anyhow, my cable modem stopped working one day. So, I called tech support, and told them. Long story short, I was a student at the time, and since the University had a deal with Cogeco, they felt obligated to at least not tell me to fuck off because I wasn't running Windows... but they weren't much help, either. After consulting with his boss, my telephone lacky got back to me -- "I'm sorry sir; Suns don't work on the internet".
I felt like reaching right through my phone and choking the living daylights out of him!
It turns out the local cable installer had put a one-way filter on line.
Assholes.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
But at issue was not the HOW you treated him, but the WHY.
I have done tech support for over 20 years becuase of all the roles I have had in creating software. By the time I normal;y got the problem, it was VP yelling.
You have to start off controling the customer experance but explaining HOW you are going to determine what is wrong, and appligise for putting the person through the experence. This in almost every case (I have not had problem) calms all down and gets the process done quickly.
One old piece of equipment, its reset button required the user the hold it and count to five. We could not get a user over the phone to do that. So instead we requested that the bring the power cord back to phone to help determine the model. Of course the cord was a standard "PC" style of cord we use today. But that trick allowed the machine to fully reboot. After words we explained why did have them do it. And they all laughed and UNDERSTOOD why we did it. It made both sides have fun. What we liked was some of these guys we did this too, started to use the same methods with their internal people for the same reasons.
The better stories though, were telling them to disconnect the equipment and drop it on the floor... We had a few arguements about breaking the equipment, and we pointed out that IT WAS FULLY WARRENTED, that was why you called us in the first place... You called because it was broken, and if dropping it does not fix it, we would still be sending them a new box. So what is the problem?
Box was a single flat board with a heavy metal backing - dust built up on it over years of use, dropping knocked the dust loose.