Slashdot Mirror
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.
Before tech support people rant about the lack of knowledge of their users, remember that it isn't the user's job to be an expert in use of the software or hardware - but it is their job, and it is one they often fail at.
I do a little bit of support in addition to my primary duties as a developer (so I can keep in touch with the customers and their requests/etc). We have commercial products that we sell, but we also have a limited, free service accessible from our web page to serve as a demo of the product. I find it interesting that the customers that call in who have purchased our products are generally friendly and respectful. The customers that call in about the free service are almost always rude and demanding. They ask for more features and complain about the limitations. Sometimes you just want to tell them: IT'S A ~FREE~ SERVICE!!! You can always buy our products.
That aside, I have also noticed a serious lack of knowledge in many customers, some of whom are the only "IT" person in the company (I put IT in quotes since their knowledge expressed during the support bring this claim into serious question). I find it really sad how many people I have to walk through the basics (saving a CSV file in Excel, for example) especially when these are people who are supposed to know what they are doing (IT, programmers). Sometimes the web developers are the worst. I have run into so many who know how to use Dreamweaver, but they have no concept of how to actually modify an HTML page by hand. (Another example of where learning the basics before learning the fancy tools is vital... please keep calculators out of schools until at least High School... but I digress...) It is so refreshing when you find someone who actually seems to know what they are doing!
I believe in de-evolution. God made the world perfect, man fell, and its been going downhill ever since!
I spent 5 minutes arguing with tech support that it made no difference I was running linux. I eventually told him I'd install windows.
5 minutes later I rang back, and said I "found" windows on another hard drive. He then started asking me what my MAC address was, and how I could have another hard drive as the address I gave him was the address my laptop net card was (I spoofed it on the router). He then told me do run winipcfg, and I had to rack my brain to remember roughly what the window looked like. He was never convinced I was running windows, constantly accusing me of running an unsupported OS (even though the problem was between the modem and the headend), and doing anything not to send a modem-refresh signal thing down the line. (The guy I phoned up a couple of months before was fine, even knowing I ran linux).
Suffice it to say, after about an hour, I finally got my refresh, and immediatly started looking up DSL providers in the area.
i'm a tech, and I have to treat the customers as dumb, otherwise I find us getting out of synch, or assume the customer knows what an icon is or something.
The problem being if you treat a user as intelligent, they'll catch you out by not bothering to tell you about something i would regard as blindingly obvious.
For example:
I was talking to a user who was trying to set up one of our mail accounts. When i tried to talk him through outlook expres setup, he irately pointed out that he'd be and engineer for 5 years and knew what he was doing. He tried to tell me that there was a problem with his mail account, despite the fact that I logged int it fine.
It turns out he'd broken his DNS somehow, and my standard debug procedure, had he acted like a dumb user would have been far faster....
can you send mail? no?
can you see our web page? no? your problem.
wahey, a early post!
Back when I started consulting in the late 80's, I could pick up a telephone and call an 800 number and usually talk to a REAL LIVE ENGINEER (in many cases, the guys and gals that actually designed the software or hardware in question) because a lot of companies rotated through their engineers through the tech support department as part of their dudies. Nowadays, they get way too large a volume of calls for that to be prectical.
Most of the time, I don't even bother calling tech support anymore becuase it's not worth my time unless I have a specific question. I wish I had an ID card I could swipe on my phone that would ID me as compenent to stand trial by direct-escalation-to-third-level-support.
Odds are, if I'm bothering to call, it's not a loose plug.
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
Most computer users are utterly and completely retarded concerning anything related to computers. They know that the power buttons turns on the damn thing, that clicking twice on OE or MS Word starts a program and that Steven McGregor likes to send funny mails with .exe files attached. Even the most basic questions about computers to these people will be answered with a "Huh?".
Now, comparing it to a car is a good thing, though one should remember that one should not known the complete design of the engine to be able to drive a car. There are two other things that are more important; being able to properly handle the car AND being able to conform to a set of rules and regulations set up to protect you and others from yourself. The thing is, knowledge of these rules are enforced (or at least around here) and violating them will cost you money. But the difference between a car and a computer, damage wise, is the fact you can kill someone with a car accident. No one gets hurt if you run "anna kournikova.jpg.vbs".
Eventually, the worst problems will solve themselves; the most error prone people are those who haven't grown up with computers. Kids nowadays grown up with computers all around, so it's going to be easier to solve stuff later on as the general population slowly becomes more tech-savvy. Still, a few good regulations regarding the teaching about computer usage might be nice, especially in the modern world where nearly anything is somehow related to computers. Teach kids the basics, some more advanced things later on, like basic component knowledge (what's an HD, what's a CD/DVD-ROM, what's a processor, how to recognize them, etc) and explanation into the use of various office applications and what to do and what not to do with them. (to prevent people from writing essays in powerpoint and making a database in excel while recording financial data in a word document)
Hate me!
My cable ISP, Adelphia, possibly has the worst tech support ever.
I've called before, and literally said "I'm losing packets past the third hop, [router name] in Albany. I have a link, I just can't get out onto the backbone."
She had me reboot my modem. Unsurprisgly, still didn't work. Then she wanted my IP to try to ping. After what seemed like a few hours, she concluded "Hmm... I can't get to you." Really?
Better yet, my dad somehow ended up having to explain how to the tech how she used ping.
(I'm not mentioning the 30 minute wait times, the horrible on-hold music that cuts out, or that ads for phone service that play while you're calling to report that your cable modem's down -- rather a bad time to try to sell me stuff... And the ads interrupt each other if you wait long enough, too.)
________________________________________________
suwain_2
Every once in a while, though, they're right. Three years ago, I was having intermittent problems with my cable modem.
Call up tech support. One of the things she asks: "is the modem plugged into a surge supressor?"
Me: "of course."
Tech:"Unplug, and plug directly in wall."
Me (dripping in sarcasm) "Oh, I'm sure that's the problem."
So, to humor her, I move a bunch of furniture (disconnecting the phone in the process). Low and behold, the sumbitch is fixed.
Now, previously I'd been rebooting by unplugging the adaptor from the back of the modem, so it wasn't a simple power cycle. Can anyone explain why this fixed it, or did she just get lucky?
--H
Forget detailed questions about the car's internal workings, having worked in the automotive serive industry I know that people often don't even know the year, make, and model of their car...
People just usually don't spend to much time worrying about such things, in general. Though those in the industry may know about some major change that happened in x year on y car, most people don't care as long as their car is working.
Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups.
In other news, it was discovered that everyone looks like an idiot when they require the services of a domain expert. What's next, neurosurgeons complaining that patients don't know as much as them? Of course end users don't know much about tech - that's what they're paying support workers for!
Trust me, neurosurgeons would complain to hell and back if they were asked to instruct the patient on how to do the surgery themselves over the phone, and if they had to foresee any possible complication that could arise and keep asking for the feedback they need to see all is in order, and to foresee any mistake that could possibly be made and instruct them on how to avoid it.
I've been there myself, a friend had his windows install go bad with a missing *required* DLL file, don't ask me how it happened. Tech support shipped him the "restore" disks and asked him to reset it back to the original state.
I copied in the one DLL from the Windows CD, and everything was just fine. Why? Because I was on-site, and could assess the situation myself, try a possible solution, and review the results. Over the phone, I couldn't have done any better either.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I have been a network administrator for over five years. It has been said that administration is hours of boredom interrupted by moments of sheer panic. Through the highs and lows of this existence, there is one constant: answering user requests.
Help Me Help You
Accounting for a large part of my day, users requests can be both rewarding and frustrating. Users, I know your computer can infuriate you at times. I feel for you. I want to help you. I want you to learn how the computer can make your day-to-day work easier. Unfortunately, I cannot help you unless you are willing to help yourselves.
By far, the most valuable commodity in the business world is time. You want your computer to save you time. As I sit at your desk, I tell you, "Outlook would run much better for you if you would delete all your unwanted mail. Your pst file is too large."
"I don't have time to read them all, and I may need one later. I have to keep them all, just in case."
You tell me that you cannot afford to spend time performing preventive maintenance on your computer. Instead, you spend time waiting for me to repair your computer.
Let me put it to you this way:
You will spend a finite amount of time each month either maintaining your computer or waiting for me to repair it.
Many think I'm ranting, and tend to ignore me. Ask other computer support personnel. They will tell you the same thing. I want to help you. I can show you how to prevent many problems from occurring. Heed me, and I guarantee you will have more time to do your work.
Information is at least as valuable as time, for without information, how will you know how to spend your time? Information is as important to me as it is to you. Too often, my inbox is filled with vague support requests with little or no information. Because of them, I have to waste your time asking you for the information I need. I have to ask you to repeat your problem and write down the error. Give me all the information in the first request. Tell me exactly what you would like to accomplish. Often, your goal is more important than the steps you have followed. Given your goal, I may be able to show you how to cut steps and save time in ways you would have never imagined. Regularly, I supply you with information. I write FAQs and HowTos on the company support site. I send email offering advice to those who may need it.
"My disk is full, and now Windows has stopped working," you say.
"Did you read the section on the support site about keeping your computer running smoothly?" I ask. "There is a section at the end about keeping empty space on your hard drive."
"No," is the usual reply, in my experience.
Read the documents I provide for you, I beg you. If you had read them and followed my advice, quite often you would not have had to contact me in the first place. You would not have had to waste your time. I do not wish to hide knowledge from you. I will tell you all that I know. Just ask!
I know I seem harsh and borderline abusive. I do not wish to be. Indeed, some of you are a joy to work for. Yes, I meant work for. Part of my job is to work for you. Some of you come to me and ask questions. You question why things on your computer seem so difficult. Sometimes, I'm able to show you a better way. You smile with joy. Your work day is suddenly easier. Those are the times I enjoy my job the most. When I see you take to heart and fully embrace my advice, that is the most rewarding part of my day. Thank you.
I know your jobs are busy. I know spare time is hard to find, but that computer on your desk is expensive. You owe it to yourself to learn how and why it works, in order to get a good return on your investment. Do not make learning about your computer a side project. Make it part of your everyday duties. To the best of my abilities, I swear I will give you the knowledge you need. You will be happier in the end. I promise.
UNIX/Linux Consulting
I would say at least 50% of the calls and problems were user error, this is probably higher but this was 10 years ago so I am not sure. The real joy was trying to troubleshoot what the person did, this was made even more exciting by doing it over the phone (now click on the Icon that looks like a Computer, long pause... where?, try the top left corner, under breath (Moron)) AND the user not being honest about what they did to screw it up! I do remember thinking how much time I could save if the user would just fess up to what they did.
There is no reason why any sane/intelligent person would work in support for any length of time. It is the worst IT job and surely competing for worst job period. Therefore what is the typical support person going to be like? I'll let you figure that one out.
Scripts are used to deal with dumb customers and dumb tech employees. I hate 'em, I understand why they use them but it drives me nuts.
I think the typical Slashdot reader is frustrated with support because we usually know more about the problem, and software than the tech support person we talk too! This is frustrating! It is also frustrating when you can only understand about 50% of what the support person is saying, I will not identify any ethnicity but I think many people know what I am talking about. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to say, "listen I know what the hell I am doing can you put someone on the phone who knows what the hell they are doing too!". I call support as my last option, and when I do I expect the person to not understand or care.
When I did tech support it was always a pleasure to deal with an intelligent user, being intelligent myself it was usually a quick or easy process to help. Dealing with average users was difficult and dumb users was simply an exercise in frustration. I can only imagine what a dumb user, dumb tech interchange must be like... oh yea...
Paradise!
The reason they wanted you to reboot was most likely to get you off the phone.
I worked phone support for a few months and the #1 concern (by far) of the support provider (especially when the are contracted third parties, which most are) is talk times. Most supervisors would rather have an incompetent, fast tech who NEVER FIXES ANYTHING than a slower tech who fixes the problem and makes the customer happy. They would PREFER a customer call back 5+ times with 5 minute calls, half of which do nothing or repeat what the last tech did, then have one 10 minute call that fixes the problem. 5 minute calls make the average call time come down (which is usually rewarded in the contract), and increase call volume (more call volume means bigger contracts for third party support providers).
Call centers do have quality control in place, but they are done randomly. Even if a call was monitored for quality, the tech can do NOTHING to fix the problem and still get a good score. In order to make QA less subjective many of the points received are for following the script:
Did the tech use the right intro and goodbye? Did the tech verify the callers info correctly? Did the tech document the call correctly? Did the tech give the caller a reference number? Did the tech mention the support site web address?
Fixing the problem has zero, or very little impact on the tech's score. Besides, the tech may have a 5% or less chance of a call being monitored for quality assurance, but they have a 100% chance that the length of the call will be recorded and combined into their daily/monthly average.
You didn't just lie, and say "sure, we ran the test; it reports an error"?
OTOH, and you'll see this more later in the thread, it's impossible for tech support to distinguish between idiots and clueful users. Experience has shown that most callers are indeed idiots, so that's a reasonable assumption. I've worked on both ends of the phone, and I can vouch for the reasonableness of that assumption.
The best way to get better support, in my experience, is to have a support contract with a professional price tag--for instance, $1-2K. That line tends to be answered by better techs, and people that pay that amount for support usually know more about what they're doing--but not always. There's still the stupid admin in an otherwise competent admin center that will call the pro line and say stupid things.
For instance--I work as a Mac Admin; I've worked with varying qualities of other Mac Admins. I worked with another Mac Tech once who called Apple Pro Support to complain that he couldn't cut-n-paste between classic and cocoa apps (a well known issue in the early X versions; since fixed, I believe.) The Apple Pro people, to their credit, explained that it was being "worked on" and my co-worker was satisfied that he had discovered and reported a previously unknown bug to Apple, who repaid him by alerting their development team.
On another hand, I currently work with complex biomedical gear with attached computers; although I know much about the computers themselves, I know zilch about the bio gear. I actually don't know how to turn it on. I need to call tech support for the bio gear occasionally--on the aforementioned pro support hotline--and I'm sure that I sound just as stupid to them.
--
$tar -xvf
What about the fact that users lie? I have had many many cases where a user calling in would not tell me what they had done to crash their computer / download the file / whatever.
Me: What were you doing when it crashed
Usr: Nothing, I was just typing a letter and it crashed.
[after I go to the user's desk on a different floor]
Me: ok, I it looks like there is a "printing..." box up. So you were trying to print?
Usr: No, it just crashed, why won't you get me a new computer!!!!
OR
Usr: I can't download the file into excel
Me: Ok, what do you see on your screen
Usr: What does that matter I want to download my statement!
Me: You see the underlined words that say "download file."
Usr: [immediately]Yeah sure.
Me: Click that
Usr: [slience]
Me: Well?
Usr: NOTHING HAPPENED!
Me: Ok, you didn't see a box pop up that said "save as"?
Usr: There isn't anything that says "download file!"
Me: You just said clicked it, right?
Usr: Look, just help me download my statement ok?
Me: Ok, can you scroll down?
Usr: Ok i found it.
Me: Um ok click "download"
Usr: [immediately]I did. Nothing happened!
Me: Uh you have to wait for the file to download.
Usr: Ok I clicked it. It says "downloading"
Me: Ok good
Usr: But excel's not opening! Look, ok, I just want to get this done. Give me your manager.
(Sidenote: customer's account manager confirmed later that this is a "problem" customer - i.e. stupidity is not a factor here).
Arg.
OK, Here's what you do. I'm assuming your drives, being part of a hot-swappable array, have the 80-pin SCA connector on the back. Go on eBay and buy an 80pin to 68pin SCSI adapter (fairly cheap). Then, next time a drive dies, pull the dead one out, hook it up to that adapter, plug an old AT power supply into it, and fire up the drive (without a computer connected to it - just power). Call the RMA line. While on hold, bang the drive against the (wood - leaves no marks on drive) table until it _does_ grind. Then, when the techs ask you to run diagnostics, simply hold the phone up against the drive.
I've gotten a few replacement drives that way, without having to run the goddamn diagnostic programs (which sometimes don't even see the drive as bad). If they still make you run the diags, at least you know that it'll fail!
Every cloud has a silver lining (except for the mushroom shaped ones, which have a lining of Iridium & Strontium 90)