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PC Call Centers Garner Lowest Satisfaction Score
Lucas123 writes "The University of Michigan took its first American Customer Satisfaction survey and found that of six industries measured for the Customers' Call Center Satisfaction Index, the PC industry received the lowest score, according to a Computerworld story. 'According to the survey, nearly 73% of the people who have bad experiences with their PC companies' call centers said they will consider purchasing their next PCs from another company, while 85% of customers who had their problems resolved by calling a PC call center said they would continue doing business with the company. Other calls centers included in the survey included banking, cell phone service, cable and satellite television, and insurance.'"
1. Start computer company
2. Have good tech support
3. Profit!!!
Wait, somethings not right
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Most likely caused by the customer wanting to fix their computer problem by phone - damn near impossible, I say.
...I don't even try. It's pointless.
Camping on quad since 1996.
I'd leave a better comment but I'm still on hold with Dell...
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Wow, worse than cable service call centers? That's sad. I bet it's because of all the industries included, the PC industry has the most complex product and the most complex problems. Banking, television, insurance, and even cell phone service are all pretty straightforward. But PCs are such general purpose devices that the issues are bound to be more complex.
Of course there's the other obvious problems of poor call center training, etc. But that just compounds the issue.
Developers: We can use your help.
I was once on a service call with a company's service rep and he was giving me instructions rather quickly and with a thick accent. When I asked him to repeat what he said, sometimes more than once, he became very irate and somewhat rude.
I had to call in because because of their lame website wouldn't activate their damned product. I no longer do business with them nor will I ever.
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
Desktop computers and their attendant problems just might be more complex than:
- What's my bank balance?
- What are all of these calls to Bangladore doing on my cell phone bill and where is the damn ON button?
- What channel is Bugs Bunny on?
- Where's the lizard?
Not like Dell tech support is on my friends list (until you get to the server folks, they've seemed decent), but we're talking about a complex system in the hands of well, just about anybody.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
1. The guy who is clueless and couldn't care less about his job,
2. The guy who thinks he knows everything but doesn't really have a clue, and
3. The guy who really knows a fair amount and cares about the customer.
#1 will be working at McDonald's next week and knows it. #2 will also be working at McDonald's next week, but doesn't see it coming. In the intervening days, he'll be posting comments on Slashdot about how everything is the customer's fault. #3 will have a long, successful stay at his company, which will reap the rewards of his hard work.
If you don't want crime to pay, let the government run it.
It's easy to laugh at PC call centres, but I think the problem is in the nature of the PC itself. It does many things and isn't quite an appliance. There are just too many failure points in software, especially on a system administered by novices.
That said, PC support over the phone is a ridiculous idea. If PC vendors really wanted to improve customer service experience, they should add screenshare software into their BIOS (with an obvious hardware kill switch). When you can actually *see* the other desktop, lots of problems become easy. (And if the network is fubar-ed so this BIOS-based screen share doesn't work, give the customer an onsite visit (charge for it if it's not in the service plan).
I had a friend who once worked at an AOL call center in the Mac division. Real transcript: AOL: "What type of Mac do you have?" Caller: "Uh...tangerine?" Maybe the callers think the service is so shitty because they don't know that the problem is fixed or because they can't provide good enough information to the agent to get it fixed. I've had 10 times the problems with cable company call centers than I have with any other, including PC manufacturers.
Call centers are cost centers. Support is part of the purchase cost and with razor thin margins, you can only get bottom support.
Compound the low pay with the high technical expectations and you get a recipe for a disaster. Doing it over the phone makes it even worse.
In summary, PCs are complex, the customers are for the most part not very good with it to start with, problems can be very complex, interface is so rich that it is difficult to describe over the phone and tech level needs to be high to diagnose problems when the pay needs to be low to keep margins.
It is an impossible situation. In a few years (yeah, right...), with more savvy customers and maybe video conferencing, you may reach a point where you can diagnose remotely. Or remote access to the computer (hello, security breach).
For those of you that have had the pleasure to diagnose computer problems remotely for your family, you know what i am talking about. This is what the people on the other end of the phone face every day...
As anyone who's done any kind of support knows, a significant chunk of troubleshooting/support depends on the customer's ability to follow directions. When the support person says "I need you to click here and do this. Now read to me EXACTLY what the window that opens up says," they expect the person to do that. It doesn't help when the person on the other end does something else then says "It's not opening a window that says anything" or they say "It's giving me an error message" [duh, that was the point!] rather than "It says 'Program terminated. Error code: PEBKAC'". Yes, some companies have abysmal support. But sometimes the people asking for support don't help the problem either.
This guy's the limit!
Americans these days jump at any opertunity to be un-happy with just about anything, and asking if their unhappy only permits them to be more un-happy and express it loudly.
I did some work inbound call sales work (that means I didn't call people, they called us) and signed them up for PeoplePC... Wow... eventually, I quit, and when I was asked why, I told my boss's boss that $8.50 an hour wasn't worth my time, when he asked why, I said I have a bachelor's degree. Then the idiot had the nerve to say "Well, I have a bachelor's degree, too!" It's like... uh, but you don't earn $8.50 an hour now do you?
:)
Now I work for a large software company and probably make 2 or 3 times his salary...
WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS
Having done some tech support over the phone a decade ago, I know that some things can actually be done over the phone. ISP support for one isnt too bad if you have a decent technician. The problem is that they dont pay the price for a technician, so they force a script down the throats of the support personel, and caos ensues.
Your best bet is to call tech support BEFORE YOU BUY... call the line, wait a few minutes on hold, if they dont pick up with a real person in a timely fasion, skip the purchase.... your not being treated right. If the voice on the other end is hard to understand, skip it again... if they pause when you ask a reasonable question like "I have a pixel in the middle of my screen that is always red, is that normal" run like mad..
Unless you have no need for warranty work or tech support check the support out, your paying for it.
Storm
When you become a part of the average big soul-sucking support center, what passes as productivity is **precisely** tracked.
Read the following carefully.
-No caring.
-Know nothing. They provide scripts. Don't _ever_ deviate from the scripts.
If you are with me so far, read on carefully.
Call center productivity is *NEVER* measured by customer satisfaction. It is measured as calls per unit of time. Period.
Take a moment to comprehend the implications of the previous statement before moving on.
If you meet/exceed the calls per hour (or whatever) then another component of your productivity is the number of parts shipped. More parts bad, less parts gets you an atta-boy from your manager and maybe even a shiny nickel.
Finally, a call center is most profitable when there is a queue. Fewer support people processing more calls per hour = profit & productivity.
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
2 stays because management believes that the person has a clue. And if 1 has a nice enough personality, they will stay as well. 3 will normally move on.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Trying to decide on a RAM upgrade many years ago, I call the tech support of a major manufacturer to get some information on the motherboard.
Me: Does this motherboard require parity RAM?
Tech Support: Yes, the RAM needs to be installed in pairs.
Banking, insurance even cable can be sorted out over the phone (unless your cable box has HCF'd). If a PC goes wrong then phone support is never going to be useful unless resetting does actually fix things. Even navigating your way through to a potentially incorrect setting is incredibly hard over the phone. Users don't listen properly, get frustrated and confused when they see the control panel for the first time if the machine is actually dead then it'll need to be RMA'd.
Both myself and the bank, cable company, insurance firm can get their hands on my account and/or their hardware (f'nar f'nar) and fix things if broken.
Many times I've tried to help people with their computers over the phone but when the problem is "I hit the power button and nothing happens" there's precious little I can do (other than get them to check connections) unless I can actually get there with a screwdriver.
Much as I hate computer as car analogues I wouldn't phone BMW and ask them to help me fix my Mini's engine over the phone! It just wouldn't work especially as I, like the poor broken computer users, I am no mechanic.
Ah well. My Mum bought a (pretty crap) PC a few years back but she deliberately bought it from a shop about 5 miles away. If it blows up instead of having to post the thing back or arrange pick up a bloke comes out with a screwdriver set and some spares. She paid more for that service but it was invaluable when lightning fried the modem.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
In a great number of cases...
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." ~The Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan
I agree. But when it's activation codes and other nonsense that they the company force on me, that's their fault. I've learned - that's why I don't do business with them.
Those people already works hard.
So? Working hard doesn't give one license to treat the customer rudely. Otherwise, customers will leave, like me, and if enough customers get mad and leave, then those "customer service" people will be out of a job. Which is their problem. I vote with my money. I've given up a long time ago complaining and arguing with "customer service" people. Their job is to make me go away so that their management can keep their margins up.
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
This reminds me of the episode of The Office (U.S.) where Dwight and Jim go on a sales call. Jim is working on making the sale while Dwight calls up the support line for their competitor and lands in an automated system. Meanwhile Jim calls up Dunder-Mifflin and gets Pam immediately.
Of course this is just fiction and Dunder-Mifflin is quite the screwed up company (why we love it so much) but they have one thing right - human contact on the phones.
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." - Shepard Book Quoting Malcolm Reynolds
Computers are becoming like automobiles in terms of the cost and effort to maintain and fix. People want instant solutions on the cheap, which is unrealistic. The problem is that cars cost dozens of thousands of dollars such that people *expect* service to expensive. The retail price of PC's might be much lower than a car, but the maintenance and repair cost is not. If PC's would stop changing, then they would settle and become a commodity to fix or replace; but change pace prevents that. (MS-Windows being goofy doesn't help.) If people knew the real costs, they'd probably buy a Mac.
Table-ized A.I.
Exactly! You know, folks got so pissed at me when I did customer support in China. They couldn't understand a word I said - even though I speak perfect English! Go figure! I was hired as a support person by management. But nooooooooo, the Chinese are so racist they refuse to learn and take the time to understand me! After all, they're the customer and they should adjust to me because they are giving me!
Isn't that the attitude with a lot of companies these days?
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
The clustering of scores for different industries sound pretty tight with a range of 64-77. I dug around just a little, but didn't find any descriptives. Anyone able to figure out what the confidence intervals are? I'm a little skeptical about there being a real difference between some of these ratings.
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It would be unfortunate to lay all of the blame for this on the corporations providing the support. When you combine an incredibly complex piece of machinery such as a computer and it's OS with a customer base that refuses to pay extra for support, this is what happens. The field of questions that a general PC tech support rep is expected to answer is insanely broad. You can't pay the bare minimum for tech-support staff and expect them to be able to field these questions with any competancy, and scripting will only get you so far. But consumers have a lot of trouble paying for intangibles like "good support". So retailers have to bake-in the support costs into their product and only provide the bare minimum of help.
This is especially evident in the open-source world. Even when people get the software for free, they feel entitled to help from the project owners. However, when people try to charge for support services, customers balk at paying. Only when you get to very-large corporations with very deep support requirements does the support/services gig become profitable.
PCs have so many problems, so many different causes of problems. Hardware can cause crashes and problems, software can cause crashes and problems.
Before the Internet you wouldn't have so many different patch levels.
PC Tech support is hard, no mistake.
This is because computer tech support is actually a pretty specialized skill. It isn't something like calling visa where they have a flowchart of 5 problems in front of them.
Unfortunately, the people running the call centers don't realize this. They give their employees the same sort of flow charts that are given in "non-specialized" fields.
There are people out there with the skills required to to these jobs very very well. Some companies, like intermec (mobile computer manufacturer), zebra (industrial printer manufacturer), or CLI (provider of dumb terminals for As/400 systems) hire very very good people. I have even gotten the same person on multiple calls who recognized me "Hey RYAN! did you get that battery charger replacement i sent you?"
Unfortunately, it hurts the bottom line to pay skilled labor, so the end user ends up suffering.
NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
I worked in a call center that supported PC's and other electronic gadgets for a office supply store chain. I worked for an outsourcing call center. I switched from supporting a cell phone carrier which sucked major ass. The PC support side was a little better because if the EU (end user/customer) didn't want to co-operate I didn't have to help them. I know why most customers were unsatisfied because the majority of solutions with PC's were doing a system restore. This usually meant losing all those family pics.
And if they had to get their printer replaced with their extended warranty, the replacement came from yet another third party and we no longer supported the replacement. They had to get support from a third party for a third party.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
Then the complaints begin and customer satisfaction plummets.
I would have to say that the airlines and online travel agencies are far worse than any of the industries mentioned here. Most of the people in the India (etc.) based call centers have never been on a trip by plane, and they simply don't understand the realities of travel.
The reality is that PC support is inherently more complex. There are more moving parts in a PC. The end user has far more ability to alter the proper operation of the system but changing software and components. There's a hell of a lot more that can go wrong in a PC, it's much harder to diagnose, and that is why customer satisfaction is low.
When was the last time you installed more memory on your cable box, or upgraded the operating system? Cell phones are getting more complex, but by and large they are self contained systems that don't get modified much either. I'm sure that customer satisfaction will decline, the more phones become like PC's.
It's just the nature of the beast.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
> Americans these days jump at any opertunity [sic] to be un-happy [sic] with just about anything, and asking if their [sic] unhappy only permits them to be more un-happy [sic] and express it loudly.
Self important Europeans these days jump at any opportunity to denigrate Americans for just about anything, and asking if why they're so pompous only permits them to be more pretentious and express it loudly.
Before you design for reuse, make sure to design it for use.
Here is the difference between computer tech support and banking, cell phone service, cable and satellite television, and insurance support. When people are dealing with their computers, they suddenly become imbeciles. It's like some sort of magic curse that is placed upon them. Tech support is extremely nerve grating... because the customers are idiots. I did phone tech support for an ISP for a year... worst job I ever had. And I was the one that repeat call-ins requested because I was the nicest to them.
Meh.
- i never would have guessed!
Need to quit calling Microsoft the computer industry!!!!
I got a laptop for my birthday from Best Buy. I got the extended service agreement, cuz well... it's a laptop... and what laptop lasts for five+ years--and like an idiot, I assumed I'd get service if I had a problem. I got it home, plugged it in and noticed pretty quickly that while it ran fine, the battery wasn't charging. Soon I had a low battery warning, and yet no workie... I did a little magic work and diagnosed the problem as a bad powercord and plug adapter (if the little LED that was not lit up was no clue, the multimeter helped).
The Best Buy "geek squad" people wanted me to send my whole laptop in for the cord, even after showing them that the problem was the cord--and they refused to give me an adapter from an actual model that I bought and they sold... To their credit one of their teenage employees tried to give me a smaller power adapter from a different model computer. I told him no thanks and got a phone number to call... figuring I could get the problem solved before the quality tech place had it shipped to whereever then shipped back to the store and then sat in their back room for a few weeks before they remembered to actually CALL me that the thing was back... (another experience...)
I tried calling in, and they told me I needed to take it in. I took it in they told me I needed to call the manufacturer, because it had failed prior to the manufacturer's warranty expiring and that their extended service agreement was for when that expired. I called HP, they said if I had the service agreement I needed to call Best Buy. This went on for a couple weeks. Then I had a day off from work (and it was my birthday to boot) and I decided I would get to the bottom of this... I called Best Buy and got passed from helpline to helpline to helpline.
The point was... I knew the exact part that needed fixing, and by gosh! I was getting my power cord adapter without paying for another one (I could've done that, of course...) I was told frequently that people try to get extra power cords all the time and that they have to be careful not to just give away expensive parts to people who can't prove their parts aren't broken. I told them I'd be willing to GIVE them my broken adapter if they gave me one that worked.
After spending an entire day on the phone it got to be hillarious. I absolutely refused to give up. It had become a game at this point. I went up the chain of command at both HP and Best Buy... To make a long story less long... I finally got to one helpful employee at HP. He was in Boise Idaho. He said he could get me the part. He said he'd send me a mailer in which I'd send the broken part too. Then when it came time to get my information, he said, "Oh. Crap. I guess I can't help you. Our computers are down."
I said something to the effect, "Wow. I've got a lot of confidence in this product I just bought."
The next day he sent me an adapter express mail...
I think the guy in Idaho was the only real human I talked with...
--Ray
http://www.beanleafpress.com
Sorry but you obviously havent been anywhere near a real call center. Number 3 would be constantly on the managers shit list and probably canned after a couple weeks for lack of productivity (number of calls matter much more than number of happy customers). Number 1 will keep a job as long as he doesnt deviate from he script. Number 2 will become management.
How about books? [grin] :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
. . . for the last sentence alone.
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
Yes, these companies have skilled employees, but that is because those are *industrial* printers and terminals for AS/400 systems which are not exactly end-user stuff and cost pretty much. This means: 1. you pay a higher price which incorporates better support 2. usually the client is also a tech, not a clueless Joe SixPack and is a lot easier to do a tech to tech talk.
You know, I have a few experiences along this line, so I feel the pain of helpdesk helpers who've had to deal with customers who never even had a ticket on the clue train. Instead of sharing that with you, though, let me share this....
When one of my grateful customers expresses how they wish they knew stuff about computers too, my standard response is "oh, but I wish I could [do whatever the customer does] like you do."
Odd thing... when I say it it's usually true. I wish I had the time to learn more in depth about more things, but nobody can be skilled in everything.
These last few years I don't get a chance to help end users as often as I once did, but I still do it now and then and I always will. It's quite educational. I think if we made more engineers do this, computers would be easier to use. Techs who think they're the high priests of the occult binary science deserve to be screwed over on points and fees by their mortgage broker, on dealer options by their car dealer, and in every other field they're not skilled.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Well, I must say, in defense of some of those call centers (not ALL of them are bad), seriously, what the fuck are they supposed to do when the customers don't even understand what "click" or "menu" means. Or when they just don't "get" the most fundamental concepts of working with a computer... It's pretty sad when you realize that the customer doesn't even know what an icon is, or what a window is, or that they can't even distinguish between the left and right mouse buttons.
All that happens is that the call center tech has no hope of solving the problem due to the lack of even the slightest understanding on behalf of the customer, and the customer sits there pissed off because the 'guy on the phone is stupid', and then they answer a survey saying that they hate pc call centers.
Obviously this isn't what happens every time, and yeah obviously a lot of call centers DO suck, but seriously, you gotta factor the fact that a lot of computer users are completely fucking retarded, and look at their dissatisfaction from that respect too...
(rant over. sorry!)
ìì!
There are 2 things working against him and against neither he can win.
The first is the scripted dialog he has to go through. Usually, when you're working in support (1st and often 2nd level too), you have a FOTM-script to work through. You walk your caller through the steps and if the issue isn't resolved, pump him up into the next level. That's it. No leeway, no chance to deviate. Or rather, you better don't if you "enjoy" your minimum wage job.
This, in turn, does dissatisfy your customer, especially if the service is broken by design already and he KNOWS that effing script himself already because he's calling every day. When someone calls with the standard (!) sentence "Hello, my account number is ######, I've turned it off and on, rebooted the machine, reinstalled the drivers, replaced the cables, (insert other script parts here) and it still blinks that way, please forward my call to level 2", you know it's one of those guys.
And then there are the customers who don't even manage to understand the most basic things about their machines. They are usually your bane in support. They cost you time (thus fu.k up your average call ratio, which costs you money or your job if you have too many of those people) and more nerves than your minimum wage job is worth. And of COURSE they will be dissatisfied since they will feel like idiots. Rightfully so, granted, but still, it's gonna be the supporter who is to blame.
Add that you're first of all on hold for at least 5 minutes and sometimes up to an hour, and you see where the dissatisfaction comes from.
Customer satisfaction simply isn't something you can tack on your ads. You advertise with your cheap prices, your fast product, your wonderful bundles, but tell me a single one IT-business that advertises with customer satisfaction. Not only because there is none, but also because the customer himself does not care about it when he chooses his service. He will be dissatisfied, yes, but he won't switch services over it. And that's all that matters.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I actually had this conversation once.
... How can I help?
Dell (never got why people always disguise company names when posting on the internet) callcenter worker: Hello
Me: I've got a monitor here where the bottom half of the screen has failed. It just shows grey. I've tried a different cable, different resolution and connecting it to a different computer.
Dell callcenter worker: You have to press the button on the monitor to turn it on.
"Welcome to our world. We are the wasted youth. And we are the future too." Yes, I know these are stupid lyrics.
...of why phone TS is hard. Customers dial in with a problem, and an attitude. They don't always *listen* to what you say - and it's very hard to help someone who won't listen...
If you're getting crappy service it's because the manufacturer/retailer has decided that you only deserve/have paid for crappy services.
Great tech support is out there, but it's not cheap.
First off they have this robotic system called 'Max' who's a ripoff from central casting for a cool dude selling breakfast cereal. Next, you HAVE TO go through their automated fix steps NO MATTER WHAT. Step by step, even if you're calling back to check on the status of a prior incident. You HAVE TO start from zero every damn time. When you finally get to the point where you can speak to a person you get 'Sandra' or Michael aka Mishwaneth or Rajiv.
Did I mention that all the automated steps are voice response which has maybe a 50% hit rate? Yeah - talk to your phone like a retarded child, endlessly repeating yourself. Lots of joy.
Now here's the fun part. They really don't speak the King's English all that well. Ok maybe it's the King's English if your King is George III. In seven, SEVEN attempts at STEP 1 to repeat the spel-ling-of-my-name...... 'Sandra' could not get it right. Could not get the spelling of my SIX LETTER last name right as I spelled it out to her.
Started screaming and cursing and just hung up.
Back to the beginning start over.......until I reached 'Sam'. Well 'Sam' at least spoke English. We're on minute 20 of this project so far.
My question was pretty simple. I had called a week and a half prior to start the return process on a 'red ring of lights' hardware failure. Their process is to charge you USD$140, send you a prepaid mailing carton. You put the broken console in the box and they send you a new one. So I was calling to divine where on Ganesh's Grey Earth this carton was. 8 calendar days seems enough for UPS to send an empty box. As it turns out the box came that day.
Let me add too that they send you the box, fully assembled that you will send back to them. Dick move, Xbox, dick move. The box has to be left on the porch, it gets wet it gets knocked around. Yeah I understand it had foam braces inside the box but you should send me a collapsed box compact enough for the Postal Service to put in the mailbox.
So word to the wise. Xbox support, while it's kewl and XXXXXXXTREEEEEME and radical is the worst of any I have ever encountered. Worse than Sprint PCS and that is saying alot. I would rate Sprint PCS slightly above Gitmo in the customer service department. And Xbox is that bad, or worse.
I've been a #3. It doesn't work that way. Management hates you because your call times stink, and you're either out of a job, or you join management, where you're encouraged to keep a team of #1's. Now, having been a #3, you want a team of #3's. So now you're a bad manager according to company standards. Meanwhile, your benefits are getting slashed, and you haven't received a pay raise in three years. #3 will be gone as fast as possible, either having moved on to something better with better pay and better benefits. Else, he will move on to another industry. And likely, by the time he does, he will be jaded and irritable as a result of his time in tech support. As for the script... It really doesn't matter whether or not you know what you are doing. There's a QA department listening to your call, and you'd darn well better stick to the script. Otherwise, you are providing "bad customer service" and can and will be disciplined for it. And if you're looking for another job, you want a good recommendation from your previous employer. You'd also better not show that you know more than #1 or #2, because if you go outside your support boundaries, you'll get dinged. Seriously speaking, I did ISP tech support. I'll never forget the guy who called asking me how to charge his laptop battery. I almost got fired for telling him to plug in the power cord instead of sending him to Dell.
rated as being in the 3rd ring of hell
Its not the years, its the mileage
True. I've had both exceptional customer service as well as "you don't have a clue, Mr. Customer" customer "service", if it can qualify as "service". In truth, though, I can understand things from the call center side as well.
I remember one time when I bought one of those new 4x AGP video cards. (Yes, it was that long ago.) I was having a lot of problems with it, so I tried the various speeds (1X, 2X, 4X), tried different driver versions, and so forth. I finally gave up and did the last resort - called tech support.
I explained the problem but I didn't go into what I did up to that point. The tech support rep asked if I had the card in my hands, which I did. "Okay. If you look on the card, there are a set of pins with a black square connecting them." I replied very simply, "Yes, the jumper." There was silence for about three seconds until I heard, "You know what a jumper is???!!" I chuckled and said, "Yes, I've been building my own PCs for a few years now."
His response says it all: "Oh, thank God! Someone who knows what he's doing!" The call was as smooth as glass after that and I ended up doing an RMA without all of the checklist bullsh*t.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Nothing like being able to call an english speaking person who actually feels challenged by the opportunity fix your issue as quickly as possible and not haveing to worry wether I "know" what the hell their doing. I pay them, they fix it. Simple as that. 95% satisfaction rating, the only thing that could make it better is if it were free, but these guys deserve to get paid. If only there were a way for computer manufacturers to get these kind of results, but alas, when it is not your specialty and basicaly free, it is never the best. Congrats Plumchoice on an awesome service. ;)