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Why Tech Support Is (Purposely) Unbearable
HughPickens.com writes: Getting caught in a tech support loop -- waiting on hold, interacting with automated systems, talking to people reading from unhelpful scripts and then finding yourself on hold yet again -- is a peculiar kind of aggravation that mental health experts say can provoke rage in even the most mild-mannered person. Now Kate Murphy writes at the NYT that just as you suspected, companies are aware of the torture they are putting you through as 92 percent of customer service managers say their agents could be more effective and 74 percent say their company procedures prevented agents from providing satisfactory experiences. "Don't think companies haven't studied how far they can take things in providing the minimal level of service," says Justin Robbins, who was once a tech support agent himself and now oversees research and editorial at ICMI. "Some organizations have even monetized it by intentionally engineering it so you have to wait an hour at least to speak to someone in support, and while you are on hold, you're hearing messages like, 'If you'd like premium support, call this number and for a fee, we will get to you immediately.'" Mental health experts say there are ways to get better tech support or maybe just make it more bearable. First, do whatever it takes to control your temper. Take a deep breath. Count to 10. Losing your stack at a consumer support agent is not going to get your problem resolved any faster and being negative in your dealings with others can quickly paint you as a complainer no one wants to work with. Don't bother demanding to speak to a supervisor, either. You're just going to get transferred to another agent who has been alerted ahead of time that you have come unhinged. To get better service by phone, dial the prompt designated for "sales" or "to place an order," which almost always gets you an onshore agent, while tech support is usually offshore with the associated language difficulties. Finally customer support experts recommended using social media, like tweeting or sending a Facebook message, to contact a company instead of calling. You are likely to get a quicker response, not only because fewer people try that channel but also because your use of social media shows that you know how to vent your frustration to a wider audience if your needs are not met.
At one point shortly after the dot com crash, I took a tech support job with a 3rd party company contracted by a major manufacturer. We did a good job. Well above average, in fact. Our call times were longer on average, but overall satisfaction was higher as well. So the local management started pushing for higher wages in order to reduce turnover and keep the quality people.
What happens? Head office lays off the entire building instead. We were stunned. It was the last thing we had expected after the effort we had put in.
So yeah, the next time you call tech support, just remember that solving the problem is actually a *secondary* concern to getting you off the phone as quickly as possible. If tech support companies could get away with having an array of phones, and Dippy Birds that took the call, and then hung up again, they probably would.
There are no words to describe the level of contempt I feel for outsourced support companies, They drive their people as hard as they can, for as little reward as they can, and then spit out the burned out husk without so much as a by-your-leave cause there's always some poor sap in line waiting their turn to enter the grinder.
I had an issue with being double-charged for an app from the app store about 5 years ago. Went to Apple's support site, wrote a description of the problem, then was asked if I would like THEM to call ME. Not the other way around. Clicked yes, a calendar popped up in which I selected the time window in (IIRC) 10 minute increments when I wanted them to call me.
Within a couple minutes of the 'start' my phone rang and I was chatting with a nice guy (said his name was Daniel in Texas). He already had my records up and he called to ask me if I wanted a credit on my iTunes account or refund to my card. He then said he'd call me back when it was done. About 10 minutes later he called me back and said the credit was issued.
That is exemplary customer service and one reason their customer satisfaction is always rated so high.
Trolling is a art,
There is a balance point in any support function. If you are too helpful and too quick, the user will never learn and will call you each and every time they get in a bind, even if they've been in that bind multiple times.
We are very helpful the first time around and as part of resolving the issue, provide copious links to online training materials specific to the issue they experienced.
The next time, we simple provide citations to where they can read the solution to the problems. Eventually, they don't have to call anymore.
Yes, there are some idiots who just don't take the hint or just can't fathom the materials (often times, inept executives), but the solution there is to refer them to a peer who has been designated as an "expert".
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Then there are also the tech support games. I once worked at a place where we could call people about their support tickets either when they were too early to get in the office, or too late. Then after three attempts, close the ticket, and write it up under "customer did not bother pursuing."
As someone who did that (worked for a contracting company that promised "contract to hire", but the "to hire" part never materialized for anyone), metrics are everything. One place I worked at, if you were not -on a call- at the start of your shift (and they were down to the second), you could not get a raise/promotion for six months, and after three times, you got walked. Of course, if you came in more than a few minutes early, building security would remind you about being on company property when it isn't shift time and how criminal trespass charges are not good for the job record. If you were on a call for over ten minutes for any reason, the team lead would be standing over your shoulder demanding answers. After 30 minutes, the shift supervisor would join. As soon as the call was done, you got the luxury of being chewed out for wasting company time, which would be noted on the next performance review. So, every trick in the book was used, be it "oops, the customer lost cell coverage" and hanging up the call to duping the customer in any way possible to hang up, to transferring them to another department, to transferring them back to the end of the ACD when you said they were on hold briefly.
One trick that was done often was asking the customer to call back to a "direct line" after they went and did something... and giving them a non-working number, so they would get off the phone fast to go do something... then when they sit in the ACD for a few hours and are mad as hell, likely the shift has changed, or they would get another tech who would get the call.
Of course, all of this got outsourced now, so the guys over in Bangalore are likely doing the same crap to keep their jobs.
The sad thing is that might actually be an effective strategy...which says something about the culture of open source mailing lists.