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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.
companies would rather you used cheaper online resources or online chat instead because anyone who calls support costs them money.
The outsourced tech support engineer is too busy trying to close tickets on you to issues they can't solve.
Frustrated customer tries to get them reopened.
Support engineer goes back to their boss and say "Hey, my KPIs in dealing with tickets is fantastic!", and the boss pats him on the head and says "Good job! You're doing a better job than local tech support staff... and cheaper too!"
Meanwhile, the customer is getting damn angry - but the boss isn't able to hear about it because tickets are getting closed, so his higher ups are happy with that.
Sure, there might be a customer survey after the call - but typically after having enough time wasted on the call that went nowhere, nobody is in the mood to fill these out. Angry responses are explained away as the customer was being unreasonable, etc.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
If you don't want to be a phone slave to another soul sucking corporation then before buying a product you should search the internet for something that has the most open source software and the best component documentation. This way when something goes wrong, you can diagnose and possibly fix the issue yourself. It's been my experience that buying the correct product is more important than getting a "great deal" and more likely to last significantly longer.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
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,
...however, speaking as a former support rep for a cable company, I'd say I disagree with at least the thrust of this story in relation to my previous job. The company I worked for shall remain nameless, however all support was done locally (during the time I worked there, approximately 8 years). During that time, I did my level best to resolve issues on the first call, and in general people I talked to understood after that call whether it was indeed a service issue, i.e. company related, or customer owned equipment issue, meaning their router/computer/phone system, etc.
In many cases, a simple settings problem could be pointed out and resolved. In some cases, customers did not want to believe it could possibly be their equipment, and insisted on blaming the company, regardless of the demonstrated service restoration once a.) the router was removed from the equation, or b.) that all (or any) of their other systems were online. When asked to be escalated, I made sure they went up the chain of command, not to a rep sitting next to me. A very few went on to become associated with the corporate complaints dept. ( in my interactions, 5 in 8 years ).
One of the biggest problems as I see it is that many customers don't seem to understand where their responsibilities end and the company providing the services begins. In the case of a service provider, as far as I see it no matter what the service is, if it is reaching your home, they are doing their job. The fact that we provided free general (but not specific) assistance for our customers equipment shouldn't mean that if we couldn't find the exact problem with their piece of equipment, but could prove it was the equipment causing the issue, that it was some how a failing on our end, but many customers see it exactly that way.
Having said all that, I would point out that not all companies are created equal, and I certainly have not worked for even a small minority of the companies out there. I am sure that not only are there companies out there that do exactly what this story is implying, but that it is seen as a major benefit to the company. I do not agree with that attitude, and would never have signed up to help perpetuate that kind of "customer service", which is no service at all.
Not all that certain it is a good concept in the long run.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
If TS is unable to fix the problem I simply file a complaint with the BBB. That results in a call fom a real live person who can actully resolve a proble; at least with reputable companies. I state my case simply with no accusations and what I'd like done and have gotten positive results.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
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.
The best part of modern "support" is that it is a thinly veiled front for their sales pitches. Calling in to your cable company because your modem keeps rebooting? Well that is great lets troubleshoot that and while I'm at it did you know that we have a special on our internet speed upgrade!?
I once spent no less than 20m on the phone with my then cell phone carrier trying to reduce my total phone setup down from 3 lines to 2. There was no change go anything else, even the price, because the plan provided for 2 to 4 phones with shared mins. So it was not like I was even going to be giving them less money, but I'm damn sure that poor rep knew that their real metrics (not customer satisfaction but their sales numbers) would reflect that for my call I was going down a line.
Here is a list of what a current CSR job would like you to have:
High School diploma or equivalent is required.
Experience with computers, keyboarding is required
Minimum 2 years of Customer service experience is preferred
Minimum 2 years of sales experience is preferred
Minimum 1 year of inbound call center experience is preferred
Minimum 1 year experience in the hospitality industry a plus
Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills along with basic practical math, reading and comprehension abilities
Ability to work a flexible schedule, including nights and weekends
Two years of sales experience. It took me all of 5m to find a job listing like that and there are plenty of them out there. And these people are the gatekeepers and support agents that you have to get past to get any real support.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
a peculiar kind of aggravation that mental health experts say can provoke rage in even the most mild-mannered person
Is there a citation for that, or is this one of the 72% of statistics that are just made up? My mental health expert told me that I needed to learn how to control my anger and never lose my temper, because an angry outburst is temporary insanity and will always make my problem worse. He went on to teach me how to practice relaxation as an automatic response to frustration so that my mind would literally rewire my neurons for the new habit of problem solving rather than for the old habit of blowing my stack. I find I'm much better at dealing with the problems I face in life now, much more creative at solving those problems, and much happier as a result.
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't UEFI a good deal more capable and modern than the traditional PC BIOS boot method? It's goddamn SecureBoot that enforces all the Windows-only bullshit we hate...
With unicode would come emoteicons. Believe me, we don't want that.
Things are just fine the way they are.
Seriously folks - Unicode gets yer panties in a bunch? That's about at the bottom of the list of things one should give a flying fig about. And if you do, consider yourself living a blessed life. Right around making certain you eat enough kale.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I don't deal with this kind of shit any more. If I buy a product or service that doesn't work as advertised, I call up American Express (or Visa, but Amex is much better), dispute the charges, and pay $0 for the hardware or service. Sometimes the company tries to fix it and sometimes not. It really doesn't matter to me.
Most recently, I got a Cisco router that was a flaky piece of shit that only occasionally worked. Newegg wouldn't take it back. Cisco, of course, is impossible to get a hold of, so I call Amex, and get my money back. I'm not going to waste my time with "tech support" for a product that doesn't work as advertised.
I don't respond to AC's.
long story shortened. I spent nearly an hour and a half on hold waiting for Citibank's fraud department this weekend before I could cancel my card due to the number being stolen. They assured me FedEx would deliver one today (4th of July), but FedEx doesn't deliver on Independence Day. I didn't really believe that part anyway
I was quite angry when I finally got hold of someone, but I didn't take it out on her. She said they were still reeling from their CostCo Visa fiasco. I did try to politely tell her that I was very pissed off, but didn't blame her personally. She sounded very overworked. Getting angry at her would not have helped the situation. I am going to start using cash more though.....
Typically when I have to call Citibank for any reason it only takes about 2 minutes to get a human being on the phone. I'm still stunned by how badly they've screwed up. I don't have a CostCo Visa but my long hold time was a full 10 days after the first news reports of their problems with that came out and that's their excuse.
Tech support. Too bad it is just a dream.
On a related note - "unbearable" tech support also seems to happen in-corportation, where the financial incentives are compartmentalized (save $x in IT, but lose 5x$x when the companys other departments can't work due to IT issues) and negative when viewed at the company level.
Of course, the customer can buy a different product in the future, but since its tech support will be just as bad, he'll return eventually.
TFA is right to point out the chat and social media alternatives. Besides quicker (and often friendlier) response, it's kind of nice to have a support tech or engineer paste a code fix or solution example straight into a chat window for instant use. This particularly works wonders with a certain German electrical, medical, and automation megalith who I will not name.
Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.