I'm curious to know how you transitioned from a Helpdesk position to a SysAdmin position.
I've been working on a Helpdesk for a few years now, and while I aspire to be a SysAdmin, I'm having a hard time marketing myself as a sysadmin candidate.
Any advice?
Some of the points you brought up are flat out wrong.
Contracts - legally binding documents in the same way a rental lease is a legally binding agreement between 2 individuals. Do not fault ATT because you don't read the fine print.
Different answers to same question - I wont contest that, you're absolutely right. The problem goes right up the ladder from the front-line reps to the middle-top management. You ask about a policy/procedure and you'll get one answer from your supervisor. You'll make a change, then a week later get negative feedback from the QUALITY team for making a change you were never allowed to do. It creates an atmosphere on the customer service end where we, the underpaid undertrained reps will tell you whatever "SAFE" answer we can come up with that will result in the lease repercussions.
Insurance - I'm not sure what crack you're smoking, but if your phone is lost or stolen or damaged, lock\line, the insurance company will cover it. The only exceptions are thus: You have to have insurance on your acct for at least 15 days before you can make a claim. Once you make a claim they charge a 35 dollar deductable.
Getting customer service - DIAL 611 on your wireless phone, or the 1-800 number written all over your bill and on the ATT Wireless website. Just because there isn't a button on the phone to call directly doesn't mean the number isn't given to you.
Bills - Again, no argument. I can certainly read the bills just fine. However, I've had public auditors and certified accountants call in who can't make heads or tails of the cryptic billing layout. The trouble is doubled if you've recieved a credit in the last month.
Changing your rate plan - If you do make a change to add a promotion to the line, in most instances you need to accept a new 2 year contract. As far as fixing mistakes in your rate plan from the time of activation, you have until your FIRST FULL INVOICE to make that correction. If you let it go 6 months then call in because of 'our' mistake, that is entirely YOUR FAULT. If you do make that correction in the first month, your contract is not extended.
Google up REGULATORY PROGRAMS FEE and you'll see every wireless carrier charges it AS REQUIRED BY FEDERAL LAW.
Though looking at how much T Mobile charges for it, I wont discount your 'taking a tip' theory. ATTWS charges 1.75 for the Programs Fee, Tmobile charges 86 cents.
I don't mind working customer service. What I DO mind is having to fix errors that someone else in the company spawned. As well, the staggering lack of information they give to us representatives about "How things work" would surprise you.
My pet peeve is having a customer call me up and know more than me about what promotions are currently going on, or quoting me a price for a phone from someplace, and have MY system read differently. I guess, as reps, we're supposed to 'wing it'.
The lack of information we have as far as what's "going on" is indeed the single reason why hold times are so high. What do you think we're doing when we put you on hold? Frantically pulling up the attwireless website to find out exactly what you saw or searching through our policies to see if what you're telling us is actually allowed. And should we fail to find that information, we have to pull over a supervisor to be sure we CAN match the price you saw.
Also, while on the topic of hold times, if you ever have to call up to troubleshoot your phone from now on, our new "tool" (not disclosed due to NDA) takes about 3 times as long to load, and 5 times as long to get the required information out of.
Exactly the reason why you can't bring your phones over. They're locked for ATT. Though im told you can eBay up a device that will 'unlock' your phone (allowing you to use it anywhere), I've never gone out looking for one.
The problem is that we aren't allowed to give away things for free to existing customers. Equipment given away once (at a loss) is fine, as it at least gets someone on contract.. equipment sold at a loss twice makes the customer essentially worthless from a business standpoint.
You have to think that the more you get credited, or the more you get for free, the less you're worth to the company. Getting a second, expensive phone for free makes me suspect that unless you're on a $199 per month or more plan, you're actually costing the company money. You've gone way past the ZERO PROFIT point.
As lousy as your service may have been, I guess you can take the consolation prize that ATT Wireless is providing you service at a LOSS to themselves.
That's not really the fault of ATTWS, so much as it is the way cellular technology is going. GSM crams even more bandwidth saving techniques into the line than the digital service did. Between compression, the 'time slicing', and the cheap ass phones (Primarily the low end LG phones) ATTWS sells, you'd get better sound tying two tin cans together with string.
ATT Wireless was never much better a company anyway. They're both morally bankrupt companies. I work customer service for ATT Wireless, and for the last 6 months, ATTWS management have been saying nothing but 'renew every single contract you possibly can', customer service be damned.
I have the misfortune of actually working for ATT Wireless customer service. You are correct, the North American package is 6.99.
I wish I didn't know that by heart.
Has anyone ever found a rom downloader for SNES similar to what you can do with the GBA? That is, a cartridge you can download ROMs (legal ones only) onto and play on your handheld?
I found one for SNES, but its rather old.. you need to load it with floppy disks (I dont even have a floppy drive anymore - woo death of the floppy).. link here:
SNES development cart
I have a bunch of SNES games I made myself a few years ago I'd love to play on my console.
I love retro gaming, but I hate doing it on my PC
Slashdot Mirror
I'm curious to know how you transitioned from a Helpdesk position to a SysAdmin position. I've been working on a Helpdesk for a few years now, and while I aspire to be a SysAdmin, I'm having a hard time marketing myself as a sysadmin candidate. Any advice?
Contracts - legally binding documents in the same way a rental lease is a legally binding agreement between 2 individuals. Do not fault ATT because you don't read the fine print.
Different answers to same question - I wont contest that, you're absolutely right. The problem goes right up the ladder from the front-line reps to the middle-top management. You ask about a policy/procedure and you'll get one answer from your supervisor. You'll make a change, then a week later get negative feedback from the QUALITY team for making a change you were never allowed to do. It creates an atmosphere on the customer service end where we, the underpaid undertrained reps will tell you whatever "SAFE" answer we can come up with that will result in the lease repercussions.
Insurance - I'm not sure what crack you're smoking, but if your phone is lost or stolen or damaged, lock\line, the insurance company will cover it. The only exceptions are thus: You have to have insurance on your acct for at least 15 days before you can make a claim. Once you make a claim they charge a 35 dollar deductable.
Getting customer service - DIAL 611 on your wireless phone, or the 1-800 number written all over your bill and on the ATT Wireless website. Just because there isn't a button on the phone to call directly doesn't mean the number isn't given to you.
Bills - Again, no argument. I can certainly read the bills just fine. However, I've had public auditors and certified accountants call in who can't make heads or tails of the cryptic billing layout. The trouble is doubled if you've recieved a credit in the last month.
Changing your rate plan - If you do make a change to add a promotion to the line, in most instances you need to accept a new 2 year contract. As far as fixing mistakes in your rate plan from the time of activation, you have until your FIRST FULL INVOICE to make that correction. If you let it go 6 months then call in because of 'our' mistake, that is entirely YOUR FAULT. If you do make that correction in the first month, your contract is not extended.
This is doubly true IF the phone you have was created for personal use and not business use, but you've been using it for business purposes anyway.
Though looking at how much T Mobile charges for it, I wont discount your 'taking a tip' theory. ATTWS charges 1.75 for the Programs Fee, Tmobile charges 86 cents.
My pet peeve is having a customer call me up and know more than me about what promotions are currently going on, or quoting me a price for a phone from someplace, and have MY system read differently. I guess, as reps, we're supposed to 'wing it'.
The lack of information we have as far as what's "going on" is indeed the single reason why hold times are so high. What do you think we're doing when we put you on hold? Frantically pulling up the attwireless website to find out exactly what you saw or searching through our policies to see if what you're telling us is actually allowed. And should we fail to find that information, we have to pull over a supervisor to be sure we CAN match the price you saw.
Also, while on the topic of hold times, if you ever have to call up to troubleshoot your phone from now on, our new "tool" (not disclosed due to NDA) takes about 3 times as long to load, and 5 times as long to get the required information out of.
Exactly the reason why you can't bring your phones over. They're locked for ATT. Though im told you can eBay up a device that will 'unlock' your phone (allowing you to use it anywhere), I've never gone out looking for one.
You have to think that the more you get credited, or the more you get for free, the less you're worth to the company. Getting a second, expensive phone for free makes me suspect that unless you're on a $199 per month or more plan, you're actually costing the company money. You've gone way past the ZERO PROFIT point.
As lousy as your service may have been, I guess you can take the consolation prize that ATT Wireless is providing you service at a LOSS to themselves.
That's not really the fault of ATTWS, so much as it is the way cellular technology is going. GSM crams even more bandwidth saving techniques into the line than the digital service did. Between compression, the 'time slicing', and the cheap ass phones (Primarily the low end LG phones) ATTWS sells, you'd get better sound tying two tin cans together with string.
ATT Wireless was never much better a company anyway. They're both morally bankrupt companies. I work customer service for ATT Wireless, and for the last 6 months, ATTWS management have been saying nothing but 'renew every single contract you possibly can', customer service be damned.
I have the misfortune of actually working for ATT Wireless customer service. You are correct, the North American package is 6.99. I wish I didn't know that by heart.
SNES development cart I have a bunch of SNES games I made myself a few years ago I'd love to play on my console. I love retro gaming, but I hate doing it on my PC
To make a monitor large enough to use that picture as it's background.