The Vent and Rant Thread

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

They don't know any "unnecessary information".

First line phone support works from a script, and tries to make everything fit the script. They can be derailed fairly easily.

I try to make it clear when calling that I'm a tech, and get escalated to a higher level.
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Dennis

Dennis you or perhaps your company may be atypical -- what I'm describing is what is see as standard operating procedure for most companies these days. Never go outside the lines, never offer to go beyond, never provide any information unless asked...always cover your ass...and yes at all levels from the secretary to the CEO.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by dsvick

It's not so much that I expected it to be covered, as it was wishful thinking. We gotten the extended warranty and I knew it was going to be close - at least it wasn't the day after it stopped working - that would really have been upsetting.

You're right about what it would do if I replaced it every year. I'm just really ticked that they can't fix a problem that they've know about and make something last for more than a few years. We'll probably not buy a new one, I'll write my letter telling them we're not, they'll read it and file it with the rest of them that they are ignoring.... sigh.

I understand and feel for you!

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

First line phone support works from a script, and tries to make everything fit the script. They can be derailed fairly easily.

My favourite run in with scripted first line support happened about 4 years back. We thought the old air conditioning unit in the ceiling of the comms room had been properly taken out of service - turned out it hadn't, and it chucked a load of water all over several servers and soaked the carpet (yup, that comms room had a carpet - our new one doesn't). One server in particular was drenched. So we called HP and asked them to supply some bits under our support contract so we could basically rebuild the server from back ups.

I spent about 10 minutes trying to get the guy on the other end of the phone to deviate from his script enough so that he could either help me or put me through to someone who could. After the detail taking pleasantries, and after me explaining the situation, he asked me what happened when I turned the server on. I pointed out that it was full of water, and usually mixing electricity with water didn't mix. I admit that I was probably too flippant with him the first time. The second, third, fourth and fifth times I was a lot more clear. It got to the point that I was repeating back to him what he said, almost ("So you want me to turn the server, which I have said is full of water, on to see what happens?" - my colleagues were in states of hysterics and/or disbelief). About the 6th attempt he started to deviate, but it was like it had a magnetic pull and he still kept asking what happened if I turned it on. At this point I was getting worried for his sanity as he was tying himself up in knots with contradictions and obviously trying to help whilst not deviating from the script. Towards the very end of this the HR manager walked in - her suggestion was that I should have asked him to come round and turn it on.

[kindlekitten]

from India?

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

It was either India or France

(edited to add: It's not that I can't tell the two apart, but I can't remember when HP switched their support from the one country to the other)

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

My favourite run in with scripted first line support happened about 4 years back. We thought the old air conditioning unit in the ceiling of the comms room had been properly taken out of service - turned out it hadn't, and it chucked a load of water all over several servers and soaked the carpet (yup, that comms room had a carpet - our new one doesn't). One server in particular was drenched. So we called HP and asked them to supply some bits under our support contract so we could basically rebuild the server from back ups.

I had relatively pleasant experiences with HP support, but I haven't had to call them in quite some time. I believe their support was still US based when I did.

The last vendor support line I had to call was Dell, but it was for a rack mount server, so I didn't get the outsourced to India consumer operation. Dell had shifted to Perq 6 controllers on that model, and the version of Linux we were running lacked the drivers and didn't see them. I had to download and install a newer release. My boss preferred to stay behind the curve in that area, but had no choice in this case. The Dell rep knew his business, and the experience was fairly painless.

The worst horror story I ran into was years back, dealing with AT&T's National Support hotline back when AT&T was in the computer business. It was normally a first class operation and a pleasure to deal with, but there are always exceptions. In this case, the exception was an Asian woman who would listen to my problem, require several repeats in different fashions till she understood the problem, then turn to a co-worker to get the answer, till I finally said "Just hand me to the person you're talking to and get out of the loop." Next time I called, I said "I'll speak to anyone but X", and said she needed to go back for re-certification of her command of English and her knowledge of their flavor of Unix.

The funniest happened when dealing with MCI over issues with a T1 I was trying to get working with some CPE. The tech I was talking to was conferenced in with an account rep and they were having a discussion about who had or had not done what when I interrupted to say "The customer is still on the line and listening in!" Oops...
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Dennis you or perhaps your company may be atypical -- what I'm describing is what is see as standard operating procedure for most companies these days. Never go outside the lines, never offer to go beyond, never provide any information unless asked...always cover your ass...and yes at all levels from the secretary to the CEO.

Depends on the company and what you're calling about. I'm a tech doing systems/network/telecom admin, and the folks I have to talk to are a bit higher on the evolutionary scale than the consumer support operations outsourced to India. I may have to jump through a few policy mandated hoops and do again diagnostic stuff I've already done before calling when I have a tech on the line before he's allowed to escalate it, but that's not his fault and I display appropriate patience.

But I can generally get the answers I need, and there's a limit to the ass covering support can do without pissing off the customer and losing sales. For commodity items like gaming consoles or home PCs, they may not care. For higher end stuff, it's a bit different.
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Dennis

[kennyc]

As I said. Your take on things is different than mine.

(and apparently others based on how this discussion started)

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

...Ever heard of black flies?...

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

Nah - I'll just wear long trousers and sleeves ...

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

No,no, no, no... They creep inside your clothing. You have to duct tape every entrance. When it's 80, you know why they call it northern hell...

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by recluse

That's farking beautiful, that is.
Every word is pure poetry.
Every sentence a song.
And yet, as a whole, pure gibberish.
You have a talent, Marc.

Jon

That's just the way I roll, mate.

Cheers,
Marc (poster of poetic prattle)

[Verencat]

WDE, that's exactly the video I had in mind when I saw that conversation - you posted it a while ago didn't you? The song stayed with me, I can't hear the words "black fly" without starting humming it...
Very positive twist on a very annoying thing!

[kindlekitten]

grrrrrr! the state of California owes me $6000. they ADMIT they owe me the money and are dragging their heels getting it to me. I'm down to a couple hundred in the bank ;o(

[Druid_Elf]

Pfffff ... hell of a few days.
Doing an upgrade of datastage, which according to the manual is quite straight forward. (would be the first time with an ibm product I thought)
Attempt 1 ended in the complete chaos, as the rollback of the upgrade installed over the earlier version and decided that rollback = delete all installed files.
No backup was present so everything needed to be re-installed.
Then you raise a ticket by IBM.
Meanwhile attempt 2 was ongoing (this time I made a backup ). Attempt 2 failed also.
Finally IBM support answers with, "Don't do an upgrade do a clean install".
Then why the h*ll do they write a 15 page manual on how to do the upgrade you bunch of *******
And today a 3rd attempt which also failed ... Really .. stay as faaaaar away from IBM as you can ..
sorry if it's polluting the topic ... but anyways hope everybody else his/her day will be splendid

[Laz116]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

grrrrrr! the state of California owes me $6000. they ADMIT they owe me the money and are dragging their heels getting it to me. I'm down to a couple hundred in the bank ;o(

Well they have trouble with their finances as well, you know.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

grrrrrr! the state of California owes me $6000. they ADMIT they owe me the money and are dragging their heels getting it to me. I'm down to a couple hundred in the bank ;o(

Originally Posted by Laz116

Well they have trouble with their finances as well, you know.

Unfortunately true!

They've also got a very high percentage of million/billionaires -- they should tap in!