The Vent and Rant Thread

[Toxaris]

You would be surprised how many problems are fixed when they follow the scripts. I heard percentages between 75% and 85%. I also find them annoying, but if these percentages are correct, I cannot blame them.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

You would be surprised how many problems are fixed when they follow the scripts. I heard percentages between 75% and 85%.

They're

I used to build and operate turnkey call-centre's with EDS and HP. I recall one client appointing a new zero-experience call-centre manager who gave the operators carte-blanche - call-times and operator absences sky-rocketed, customer satisfaction levels plummeted. Took us more than a month to find a new manager and get things back on an even keel.

Similarly for outbound sales calls - if you don't follow the script you're unlikely to close the sale.

For tech support, I prefer on-line chats (on a mobile device) to voice telephone calls. The caller and operator are not trying to fill gaps with patter or irrelevances and it eliminates problems due to accents etc.

BR

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

You would be surprised how many problems are fixed when they follow the scripts. I heard percentages between 75% and 85%. I also find them annoying, but if these percentages are correct, I cannot blame them.

I used to be uber-annoyed by that stuff, too--but that was before I owned a business that wastes spends a lot of time providing unpaid tech support. You know what? You do use a script. Why? Because 96% of people are making basic, fundamental mistakes, and making them over and over again. You think that you did X, but maybe you did X without accounting for Y, or whatever.

We all like to think that "we're the smart ones," but the reality is, we all make the occasional dumb mistake, and we all do things whilst overlooking something else. Believe me, I'd actually be pretty happy if I had a NEW and improved tech mistake to deal with. As monotonous as it is, yes, I start every conversation with a client that needs tech support exactly the same, because 9x out of 10, they've made the same mistake as the last 99 people.


Hitch

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I used to be uber-annoyed by that stuff, too--but that was before I owned a business that wastes spends a lot of time providing unpaid tech support. You know what? You do use a script. Why? Because 96% of people are making basic, fundamental mistakes, and making them over and over again. You think that you did X, but maybe you did X without accounting for Y, or whatever.

We all like to think that "we're the smart ones," but the reality is, we all make the occasional dumb mistake, and we all do things whilst overlooking something else. Believe me, I'd actually be pretty happy if I had a NEW and improved tech mistake to deal with. As monotonous as it is, yes, I start every conversation with a client that needs tech support exactly the same, because 9x out of 10, they've made the same mistake as the last 99 people.


Hitch

When you call the third time for the same problem? The best time was when one of the steps was: "Reinstall windows" because I had internet problems. My answer was: "No way" (Ni de coña).

[4691mls]

I understand going through a script if it's basic troubleshooting steps, to make sure no steps are skipped.

The script I hate is the forced, fake-empathy "I understand, I know your service is important to you, blah blah blah". Unless they hire better actors to make it sound genuine, they should scrap it. I have run into this with chat support as well as on the phone.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I understand going through a script if it's basic troubleshooting steps, to make sure no steps are skipped.

The script I hate is the forced, fake-empathy "I understand, I know your service is important to you, blah blah blah". Unless they hire better actors to make it sound genuine, they should scrap it. I have run into this with chat support as well as on the phone.

Well, you certainly never have to deal with that at my shop, fersure. I tend to tell you "well, if you'd read the damn instructions we provide, this wouldn't happen." Ixnay on sympathy at our end! :-)

Hitch

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

You would be surprised how many problems are fixed when they follow the scripts. I heard percentages between 75% and 85%. I also find them annoying, but if these percentages are correct, I cannot blame them.

I would not be surprised at all, because I've been tech support.

I mentally classed users in three categories:
1) Had a clue
2) Clueless
3) Brain dead, and how did someone this stupid survive to reach adulthood?

Most were in the second category.

One of the things I did was set up user access to systems I administered. I ripped out the default menu interface, and made access keyed to userid. Different classes of users got different access, and the set up put them directly into the program they would use when logged on, and signed them out when they exited the program. (They were Unix systems, accessed via terminals or terminal emulators.)

My experience for decades was that when users got choices, they tended to pick the wrong one, so don't give them a choice.

I understand tech support has to follow scripts, and try not to get annoyed. I did have one apologize for making me do things I'd already done to try to fix the problem while I was on the phone with him, but he was required by policy to do it.

I did discover it sometimes helped to make clear when I called that I was a tech, and that my call would probably have to be escalated to the next support tier.

My first broadband was DSL via what is now Verizon. The telco screwed up everything that could be screwed up in the install and it took three months from placement of order to working installation.

(I spent an hour on hold during a slow afternoon at the office till I could reach a live human being and begin the process. My boss came into my office later and said "I heard you on the the phone with Bell Atlantic. I'm sorry you had to got through that!" I said "Larry, it's okay. They are idiots with their heads up their butts. I deal with that as your telecom administrator, but you pay me for it!" )

One of the questions I had once up was using DSL under Linux. A tech I spoke to in email said "You didn't hear this from me, but..." and provided a URL to a site whose owner was using DSL under Linux, and documented how he did it. It was one tech to another, outside of the standard procedures.

A former coworker had a problem I really sympathized with. He had broadband, and like the rest to the known world, plugged a wireless router into his broadband connection. If he had to call support and the problem required a tech visit, they wouldn't touch it unless his primary PC was plugged directly into the broadband connector. If they saw a router in the mix they woudn't proceed. Given the number of cases where a router configuration issue was the likely problem, that was really helpful...
______
Dennis

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Well, you certainly never have to deal with that at my shop, fersure. I tend to tell you "well, if you'd read the damn instructions we provide, this wouldn't happen." Ixnay on sympathy at our end! :-)

Hitch

I just want tech support to say "just to confirm, your problem is x____" and start moving on to fix it. A happy medium between the fake sympathy and "you're an idiot"

[poohbear_nc]

My recent experience with Time Warner/Spectrum phone support:

After shouting my way through the initial voice recognition recordings to get to a (presumably) live person:

Me: My old cable modem overheated and melted.

TW: Please unplug your modem and plug it back in.

Me: The modem has melted. I have no intention of plugging it back into my home electrical system.

TW: Is it online now?

Me: No. It melted and I unplugged the power cord and the internet cable.

TW: Please plug in the internet connection so I can remotely log in and diagnose your problem.

Me: *put down the phone and make some clanking noise on my desk*
OK, it's plugged back onto the internet connection. (It's not)

TW: Thank you. Yes, I can see your problem now. We will send you a replacement modem. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

This really happened ....

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

TW: Please plug in the internet connection so I can remotely log in and diagnose your problem.

Me: *put down the phone and make some clanking noise on my desk*
OK, it's plugged back onto the internet connection. (It's not)

TW: Thank you. Yes, I can see your problem now. We will send you a replacement modem. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

This really happened ....

I totally believe it! Dealing with ISPs is easily my LEAST favourite tech support. Because I already know WAY more than they do about this stuff. If I call you, it's because YOUR equipment is horked. Not mine. And yes, I've already done ALL the things on your little script.

The good new is, my latest ISP seems to _sometimes_ get it. The last time I called, I was able to get past all that script stuff by saying "I'm an IT manager, have been for >20 years, and I've written >3 dozen books on this stuff, so can we just skip past all that and you look at your fibre 'modem' and verify that you can see it and it doesn't need a firmware update? Please?"

He did, verified that it had current firmware, and then sent the local tech out to replace the modem. Tech walked in, took one look at my setup, and swapped out the modem, no questions asked. Sure enough, that fixed it. I went from 30k download speed back up to the 250k both ways that I'm paying for.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I just want tech support to say "just to confirm, your problem is x____" and start moving on to fix it. A happy medium between the fake sympathy and "you're an idiot"

Well, in my defense, we TELL our clients, upfront, "Yes, we know that these instructions are long. we're sorry about that, but unfortunately, 99% of our publishers who come to us for print and eBooks, have never done this before, and don't have a) the software to review the ebooks, or b) the knowledge of what to look for, when they do review them. That makes our instructions sort of tediously long, because we have to direct you to a) the software, b) instructions to install it; c) the ebook files for you book; d) the instructions to open those in the readers, and d) the Guides that we've made, that tell you what to expect, in the eBooks, when you review them, so that you don't waste your time, or ours, reporting "conversion errors" that aren't."

I mean...we DO tell them why the instructions are long, and we also tell them, "if, before you came to us, you downloaded and reviewed other Ebooks, so that you are familiar with using them, and know what eBooks do, and don't do, then you can ignore all these instructions."

NOBODY downloads the Guides; NOBODY reads the instructions. NOBODY bothers. It's a source of constant infuriation for me. I fail, utterly, to see why my time is impinged, because they won't/can't/don't RTFI.

So, yeah...when they call me, whingeing and complaining, I tell them that if they'd bothered, they'd be reading their eBooks now, instead of wasting my time, because they haven't (read the instructions), just to have em TELL THEM the same s**t that's in the d**m instructions.

Hitch

[wodin]

Before TWC was bought by Spectrum I had several occasions to call tech support. Invariably I spoke with a friendly young (presumably) lady somewhere in the Caribbean, I recall St. John, US Virgin Islands and Barbados but there were also a couple of others. All spoke fluent English with only a slight accent and were extremely patient and helpful, and even gave me tips to reduce my bill.

Now that it's Spectrum I haven't needed tech support os I can't comment on them.

[4691mls]

My typical problem has been internet either cuts out intermittently or altogether, I call for help, they have me restart my equipment, then they do whatever checks they can do from a distance. Then they make an appointment to send a tech a few days later, warning me that if the problem is in the lines inside my home there will be a charge. Then sometime in the next day or two I get a message canceling my appointment because they found and fixed a problem with their equipment in my neighborhood. I think this has happened 3 times in 3 years, always in the summer.

[issybird]

Perhaps it's time to move this discussion to the Technology Vent and Rant Thread?

[4691mls]

I thought the tech thread was for topics that were really technical and beyond the knowledge of us average posters?

I think what we've been venting and ranting about here is the customer service aspect of dealing with service providers.