Community weekly poll: What's your biggest gripe about tech support?
- 11/23/05 11:15 AM
other: most tech support for idiots. GOOGLE it first!
by PJP - 2/2/05 10:19 AM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Tech support is usually geared to idiots!
"Have you plugged in . . .
"run these virus checkers . . .
"update your drivers . . .
And not those on the right side of the bell curve and have already spend hrs./days going thru all the known raindances.
There should be a screening process so those who have already plugged X in and checked for all the naughty-ware can get to the issue rather than re-inventing the wheel.
Over 95% of my "tech support" time hardly gets me back to where I was before I called.
Assuming you can get on line, 1st GOOGLE the issue, be specific, chances are 100's are having the same issue and some have solved it!
support
by moxie - 2/2/05 10:23 AM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
my horrors story is when you are dealing with the phone company who you have the internet sevice from my brother took his computer from my house where he had it sit up to my sister to game feast with her and friends when he brought back to my house you couldnot used the email it said error .so i called the company and told them that i couldnot get to the email every time i try it would come up with a different reason why it would not work .It would said error,or missing password ,invald password no password on record .The support person keep telling me it have to be on your computer .there have to something wrong with your computer it is not us it have to be something wrong with your computer they was no help at all !!! So my brother took his computer to a friends house and gusse what it work great on some other phone company so it was not the computer it was the sever and not the computer as the person keeping telling me .As soon as i could i change severs and and didnot have the trouble i did with them dad10115
Non English support
by slayerf652 - 2/2/05 11:30 AM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had the joy of calling Dell's support. They're in India and believe the "escapee"(no typo) key will fix all. Even a fan or a failed hard drive. My solution is simple. Ask to have your called transferred back to support in Tennessee. There you will find knowledgable, English speaking staff. Dell never mentions in there ads that support is 6,000 miles away.
The Bottom Line
by highcloud - 2/2/05 6:24 PM In reply to: Non English support by slayerf652To the majority of all who posted to this topic: Please write your congressman/women. Its not just tech support, it is your bank, credit card your power bill. Isn't it just a little bit scary that people all over the world have your personal info? Also it is people who came to this county on extended visas(H-1B) and work in this country for less than you or I would, and our goverment welcomes this. If you really are concerned check out this website http://www.techsunite.org/news/ It's not about not understanding the people on the other end of the phone. Its more about human rights. Call Centers in other countries are nothing but sweat shops of old. Not fair to them not fair to us. What will happen when all the ISP's send their support elsewhere? Send all our bank reps somewhere else? Pretty soon no one here will be able to buy their services because we are all unemployed. Maybe then they will get the message. What will they do, sell their services to the people in other countries that already can't afford to feed their families because of the bare wages they pay them? Hope the big three monitored this message board.
Tech Support
by jazzpromoter - 2/2/05 12:39 PM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Why can't people who live in the United States learn to speak the language? It seems to me that companies do not want people to use 'tech support', otherwise, they would have tech people (on the phone)that do not have such a strong 'accent'! And who was the idiot that came up with the 'automated support' telephone answering system? This person is worthless!
Too expensive to call
by CharlesAugustus - 2/2/05 1:44 PM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have read many of the posts, but my complaint (which I typed "other") doesn't seem to come up. Perhaps it is just too ordinary or hopeless.
My complaint is the cost of calling for tech support. Some companies, such as Earthlink, are free, which is terrific. Others cost so much that it isn't worth the price and, consequently, they have lost me as a customer.
For instance, Netscape. The last time I checked, they charge $32 for a call, but not merely a call, a problem. Theoretically, two problems is $64. As I wound up having, perhaps, ten problems with their E-mail and browsers 7.0 and 7.1, I simply quit Netscape and moved on to Firefox.
This strikes me as being impenetrably stupid. They have priced themselves out of a customer.
The same complaint pertains to Microsoft, which is not so easy to get around.
Two more problems pertain to this, First, I like speaking to a human being, not sending E-mails when I have a problem. I'm old-fashioned that way. Second, E-mails are not replied to.
Questions: Does anyone think they care? Is there any hope?
Customer Support? In Which Language? It's Not Our Problem...
by sistaT - 2/3/05 10:11 AM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Like many of you, I've had the misfortune of experiencing multiple re-directed calls (to customer tech support)to every country, other than the US. I too agree that there are brilliant minds, all over our world. But when I'm trying to handle a delicate computer problem, I NEED to understand every word(in English), to the letter, in order to solve it! Not only have I experienced BAD customer support; but I find that each hardware/software rep. wants to blame every problem on other software vendors->after they've run out of "PRE-WRITTEN RESOLUTION SCRIPTS!"
And F.Y.I.to the "Vendors">the answer to a software problem is NOT to "SAVE" all our "precious info"> then proceed to "COMPLETELY ERASE" everything> then start with a "FRESH NEW INSTALL"> EVERY TIME! If they're working in "tech support", aren't they suppose to be educated in their own products from "A-Z" not just
"A-B"???
I know the feeling
by nicole_rod - 2/10/05 2:10 AM In reply to: Customer Support? In Which Language? It's Not Our Problem... by sistaTI know the feeling. I had problems with my my computer and called the company and got someone in India the first time and someone in Malaysia the second time. I couldn't understand everything they were saying and felt a bit rude to keep asking them to repeat. After all the frustration I joined this site where they give you 24/7 tech support and you can actually understand them and they give you good advice and don't pass the blame. Take a look cause its helps out heap. http://rodrigues.juvio.com
I have been there!
by lauren - 2/3/05 10:56 AM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Lee Koo: Take it from an expert! I made a valiant attempt at supporting customers (IBM & HP/Q)when I lived in Broward County Florida. There are several problems, one of which is the company I worked for was a sub-contractor. Sub's unfortunately are not the Original organization with sincere knowledge and interest in the consumer. The Sub is an organization in the USA or Off Shore (India for the most part), paid to accept customer calls and solve their problems. "NOT GOOD"
The Sub's all have to make money, and the way they do it is to LIMIT the help desk personnel to 10 minutes on an individual case. After 10 minutes the Sub is on their own, and they do not make any money on long winded calls, in short it is their nickel now. Turn over is great because sincere people like me have a feeling for the customer and wish to help solve the problems, regardless of the time spent on the issue. Management MONITORS all calls and times the personnel. We get an X on our weekly report next to the time if we are over. Everyone sees these reports and if we get too many X's we are chewed out. The end-result is poor service, and people less knowledgeable. Why is our service bad, because help desk personnel are robots. They have no clue as to how to solve problems. The reason is because they sit all day at a small cramped desk in a stall with a computer keyboard & screen. When a question is asked, they seek a Key Word that opens a page with data regarding the customers problem. Since the customer (caller) actually has limited knowledge of the problem, they tend to hit and miss, and they may not tell the help desk person the PIN POINT problem. In this case the desk personnels tend to keep doing searches on key words, and eventually get the correct solution. Many times the solution is incorrect, and now the customer is in a fix. What to DO? Easy, said the help desk individual, "I cannot find the solution, SO!, I know what to do." Help Desk: " The answer is! "Reformat the drive of course, that solves everything."
I just got hit with something I can't really believe
by gonavy - 2/21/05 4:53 PM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
In Aug I converted from Quicken 2001 to 2005 & have encountered memory problems ever since. After at least 9 (non)tech support calls, I was informed that the problem was in my configuration rather than in their software. I had asked to be escalated to Level 2, but the Level 2 people refused to talk to me!!
When I retired several years ago, I was an Information Systems Officer, & if any of my staff had pulled that on our customers, they would have been out the door - probably with a boot print on their rear ends.
As soon as I've calmed down enough to be coherent, I'm going to write a couple of nasty letters & start a conversion to Microsoft Word.
Oh yes, it's all because of the language problem!!
by xfile - 11/25/05 1:28 AM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I really don't think language is an issue, and I suspect people are using language as a convenient excuse for their hatred and protectionism.
In my own multinational experiences of dealing with tech supports in many countries (as an advanced business user but not an "engineer"), I found it's a common problem for support engineers don't listen to what customers say - no matter what is their native language is. Yes, that includes those who speak English perfectly.
Communication is not just about the language, it's about training and working attitude. As always, it's much easier to blame others but that can't change the fact for which we know.
Tech Support Gripes
by FLATFOOT - 11/25/05 1:40 AM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The great majority of them do not understand English, or possess the basic ability to converse in the English language. Companies such as HP who were started, and became giants, because of American technology and purchasing power, have turned their back on the American consumer by attempting (and doing a **** poor job) providing off shore support.
They may claim surveys of satisfaction. I could do the same if I ran a survey.
Technical Help online ordirect
by jcpenny - 11/25/05 2:09 AM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
25nov05 Was recently very surprised find out that the guys answering Support calls, in residence in Canada for USA companies. They did Not know anything about
the product _only there to find which email wouldcould
be tranmitted as a responce: NO tech in that support Office. Not to name the org it handles Solaris 10
All their efforts seem to direct us to an alreaaddy
FAQ Forum etc or already Printed formats (
generic troubleshooting tree
by vinyard1973 - 11/25/05 2:30 AM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I used to call tech supports in the early days of my computing experience and found that all tech supports use some type off generic fault isolation tree. What's your problem? My cd drive isn't listed under my comp!! Is you cd drive plugged in? Yes, i told you it was working. Oh , well, is the ide cable plugged in to the motherboard? OMG, i hung up. That was a real conversation i had with someone from Compaq years ago. They must teach those tech support folks to forego any use of intuitive thinking in place of a bunch of plastic coated charts. Bottom line......google the error, do your own research, feel better about solving your own problem!!!
DELL Non-Support
by mgfredkick - 11/25/05 2:43 AM In reply to: What's your biggest gripe about tech support? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
After long, long waitsyou finally get someone on the line, only to wait somemore while the so called Tech looks it up on His/Her Help-Desk, than you must call for an interpreter, to understand what he/she said, if it is OEM software forget it. I think Dell want you to purchase it's out rageously priced software support package. In short Dell went from the Best Custumer Service to non-support. M.G. Fred
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