The top ten peeves of a support tech.
Oh, yeah. Definitely. Especailly #4 …
#4 Being treated like a user by tech support from another company.
I dread problems that result in a call to the manufacturer’s tech support department. I will experiment, read manuals, Google the error message, and sacrifice chickens on the keyboard before I will call a tech support number for a problem I can’t resolve. My pride simply can’t handle answering the most basic questions: Have you checked that the printer is in fact plugged in and turned on? ARRRGGGH. Get me out of here. Please, please, please, put me straight through to your highest support level because I can guarantee that I have tried everything you are going to suggest at least three times. Oh wait, never mind, the power strip was turned off….
Actually, I don’t mind being asked if I’ve done something, it’s being walked through how to test it without asking me first. Granted, they’re usually following a script, but …
(via GeekPress)
Mindless script-following can be irritating. While troubleshooting an intermittent network scanning problem recently, a DELL supportcreature had me go through an elaborate menu that ended with verifying that “Network scanning = enabled”. At that point confess that I did get a little testy: “I told you it’s an intermittent problem! If scanning were disabled it would never work!” It turned out to be a NIC problem and they sent me a new machine which works fine.
Later the same week I had one of those same devices that was misfeeding paper. The take-up roller had deteriorated and I called for a new roller (it just clips over the shaft).
“We’ll send you a new machine.”
“But all I need is the roller!” (The machine was practically new)
“Well, you have gold-level service – we send out machines, not parts.”
“But it only takes ten seconds to clip in a new roller and nearly an hour to replace the machine!”
“Well, that’s the kind of service you have.”
Sheesh.
It’s important to remember that a lot of these sorts of things are meant much more as conveniences for the service provider, not the customer. Scripts mean they can have lower-trained, less-knowledgeable people. unit-level replacement means they can reduce the number of component sorts they carry.