Why Tech Support Is (Purposely) Unbearable 209
HughPickens.com writes: Getting caught in a tech support loop -- waiting on hold, interacting with automated systems, talking to people reading from unhelpful scripts and then finding yourself on hold yet again -- is a peculiar kind of aggravation that mental health experts say can provoke rage in even the most mild-mannered person. Now Kate Murphy writes at the NYT that just as you suspected, companies are aware of the torture they are putting you through as 92 percent of customer service managers say their agents could be more effective and 74 percent say their company procedures prevented agents from providing satisfactory experiences. "Don't think companies haven't studied how far they can take things in providing the minimal level of service," says Justin Robbins, who was once a tech support agent himself and now oversees research and editorial at ICMI. "Some organizations have even monetized it by intentionally engineering it so you have to wait an hour at least to speak to someone in support, and while you are on hold, you're hearing messages like, 'If you'd like premium support, call this number and for a fee, we will get to you immediately.'" Mental health experts say there are ways to get better tech support or maybe just make it more bearable. First, do whatever it takes to control your temper. Take a deep breath. Count to 10. Losing your stack at a consumer support agent is not going to get your problem resolved any faster and being negative in your dealings with others can quickly paint you as a complainer no one wants to work with. Don't bother demanding to speak to a supervisor, either. You're just going to get transferred to another agent who has been alerted ahead of time that you have come unhinged. To get better service by phone, dial the prompt designated for "sales" or "to place an order," which almost always gets you an onshore agent, while tech support is usually offshore with the associated language difficulties. Finally customer support experts recommended using social media, like tweeting or sending a Facebook message, to contact a company instead of calling. You are likely to get a quicker response, not only because fewer people try that channel but also because your use of social media shows that you know how to vent your frustration to a wider audience if your needs are not met.
tl;dr (Score:2, Insightful)
companies would rather you used cheaper online resources or online chat instead because anyone who calls support costs them money.
Kinda (Score:5, Informative)
There is a balance point in any support function. If you are too helpful and too quick, the user will never learn and will call you each and every time they get in a bind, even if they've been in that bind multiple times.
We are very helpful the first time around and as part of resolving the issue, provide copious links to online training materials specific to the issue they experienced.
The next time, we simple provide citations to where they can read the solution to the problems. Eventually, they don't have to call anymore.
Yes, there are some idiots who just don't take the hint or just can't fathom the materials (often times, inept executives), but the solution there is to refer them to a peer who has been designated as an "expert".
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Consider yourself lucky you even have such materials to refer users to. Most of the "manuals" and "training material" I see today, even for products from well established technology leaders are complete unintelligible/unhelpful crap. I'm always having to file tickets (or in some lucky cases just ask my SE) whether some weird behavior or another is intentional, or a bug, because the manual for feature "foobar" just says "makes a foobar".
Re: tl;dr (Score:3, Insightful)
Wrong.
Only the phones get you the full, real time attention of an agent. Email becomes unbearable if there are more than 1 or two rounds of back and forth. Web chat? 1 agent is probably multitasking between 5+ chats...they won't be doing any deep thinking any time soon...
Re: tl;dr (Score:5, Interesting)
Only the phones get you the full, real time attention of an agent.
The people put on phone support are at the absolute bottom of the hierarchy. They are the least knowledgeable about your problem, and the least empowered to do anything about. Oh, and they also hate you.
Email becomes unbearable if there are more than 1 or two rounds of back and forth.
Except that the email likely contains a cut-and-paste that may solve your problem, or at least a helpful web link. Likewise, with chat, you can send a cut-and-paste of your error message, or a screen shot. That is much more likely to lead to a solution. The people doing chat support have been promoted from the phones, and the people doing email support are higher still. These are the people that can actually solve your problem.
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Except that the email likely contains a cut-and-paste that may solve your problem
... or a cut and paste that answers a situation that is similar to yours, but not identical, and so doesn't help you at all, and might even mislead.
or at least a helpful web link
... if such existed, you'd probably already have found it by googling. So chances are, that the web link might be just as misleading. ... or they might not actually respond to your mail in the first place.
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Or, even worse, a cut and paste that answers a completely different situation and it should have been obvious to anyone reading the original question that the cut&paste is not helpful at all.
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Only the phones get you the full, real time attention of an agent.
The people put on phone support are at the absolute bottom of the hierarchy. They are the least knowledgeable about your problem, and the least empowered to do anything about. Oh, and they also hate you.
Yeeeees... and again, that is exactly the problem - companies don't value their customers enough to properly support their products or services. How do you think it is that AT&T or Comcast are reaping record profits? It sure as hell isn't because they offer service that is superior to their "competitors".
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Wrong. Only the phones get you the full, real time attention of an agent. Email becomes unbearable if there are more than 1 or two rounds of back and forth. Web chat? 1 agent is probably multitasking between 5+ chats...they won't be doing any deep thinking any time soon...
I'm always suspicious if you webchat it's even a person and not some bot.
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I'm always suspicious if you webchat it's even a person and not some bot.
If you can't tell the difference, why would it matter?
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If a machine can help me solve a problem better than a person can, please please let me chat with the machine.
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If you can't tell the difference, why would it matter?
Do you say so that I think that why would it matter?
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Re:tl;dr (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:tl;dr (Score:5, Insightful)
A telephone is a totally inappropriate medium for resolving technical support issues. Most intelligent customers are aware of that, and use email, web resources, or, as a last resort, text chat.
OK, your internet is down. How do you contact tech support? Smoke signs? Travelling pigeons?
Idiot!
Re:tl;dr (Score:4, Insightful)
Try making a phone call when you're on one of those increasingly popular VOIP-connections, then. If my internet were down, I couldn't use my landline, either.
How do you contact tech support?
You use an alternate way of connecting to the internet, of course. Your cellphone, for example. We're not in the 1990s anymore, where "internet connections" are few and far between.
Idiot!
Don't blame your lack of creativity and problem-solving skills on others, please.
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OK, your internet is down
Try making a phone call when you're on one of those increasingly popular VOIP-connections, then. If my internet were down, I couldn't use my landline, either.
How do you contact tech support?
You use an alternate way of connecting to the internet, of course. Your cellphone, for example. We're not in the 1990s anymore, where "internet connections" are few and far between.
If you have a cell phone, why would having VOIP connection stop you from calling?
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The premise was that calling is not optimal and email or text chat should be preferred. Sure, with a cell phone you could call tech support, but if the problem can be resolved more quickly by email or text chat, you could use the internet connection of the phone for that purpose.
From my experience, calling tech support with a cell phone is even more of a nightmare than calling from a a landline due to the inferior quality.
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If you have a cell phone, why would having VOIP connection stop you from calling?
The premise was that calling is not optimal and email or text chat should be preferred. Sure, with a cell phone you could call tech support, but if the problem can be resolved more quickly by email or text chat, you could use the internet connection of the phone for that purpose.
From my experience, calling tech support with a cell phone is even more of a nightmare than calling from a a landline due to the inferior quality.
But that would be a problem with the signal and only if you live in the boondocks.
The crux of the problem is in the process of getting your call received and processed, talking to the rep on the other line, etc. That is an invariant whether you call from a land line or a cell phone (who in metro areas have a land line nowadays?) Signal quality takes the back seat on this.
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Re: What typically happens (Score:4, Insightful)
This pretty much sums it up. Metrics are bs, we've known this for a long time. Perhaps we simply are looking at the wrong metrics, but clearly no one has fixed the problem with them yet.
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There's a viable business to be had for computer guys here.
People will pay you money just so they don't have to talk to "Michael" with the very strong accent, and go through that tech support nightmare.
You act as an agent - and aside from giving the personal touch, you might be able to look at the customer's exact problem in person and then go on to speak the same tech language to the offshore guy.
The problem with that is then you're stuck talking to the offshore guy (I broke a desk phone handset slamming it so hard in frustration once.).
Re: What typically happens (Score:5, Interesting)
I can understand this. I bought an HP multi-function device which was defective. On its first and any subsequent power-up it gave an error. It took approximately 40 minutes to go through its power up routine and get to the error.
The support made me go this process twice. Once with the first level support and again with the second level. The second level support did not ask me to do anything different. I wasted 40 minutes of my life because the second level support apparently did not communicate with (or perhaps did not believe) the first level support.
My level of frustration at the end of this was very high.
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Remember, Sheldon spent two-and-a-half hours on hold with Hewlett-Packard customer service just to complain about their customer service.
Re: What typically happens (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: What typically happens (Score:4, Interesting)
My girlfriend used the Microsoft Surface tech support chat. He told her he wanted to her to hold down a button combination to fix her problem (pen wasn't working). He didn't tell her what that combination will do.
After her device reset to their credit when she got back to the tech support website it opened the previous chat.
Also to their credit the guy didn't abort the call.
Not to their credit the tech support guy couldn't figure out why she wasn't responding and had typed "hello" over and over again into the chat box, and then seem to be in utter surprise when my girlfriend mentioned of course she couldn't respond he just asked her to reboot the only computer she had in the house.
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The place I work for purchases software through Autodesk, which they pay about 20k a year in subscription cost for, yet if I have to call them I first get a person in India and then if I ask for the "American" call center I get a person in Costa
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There's a viable business to be had for computer guys here.
No there isn't. People want their Lower Prices Everyday[TM] too much. They'd rather trust that they won't need help that they have to pay for.
Besides, we know that companies don't really want to discourage customers calling for service.
<sarcasm>
Because they want us to take their survey about how good our experience was.
</sarcasm>
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they'll still be haggling with you to try rebooting it and doing tests you've already done.
Yup...and asking for tech support dumps that expose device crypto keys and credentials.
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During the Raj, it was Welsh soldiers who typically got sent to India, and something very peculiar happened- Indians, of different actual languages and widely separated in distance, began to speak English with a common Welsh accent.
A few big tech companies used to have call centres in Swansea and Cardiff (not sure if they still do). I knew someone who worked there who complained that he would repeatedly be asked by English callers to transfer him to the UK callcentre. Apparently they couldn't tell a Welsh accent from an Indian one. They both have lilting tones, but they're not that similar and Indians tend to use far more formal English than the Welsh (or the English).
Re:What typically happens (Score:4, Funny)
"Hello, how can I help you with your problem that I have solved. Goodbye <click>."
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Then there are also the tech support games. I once worked at a place where we could call people about their support tickets either when they were too early to get in the office, or too late. Then after three attempts, close the ticket, and write it up under "customer did not bother pursuing."
As someone who did that (worked for a contracting company that promised "contract to hire", but the "to hire" part never materialized for anyone), metrics are everything. One place I worked at, if you were not -on a
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Well yes. The calls are being monitored for uhhh quality control purposes.
Now someone will eventually start a service for phone tech support people that will call them, faking a mock conversation that only requires a pattern of "Yes." and "No." answers from the tech support person.
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It's more than that.
It all comes from support management, which is usually comprised of people who don't have the skills to manage any other team in any other department. Imagine detritus slowly sinking towards the bottom of a large fish tank: that's what helpdesk management is.
I'm seeing people over 50 who have not learned a damn thing in two decades of managing, and young managers who just got their wet paws on their first management job under support and get corrupted faster than you can blink.
Anyone who
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Doesn't matter if you did everything right, doesn't matter if the customer gave YOU a glowing review, if the overall satisfaction wasn't an 8 or higher you're screwed.
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It's just you.
Now, seriously, this is happening indiscriminately all around the world, the problem becomes bigger when the person on the other end of the line behaves just like your fellow support countryman, but has atrocious accent, approximate understanding of English and a wildly different underlying culture.
Disclaimer: I'm not an American.
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don't use tech support. (Score:4, Interesting)
If you don't want to be a phone slave to another soul sucking corporation then before buying a product you should search the internet for something that has the most open source software and the best component documentation. This way when something goes wrong, you can diagnose and possibly fix the issue yourself. It's been my experience that buying the correct product is more important than getting a "great deal" and more likely to last significantly longer.
Re:don't use tech support. (Score:5, Insightful)
Open source can be just as insanely irritating. There's nothing like getting some great open source daemon up and running, except for one niggling thing, spending a couple of hours searching the web and three or four mailman forums dedicated to the topic, trying out five or six things, three of which don't work, and three of which create configuration errors because you're either a version behind or a version too far. Finally, in frustration, you subscribe to the mailing list only to learn that you've subscribed to the developer list, where you're promptly told by the Gods of that particular Olympus to stop bothering them with configuration issues. So you go back, find the user list, subscribe to that, where you post a message, get no response, go look at the archives, find that there's a flame war going on about the usability of this project to some other similar project. So you post a second time, and this time someone responds, "Why are you using version 0.9.3.51a, that was just such a totally bogus version that a previous contributor, SnogRag52 before he forked the project, pushed through a bunch of untested revisions, so download 0.9.3.52b, you idiot!"
Re:don't use tech support. (Score:5, Insightful)
So you go back, find the user list, subscribe to that, where you post a message, get no response ...
You are doing it wrong. Subscribe twice, using two different emails. Ask the question with one account, and then use the other account to reply with an answer that is contemptuous, insulting, and completely wrong. Then the knowledgeable users will fall over themselves trying to correct the presumptuous idiot, answering your question in the process.
Re:don't use tech support. (Score:5, Funny)
This is quite possibly the most ingenious comment I have ever seen on Slashdot.
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Re:don't use tech support. (Score:4, Informative)
The sad thing is that might actually be an effective strategy...which says something about the culture of open source mailing lists.
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Sucks for the support people too (Score:5, Informative)
At one point shortly after the dot com crash, I took a tech support job with a 3rd party company contracted by a major manufacturer. We did a good job. Well above average, in fact. Our call times were longer on average, but overall satisfaction was higher as well. So the local management started pushing for higher wages in order to reduce turnover and keep the quality people.
What happens? Head office lays off the entire building instead. We were stunned. It was the last thing we had expected after the effort we had put in.
So yeah, the next time you call tech support, just remember that solving the problem is actually a *secondary* concern to getting you off the phone as quickly as possible. If tech support companies could get away with having an array of phones, and Dippy Birds that took the call, and then hung up again, they probably would.
There are no words to describe the level of contempt I feel for outsourced support companies, They drive their people as hard as they can, for as little reward as they can, and then spit out the burned out husk without so much as a by-your-leave cause there's always some poor sap in line waiting their turn to enter the grinder.
Re:Sucks for the support people too (Score:5, Interesting)
So the local management started pushing for higher wages in order to reduce turnover and keep the quality people.
Here is your problem. I worked for a large international call centre once years ago and became "friends" with one of the female trainers. She explained that the business model doesn't expect worker retention. Customer Service has a short burnout time, which they calculated at an average of 18 months to 2 years which got factored that into the business. Their training process could train any monkey with sufficient language skills to do the job, and if they got 2 years out of each employee it was a win.
Why pay people more if you can just as easily replace them? If you have the training and QA process in place, retention is unnecessary.
I know this sucks, but if you are "quality" then customer service should only be a stepping stone onto bigger and better things.
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Not all is bad. (Score:5, Informative)
Within a couple minutes of the 'start' my phone rang and I was chatting with a nice guy (said his name was Daniel in Texas). He already had my records up and he called to ask me if I wanted a credit on my iTunes account or refund to my card. He then said he'd call me back when it was done. About 10 minutes later he called me back and said the credit was issued.
That is exemplary customer service and one reason their customer satisfaction is always rated so high.
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Had a similar experience. Got a callback right on time, and the CC was refunded. I also had a dud iPhone, and it was exchanged in the store.
This is what Apple does best -- customer support for consumers. Yes, the proles which other companies treat with nothing but contempt. Not just people who pay for business-grade, but everyday people. This is also part of the reason why I buy from them, even though they are not the cheapest thing around, because Apple actually stands by their products, and you can g
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Same here. My partner recently had an issue with her Dell laptop with the batteries dying far too early. Dell is currently giving her the run-around. They started by claiming that batteries are consumables and therefore not covered under the Consumer Rights Act (in spite of the act having no exemption for consumables and Dell listing them as components, not consumables, on their own web site). She's consulted the Citizens' Advice Bureau and they've advised her that under the Consumer Credit Act she can
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I had an issue with being double-charged for an app from the app store about 5 years ago. Went to Apple's support site, wrote a description of the problem, then was asked if I would like THEM to call ME. Not the other way around. Clicked yes, a calendar popped up in which I selected the time window in (IIRC) 10 minute increments when I wanted them to call me.
Tech support is usually okay when you've managed to get them to accept/verify that the problem is on their end and not just user error or something else they're doing or not really an error at all. Like in this case, they don't have to take your word for it - they can go into their billing system and see for themselves. The next best thing is screenshots, logs, photos, anything concrete. Because if I imagine a tech support call to myself, well I wouldn't take my word for what I was saying...
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I had an issue with being double-charged for an app from the app store about 5 years ago. Went to Apple's support site, wrote a description of the problem, then was asked if I would like THEM to call ME. Not the other way around. Clicked yes, a calendar popped up in which I selected the time window in (IIRC) 10 minute increments when I wanted them to call me. Within a couple minutes of the 'start' my phone rang and I was chatting with a nice guy (said his name was Daniel in Texas). He already had my records up and he called to ask me if I wanted a credit on my iTunes account or refund to my card. He then said he'd call me back when it was done. About 10 minutes later he called me back and said the credit was issued. That is exemplary customer service and one reason their customer satisfaction is always rated so high.
One of my neighbors does call center support for Apple. He isn't an Apple employee, his company is contracted by Apple. But Apple pays to train them specifically to be specialists in Apple products. The guy is really nice and I think I would actually enjoy working with him over the phone.
I will say that Apple support did frustrate me when I had to have a warranty repair. I specifically told them I would be out of town when the product was returned to the Apple store and they told me not to worry about
This will probably be unpopular... (Score:3, Interesting)
...however, speaking as a former support rep for a cable company, I'd say I disagree with at least the thrust of this story in relation to my previous job. The company I worked for shall remain nameless, however all support was done locally (during the time I worked there, approximately 8 years). During that time, I did my level best to resolve issues on the first call, and in general people I talked to understood after that call whether it was indeed a service issue, i.e. company related, or customer owned equipment issue, meaning their router/computer/phone system, etc.
In many cases, a simple settings problem could be pointed out and resolved. In some cases, customers did not want to believe it could possibly be their equipment, and insisted on blaming the company, regardless of the demonstrated service restoration once a.) the router was removed from the equation, or b.) that all (or any) of their other systems were online. When asked to be escalated, I made sure they went up the chain of command, not to a rep sitting next to me. A very few went on to become associated with the corporate complaints dept. ( in my interactions, 5 in 8 years ).
One of the biggest problems as I see it is that many customers don't seem to understand where their responsibilities end and the company providing the services begins. In the case of a service provider, as far as I see it no matter what the service is, if it is reaching your home, they are doing their job. The fact that we provided free general (but not specific) assistance for our customers equipment shouldn't mean that if we couldn't find the exact problem with their piece of equipment, but could prove it was the equipment causing the issue, that it was some how a failing on our end, but many customers see it exactly that way.
Having said all that, I would point out that not all companies are created equal, and I certainly have not worked for even a small minority of the companies out there. I am sure that not only are there companies out there that do exactly what this story is implying, but that it is seen as a major benefit to the company. I do not agree with that attitude, and would never have signed up to help perpetuate that kind of "customer service", which is no service at all.
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We had an entire group whose primary job was calling ISPs and getting them to fix their shit.
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One of the biggest problems as I see it is that many customers don't seem to understand where their responsibilities end and the company providing the services begins. In the case of a service provider, as far as I see it no matter what the service is, if it is reaching your home, they are doing their job. The fact that we provided free general (but not specific) assistance for our customers equipment shouldn't mean that if we couldn't find the exact problem with their piece of equipment, but could prove it was the equipment causing the issue, that it was some how a failing on our end, but many customers see it exactly that way.
I personally appreciate this attitude. In general, I don't want my cable company poking into my equipment. However, I'm a guy who knows networking enough that he's written his own realtime UDP/IP stack, clear down to the hardware. And hell a lot of this still confuses ME.
Take the average Joe Blow, who might have gotten a cable-modem wireless router combo set up and working for them once, but has no understanding of how it works. If something has gone wrong in there, and you can't help them past the signal
Meh (Score:3)
Not all that certain it is a good concept in the long run.
Better Business Bureau (Score:4, Interesting)
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Easy to say...but I somehow doubt this.
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Even BBB doubts this. They say that the right time to check BBB is before you buy.
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Easy to say...but I somehow doubt this.
YMMV, but I've gotten satisfactory outcomes from a complaint. The biggest value is I've always been contacted by a human being that can resolve problems.
Support lol! (Score:3)
The best part of modern "support" is that it is a thinly veiled front for their sales pitches. Calling in to your cable company because your modem keeps rebooting? Well that is great lets troubleshoot that and while I'm at it did you know that we have a special on our internet speed upgrade!?
I once spent no less than 20m on the phone with my then cell phone carrier trying to reduce my total phone setup down from 3 lines to 2. There was no change go anything else, even the price, because the plan provided for 2 to 4 phones with shared mins. So it was not like I was even going to be giving them less money, but I'm damn sure that poor rep knew that their real metrics (not customer satisfaction but their sales numbers) would reflect that for my call I was going down a line.
Here is a list of what a current CSR job would like you to have:
High School diploma or equivalent is required.
Experience with computers, keyboarding is required
Minimum 2 years of Customer service experience is preferred
Minimum 2 years of sales experience is preferred
Minimum 1 year of inbound call center experience is preferred
Minimum 1 year experience in the hospitality industry a plus
Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills along with basic practical math, reading and comprehension abilities
Ability to work a flexible schedule, including nights and weekends
Two years of sales experience. It took me all of 5m to find a job listing like that and there are plenty of them out there. And these people are the gatekeepers and support agents that you have to get past to get any real support.
Anger management? (Score:3)
a peculiar kind of aggravation that mental health experts say can provoke rage in even the most mild-mannered person
Is there a citation for that, or is this one of the 72% of statistics that are just made up? My mental health expert told me that I needed to learn how to control my anger and never lose my temper, because an angry outburst is temporary insanity and will always make my problem worse. He went on to teach me how to practice relaxation as an automatic response to frustration so that my mind would literally rewire my neurons for the new habit of problem solving rather than for the old habit of blowing my stack. I find I'm much better at dealing with the problems I face in life now, much more creative at solving those problems, and much happier as a result.
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My mental health expert taught me how to set things on fire with my mind. I find I'm much better at dealing with the problems I face in life now, much more creative at solving those problems, and much happier as a result.
Dispute credit card charges (Score:5, Insightful)
Most recently, I got a Cisco router that was a flaky piece of shit that only occasionally worked. Newegg wouldn't take it back. Cisco, of course, is impossible to get a hold of, so I call Amex, and get my money back. I'm not going to waste my time with "tech support" for a product that doesn't work as advertised.
Citibank (Score:2)
long story shortened. I spent nearly an hour and a half on hold waiting for Citibank's fraud department this weekend before I could cancel my card due to the number being stolen. They assured me FedEx would deliver one today (4th of July), but FedEx doesn't deliver on Independence Day. I didn't really believe that part anyway
I was quite angry when I finally got hold of someone, but I didn't take it out on her. She said they were still reeling from their CostCo Visa fiasco. I did try to politely tell
Hugh Pickens is unberable (Score:2)
Seriously, stop letting slashdot be his personal blog with no carriage returns. Stop accepting his stupid articles that are borderline unreadable.
Oblig xkcd quote (Score:5, Funny)
So calling sales when you want tech support ... (Score:3)
On a related note - "unbearable" tech support also seems to happen in-corportation, where the financial incentives are compartmentalized (save $x in IT, but lose 5x$x when the companys other departments can't work due to IT issues) and negative when viewed at the company level.
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Unfortunately, this threat only bears a lot of weight in heavily regulated industries (e.g. medical devices, where the respective regulatory bodies can shut down factories, ban the sale of products, force recalls, etc), but not so much in the typical "my internet stopped working" case.
The point of tech support seems to be ... (Score:3)
Of course, the customer can buy a different product in the future, but since its tech support will be just as bad, he'll return eventually.
Phones are so 90's (Score:3)
TFA is right to point out the chat and social media alternatives. Besides quicker (and often friendlier) response, it's kind of nice to have a support tech or engineer paste a code fix or solution example straight into a chat window for instant use. This particularly works wonders with a certain German electrical, medical, and automation megalith who I will not name.
Conspiracy Theroy (Score:2)
There is a much simpler answer than what was posted. It can be broken down into 3 parts:
1) Most companies outsource tech support to 3rd party companies. These companies get paid by call volume in a support contract.
2) These are generally call center mills with *high* turnover. If you've read your manual you probably have more training that the person on the phone.
3) Most now have incentives for "sales" rather than technical support. The support call is just a medium to up sell.
They are usually managed quite
What would push them to do better? (Score:2)
People generally look for the cheapest product, without even considering the quality of customer service offered by the manufacturer. What would motivate manufacturers to spend the money needed to provide better customer service, when people continue to buy what they are selling regardless of how bad their customer service gets?
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Are you trying to say that UEFI is actually good for Linux?
Your arguments are sound, but my
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????
Much of what you say makes sense, but...praising UEFI???
My systems worked a lot better before the UEFI showed up than they did for YEARS afterwards. And judging by other's reports my experience was not unusual.
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As long as I can use the cool Euroweenie letters with the funny hats and dots and fruity little marks, I don't really need full unicode support.
Mötley Crüe
Hüsker Dü
Amon Düül
Céline Dion
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Yeah, now try doing Spinal Tap properly.
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I hadn't thought of that.
Give us Unicode, you damn slacker Slashdot owners!
NO UNICODE...NO PEACE!
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Céline Dion
That's unforgivable.
You forgot:
Blue Ã-yster Cult
MotÃrhead
QueensrÃche
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I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.
Re: Slashdot is aware of the torture (Score:2)
With unicode would come emoteicons. Believe me, we don't want that.
Things are just fine the way they are.
Re: Slashdot is aware of the torture (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously folks - Unicode gets yer panties in a bunch? That's about at the bottom of the list of things one should give a flying fig about. And if you do, consider yourself living a blessed life. Right around making certain you eat enough kale.
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That's about at the bottom of the list of things one should give a flying fig about.
It depends on who you are. If you live in the USA and ignore the rest of the world, then don't bother; otherwise just do it. Anyway: unicode is not hard to do.
Let's talk (Score:2)
Let's talk about on-hold music [fyngyrz.com]