why do customers think you're their general computer tech? [Archive]

JeremyV

04-08-03, 10:04 AM

I have a few customers who think because they host with me that they are entitled to free computer support even if it doesn't involve hosting at all.

For instance earlier today I get a ticket that the user explains they tried to do a quick restore on their gateway desktop but now windows won't even boot up. They gave me all of their phone numbers and ways to contact t hem to help them through fixing it.

Now, I know the best I can do is tell them to call gateway... but this isn't the first time it has happened :[ People will always tend to submit tickets for things like their CD not auto playing, or why does their digital camera not instantly upload photos to their webspace...

:fork:

GnomeyNewt

04-08-03, 12:08 PM

Jeremy ...

You have some strange client... :c)

Esr Tek

04-08-03, 12:21 PM

I feel it's because, to them our knowledge (even if limited) is the best person they personally know.

I, in fact, got out of the Home PC support market.
Due to the fact that they hound you with questions on everything, even if it's 2am and they got a unknown person emailing them on AOL, as the emergency :(

JeremyV

04-08-03, 12:26 PM

Yeah, the problem is I still do some side consulting work. Technically with ISP and network related end users. Used to do the general computer troubleshooting for a few years as well, and I told myself NEVER AGAIN.

But yeah, I suppose if they don't know anyone else to contact for info and have always had you answer their hosting questions, they would assume you know everything about computers :D (granted I could probably help them) but it just isn't what I do ;)

Operator

04-08-03, 02:50 PM

Originally posted by littlestar:

Jeremy ...

You have some strange client... :c)

You must not have any clients are all then ;)

I get these type of questions daily :(

Locke

04-08-03, 02:59 PM

The only way to prevent trouble tickets is to classify what you can submit them for. Granted not everyone reads that, however, that is why some companies were fortunate enough for people to take part in their forums and post. I do know what you mean though :(

Chicken

04-08-03, 03:54 PM

Same reason that if there's any problem or need at work involving a computer, someone will ask you to fix it, or do something. The teacher next door asked me today why he can't view his photos on AOL. I told him the problem is AOL, heh, which it is. As someone said, you're most likely the only person they know who knows anything about computers, and thus they ask you.

interactive

04-08-03, 04:05 PM

Originally posted by Chicken:
I told him the problem is AOL, heh, which it is.

Blame everything on AOL computer related works really well. Since alot of people think AOL is THE INTERNET

Homeiss

04-08-03, 04:38 PM

Originally posted by Chicken:
As someone said, you're most likely the only person they know who knows anything about computers, and thus they ask you.

That's so true, I get it all the time, my friends just assume I know everything about computers and they think that any little or big problem they have can be solved by one lil ol' call to me. :D

Operator

04-08-03, 07:38 PM

Here are two good oxy morons:

1 - AOL is fast :D
2 - Microsoft Works!

;)

net-trend

04-08-03, 07:47 PM

Originally posted by Homeiss:

That's so true, I get it all the time, my friends just assume I know everything about computers and they think that any little or big problem they have can be solved by one lil ol' call to me. :D

Ohhh god thank you....at least now i know i'm not alone....

You have no idea how many times i've been emailed, PMed, ICQed, called with a computer problem and am expected to solve it.

Robert

04-08-03, 07:49 PM

<< uses AOL

it IS fast. AOL 8.0 is terrific. I mean I have broadband (can't own a hosting company with a dialup).

I love AOL. I get all my music, videos, NEWS, it's great!

Chicken

04-09-03, 05:12 AM

Robert, not to take this too far off topic, but since you use AOL, I'll ask you!

My cow-orker (co-worker), sent some pictures to himself. Went to log on to AOL at school to see them and it keeps saying that something needs to be upgraded. First it was teh version of the Mac OS, so he did that (took years to do that one). Then it is the version of Netscape, or the version of IE. This seems ridiculous! All they are are jpg's from his digital camera!

1000rpm

04-09-03, 05:53 AM

It's very important to classify your support boundaries BEFORE the user signs up, so they don't take the micky and ask ridiculous questions like that!

Living Media

04-09-03, 08:21 AM

or (kind of an addendum to 1000rpm's post) if you haven't already defined what you will and won't do, in terms of providing computer support, create a new policy: all clients get X amount of computer support questions a year/quarter/whatever for free, and after that if they want computer assistance they will need to pay X amount per (hour / half hour / whatever) with a whatever minimum. That will strike a good balance between helping your clients out, and people taking (unwitting) advantage of your generosity.

If you create this new policy, set a start date at least 30 days from the time you publish the policy; and set a limit on what level of questions you can and cannot handle. Someone asking you, for example, an AOL question may be acceptable; while someone asking you about how to hook up their home theatre system is Right Out.

Robert

04-09-03, 08:21 AM

Maybe I am WRONG here, but I honestly feel the only person I should give support to is the person who purchased the account. I have a client who is young (17) and has all his friends sending me IMs and emails for support with the account. I tell them that the owner needs to contact us regarding problems, since for privacy reasons we cannot disclose any information. They got mad because we only support HIM and not his "possy".

JeremyV

04-09-03, 08:46 AM

I have had a few like that as well Robert. A user signs up for an account, makes most of the initial contacts, and then down the road some strange person is asking for support on their site. Then it is a big run-around trying to contact the original owner to verify this person is legit, etc. You try to explain to them that you need to do this double checking for everyone's security and privacy... yet they get mad still when you are trying to protect them.

Ahh well, all in a day's work :D

TowerHost.com

04-09-03, 09:57 AM

I feel that is where there may be a problem in "live support" or any type of IM help.
You can't really verify if the user is who they claim to be. You can ask for their username and password but many younger people seem to give these out freely.

I think support through the owner only is the best method and if they want support through another person to have some type of written notice with all the other persons information (I'd only do that for a large client).

I get calls from friends parents asking what computer to get? ;)
I haven't received any trouble tickets on how to actually work their own system - although some are borderline because they don't know how to use the software but that is expected to a certain degree. I can't train them how to use Frontpage - only how to connect but many people seem to expect I will teach them everything about computers out of the box and they are very wrong :D

I guess you take it as it comes, tech support is a very frustrating/stressful career at times. But you also get some good laughs when they call up - not in their face of course ;)

JeremyV

04-09-03, 10:03 AM

Oh yeah, tech support is full of good laughs :D Which is partly why I still do it on the side for a little extra cash. Since I deal mainly with an ISP, it is people calling in when they obviously can't connect to the internet. So I always get to hear great lines like these:

"Help, the internet is down!"
"My internet needs to be reinstalled"
"AOL lost a dialtone"
"I can't connect to netscape anymore"

And of course, you have new users going to broadband, but don't realize they need to use cat5 to go from their new modem to their NIC, and they plug a phone line in there and call up saying it doesn't work... :D Yeah it can give you a headache, but sometimes it is kind of fun

Robert

04-09-03, 12:13 PM

Originally posted by Chicken:

Robert, not to take this too far off topic, but since you use AOL, I'll ask you!

My cow-orker (co-worker), sent some pictures to himself. Went to log on to AOL at school to see them and it keeps saying that something needs to be upgraded. First it was teh version of the Mac OS, so he did that (took years to do that one). Then it is the version of Netscape, or the version of IE. This seems ridiculous! All they are are jpg's from his digital camera!

That's strange. First off, did he log directly onto AOL's software or at www.aol.com to view the pictures? If he went directly into AOL's software, he may have to update the software since it doesn't support embedded images (only attachments). My suggestion would be to have him attach the images as a download file rather than embedd them into the email.

Operator

04-09-03, 02:46 PM

Originally posted by Robert:

Maybe I am WRONG here, but I honestly feel the only person I should give support to is the person who purchased the account. I have a client who is young (17) and has all his friends sending me IMs and emails for support with the account. I tell them that the owner needs to contact us regarding problems, since for privacy reasons we cannot disclose any information. They got mad because we only support HIM and not his "possy".

:eek:

JeremyV

04-09-03, 02:51 PM

Somehow the customer I am talking about in the original post got ahold of my phone number... first time I wasn't around so he left a voice mail. Notice, the number is nowhere on our website, and the 800 number is really only used for a few local clients, so he shouldn't be calling it. Now, I watch caller ID and he calls about every 3 hours!!! :eek: I haven't picked up yet because I already emailed him the stance on this support issue. But if these calls keep up it is going to almost be harassment.

I really want to avoid taking the call because once you're on the phone with them it will not be easy to get off the phone easily, or without them getting upset you aren't going to help them :fork:

TheServerDen

04-10-03, 01:11 AM

Why not just tell them to call the place they got there PC from, and close their ticket?

I have had many problems lately with new corporate clients coming on with us and can't access their shared hosting accounts because their fire wall is blocking it. Many tickets this month over this.

suppleSupport

04-10-03, 01:37 AM

We get that a lot... Clients ask questions regarding their webhosting accounts with different providers or for general computer help. My advice is that, if you can, you should certainly help them out. It'll only take a few minutes of your time and will definitely increase customer satisfaction and retention.

net-trend

04-10-03, 01:49 AM

Originally posted by elevation:
It'll only take a few minutes of your time and will definitely increase customer satisfaction and retention.

Don't let that fool you......

A few minutes of your time today may be a few hours of time the next.....

interactive

04-10-03, 02:43 PM

As long as it's nothing big if I was in your seat, I'd help them out. Like Elevation said it increases customer satisfcation and retention. You keep them happy, they refer people, your business booms, generally it works that way.

JeremyV

04-10-03, 02:54 PM

Oh if it were something simple, I would gladly help them out as I do for others. But when someone wants to go through a complete system restore... :eek:

I wouldn't even want to help my mom with that one :rofl:

Operator

04-10-03, 07:27 PM

I won't help them unless they pay me :D

101sales

04-16-03, 12:00 AM

Hey, I know people who think just because they know me they can take all of their computer problems to me. I don't mind helping at all but when you go over to someone's house to fix a problem and you find out a cable wasn't put in properly only to have it fixed in 5 seconds. Theres no fun in that.....

I'd rather have a challenge :D

markblair

04-18-03, 12:10 PM

That's alright. I had a relative contact me and ask me to put together a price on a computer for them. I found the best parts for what they needed at the right prices and came up with what I thought was a good package. Three weeks later, they're sporting a new Dell in their house. And this was family.

Robert

04-18-03, 01:25 PM

Originally posted by markblair:

That's alright. I had a relative contact me and ask me to put together a price on a computer for them. I found the best parts for what they needed at the right prices and came up with what I thought was a good package. Three weeks later, they're sporting a new Dell in their house. And this was family.

That's happened to me a few times. And despite feeling like you wasted your time, be happy. When a problem arises, and they ask for help tell them "call DELL, you DID pay for it after all". Than after countless of hours of being on the phone with DeLL and not getting anywhere (except "reboot machine" "system restore"), they'll wish they went with you!

101sales

04-18-03, 01:36 PM

:eek: - Ouch

Whatever happened to family loyalty:D

101sales

04-18-03, 01:39 PM

Any of you guys and gals ever went over to someone's house where they had a computer problem and the moment that you showed up it worked fine. Like your presence suddenly made it work again. Happens to me all the time - like I have some magic touch.

Robert

04-18-03, 01:44 PM

Originally posted by 101sales:

Any of you guys and gals ever went over to someone's house where they had a computer problem and the moment that you showed up it worked fine. Like your presence suddenly made it work again. Happens to me all the time - like I have some magic touch.

Yeep.

I mean, I know I shouldn't get mad, which I don't, I think I get more umm annoyed when someone who doesn't know about computers trys to ask questions like when I said "I am adding more ram to your computer" and they respond with "ohh so I get more memoery to my hard drive?". I say "no. Not disk space"... it's my fault but stil..

Binx

04-18-03, 02:46 PM

How about this one?
On the phone with customer.
Customer: I cant connect to my website.
Support: Hmm, comes in fine for me
Customer: Well I am trying to get there right now and it isnt coming up.
Support: Do you have a dial up connection?
Customer: Yes
Support: Do you have an additonal phone line for the internet?
Customer:No just one phone line

Then the light hits them. DOH!

That has happened more times than I care to remember ;)

Dave

04-19-03, 02:46 AM

Originally posted by Homeiss:

That's so true, I get it all the time, my friends just assume I know everything about computers and they think that any little or big problem they have can be solved by one lil ol' call to me. :D I get that too; just about everyday. I can probably say that most all of my freinds have asked me to help them with a computer problem; whether it be a photoshop problem, a webcam, or straight out, their computer not starting...

interactive

04-19-03, 05:57 AM

Chicken

04-19-03, 08:06 AM

Originally posted by 101sales:

Any of you guys and gals ever went over to someone's house where they had a computer problem and the moment that you showed up it worked fine. Like your presence suddenly made it work again. Happens to me all the time - like I have some magic touch.
No, but I have gone over to see what could be a world record of screwed up system files, viruses, etc. So much that I'm surprised the computer worked for as long as it did.

Operator

04-19-03, 08:32 AM

markblair

04-19-03, 09:17 AM

Originally posted by Robert:
That's happened to me a few times. And despite feeling like you wasted your time, be happy. When a problem arises, and they ask for help tell them "call DELL, you DID pay for it after all". Than after countless of hours of being on the phone with DeLL and not getting anywhere (except "reboot machine" "system restore"), they'll wish they went with you!

So far they haven't called me and that's fine. But I thought of using that exact line already. Another person I know (a friends father) knows that I am in the computer industry. He never asked me to build a computer and now I am thankful (He bought a Gateway). This is because he has contacted me about every little problem he has had. I've tried to be nice and not just tell him to get lost since it is a friends father but for awhile there it was annoying. I would get calls asking about why his cable modem Internet connection was down. I think after I said "did you try calling the cable company" a few thousand times, he finally got the hint.

Robert

04-19-03, 09:28 AM

A while back I got a call from my dad saying that his friend told him that his laptop was screwed up and he needed really bad and that if I could stay home and wait for his friend to get there so I could fix the laptop. I said sure. About an hour later the guy arrives and I take him inside and open his laptop and it works fine! I look at him and he says "well since I am here, are you interested in buying computer parts from me? I can get them really cheap for you!". I said "you freakin liar! get the hell out of my house!". He lied just to see me and try to sale me somethign!

markblair

04-19-03, 09:32 AM

They'll try anything, won't they? If I was your dad, I'd be furious with this person for pulling that stunt.

interactive

04-19-03, 11:14 AM

Originally posted by Robert:

A while back I got a call from my dad saying that his friend told him that his laptop was screwed up and he needed really bad and that if I could stay home and wait for his friend to get there so I could fix the laptop. I said sure. About an hour later the guy arrives and I take him inside and open his laptop and it works fine! I look at him and he says "well since I am here, are you interested in buying computer parts from me? I can get them really cheap for you!". I said "you freakin liar! get the hell out of my house!". He lied just to see me and try to sale me somethign!

What a sales man, people like that deserve to burn in hell. But since I'm a cruel person and all, I would have dropped his laptop on the floor and made sure that it broke and then been like "And now you have a reason to come over and get your laptop fixed".

101sales

04-19-03, 11:16 AM

And it won't cost him much because he can get the parts REALLY cheap :D

Jay Suds

04-21-03, 03:49 PM

A couple comments of my own ...

My friends, family and local customers seem to think I am their one stop computer fix it shop, even though I do web hosting exclusively. It slightly annoying as some of these "friends" I only hear from when their computer is broken.

Personally, I don't want the hassle of selling someone a computer system and having to support it. Most people are idiots with computers and manage to screw them up royally. It's not worth my time or effort to spend an hour on the phone with some idiot because he infected himself with a virus and get nothing in return. Thus, I tell *everyone* who asks me what type of computer to buy to go to Dell.com or call 800-WWW-DELL. Works like a charm. When their computer breaks and they call me, I tell them to call Dell. I have no problems doing this as I probably don't have time to troubleshoot their system in the first place and I didn't actually sell them the computer they are having problems with.

Having said that, it's not very often that we get a general computer support question from our hosting customers. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that our prices are higher than the general consumer can tolerate so we serve mostly businesses, web designers, and other web hosting companies.

Robert

04-21-03, 03:54 PM

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a EX Best Friend and I was telling him that I am very very sick. I was rushed to the hospital and what not. he told me about his computers problem and I told him I'd look at it as soon as I was feeling better. A week later he called me up and asked how I was feeling, I told him that I've gotten any better. I've been in the hospital for 2 days and was finally home relaxing in bed. I continue to throw up all day which lead to dehydration and what not. He than said "uhh so that means I can't bring my computer over?". I got very upset and said to him "your stupid burner can wait a few freakin days ok. Take it to Bestbuy if it's an emergency". I hung up. About 2 1/2 hrs later I was feeling a little better and felt bad for what I had said so I called him and told him that he can bring his computer over and I'll fix it. He said that it was ok, but would prefer to just use my burner. I said "fine". he said "i'll be there in 2 hours". So I got out of bed and took a shower, you know, to look a little decent for my friend. Needless to say he never showed up, nor did I call.

Life lesson?? Don't wait on nobody.

Robert

04-21-03, 03:56 PM

Oh wait, I have 1 more story. So this girl keeps telling me she needs a printer. I told her it would be $50 bucks and told her that it woudl take me about a week to get it because I didn't have time to go to the wholesale place to purchase it. Anyhow, she agreed and told me she would pay me the $50 when I get the printer. I finally got the printer (Cannon BubbleJet) and told her I'd give it to her for $45. She said "Why not $25?" I said "Because My cost isn't $25 and we agreed oin $50 but I'll give it to you for $45". She said "nope. I don't want it than".

Maybe I need new friends?

interactive

04-21-03, 04:26 PM

I think you need to get some better friends. No offence but those people don't seem like friends, more like leeches. Never do business with friends or family ;)

Robert

04-21-03, 04:50 PM

Will you be my buddy? haha

interactive

04-21-03, 05:02 PM

LOL Sure ;). :: Starts singing ::

Dapon

06-09-03, 01:15 PM

I have been doing hosting since 1997 so everyone assumes that I am a computer expert. WRONG! I am a sales expert. I do sales. I hire tech people to do tech stuff. My entire time in the hosting business has been spent on the sales side. Was even a sales trainer for Verio. I could sell a catsup popsickle to a lady in a white dress but I am not a techie. I have told all of my friends and family this 100's of times but they still ask me questions.

Now they ask me if I could have one of my technicians look at their computer for them. Good computer techs must be hard to find. I even had a friend of a friend get mad at me because I wouldn't come to his house and look at his computer. I had never even met the guy. Told me I was arrogant because I wouldn't fix his computer. Can't win sometimes.

Karen

06-09-03, 01:20 PM

I guess I am lucky! My hubby is a computer programmer and so everyone we know bugs him to do everything heheheh

Even our friends and family, whose websites I host, call him when they can't figure something out. One would think after he has passed the phone to me for 2 years that they would just ask for me in the first place.

Karen

tpetersen

06-10-03, 12:48 PM

I typically give 5 possibly 10 minutes of phone support free (to non family) and then make it clear additional time from that point forward is at my standard rates. If I can't clear it up in that time it means a service call which is $100 for the first hour and $75 for each additional -- most people seem to figure out how to fix it themselves when presented with those numbers. And those who don't well....they pay.

Its no different than asking an architect to design an drawing for you -- someone is asking for your time and knowledge -- they darn sure should pay for it -- you had to pay either with time or money to get that knowledge right?

Now family calling....don't even get me started :-)

TP

markblair

06-10-03, 12:57 PM

It's funny this thread is still going. I just had a call last night from my father-in-law who wants me to upgrade his computer from Windows 98 to Windows XP. Now, personally, if I'm upgrading I prefer to format the C: drive first and install the new OS on a clean drive. Microsoft has too many bugs and overwriting an OS with another one with a different version has given me bad results in the past. I explained this to him that this would need to be done and he tells me "well so-and-so just did it and they didn't have any problems". I could have argued the reasons and tried to justify it to him but that never works. Even though he calls me for all technical stuff, if someone else told him it would work then I'll be wrong. :[

This time I'm going to go along with it. If his data gets screwed up then it'll be his lesson learned and lost files to boot. Oh' well, can't please him every time.

Esr Tek

06-10-03, 03:06 PM

I had a big one few weeks back...

Neighbor of mines kids bring me this old PC (p3 300).
This thing is nasty!!! and it wont even boot cause they deleted files :rolleyes:

Well after cleaning it out and everything I gave them an old 13GB drive (theirs was fried) and a TNT2 2x AGP card (they had onboard crap).

Installed WinME which I also gave them my old copy free..

2 Hours later I bring them PC.. it booted up and all they where happy.

Well later that night they came over here w/ police saying I stole all this stuff out of PC and turned a (get this) p4 2.4ghz into a p2 300mhz and stole their drive which had all their 'business' info.
(mind you these people so REDNECK they couldn't spell business if they had to for 1 million $)

I absolutely fell on the floor in front of cop, my wife and 3 kids LMAO!!

Needless to say I had to prove I had no such equipment and opened their old PC to show officer the newer parts (you could tell because they weren't covered in roach feces) then proceeded to get the receipts for all that equipment, when the officer had me stop. (at this point I was upset and went a bit over the top to the officer).

After 45 Min's at the neighbors house the officer came back w PC and instructed me to put it back to original status and remove my parts (which was easy and took 5Min's).

After this I refuse to help people w their PC's again...
they can sink or swim!!

To the above poster - That guy will then blame you when his upgrade goes haywire. So your in a bad spot either way.

Stick to your method or tell him to find someone else.
When he has problems it will be right back in your hands to do it the right way!!

Chicken

06-10-03, 03:30 PM

That's quite an odd and dramatic story. I assume all worked out in the end (meaning you didn't meet Bubba in the slamma' :mrt: and you simply just don't talk to them, due to restraining order, etc.)???

Esr Tek

06-10-03, 03:38 PM

Yeah it was resolved that night and they moved out last weekend (never saying a word or looking my way since) :D :banana: :banana:

It was very memorable and I now can laugh about it but it had me hot for a few days... I still can't believe they actually tried that.

I am not sure if it took extreme set of gonads or just proves how stupid they really can be!!! :eek:

Just reiterated to me that you just can't be a nice guy..:rolleyes:

markblair

06-10-03, 03:39 PM

Originally posted by Esr Tek:

...To the above poster - That guy will then blame you when his upgrade goes haywire. So your in a bad spot either way.

Stick to your method or tell him to find someone else.
When he has problems it will be right back in your hands to do it the right way!!

Here lies the problem. He's my father-in-law. You are right. I'm SOL either way but this way I get to play a little before I have to fix his screwup. Plus, it saves me from spending an entire day backing up his files. I wouldn't even think of doing this to anyone else but I've been burned too many times by the same person (yep, my wife's father) that it's time I get a small laugh out of it. Plus, even though my wife doesn't defend her dad, she wants to keep peace with the family so unless I want an enemy in my own home, I pretty much have to help him.

Robert

06-11-03, 04:33 AM

Originally posted by Esr Tek:

Yeah it was resolved that night and they moved out last weekend (never saying a word or looking my way since) :D :banana: :banana:

It was very memorable and I now can laugh about it but it had me hot for a few days... I still can't believe they actually tried that.

I am not sure if it took extreme set of gonads or just proves how stupid they really can be!!! :eek:

Just reiterated to me that you just can't be a nice guy..:rolleyes:

You know.. I had a smiliar problem. A dad's friend brought her computer over, it was a 300mhz system with only 32mb of ram. After re-installing Windows, cleaning up the inside (removing the dust and what not) as well the case (it went fromgbeing yellow to beige) and putting 128mb of ram ontop of her 32mb for a toatl of 160mb of ram, I gave it back to her and told her it would be $60 dollars. 2 Days later she went to my dad saying that I didn't do anything, that it's still slow and yada yada yada. Well maam, although it has 160mb of ram, you got only a 300mhz system in there. She refused to pay my dad. And than my dad asked her to give my parts back and she said that I never put anything inside.

Let it be known that a small phone call from my lawyer got me a check in the mail for $60 PLUS $30 for the inconvience that it caused.

beley

06-12-03, 10:38 AM

I am an A+ and Network+ certified technician, and have seen my share of odd support requests working on a network with over 12,000 users. I have always enjoyed working on and building PC's so naturally the first few times I was personally asked to fix someone's home computer I said okay. After being burned several times now I just respectfully decline. No amount of money is worth the headaches that come along with it... :rolleyes:

MrManager

07-05-03, 08:37 PM

I know this thread is sort of old, but I wanted to say that back in the day, Earthlink used to allow existing customers to call their tech support for ANYTHING. You got a problem with your digital camera, they'll do what they can to help.

Whether or not I agree with the approach, it worked for them. I have recommended Earthlink for years based solely on the fact that they have gone above and beyond for me and those who I know who have received general help from them as well.

They say reputation is hard to establish when you get started. Perhaps answering those questions isn't such a bad idea. You may also be well to know that Google crawls this entire site and caches every single post. Every question and comment comes up in searches -- even those simply containing your company name. If your customers read how you don't like their questions, they might find someone else willing to lend an ear.

Anyway, not to say THAT will happen, but that going above and beyond certainly has it's benefits .... and posting irritations in this forum is as good as posting an e-mail to your future customers.

Just a thought. =)

stew

07-19-03, 09:43 AM

How about this one -

Broadband connection goes down for some reason, checked my router was working did an IP release and renew (as i have a dedicated IP address but sometimes my ISP ****s up the server that allocates it) still nothing. So i decide to phone the support line to find out why its down and this is their response:

Me: "Hi, is there a problem with the broadband server jsut now?"

Person at the other end: "Er.... yeah... yeah I think so. How do I check?"

Me: *sigh* "Right open up command prompt and type PING [IP ADDRESS OF SERVER WHICH I GAVE TO WOMAN ON TEH PHONE]"

Person: "It gave me a message saying it couldnt find it"

Me: "That means the servers down. Could you ask one of the server techs why please" (The way the company is setup is that teh support centre and data centre's in teh same building and ive spoken to the techs before so i didnt feel it would be a problem to ask)

Person: "Yeah, ill put you on hold"

*insert boring music here*

Person: "Hi sir, yes the servers down for a few hours while they install updates and replace some hardware. The internet shoudl be abck up tomorrow morning"

Me: "Okay, thanks"

I didnt think it to be a big problem that the net would be down for an entire night and expected the connection to be back up teh following morning. Nope! So time to phone them back.

Me: "Hi, i was told the server should be back up this morning and its now 3 in the aftenroon and the servers still not up. Why?"

Person: "I didnt know the server was down?"

Me: "I was told last night by [NAME OF EMPLOYEE]"

Person: "Oh right the server ah yes the server is down"

Me: "Any idea when it will be back up and running?"

Person: "No"

Me: "Okay, could you put me through a server tech please?"

Person: "Ill see if one is avalible"

*time for more boring music*

Person: "Sir, I'll conenct you through to teh technician now"

Tech: "Hi, you were inquiring about the server problems?"

Me: "Yeah, any idea when it'll be back up?"

Tech: "Not really"

Me: "Why?" [at this point i was begining to get annoyed]

Tech: "Well... we mucked up the install last night and the server wont switch on at all it jsut beeps a few times"

Me: "Oh right... sounds a daft question but is the hard drive and RAM connected properly"

Tech: "Ill go check"

Tech: "Er... no it wasnt and thats the server up now... thanks for you help mate"

and before I could reply he hung up the phone.

What a great ISP i have :P