Technical support

[Symphony]

Quote:It's more about people not knowing how to or not doing the job they came to do. It's a waste of my time if someone comes out, shuts down my internet for a good hour, messes with some cables, runs some tests, and tells me they fixed the problem, and they didn't. (As I said in my original post, we had 10 AT&T technicians out within a single month because we had to keep calling them after the last person didn't know what the fuck they were doing and didn't fix the problem.)

I might add, it's not less bad with e-mail support.
I've been using the support of two companies the last week, both because of the same DNS issue I had last Friday and this is how it went:

* Avira: Part of the components of my Avira stopped working and refused to start again, no matter what I did. As I was busy with the other support, I just went and e-mailed them. The next day I received a reply with an executable that would gather my system data. After sending it back, I got another reply with the instructions on how to fix it. It took them 2 emails to figure out and fix my issue.

* NET (Internet Provider): The DNS issue was pissing me off. It made my connection frustratingly unstable, and even with nothing open but a torrent, it oscillated a heck lot. After the lack of success trying to solve it by myself (including basic technical operations, such as restarting everything; shutting stuff down for minutes or hours; and even manually changing my DNS servers) I e-mailed them (because their phone support is REALLY crappy).
On my first email I stated the problem, the DNS error the connection diagnosis reported (with the error report AND screenshot), the fact that I did EVERY BASIC THING you should do when it happens and their reply:

"1. Please check if the internet cables are connected to your computer.
2. Turn off the modem for 5 mins.
3. Restart the modem.
4. Check the connection."

SERIOUSLY? I freaking stated on my original email that I had done it half a dozen times. But wait.. it gets worse.

I then replied that I had once again made the tests but the DNS error still happened. They then sent me an email full of stuff like "you should know that everything you do that uses the internet might use part of the connection and lower the download speed right?"



I do know they have to assume users don't have too much technical knowledge, but I FREAKING SHOWED THEM THE ERROR and tried a lot of other options someone without knowledge would just never try.

After the fourth email, I simply attached the error image 3 times; gave them 2 tinypic links and another error report. Then they FINALLY realized that my connection problem was REALLY a problem, and I wasn't just a whinny customer getting pissed over the lame download speed they offer.

Now I'm waiting for a technical support team to come to my house sometime tomorrow. Hopefully they'll see that I do have an issue and not blame on me. Because, well, if they say that the customer caused the problem, I'd just have to pay another 40 bucks, IIRC.

[/EndRant]

Too long; didn't read: Some support just need 2 emails to fix your issue. Others need 4 to realize you have one.