We can't save you from yourself, sir...

[The Focus of Local Evil]

Idiot Caller: IC
The Focus Of Local Evil: FoLE
The Focus Of Local Evil's Unlucky Manager: FoLEUM

FoLE: "Thank you for calling Focus Of Local Evil Cable Service, how may I help you?"

IC: "We got your broadband service... the counter lady said it was so easy even a child could do it. We tried to load it up -- couldn't do it. My wife knows computers and she was on the phone with your technical support for an hour and a half. They couldn't get it running. I finally called Geek Squad and they fixed it in five minutes. You know what the problem was?"

FoLE: "No, sir... but I am curious."

IC: "One of your USB wires was bad. You know how much Geek Squad charged me? $90!"

FoLE: "Sir, I am sorry about that. I'm sorry that the wire was faulty--"

IC: "I don't think I should pay this bill."

FoLE: "Pardon?"

IC: "I don't think I should have to pay this $90 bill. It was your faulty wire!"

FoLE: "Umm... OK -- let me ask you this, sir: did we ask you to cal Geek Squad?"

IC: "What does that matter?"

FoLE: "Well -- if we had told you 'We can have someone from Geek Squad down to look into your computer' that would be one thing. Instead, you called them on your own, as opposed to call on one of our technicians to come down to your house and see what the problem was. You made this choice, sir. I'm sorry that you got a faulty wire, but in the end you made the choice."

IC: "Oh? And what would you have done?"

FoLE: "Seeing that I couldn't get it working even after having tech support talk to either me or my wife for an hour and a half... I would go through and check the individual components... see if there was a faulty compoment. If that didn't prove anything... or I couldn't figure out what it was, I would then thake everything back and tell the counter-person 'There seems to be something wrong with this kit, could I exchange this with another one?"

IC: "I want to talk to your manager."

FoLE: *rolls eyes* "Hold then, please."

FoLE: *raises hand*

FoLEUM: "Yeah?"

FoLE: "Gotta guy on the line -- thinks we should pay his Geek Squad bill because he got a faulty wire and he has the intellectual capacity of warm Jell-o. I tried being nice, I tried being kind. Now he wants to hea the same thing in a different voice."

FoLEUM: "Is that his account?"

FoLE: "Yep... Godspeed, good sir."

FoLEUM: "Hello, this is -- yes... yes, sir -- sorry that you got a bad -- no... no, we could give you a $20 -- no, sir... $20 isn't $90, but I would be more upset that you were charged $90 for five minute's work... Hello?" *stands up* "Note that he disconnected the call."

Question: Are people getting lazier with each passing day?

[Sliceanddice]

Answer- Why yes they are!!!! *Pulls our cheesecake* but also anally smart... eat some bad for you cake and forget.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I tried being nice, I tried being kind. Now he wants to hea the same thing in a different voice."

I love this line...if I ever go back to a customer service position I will have to remember that one!

[earl colby pottinger]

I assume

Can I assume that since he did not confirm accepting the $20 that he does not even get that credit that to his account?

And how soon after receiving the next bill before he complains about that too>?

[ringo]

.... My wife knows computers and she was on the phone with your technical support for an hour and a half.

I saw this and had to comment on it. His wife "knows computers", yet doesn't think to check the different components? I wonder how much his wife really knows about computers.

[Shironu-Akaineko]

FoLE: "Gotta guy on the line -- thinks we should pay his Geek Squad bill because he got a faulty wire and he has the intellectual capacity of warm Jell-o. I tried being nice, I tried being kind. Now he wants to hea the same thing in a different voice."

"Now here's Grover from Sesame Street who will say the exact same thing in a different voice."

[Kara]

It's time for Choose Your Own (Stupid) Adventure!

You go to the cable office and get a self-install kit, set everything up, and it doesn't work. You call the cable company and they can't resolve it over the phone. Do you:

Ask them to send someone to come take a look.................Page 21

Unhook everything and take it back to the office to get a new kit..................Page 35

Call a completely different technical assistance company and have them come over to fix something that is malfunctioning with a brand-new cable kit you just got and then expect the cable company to pay the bill for you opting to have a third party resolve the issue............................ No Page #. We were just kidding. No one's that stupid, right? Right?

[Andara Bledin]

I saw this and had to comment on it. His wife "knows computers", yet doesn't think to check the different components? I wonder how much his wife really knows about computers.

His wife probably does know computers. She knows them as a user.

I've run into a lot of people who build their own systems and are decently tech-savvy who still fail to do the first step in any connectivity problem troubleshoot. They fail to check the connections.

^-.-^

[Ms. Pounce]

I've run into a lot of people who build their own systems and are decently tech-savvy who still fail to do the first step in any connectivity problem troubleshoot. They fail to check the connections.

I learned the hard way --- make sure the power supply is turned on. Talk about embarassing.

[lordlundar]

I learned the hard way --- make sure the power supply is turned on. Talk about embarassing.

The simplest solution to the problem is the one most overlooked.

[Racket_Man]

The simplest solution to the problem is the one most overlooked.

(shrinks down to gnome size) I did that once. (and I HAVE done computer tech support) I had just moved in with my girlfirend's house and was hooking up my audio/video stuff. I thought I hooked the right cable-cable into the box but could not get the proper responce or display. tried several things and finally called the customer service number. the lady who help me was nice and patient but still the box would not respond. why I started to trace the cable I do not know. turns out that I hooked up a short extention cable left over from the VCR to TV connection and it was long enough that I mistook it for the real cable. I told the tech lady that I had done a dumb thing and was sorry for wasting her time and thanked her for being patient with me.

[Bandit]

I've had enough "Air Gap" problems to know that if there's a wire to check, then check it first - after making sure everything is plugged in and turned on.

And yes, sometimes it has been a PEBKAC errors on my part.

At which point, I just blame Bill Gates for everything.

B

[Jack7957]

I wonder how much his wife really knows about computers.

I was on contract with a woman at the County, but she came from a different company. She provided deskside support, ie software support. From listening to her talk to people over the phone, it easily became apparent that she was only book smart. Her solution to everything was to do a reload. There were even several times she passed off calls to me (hardware support) that I would find just needed a quick tweak of the software, no hardware needed.

Unhook everything and take it back to the office to get a new kit..................Page 35

That's what I did when TW Cable gave me a bad transformer for my cable modem. Thing is I finally figured it out at 6:45pm, and the local office closes at 7pm. I think I made it over there with about 3-5 minutes to spare.

[Rolling Star]

No one wants to take responsibility for their actions anymore. He must think you're stupid to ask "what would you have done?"

[DannyboyO1]

I learned the hard way --- make sure the power supply is turned on. Talk about embarassing.

Usually.

It is, however, a VERY BAD IDEA to have the power supply on when you... ah... unplug a hard drive.

Yeah. I forgot to turn it back off before checking the cables again.

And it turned out, while I'd been sufficiently aware to set the jumper settings on the new drive properly... the old one was still set to default... AKA "single". In my case, I'd done the individual component testing. Bios has no problem when one drive is connected, doesn't care which, if I set the jumpers on the new drive... just doesn't like when both are in. Hmm.

My first experience with jumpers, and the emergency shutdown feature of the power supply.