I'd like to stay in business so you won't be getting any free tech support

[An Haddock]

Had a guy call today... something about deleting his PST file and now he can't do anything in Outlook. But wanted free advice over the phone.

I offered a couple of weak suggestions then told him he should just bring it in.

SC: Well I didn't want to have to unplug everything from the desktop.

Understandable. I mention we can do a service call.

Me: It would be an hour minimum which is $80 plus $10 for travel
SC: Well that's too expensive for me. How much if I bring it to you?
Me: $40
SC: I can't afford that either.

I offer up a couple more suggestions and tell the guy to just Google it. He says he's been Googling it all week with no luck. I pretty much just stonewalled him at that point because I had actual work to do and he finally gave up.


Now, I don't mind helping out a real client on the phone, especially if they're good customers, but this guy had never been here before.



Anyone else have people call trying to get free tech support? I always love those.

[raudf]

Then he fails at Googling. It only took me one second to find the answer.

The repair center, we had to offer a reasonable amount of technical support to prevent unnecessary service contract calls. We were also required to provide it for those who didn't have their products covered under either warranty or service contract. Technical support that we had zilch training in, no script, and had to ask techs a lot of questions to learn.

The result was that often we couldn't offer it, either because the problem was too complex or because we knew from experience it was FUBAR and needed the TLC of a tech. Those were the idiots that would argue with us about, "Then is should be FREE!!!!"

Edit to add: Of course, feel free to use Monkey Ward Repair as a prime example of how offering anything for free can drive you out of business!

[Grendus]

Then he fails at Googling. It only took me one second to find the answer.

He probably searched for "computer acting stupid".

[frostbitte]

When I worked retail computer technical support we'd get this All. The. Time.
If it was something super simple, we usually could help. Otherwise we actually were far too busy repairing customer machines, dealing with customers at the counter, doing installs and setups, ordering parts, and/or completing paperwork for warranties and billing etc...You get the picture.

Getting some users to click on an icon properly could literally take up to half an hour so wasting time with them over the phone wasn't an option. In that half-hour the customer could have unhooked and brought it to us, not to mention most problems were way beyond some quick advice over the phone anyways or out of scope.
"Can you walk me through using Dream Weaver/Word/Photoshop/AutoCAD/Outlook/(installing hardware)/virus removal?", and so on. Seriously...

We'd have to always tell customer that for support with particular products they should phone the manufacturer as we're not a call center nor do we support their products beyond installation and configuration. If you don't know how to setup pivot tables, edit in Photoshop, create a document or create a webpage then take a course. Getting IRQ conflicts for that crappy modem you bought? RTFM or bring it in. We'll have it done right or get you something that works and you'll have a warranty.

Our department phone was primarily for phoning customers to let them know the status of their unit or when they could pick it up and other departmental business. It wasn't a troubleshooting hotline. You don't phone a mechanic's shop and ask if they have a mechanic that can walk you through installing new brake rotors you bought do you? There are a few mechanics on this site, maybe they do have such stories?

If you couldn't bring it in, no problem book with our on-site techs. They'd be more than happy to help you within their scope of course.

I still have weird dreams of working in that place.

[mjr]

Anyone else have people call trying to get free tech support? I always love those.

Yes. Relatives. At least I used to, until I stopped being as "helpful".

[Hitokiri Akins]

Yes. Relatives. At least I used to, until I stopped being as "helpful".

I only do that for my dad, because he can follow simple instructions to the letter, and he's more familiar with the technologies that he's asking about. For everyone else? I tell them "sorry, but I don't give out tech support over the phone, because that's what I do for a living. You don't go up to your doctor and ask for medical care for free from them, do you? No? Well, it's the same for me."

[Shalom]

"sorry, but I don't give out tech support over the phone, because that's what I do for a living. You don't go up to your doctor and ask for medical care for free from them, do you?"

Well yes, yes they do. At a party, in a house of worship, a restaurant or whatever, they go up to people who they have just found out are a doctor, and ask, "Hey, you're a doctor? I've got this pain right here . . . "

Of course the classic answer to that sort of attempted mooching is "Sure, just get undressed and I'll take a look..."

[raudf]

Of course the classic answer to that sort of attempted mooching is "Sure, just get undressed and I'll take a look..."

Or turns out the "doctor" they found out about wasn't a MD, but held a PHD in art. The undressed part still happened, but it was followed up by a sketch book.* Just because someone is called a doctor, it doesn't mean they're all in medicine!

*I had a cool art history prof at the time! He related this to us to remind us that art happens at any time.

[emax4]

If someone starts asking you for help with something that you do for a living, and asks you outside of your hours, ask them in reply, "Do you have a credit card?" maybe this is another reason why those smartphone credit card readers exist...

[gremcint]

a couple weeks after I started my current job one of the other places I had applied to called me for an interview and I politely declined. I informed him I already had a job at my store and he proceeded to then ask me what we have on sale. Remember this is me in my house off hours.

THERE IS NO ESCAPE
THERE IS NO ESCAPE

[roxtar]

Yes. Relatives. At least I used to, until I stopped being as "helpful".

used to get it a lot... then I stopped working with windows machines. Now, almost all of my expertise is *nix centered. my usual suggestion has become "have you tried dual-booting into mint or ubuntu?"

[otakuneko]

I work in a B2B support environment, so we don't get a lot of people trying to get free support.

Our company, of course, also offers training--for a price. So what we end up getting is customers trying to (ab)use us support staff and make us train them.

Ain't happenin' buddy, and I'm cc'ing this email to your sales rep. Support is break-fix. We do not train, we do not design, we do not install.

[icmedia]

I run a cellphone store and, SURPRISE, I get this sort of thing like 20x a day.

I am happy to help customers who I've sold a phone to recently (especially if I'm the one who convinced them to get the upgrade/model/etc.), but people come in all of the time with other companies' phones, phones from our company that they purchased from another store or online, or phones so old that they bought them 5 years before I even started working here. For these people, I wish I could charge a troubleshooting fee.

I'll help most of them, but for people who want me to "fix gmail" or instruct them in the use of some random 3rd-party app, I refer them to the company who makes said app. If they're really annoying (like the lady who tried to call 911 from her phone in my store because she "wanted to hear what it sounds like"), I'll spend the entire visit practicing my high-pressure sales pitches.

[Alpha Strike]

.... If they're really annoying (like the lady who tried to call 911 from her phone in my store because she "wanted to hear what it sounds like"), I'll spend the entire visit practicing my high-pressure sales pitches.

WTF? Was she trying to "convince" you to help her or was she really that dense?

[Argus]

WTF? Was she trying to "convince" you to help her or was she really that dense?

Based on "Is that a '4'?", I would guess the latter.