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OK, this happened last thursday, but I did not have a chance to post about it till now.
I get a call from this lady who just had her PC reformatted and windows reinstalled. No big deal, I figure she is just calling us back to tell us if it's working. Nope, of course not this PC is being used as a file/print server for her FIVE other PCs and she needs it reconfigured. As I looked through the notes this PC should have never been touched, it should have immediately been converted to an inhome service as once a server gets formatted, each PC has to be reconfigured to recognize that there's a "new" printer on the network. I could do it if there was one other PC but there was FIVE. Not to mention we don't set up client-server setups over the phone.
Anyway I told her that we would need to send an agent out for this. She got upset and said that the other agent told her we can do this. I also told her as this system was reformatted we would need to go into each PC and reconfigure it for the newly formatted server.
This is what she said:
"Listen, I don't know much about networks but all you have to do is give the printer the same name as last time and it should work!" All the other PCs are already set up for it!"
I said simply, "In theory that would work, and it would be great if it did but in reality all PCs on the network need to be reconfigured as they are all pointing to a dead link (driver) that does not exist anymore. I could see if this was only 1 or 2 PCs but you have 5. We would need to send an agent out for this."
So even though she admits to being a noob with networks, she is trying to tell ME how I should set this up over the phone and thus break a couple of company polices. She even tries to tug at the heartstrings and start almost crying "because she needs this for her business." Rinse and repeat... for 30 flippin' minutes.
After the 30 minutes, it was the same thing over and over again. Sure, I could have done it but would have taken over 3 hours as I am thorough and at this point it was 30 minutes to the end of my shift.
Now this is why I HATE when previous tech just launch into a troubleshooting session without asking questions, or maybe asking their supervisor. The 1st tech has been here for 3 months and she TOLD him this was to be used as a file/print server, so at the very least he could have told her we can format the drive (the PC would not boot up) but for the server stuff we need to send an agent out. The 2nd tech did not even run the print sharing wizard after the format when he reinstalled the printer (an old Laserjet).
And all through this, not a single word in the notes from either of them that this PC was going to need to be re-setup as a file/print server. In other words, I was the one that was following policy and took the fall.
So after a bit she asked for my supervisor. Again, he tried to tell her the same things as I did. No go. Same dramatics from her, and she would not stop talking – he was on for maybe 2 minutes to her 20. So finally, my sup puts her on hold and I tell him “man, imagine how her husband must feel!” After a good laugh, he says “Just rename the printer, I know it’s not going to work but that will get her off the phone.”
So I get back on with her, I proceed to share the printer and give it a name. I advise her if this does not work we really do need to send an agent out, she exclaims “you just don’t even want to try!” So what happened? Just as I told her more than an hour ago, the newly shared printer was not communicating with the PCs so I would have had to go into each one of them and go through the process to install them. As such, I advise her the only thing left here is to send an agent out.
Well at that point, she tells me the only reason she took the phone support is because we are booked in her area till march and she needs this for her business (what home-based business has 5 PCs?!) and she will just get her brother “who owns a computer company” to do it. Oh, and she will tell everyone in her condo complex to stay away from us “as we refuse to do the job we started and want to charge more money to finish it.”
I can kinda understand her frustration, but policy is policy and I want to keep my job and not get stuck till 11PM doing something that will probably end up needing to be dispatched to onsite anyway.
I get a call from this lady who just had her PC reformatted and windows reinstalled. No big deal, I figure she is just calling us back to tell us if it's working. Nope, of course not this PC is being used as a file/print server for her FIVE other PCs and she needs it reconfigured. As I looked through the notes this PC should have never been touched, it should have immediately been converted to an inhome service as once a server gets formatted, each PC has to be reconfigured to recognize that there's a "new" printer on the network. I could do it if there was one other PC but there was FIVE. Not to mention we don't set up client-server setups over the phone.
Anyway I told her that we would need to send an agent out for this. She got upset and said that the other agent told her we can do this. I also told her as this system was reformatted we would need to go into each PC and reconfigure it for the newly formatted server.
This is what she said:
"Listen, I don't know much about networks but all you have to do is give the printer the same name as last time and it should work!" All the other PCs are already set up for it!"
I said simply, "In theory that would work, and it would be great if it did but in reality all PCs on the network need to be reconfigured as they are all pointing to a dead link (driver) that does not exist anymore. I could see if this was only 1 or 2 PCs but you have 5. We would need to send an agent out for this."
So even though she admits to being a noob with networks, she is trying to tell ME how I should set this up over the phone and thus break a couple of company polices. She even tries to tug at the heartstrings and start almost crying "because she needs this for her business." Rinse and repeat... for 30 flippin' minutes.
After the 30 minutes, it was the same thing over and over again. Sure, I could have done it but would have taken over 3 hours as I am thorough and at this point it was 30 minutes to the end of my shift.
Now this is why I HATE when previous tech just launch into a troubleshooting session without asking questions, or maybe asking their supervisor. The 1st tech has been here for 3 months and she TOLD him this was to be used as a file/print server, so at the very least he could have told her we can format the drive (the PC would not boot up) but for the server stuff we need to send an agent out. The 2nd tech did not even run the print sharing wizard after the format when he reinstalled the printer (an old Laserjet).
And all through this, not a single word in the notes from either of them that this PC was going to need to be re-setup as a file/print server. In other words, I was the one that was following policy and took the fall.So after a bit she asked for my supervisor. Again, he tried to tell her the same things as I did. No go. Same dramatics from her, and she would not stop talking – he was on for maybe 2 minutes to her 20. So finally, my sup puts her on hold and I tell him “man, imagine how her husband must feel!” After a good laugh, he says “Just rename the printer, I know it’s not going to work but that will get her off the phone.”
So I get back on with her, I proceed to share the printer and give it a name. I advise her if this does not work we really do need to send an agent out, she exclaims “you just don’t even want to try!” So what happened? Just as I told her more than an hour ago, the newly shared printer was not communicating with the PCs so I would have had to go into each one of them and go through the process to install them. As such, I advise her the only thing left here is to send an agent out.
Well at that point, she tells me the only reason she took the phone support is because we are booked in her area till march and she needs this for her business (what home-based business has 5 PCs?!) and she will just get her brother “who owns a computer company” to do it. Oh, and she will tell everyone in her condo complex to stay away from us “as we refuse to do the job we started and want to charge more money to finish it.”
I can kinda understand her frustration, but policy is policy and I want to keep my job and not get stuck till 11PM doing something that will probably end up needing to be dispatched to onsite anyway.
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