Not Yahoo!

[Wenchie]

My "favorite" call today. I work for an MLS (Multiple Listing Service) doing phone and tech support for Realtors who call in.

A Realtor calls in. I get her agent id & name and ask her how I can help her.
Her: I got error 5 and I'm supposed to call you.

Me: And where are you getting this message?

Her: on the computer.

Me: (sighing) What were you doing on the webpage when you got this error message? Are you on our MLS site or our corporate site?

Her: I'm on yahoo.

Me: Yahoo? Are you using a browser that came with your yahoo/sbc internet connection?

Her: No, I'm tying to log into my yahoo email and I got the error message.

Me: You called {company name}...

Her: (interrupting rudely) I know I did!

Me: You need to call Yahoo. We're your MLS... we list the houses you have for sale. We don't support yahoo email. If you're having problems with your yahoo email account, you'll need to contact support at yahoo.

Her: I don't know how to do that. Can't you just fix it?

Me: (HEADDESK)

[ta2ooed1]

Just OUCH

[TNT]

I used to do tech for a major cable company. I had people calling all the time wondering why they couldn't log into a particular website. I neither knew nor cared... we provided the internet connection. What happened between the customer and a specific website wasn't any of my business.

Which lead to people cursing the evil cable monopoly because I couldn't (or, as they thought, just wouldn't) reset their AOL passwords.

Oh, and there were the, "Yahoo! appears to be down... when are you going to fix it?" (We had absolutely nothing to do with Yahoo!)

[BravoOrig]

I feel the pain brother. Of course I like it because it usually makes for a short call and I'm back to surfing, unless they want to keep asking me stupid questions. Like "Isn't this tech support?"

[HawaiianShirts]

Sounds vaguely similar to a call I had the other day. Mind if I share?

Remember, I work in computer sales for a big electronics store. I am not now, nor have I ever been, trained or qualified to do tech support, though I can figure out most problems if they're problems I've had myself or if I've got the computer in front of me.

Caller: Hey, I got DSL through you guys a while ago.
- (Translation: I signed up for DSL at your store.)
Caller: I'm trying to go on the internet, but every time I open Yahoo, it gives me MSN!
- (Our techs were really busy. I thought I'd try to help.)
Me: Okay... Who is your service provider?
Caller: You guys!
Me: I mean, who do you pay your internet bills to?
Caller: Oh, it's... uh... *Company.*
- (Thought so. Yahoo DSL is not available around here. I figured he had *Company,* but I wanted to be sure he wasn't saying DSL and meaning Cable.)
Me: Ah. Then you'd actually need to call *Company* for tech support for internet problems.
Caller: But it's not an internet problem. Whenever I try to open Yahoo, I get MSN. Something's wrong with my Yahoo.
- (I'm trying so very hard not to laugh at that sentence and not wanting to argue with the guy about who supports what, I'll do what little I can to help.)
Me: What web browser are you using?
Caller: Yahoo.
Me: What icon do you click when you want to use the internet?
Caller: It's Yahoo, only now it's MSN.
Me: Can you describe the icon to me? Orange and blue circle? Blue 'e'? Greenish 'N'?
Caller: It's... uh... It's Yahoo; I know it is... uh... Blue 'e'.

With that, I had it figured out. He had *Company* internet service; he was using Internet Explorer; somehow his home page had been set to MSN instead of Yahoo, which is what he was used to. He thought that, if IE opens to Yahoo, then IE is Yahoo's program, and Yahoo is providing his internet service. And, apparently, since I signed him up for the service he thinks is Yahoo, I also work for Yahoo and can fix his problems. Simple problem, but the guy was clueless on many levels.

Me: Okay. That one's easy. (I walk him through changing his home page to Yahoo.) Next time, though, you really do need to call *Company* for support. We just signed you up for their service.

[Wenchie]

And, apparently, since I signed him up for the service he thinks is Yahoo, I also work for Yahoo and can fix his problems. Simple problem, but the guy was clueless on many levels.

Yeah, they tend to be clueless... I don't know how many times I've gotten calls about software that we don't support just because they can import our MLS data into it... I had one person who INSISTED that we offered a specific program that I had never heard of (I've only been with the company for 6 months) so I double checked... nope, not ours, but brokers can get an extract of their listings to use in the programs.

Since they use our data in it, the Realtors assume that it must be our program!

*sigh*

Or since they use their computer to access our webpage, they call us with every computer problem they have... because they can't access our system so it must be OUR problem!

[Broomjockey]

Something's wrong with my Yahoo.

*snicker* "Do you Yahoo?"

[BravoOrig]

I found it funny when a customer called in with some computer specific issue and tried to give me some Microsoft quick assistance number. I told her of course I had no idea what that was but she told me to ask someone higher up. Think I would of her of one by now if we as an ISP had anything to do with Microsoft support. I think the call died due to her bad connection or she gave up.

[Gurndigarn]

*snicker* "Do you Yahoo?"

Hell, no. Having had to suffer through their nerve-jangling commercials every three minutes for the duration of my each of my stops at Regal Theaters, I have sworn off Yahooo-ooooo forever.

[technical.angel]

I once had to convince our head of marketing that we did no support for Geocities web editor. That was NOT a fun call.