Tech support story...

[Blade_Raver]

On this call I'm a tech who supports the hotel's Hi-Speed Internet Access connectivity.

Me: Blade_Raver in the call center
SC: Sucky Customer staying at the hotel

Me: Thank you for calling technical support, this is Matt, how can I help you?
SC: Yeah I called earlier and I think I spoke to you.
Me: No sir, you sure didn't, however if you'd like I'll be more than happy to lend assistance.
SC: Okay, well.. Last person I spoke with told me to change rooms and I still can't get online.
M: Okay, sir. Let me get some information and I'll gladly help you troubleshoot the connectivity issue.
(I get his name, room #, OS (Windows 2000 Pro) -- No notes in the system. I don't think he talked to us.)
SC: The system tells me that the network cable is unplugged.
M: Okay, you said you've tried a different room. I'm in the router and see 29 active connections, so the network isn't down. Have you tried a new cable?
SC: No. The cable is fine.
M: How do you know this?
SC: Because I've used it at the last 5 hotels and it worked OK then.
M: Can you humor me at least and try a new cable just to be sure?
SC: No.
M: Very well. We'll do every troubleshooting step I can think of and if they don't fix your problem, we'll change that cable.
SC: No we're not, but go ahead and do your troubleshooting anyway.
(That upset me. He's calling me for support and isn't cooperating.)

He was connected using an ethernet cable right into a wall-jack. This is what I had the guy do:

Link speed change to 10/half duplex. (This fixes most 3COM/Intel Network cards. He was using a 3COM card.)
-- Network cable unplugged error.
TCP/IP stack reset.
-- Network cable unplugged error.
I checked to see the NIC's drivers were installed properly.
-- They were.
Rebooted.
-- Network cable unplugged error.
Checked to ensure the cable he's using wasn't a phone cable but indeed an ethernet cable.
-- It was an ethernet cable.
Reseated both sides of the cable (one into the network card, one into the network jack.)
-- Network cable unplugged error.

These procedures ate up about a good 30-40 minutes of my call time. During these processes he kept sighing and making impatient statements and questioning my competency...

Me: Okay, sir, the last thing we can do to troubleshoot this is replace the ethernet cable. Please borrow one from the front desk and replace the one you're using with it.
SC: (sigh) Okay, whatever, I'll call the front desk and have them bring me up one.
Me: I'll be more than happy to wait for ya.
(He calls front desk, front desk brings up another ethernet cable. I can hear him removing the ethernet cable from the wall and his computer... two clicks later and about 45 seconds...)
Caller: Okay it works now. Bye.
(click)

Heh, what a jackass. He could have saved a good 25 minutes on the phone call, a few shreds of his patience and mine had he listened.. But no.. he thought he knew better.

I have more stories that I'll post later.. should I post them in this thread or make new threads?

[Knightmare]

Make new threads. It ups your post count!

Plus, they are a lot easier to read.

[Geek King]

Ah yes, the "It worked once, so it must never go bad" customer. If you're lucky, they will take themselves out by drinking bad milk because, "hey, it was good when I drank it last week!"

Welcome aboard. Always glad to hear from another support tech.

[SubwayGirl]

You must have the patience of a saint. I would have lost it on him 5 minutes into the call. I can't believe he didn't even apologize!

[sld72382]

Had that happen to me several times. Usually, it's because the client doesn't believe me when I tell him I need to remove damaged or legit-looking but actually bad software to fix the issue. Here are 3:

Case 1: Older guys calls us, says his PC is running really slow, his Yahoo messenger can't connect and his PC won't shut down. Well I determine the PC is clean of baddies, and after clearing startup, same problem happens, but when Norton is turned off the problems go away. I tell him I am going to remove Norton, and he snaps back with "do NOT remove it, it has worked fine!" So I respect his wishes, but after an hour and a half, still having the same issues. Well I tell him I need to remove Norton to solve the issue, and again he refuses to let me. To which I simply said, "please call us back so we can format your hard drive." THEN he lets me remove it, and it worked. And of course not a single apology from him.

Case 2: Again a Norton issue. This time, the guy has both Norton Internet Security and Systemworks installed. Due to Symantec's lousy programming both programs fight over the same resources and files, and as such can't be installed together as they'll eventually crash your system. Besides anything that Systemworks does can be done with freeware programs. His system was running slow and freezing up, even though he was free of any malware. I told him that one of his Nortons - Systemworks - must be removed for the reasons I listed above. He doesn't believe me and says, "why would Norton sell them as a bundle then?" To which I told him an "SLD analogy:" "If you go into a shoe store and if you ask the salesperson 'do these shoes stretch,' of course he's going to say 'yes'." To which he said, "I don't think Norton will like it if I called them and said (my company) was badmouthing not only their product but also their salespeople!" At this point I was ready to choke him (because a client saying that shit can be an instant audit-failer) and gave him the "format or else" ultimatum, and he demanded I put the software back on if it didn't fix the problem. Well it DID fix the problem, and all he could muster was a "thank you" and of course, no apology.

Case 3: Client had WinAntiVirus installed (she PAID for it). I go to remove it and she says, "Don't remove it I paid for it!" I tell her she just paid for a spyware, and she doesn't believe me and says "then why does Spysweeper not detect it then?"
I tell her WinAntiVirus sued a lot of antispyware scanners for listing it as such and Spysweeper was one of the companies that caved and removed it from it's definitions. She doesn't believe that either so I simply say, "OK, I'll run a program called CounterSpy, a scanner that didn't cave to their demands, and it'll remove it for us." She relents and lets me uninstall it. Oh, and I ran CounterSpy anyway.

[technical.angel]

CounterSpy totally rocks. I talked bosslady into getting a copy.

[gunsage]

SC: No we're not, but go ahead and do your troubleshooting anyway.
(That upset me. He's calling me for support and isn't cooperating.)

When I worked as a tier 2 at one of my previous jobs, we'd get situations where the customer would say things like "But I've already done that!", "I did that with the last agent, I don't need to do it again.", and the oh so charming "This is confusing! I want a technician out here NOW!" because I told him to do something as simple as, say, swap the ends of the ethernet cable.

One very important policy that I used MANY times in that job (especially because I had just gotten out of some tough security jobs and wasn't about to let someone act like an ass toward me) was that of "unproductivity." Basically, if a customer refuses to continue with your troubleshooting, you have the right to inform the customer that the call is becoming unproductive.

It's a basic warning that lets the customer know "Hey, you called us. You want support, so fucking cooperate or else." At that job, we had to tell them this three times before we were allowed to disconnect the call. Now, most techs will tell you that under no circumstances should you disconnect a call. However, depending on your company, the overall policy, etc., you may be entitled to warn them on a LOT of things, including but not limited to unnecessary/excessive/undue cursing, overall beligerance, uncooperativeness, etc.

If the customer was being a jerk, I would've simply stated that the call's getting unproductive and if he's not willing to follow the troubleshooting, I will have to disconnect. Unfortunately, in your situation, it's quite a bit different because the customer would most likely charge the front desk!

[Blade_Raver]

Thank you for your compliments and feedback everybody. I have been reading this forum for a while and decided it was time for me to contribute my experiences.. I've got a lot of them saved from my old LiveJournal that I'll start posting in here. All of the stories were from previous places I've worked at.

I currently do Tier 1 helpdesk support for a larger company now and the unsupportables aren't quite as frequent.

[earl colby pottinger]

Crazy customers

I have gone through the same thing, but this is for on-site calls at $100 per hour.

When the customer start telling me what to test and what not to test, I point out that they are paying for my time. I don't mind staying longer, but it will be reflected in their billing. Most shut up at this, but the ones who do not are also the ones three hours later complaining about the high bill! A bill that usually would be a lot less if they let me do my job.


The other crazy customers are ones who physically try to stop me from doing my test.

Example one customer's problem sound like a virus, when I said I would be testing for such and went to put the disk in he grabbed my hand claiming he never could have a virus. I simply told him 'no test, I walk'. I then tested, guess what I found.

[Blade_Raver]

I hear ya man.. if they were a little more honest and a bit more willing to cooperate... they just might get stuff done and taken care of without too much hassle lol

Ahh well.. the more wrenches they throw in the gears, the more difficulty they're creating for themselves..

[Rapscallion]

Make new threads. It ups your post count!

Whoa there! Post count is immaterial to your standing on this board. It's one of the reasons we made large chunks not count to post count numbers. What really matters is if you can entertainingly vent, give people advice, and generally be a good commnuity member. A large post count means nothing - genuine content does.

Plus, they are a lot easier to read.

If there are a number of very short posts, that's good for one post and several stories. If they are lengthy such as this one, separate threads are great. Just a general guideline. This is actually a more important consideration than the former.

Rapscallion

[technical.angel]

I hear ya man.. if they were a little more honest and a bit more willing to cooperate... they just might get stuff done and taken care of without too much hassle lol

Ahh well.. the more wrenches they throw in the gears, the more difficulty they're creating for themselves..

Woah! I almost didn't see that! Welcome to the Missouri crew!

My dept head and I have butted um... heads.. on the issue of involving students in the process of fixing their computers.

She under the impression that if we show them what we do, they can do it themselves. (let me just stop laughing here)

I was with that until I got bitched out by a student for changing their computer name to resolve a network conflict.

After that, no more. They can stay in the helpdesk if it's a quick issue, but I don't want them back in my horseshoe of techie doom.

[Blade_Raver]

Ahh.. it feels good to know that there are other techs in MO here like me I feel like I'm at home already

[technical.angel]

One day, we Missourians are going to overrun the board.

[Blade_Raver]

(Raises fist) Geek pride! GEEK PRIDE!