No, it is the same thing!

[Meadhands]

Working in a computer lab, I don't often have to handle people on the phone. Most people are right there at the lab when they have computer problems. Technically, if we recieve a call, we do not have to do anything about it because the lab is our sole jurisdiction. We can forward it to whomsoever we choose. The boss, however, would like if we can help where we can, so we do.

The call I recieved a few days ago, however, reminded me why I never want to do phone-based tech support. EVER.

The lab is nearly empty, so when the phone rings, I am happy to have something to do. The lady tells me she has a computer problem and that the IT help desk, the people that probably should have handled it, decided they could not be bothered and forwarded her to our lab.

Me: Computer lab tech
SC: Perhaps just a little too stubborn for her own good.

Me: So what exactly is the problem, ma'am?
SC: Well, I have been trying for a while now, and I can't find out how to transfer my files from my desktop to my hard drive.
Me: ...I am sorry, I think I misheard you. Could you repeat that?
SC: I said I wish to copy my files from my desktop to my hard drive so that I have a permanant record of them on my computer.
Me: ...Uh, ma'am? The... desktop is ON your hard drive.
SC: No, it is on my monitor. I want to know how to get those files from the monitor to the hard drive!

It goes back and forth with me trying to explain that it is already so, and her telling me it is not. Finally, I explain try to show her how true what I said was.

Me: Ma'am, can you open up an explore window for me? Do you know how to do that?
SC: Of course.
Me: Now go to the C:\ drive.
SC: Ok, I am here.
Me: Go to Documents and Settings, find your user name, and open the folder. Inside THAT folder is a folder called Desktop. If you look inside, you can see every item on your desktop. Is this true?
SC: Yes, I can see all the items on the desktop.
Me: Including the ones you want on your hard drive?
SC: Yes, they are there.
Me: Then as you can see, they are already ON your hard drive.
SC: ...No, they are in the desktop folder, which means they are on the desktop! How do I move them to my hard drive?!?

After a few more attempts to explain it to her, she ends up hanging up on me in mid sentence. I told the story to my supervisor (still laughing). As it is a recent event, I don't know if a complaint has been made, but most likely it would be tossed away anyway, as I was technically going beyond what my job calls for by helping her, not to mention that I had done everything in my power short of showing the lady what I was talking about.

This is going into my collection of reasons I will never "work the phones."

[technical.angel]

Instead of arguing with her, it would have been far easier if you just talked her how to copy them to her My Documents. Lots less stress on everyone's part.

[ringo]

Yes, but when asking help from someone who might know what they are talking about, one *should* not argue with that person. I know, i know, it doesn't happen that way, but I learn my lesson long time ago with my parents.

[technical.angel]

I'm not saying anyone was in the wrong or right, but I would have explained it once, maybe twice, then showed her how to move them to My Documents.

[Cyphr]

bleh I hate people who refuse to listen to my assuarances everythign is okay. i would have have said click them and drag to recycle bina nd then right click and select empty

[Pedersen]

Yes, but when asking help from someone who might know what they are talking about, one *should* not argue with that person.

There are times when you should, though. Such as when the person you've asked for help is saying "the only solution is a reformat". That may well be the case, but you really should argue and make them prove the point first.

[edicius]

Ow ow ow ow.

My brain hurts just from reading that. Computers ain't for everyone, that's for sure.

[looney_librarian]

After that exchange, you should have had her to open a command line and have her type the following command:

format c:\

That way she can start over again and then make sure she put the files on the hard drive.

[ringo]

There are times when you should, though. Such as when the person you've asked for help is saying "the only solution is a reformat". That may well be the case, but you really should argue and make them prove the point first.

Sure, I absolutely agree with asking for more clarification, but after the clarification, that customer still was stuck with what ever she believed. Some times there isn't really anything wrong with a reformat, only when data is backed up, and proper protection software is installed before internet access. Of course I know, reformat is generally the last resort. But I also use it, if my hd is way to full to try to clear up.

[tollbaby]

having a less-than-intelligent user reformat their hard drive doesn't accomplish a damn thing other than make you look like a moron when that person goes to your boss saying you told them to do it.

Arguing something back and forth with someone for an hour doesn't make much sense either unless there's no other solution (such as when my mother had her computer so infected with viruses that we had to reformat because windows wouldn't even boot up anymore among other problems). If it makes this woman happy to believe that her desktop and her hard drive are two separate entities, nothing you can say will change that. Just get her to copy the files to a folder on the C drive and that's the end of it. Would have been a hell of a lot easier on you, you still would have had your satisfaction at knowing you were smarter than she was, AND you'd have had a satisfied customer at the end of it all.

[technical.angel]

Ditto. Thanks for saying what I was trying to say earlier, but saying it much better.

[ringo]

I guess I am just stubborn when it comes to my "geekness"

[technical.angel]

We've really gotten off onto two separate topics, and they aren't merging well.

The first is arguing with a technoob, and the other is if a tech tells you to reformat. They're apples and oranges.

IMHO

1. Arguing with a customer is wrong. No if ands or buts. It's like participating in a flame war. It may seem fun to you, it may feel good, but all it's doing it pissing off the already pissed off other person. In this case, if the tech couldn't get the caller to understand, s/he should have taken another approach, as the OP did. If THAT failed, the tech should have either humored the caller, or escalated the call. It's fun to pull out the c: format line, but really, I think that should be banned right along with jokes of violence against SCs.

Which goes straight into....

2. *If you know a significant amount about computers,* and a tech tells you to reformat, then, yes, you have a right to doubt what the tech tells you. Though, Pederson, argue is a stronger word than what I would use. "I disagree. Why do you think that's necessary?" would be more than enough.

3. I REALLY don't want to go to work today!

[earl colby pottinger]

Danger of not forcing customers to face the truth

If you giving into customers in letting them work with a VERY, VERY, VERY incorrect model in their head about how their computer works you have a ticking time-bomb.

The customer keeps doing what they always do because it works then it all comes crashing down and guess who gets the blame.

Ticking Time Bomb Problems I have seen:

Customer uses trashcan for storage, guess what happens when they hit the can's limit or someone cleans their system?

Customer ordered and installed a bigger monitor on their mac so they could hold more files on the desktop, went from 20" to 27", how far can they go?

Customer refused to do backups, because us techs always (twice before I left) could recover his files. Sooner or later that drive is going to be dead, Dead, DEAD!

[MadMike]

1. Arguing with a customer is wrong. No if ands or buts.

I have a somewhat relevant story, although this person wasn't a customer, but a friend of a friend. A good friend of mine told me that she had a friend whose computer had gotten fried during an electrical storm, but by some miracle, it still worked, but would no longer dial in to the internet.

I was pretty sure that just the modem was fried, and I happened to have a dialup modem lying around, so I grabbed it, put some drivers on a disc, and met my friend over at her friend's place. Luckily, I was right, and once I put the new modem in, it worked like a charm.

A few weeks ago, I was hanging out with my friend, and her friend whose computer I had fixed was also there. We got into the subject of me fixing her computer, and I mentioned how I was surprised that the thing got hit by lightning, and that the only thing that took a hit was the modem. She responded that I was wrong, and that the modem worked fine, and it was a good thing it did, because she paid $1700 for that "modem."

It was then that I figured out that she was one of those people who thought the "modem" and the "computer" were the same thing, and decided not to even try to explain it to her.