Subtle signs your 3rd party support staff may be incompetent

[Gerrinson]

Note: Long-ish, language

We've been having some issues with one PC at work for the past couple of weeks. One particular function of our accounting software, that the person needs to do their job, will not work. It happened after we updated a different software on that PC.

Of course, we updated that same software on 5 other PCs without causing this problem, so we were left scratching our heads about it.

We called our 3rd party support and they remoted into the PC while the user was at lunch. I sat there on the phone with them to answer questions and assist as necessary.

Here's a transcript of the last bit of the call. Keep in mind, the first 20 minutes was her running through all the fixes that I had already tried and reported to them as being unsuccessful. Oh, and this all happened during what was supposed to be my lunch.

Me: Disgruntled about missing my lunch break for this crap
3S: 3rd party support tech

3S: So, we just need to copy <file> from another PC onto this one. Can you make it available?

Me: We've already done that. I did that, then uninstalled and reinstalled, it just doesn't work.

3S: *trying to say it under her breath, but failing* Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Me: So, do you have any other ideas? I sent you the list of what I tried and none of that worked.

3S: Give me a minute while I Google the problem.

Me: I already did that several times, but hopefully you'll have more luck than I did. <You specialize in supporting this software and you have Google the problem while I'm on the phone with you? Seriously? Why the hell do we pay you people? I should just collect the contract fee and Google it my damned self. Which I already did to no avail.>

3S: *type type type.....type type type....type type type* *seconds turn into minutes*

Me: *not so quietly om nom noms on my cheezburger* *lunch really was cheezburger* *Srsly*

3S: Okay, it looks like everything points to a problem with <driver> or <other driver> so we just need to copy uncorrupted versions of those over.

Me: Um, yeah, I did that. See #3 on the list I sent you. And I tried uninstall, reg clean, then reinstall. Didn't work. In fact, I have uncorrupted copies saved onto the desktop in <problem folder> that you can see.

3S: Well, let's look at the registry. *begins highlighting and deleting registry entries - for some reason this makes me nervous - I should have trusted my gut* *speaking softly as if to be under her breath like earlier* Oh, shiiiiiiit, I shouldn't have deleted that. Or that. Shiiiiiiiit.

Me: Is there a problem?

3S: WHAT?!? Oh! No, no problems.

Me: Oh, okay. <Lies! LIES!> So any other ideas about this problem?

3S: Let's just try opening <software> and try running <built in fix that has failed 10+ times but they keep demanding we try it>.

Me: Sure. Oh, hey, looks like it won't run now. Maybe we should undo those registry edits since it seems to be broken now?

3S: *I couldn't see it, but I could hear her face going * Umm...no, no, let's just uninstall and reinstall, yeah, that should fix the both problems.

Me: Yeah, sure. <Not like I wanted to enjoy my lunch or anything. At least I can eat during the install. But I'm still >

Install finishes, we try the broken function, OH! Still broken! Just like when I did all this! No way!

3S: Fuuuuuuck. Ooops! Sorry, I shouldn't have said that!

Me: Yeah, duly noted. So, no new ideas yet?

3S: Here's the website I've been working from <www.IALREADYTRIEDTHAT.com>.

Me: Um, yeah, I already tried all the suggested fixes on that site. And the ones on <other site> and <yet another site>, but none of them work. We've decided that it's been almost two weeks and you guys can't give us a fix, so we're just going to wipe the machine and reinstall everything. That should correct it.

3S: Well, I think that's a pretty heavy handed way of fixing something so simple.

Me: If it's so simple, it would be fixed by now. We need to get the user working again, so this seems the best solution. We've already spent 4 business hours stretched out over nearly 2 weeks trying to resolve this problem. I can have the PC wiped and reinstalled in about 3 hours.

3S: Well, if you give us some more time your end user can keep working without being heavy handed and reinstalling everything.

Me: Fortunately she's leaving early and I'll have time to take care of it without impacting her work any further.

3S: Well, have a good day and don't hesitate to call us for help in the future!

Me: Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. <Right next to the thought of beating you with my clue-by-four! I'll show you the true meaning of 'heavy-handed' >

Actually, I suggested a rebuild a week ago when I ran out of plausible fixes. But everyone *cough*management!*cough* wanted to wait it out on the support people. Now everyone *cough*management!*cough* here has come to the conclusion that I was right. Now if only I could convince them to just agree with me in the first place.

[MadMike]

Actually, I suggested a rebuild a week ago when I ran out of plausible fixes. But everyone *cough*management!*cough* wanted to wait it out on the support people.

But of course! They didn't want to hear that it was going to take you 3 hours to rebuild it. They'd much rather have you spin your wheels with tech support for 2 weeks. Believe me, I've been there and done that.

[Bandit]

Ah! Another encounter with the outsourced help(less) desk.

I deal with that stupidity too. The tier one desk is in Poland and tier 2 is in India.

There's a reason I tell my (l)users - "I'm sorry to say, but I do need you to open a ticket. I'll do what you want in about 30 seconds after I get it, but it's needed for corporate. Sorry."

I don't wish our helpless desk on anyone.

B

[Gerrinson]

Actually, it's not outsourced. It's a relatively local company with only 2 people - the owner and his one employee. They both 'specialize' in this software. *sigh*

[lordlundar]

Actually, I suggested a rebuild a week ago when I ran out of plausible fixes. But everyone *cough*management!*cough* wanted to wait it out on the support people. Now everyone *cough*management!*cough* here has come to the conclusion that I was right. Now if only I could convince them to just agree with me in the first place.

You want to know why they did that? you answered the question earlier in your post:

<You specialize in supporting this software and you have Google the problem while I'm on the phone with you? Seriously? Why the hell do we pay you people? I should just collect the contract fee and Google it my damned self.

You are paying for their service, so your management wants to get their money's worth.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Now if only I could convince management to just agree with me in the first place.

The only time mangement ever agreed with me in the first place was when they could take credit for it.

[protege]

Reminds me of some of my office's "wonderful" equipment. Mainly, that stupid laptop that just wouldn't die. Actually, my boss wouldn't let me get rid of it. Even with a broken screen, he insisted that if we hooked a regular (CRT-style) monitor, plus a keyboard and mouse...that we could use it as an additional workstation. Never mind that it was constantly freezing up and just being irritating.

But, that's not the best part. He actually had me call Compaq, to try to get the broken screen replaced under warranty Then he got upset when I said that it wasn't covered, only for him to reply with "well, make them cover it." Uh, how the hell does that work

Needless to say, I had no choice but to do as he asked. That piece of shit served as a workstation and later as the "control terminal" for the fax machine. Then it started randomly failing, and I'd had enough.

When the office recently moved, that stupid laptop didn't come with us. Needless to say, it found its way into my workshop, and later had some of its parts removed--the drives, battery, anything else I could hope to reuse. As for the rest, well, it's eventually going to get the crap bashed out of it

What pisses me off, is that when a machine fails, I've already exhausted my options at fixing it. It's scrap. Yet, I have to waste my time, repeating everything I've already done, simply because the boss either thinks I'm an idiot (yeah, one that built your damn network and has saved your server's data *multiple* times...), or doesn't want to do the work.

[Hitokiri Akins]

Ouch. Yeah, every IT person deals with the "outside help", which is anything but. The most fun thing about being an IT person is knowing that you are always the bad guy, from the customer to your boss's boss.

[Hyndis]

Ouch. Yeah, every IT person deals with the "outside help", which is anything but. The most fun thing about being an IT person is knowing that you are always the bad guy, from the customer to your boss's boss.

Yup.

Customers blame me when I can't solve a hardware problem caused by another company's products over the phone. Bosses blame me because QC is lacking, and I deal with the mess the lack of QC makes.

[technical.angel]

Thankfully, I don't have any problem with mgmt & reformatting PCs. If I call for a reformat, they know it is bad. I hate reformatting PCs.

By the by, I'm writing this from a tablet PC. By hand

Work sponsored toys are good.

[draggar]

Thankfully, I don't have any problem with mgmt & reformatting PCs. If I call for a reformat, they know it is bad. I hate reformatting PCs.

Same here, on all points. I try everything before I need to go to a reformat.

By the by, I'm writing this from a tablet PC. By hand

Work sponsored toys are good.

I'm jealous.

[protege]

You are paying for their service, so your management wants to get their money's worth.

Or, in my case...I *am* their service

Here's something I might have mentioned earlier. Boss got a new Gateway desktop some years ago, and was having some problems with it. Specifically, the "sports" screen-saver would crash the computer. I told him to simply select another one until I could look at it.

He refused, and made me call Gateway's tech support line. Seriously, I wish I was making this crap up. I got to call about that stupid screen-saver, and was on the phone all morning about it. End result? Gateway said the same thing I did--they didn't know why it was crashing...and don't use it.

2 hours of my life that I can't ever get back

At least when it comes to reformatting PCs, I can pretty much do what I want. Before I get to that point, I test everything else, run my anti-spyware programs. If all that fails, *then* I get to reformat and reinstall everything.