If at first you don't like what you hear....

[sld72382]

....Try, try again.

Preface: My ISP offers a technical assistance service for computer-specific issues for a small monthly fee. Of course, this only applies to software issues, once the dept that takes these calls judges something to be a hardware issue, they'll refer the customer to the manufacturer or a local repair shop.

Anyway, I got a customer on my line (she sounded elderly) who wanted these guys to help her reload her O/S because her computer was running VERY slow. Seemed innocent enough, so I transfer her over there.

This is the conversation I had with the tech support guy over there:

Me: Hi _____. I have a customer who wants you to help her reload her operating system. *Gives phone #*

TSG: That's all well and good, but what's actually happening is that she is getting a "hard disk immanent failure" message at startup.

Me: I can imagine that's the reason why her system is running poorly, because the hard drive is dying. Let her know as she can at least boot up to windows, that it's a golden opportunity to back up her stuff because her hard drive completely goes out, and she needs to replace the drive after.

TSG: That's what the last 4 techs here have told her. Every time we tell her that, she hangs up.

Me: I'm sorry for not seeing what's actually going on in my notes here....

TSG: We have a different database than you, so you can't see it. The last tech noted that when he told her it's a hardware issue and to bring it somewhere she yelled that we are just lazy and are refusing to help her before hanging up....

Me: So I take it that if she keeps calling, that she feels she'll finally get a tech that will actually attempt to run a format and reload on an already failing drive just to appease her?

TSG: That pretty much sums it up.

Me: Well, I'll transfer her to you where you can tell her the same thing as the last 4 techs, that the drive needs to be replaced.

TSG: Go ahead and transfer her, I'll take care of her and tell her that for the 5th time.

Me: Ok here you go, good luck....

*Transferred....*

I bet she had an "expert" tell her to ignore the message since she can boot up windows.

[Teskeria]

At least he took the call. I have had tech refuse calls we are REQUIRED to transfer to them, because 'the last rep already told her blah, blah, blah. Just tell her he was correct' click. I am not permitted to tell them that, because it is a tech issue (and needs to be logged as hitting their dept). I often have to call 3 or 4 times before an intelligent person, who comprehends the rules actually takes the call usually with 'I'll tell them again.'

[sld72382]

The reason why he didn't refuse is because.....

1. It's their job to handle PC-specific issues. They are not allowed to refuse a transfer unless one of our techs are lazy and transfer an internet problem to them and disguise it as a PC issue.

2. As tier 1 internet agents, we are not allowed to even speculate on what is causing computer issues. We have to simply say, "We do are not trained on computer problems here, call the manufacturer or bring it somewhere." Or, if they have the aforementioned service, transfer to that line.....

[Chromatix]

Hmm, I recently got that message on one of my PCs. I confirmed it using SeaTools (SMART saying it had run out of reallocation sectors, seek noises and poor performance corroborate this), then shut it down until I could figure out a plan to retrieve the data.

Luckily, Seagate drives tend to fail gracefully; I was able to clone it to an identical drive with no errors reported, after relocating the data from the latter somewhere sane.

The drive is now waiting for me to locate suitable packaging to send it off for RMA.

[Geek King]

The worst thing is that the HP PCs we work with where I'm at are prone to mis-diagnosing failing drives. You get the message and it could be legit, or it can run until we pitch the whole computer. I've been dealing with one that has given that message the entire time I've been at this job. That's years now without failing.

Fortunately, they should be saving anything important to the server drive each person has, and that's in the workplace IT rules. But still irritating that we can't even trust the system messages about the drive.

[sld72382]

The worst thing is that the HP PCs we work with where I'm at are prone to mis-diagnosing failing drives. You get the message and it could be legit, or it can run until we pitch the whole computer. I've been dealing with one that has given that message the entire time I've been at this job. That's years now without failing.

Sadly, on our side, as tech support to end users, on this dept and the store I used to take calls for, we can NEVER tell a customer that it's a possible false positive. Because if we tell a customer to ignore it and it turns out to be legit, guess who the end user is going to blame?