Toastman 1 : Tech Support 0

[toastman]

Finally called Bellsouth to fix some problems with my account. Something I don't know why they didn't do to begin with. Here's the story (shortest version that's still understandable):

Back in the day: I'm living in Lafayette. Bellsouth starts offering DSL. I buy. I create an additional mailbox for serious communications, let's call it WORK. So now I have my main mailbox which is TOAST and an additional mailbox WORK
July/August 2003: I move. I get all my services switched over to my new address. I even checked to make sure everything will transfer over. I get to the new house and the phone line works, but no internet. I call and they tell me that my DSL account didn't transfer. Great. So they create a dummy account for me that will allow me to login etc.
One week ago: I upgrade my DSL, since I was a customer back in the day, I'll be paying the same price as before for better service (aka, they never decreased my rates when the plan became cheaper >_< )
Well, since my DSL account was the dummy, that was the one that got upgraded, and since I needed to call to get a new modem anyway (I had an Alcatel Speedtouch USB) I decided to resolve this issue once and for all.
Today: I call to order my modem and tell them about my account woes. They say "OK, we'll just delete the old account and rename the new account with the old username." Great, it means I won't notice anything (theoretically) but I should have to recreate the WORK mailbox since it is attached to the old account
Tonight: I check my email. Or I try to. I can't check either of my email accounts. So I call tech support.
Backstory over.
I tell him that I need a new password for my main mailbox. No problem. Then I tell him that I can't recreate my WORK account because it tells me that the name is in use.
He tells me to delete the profile in Outlook.
I try to explain to him the problem isn't Outlook, it's the fact that the WORK account should've been deleted along with the old account, but it wasn't and I can't remake it or log in to it.
After a while, he tells me to delete the profile in Outlook again.
After some more verbal sparring (where I actually used the word "vestiges" in a serious sentence) he finally says "Ok, I'll create the mailbox for you."
I say: "Fine"
Wait 5 seconds.
Tech Support: "It says the name is being used and I can't create it"
Me: "NOW you see my problem."

[Wagh]

Usually when tech support gets an attitude I tell them I will not talk to them until I speak to the person with the last name of the company. That usually gets you some kind of exec. They make things go smoothly. But anyways congrats on your making him into an ass.

[Tall Israeli]

LOL you should have recorded that.

[Nick]

I've called tech support for all sorts of stuff pertaining to DSL. One classic was when my DSL download speeds dropped to 30 kbps, so I call them. The guy tells me my internet is working fine. I'm like, no it isn't. He's like, well the tests, etc.

An hour later I was downloading at 160 Kbps.

[Tall Israeli]

I've called tech support for all sorts of stuff pertaining to DSL. One classic was when my DSL download speeds dropped to 30 kbps, so I call them. The guy tells me my internet is working fine. I'm like, no it isn't. He's like, well the tests, etc.

An hour later I was downloading at 160 Kbps.

You called because you were downloading at 30kb/s. Wow, if that isn't one of the stupidest reasons to call.

[Nick]

I've called tech support for all sorts of stuff pertaining to DSL. One classic was when my DSL download speeds dropped to 30 kbps, so I call them. The guy tells me my internet is working fine. I'm like, no it isn't. He's like, well the tests, etc.

An hour later I was downloading at 160 Kbps.

You called because you were downloading at 30kb/s. Wow, if that isn't one of the stupidest reasons to call.

And how so? I was paying for 1.5 mbps and I was getting 1/5 of that. I don't see how calling tech support is unreasonable when the situation had been going on for around a month.

[Tall Israeli]

I've called tech support for all sorts of stuff pertaining to DSL. One classic was when my DSL download speeds dropped to 30 kbps, so I call them. The guy tells me my internet is working fine. I'm like, no it isn't. He's like, well the tests, etc.

An hour later I was downloading at 160 Kbps.

You called because you were downloading at 30kb/s. Wow, if that isn't one of the stupidest reasons to call.

And how so? I was paying for 1.5 mbps and I was getting 1/5 of that. I don't see how calling tech support is unreasonable when the situation had been going on for around a month.

You should have included the last part into your previous post. I figured it was like an hour and you called.

[Nick]

I've called tech support for all sorts of stuff pertaining to DSL. One classic was when my DSL download speeds dropped to 30 kbps, so I call them. The guy tells me my internet is working fine. I'm like, no it isn't. He's like, well the tests, etc.

An hour later I was downloading at 160 Kbps.

You called because you were downloading at 30kb/s. Wow, if that isn't one of the stupidest reasons to call.

And how so? I was paying for 1.5 mbps and I was getting 1/5 of that. I don't see how calling tech support is unreasonable when the situation had been going on for around a month.

You should have included the last part into your previous post. I figured it was like an hour and you called.

Oh, ok. I thought it might be because of that.

[Orange_Ribbon]

A dell tech suport person told me that it was my fault for installing Linux because LILO didn't work.

[Zealous zerotype]

I've called tech support for all sorts of stuff pertaining to DSL. One classic was when my DSL download speeds dropped to 30 kbps, so I call them. The guy tells me my internet is working fine. I'm like, no it isn't. He's like, well the tests, etc.

An hour later I was downloading at 160 Kbps.

You called because you were downloading at 30kb/s. Wow, if that isn't one of the stupidest reasons to call.

And how so? I was paying for 1.5 mbps and I was getting 1/5 of that. I don't see how calling tech support is unreasonable when the situation had been going on for around a month.

I had that happen before. Mine was a radio frequencey thing connected. They told me to remove it then bam went up to ~150 .

[GratefulDead]

Bellsouth tech reps are usually pretty competent, but other times they'll know jack. I used to do conference calls with them, and end up troubleshooting dsl connectivity with them on hold.

A tip though, guaranteed that with almost any company you call in your life time, you will never get a real supervisor. The person you get's typically a floor leed. I've taken a good couple hundred sup calls, and the dumbasses I talk to chill RIGHT out when I introduce myself. You ask for a supervisor, they put you on hold and either escalate you to a leed (who's probably a first wave or first level tech) or in the rare case a non-technical supervisor who can't help you either.

When you call tech support, try approaching the tech support rep in the same mannor that you would like to be treated. If they run into a problem and you're calm about, they'll probably speak with a technical sup or floor leed and find the answer for you. If things take over 30 minutes, they'll probably end up transferring you to a higher level. They do this not because of your problem, but to keep service levels down for their center. Customer satisfaction goes up, "one call resolution" goes up, and you'll get someone who's not a dumbass.

I don't have my contacts or glasses, but are you using pop3 or httpdav? Even with plain http without dav access, you should have some sort of web access obviously. Does that work? Chances are that you've probably checked it, but still...

If it's pop3, I've got a hunch that they never really migrated any information over. They never do. They assume your an asshole and they'll just credit your account with a month or two of free access if that's the case... besides, the tech rep will never speak to you again, and it'd be a customer service rep who has to deal with an angry toastman. I really think they probably just nuked your old account and bid you a good day. I don't know enough to assume that though...

Just my experience with tech support. Worked as a level one for a year, level two for a year, then back to level one because I was a sup for a while... but yeah, spoke with lots of dumbasses from bellsouth and you have to know how to work them. If you ever get cocky with them, or imply that you know what's wrong without troubleshooting then their jackasses will get contradicting and not help you. It's definitely not professional, and you should ask for a supervisor anyways because it'll kill their handle time and piss off whomever you talk to.

[Sanchez]

I had one of those... My DSL went out (ie, no little DSL active light). Tech girl told me to try several things (none of which had anything to do w/ it, but I thought ah well, I do tech support too so I'll behave...) My favorite was to unplug the ends of my ethernet cable, turn them around, and plug them back in. Suffice it to say, that didn't work. So she escalated it. Get a call back an hour later from a CO tech (Central Office, aka, where the lines hook up) saying "It's fixed". I look, try, and respond "No it's not". He says "Yes, it is." I said, "No, it's not, the light still isn't on." pause... pause... pause... "Oh crap... I guess they must've moved the line to another user, it'll take a while..." It was fixed correctly the next day....

[GratefulDead]

A nice customer, regardless of their incredible stupidity (try spending an hour trying to get someone to right click on "my computer", I went as far as to explain it in french and spanish) will usually have their issue resolved regardless. If you're nice, even if a tech disconnects you out of vein, call back and keep the friendly attitude. Your problem will get fixed and you'll probably get credited for the inconvenience if it's a server side issue.

My friends and I would fix everything unless it was completely out of our boundaries and was an oem or third party isp issue. Made bonus each month, fixed absolutely everything unless you were a jackass. Jackasses get referred somewhere else. It's more of a piss-off than getting disconnected. I used to audit calls with microsoft and other sups, and you'd be amazed at some of the calls we've listened to. Hilarity.

[toastman]

I don't have my contacts or glasses, but are you using pop3 or httpdav? Even with plain http without dav access, you should have some sort of web access obviously. Does that work? Chances are that you've probably checked it, but still...

If it's pop3, I've got a hunch that they never really migrated any information over. They never do. They assume your an asshole and they'll just credit your account with a month or two of free access if that's the case... besides, the tech rep will never speak to you again, and it'd be a customer service rep who has to deal with an angry toastman. I really think they probably just nuked your old account and bid you a good day. I don't know enough to assume that though...

???
Yeah, I expected the old account to get nuked, and for none of the information to be migrated. I just expected the WORK mailbox to get totally wiped from the system along with the account it was attached to, which didn't happen.
And it was apparently disabled because I couldn't log in to it to check the email either.
And where did I say I got angry? Nowhere. I got somewhat exasperated because the guy couldn't see the exact nature of the problem I was having, but I knew his situation and didn't beat the guy up over it. The guy was trying to help, but he didn't understand the exact nature of the problem. That's the problem when you have people reading off of scripts instead of people who know what they are doing.
Anyway, I don't think he would've spent 30-ish minutes on the phone with me and then make a 1-minute follow up call himself if I was being abusive.

[melancholy]

I love when the sign printer at Best Buy broke and we had to call the help desk. Their first suggestion was that we remove the printer cable and blow on the ends of it.

[toastman]

I love when the sign printer at Best Buy broke and we had to call the help desk. Their first suggestion was that we remove the printer cable and blow on the ends of it.

[GratefulDead]

Naw, wasn't trying to imply that you were angry at all. No offense was to be taken, I sort of jumped off topic to show the sorts or snappy attitudes a TECH REP can have. They get bitchy and defensive at times which I think's totally unacceptible, but if you can work them you usually get escalated to someone else to make everyone happy.

The less comfortable agents will typically troubleshoot as their guideline states. When a customer's smarter than them, they fall apart. When they get nailed for reading call scripts, all hell breaks loose - it's funny and sort of pitiful to witness.

When you know it's a backend issue like that, again your best bet's to get escalated up so that they can sandbox the problem and see for themselves that there's a big fuck up. The first level techs are typically limited to very basic user end problems, with the exception of the ones who make all sorts of bonus metrics, or higher level technicians who take level one calls to keep service levels down. It was a big issue working at msn. Our dumbasses would waste so much time with our customers, I'd take the call and fix the problem in less than 5 seconds, explain the issue and calm down the customer and end up meeting bonus metrics at the end of the month.

Hope they fixed things though.

[toastman]

Yeah, everythings fine now. Got my new modem in, and got it all configured and what not. Right now, I'm posting from the couch in my living room. Wireless interent and notebooks rule.

[Sir Savant]

How is a job as tech support? Good pay?

[Digital Chaos]

Do you live in India?