Tech Support: Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse!

treeguy64

treeguy64

Hari Om, y'all!
Location
Austin, TX.
As one who has rarely used tech support since the mid-90's, I'm now a guy who hits the internet, reads up on any problem I might be having, with anything around my house, and fixes the same. As a much younger guy, I found that during long phone holds, listening to horrible, hold muzak, I could usually solve my problem before an agent came on the line.

It's my contention that education systems, worldwide, are getting worse, by the day. Intellectually lacking tech support agents from the 90's have been replaced with dumber-than-dirt tech support agents of the (coming right up) 20's. Add in that about half speak unintelligible English, and it's a royal pita to deal with these people!

My last go-round was yesterday: I needed to replace screwdriver (check) stops, a type of inline, mini-shutoff valve, for a shower/tub valve. The guy at Pfister was minimally understandable, and kept putting me on hold, always assuring me he was working to solve my problem, and would return "shortly." I had requested a part number so I could order replacements. Forty minutes later, he came up with a part number. It was not the same as the one I had found while on hold, but I thought that he, perhaps, knew better than I, about his products.

To play it safe, I told him I wanted to check the part out, online, while I still had him on the phone. It turned out to be a .........screw!!! I then gave him the correct, as far as I knew, part number I had found, and asked about compatibility issues. I could visualize his eyes crossing as he fumbled, verbally, to answer my questions. I gave up, telling him, "OK, stop! You've been of zero help to me, and you wasted my time. Please learn about how to research part numbers!" (I ordered the two stops from Amazon, $9, delivered. They arrived, today, and look identical to what they're replacing. I'll know by tomorrow if they'll work.)

Thing is, this is happening to other people I've talked to, and I blame the whole education process, as it now exists. Students are graduating with worthless degrees, as they are passed along to be other teachers' problems, and then problems for you and me!

With the current pandemic, students are doing online classes. I have grave reservations about what these students will now be learning, if anything! Even if in-person classes resume, I can imagine what the world will be like, when it comes to the intelligence of its workers, ten years from now. What really causes me some trepidation is that these people will be taking care of you and me, as doctors, nurses, orderlies, etc., in our advanced old age, Yow!
 

Hope this is not to far off Topic just ignore me if it is :):)

I live 2 hours from the nearest city ,so I did an online order with a huge variety store in the city ordering knitting cotton to make wash cloths for myself.

When I went to pick up my balls of thread last week, they came out with 4 balls of bright lime green ...I said no I ordered a colour called SNOW ..which is white

..the assistant said this is the Snow colour ....Well I’ve never seen snow but from pictures I’ve seen it’s always been white.

The save embarrassing my self I ended up waking away with items I didn’t order
even tho my invoice on my phone said white ( snow ) knitting thread 8 ply ( I had to show her the invoice to pick it up)
and I checked online that it was correct.
Sadly common sense seems to have completely disappeared when dealing with some who work in shops

Here is my Snow coloured thread FE714DD6-22D7-4DDB-9A55-589147BC8967.jpeg
 
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Even the software now is haywire. I don't know if the company even checks it or tries it out themselves. I bought a VISA prepaid gift card to use for online purchases. There's a fee but I don't like using my credit card online.
You have to register the card to use it online.
Easy to do. Nope. You have to jump through hoops. Finally I give up and get a voice support. I'm hard of hearing and the guy speaks poor English. Eventually after repeating everything numerous times we get the card registered.
People buy these cards as gifts. Most people don't use them online.
The problem is companies are too cheap to pay for decent online support.
Another time I'm on with support and the support asks me a question which I would have to look up on my phone. I ask her how can I do that without hanging up. She can't tell me. I said I can hang up and call back. She tells me don't do that. I can't get anywhere and terminate the call. I find out why, later. You get an email survey rating the call.
I won't even mention those dumb Chaptak things that I can't read.
 

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Kadee46 said:
Hope this is not to far off Topic just ignore me if it is :):)

I live 2 hours from the nearest city ,so I did an online order with a huge variety store in the city ordering knitting cotton to make wash cloths for myself.

When I went to pick up my balls of thread last week, they came out with 4 balls of bright lime green ...I said no I ordered a colour called SNOW ..which is white

..the assistant said this is the Snow colour ....Well I’ve never seen snow but from pictures I’ve seen it’s always been white.

The save embarrassing my self I ended up waking away with items I didn’t order
even tho my invoice on my phone said white ( snow ) knitting thread 8 ply ( I had to show her the invoice to pick it up)
and I checked online that it was correct.
Sadly common sense seems to have completely disappeared when dealing with some who work in shops

Here is my Snow coloured thread View attachment 106443
Click to expand...
Kadee, I can assure you, snow is white as you correctly stated. I think that assistant is totally color blind or just plain crazy. Here is a picture of my front yard last fall when we had a sudden huge snow storm. It is pretty, but it is also cold.thumbnail_20191202_142054.jpgthumbnail_20191202_142054.jpg
 
Kadee46 said:
Hope this is not to far off Topic just ignore me if it is :):)

I live 2 hours from the nearest city ,so I did an online order with a huge variety store in the city ordering knitting cotton to make wash cloths for myself.

When I went to pick up my balls of thread last week, they came out with 4 balls of bright lime green ...I said no I ordered a colour called SNOW ..which is white

..the assistant said this is the Snow colour ....Well I’ve never seen snow but from pictures I’ve seen it’s always been white.

The save embarrassing my self I ended up waking away with items I didn’t order
even tho my invoice on my phone said white ( snow ) knitting thread 8 ply ( I had to show her the invoice to pick it up)
and I checked online that it was correct.
Sadly common sense seems to have completely disappeared when dealing with some who work in shops

Here is my Snow coloured thread View attachment 106443
Click to expand...
No way would I accept green snow! Why would you be embarrassed if you refused the order?
 
She said if I went and stood inline while she served all the others that were waiting she would refund my money ..the whole idea of ordering on line was so I didn’t have to spend to long in the store .
Here is what I ordered it’s shows it’s white and it’s called SNOW ...not lime green thats not even
listed online
5CAED1BF-3D22-4EBB-BFE6-C30A311972D7.jpeg
 
Lewkat said:
Kadee, I can assure you, snow is white as you correctly stated. I think that assistant is totally color blind or just plain crazy. Here is a picture of my front yard last fall when we had a sudden huge snow storm. It is pretty, but it is also cold.View attachment 106444View attachment 106444
Click to expand...
Would you believe, I just read an article on my accuweather site replete with a picture, snow will soon be green. In Antarctica of all places. Has something do with carbon dioxide changes. Unbelievable.
 
We have found that most of the time, online research plus YouTube videos will work for what we need to learn about. The YouTube videos are not only in understandable English, but you can actually SEE the part that the person is describing for you.
Mostly, the only time we have to use tech support is when it is something that can’t be done without contacting the company about an issue, or something that needs to be registered on the phone.
It is frustrating when they ask you something that the answer to is on your phone, and you can’t find it while using the phone. Sometimes, it is something that I can just use the iPad to look up, because they both have the same information, but this is not always the case.
 
Never order a color by the name given to it.

This causes more trouble than enough. What is taupe, aqua, beige? When you go to the paint store and pick up chips this is the kind of descriptions you get. I love landlord white. :giggle:
 
When I first got this laptop it sat for a while because I hadn't yet got wifi at the house. So when I got it going it came with McAfee (which I've no problem with). I went to register and sign up for an acct. No problems there.

Couple days later I start getting these messages that my acct for them is going to expire. So I called and I get this little indian fellow whose English is so bad that I kept having to repeat everything 3 times. I was getting a little aggravated at that alone. He finally tells me what he believes the problem is and what the fix is and I discover there's a drop down menu for updates. I hit update and get the update while he's still rattling and presto...problem solved.

I get more help via YouTube how to videos than I do with tech services.
 
Camper6 said:
The problem is companies are too cheap to pay for decent online support.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Besides the fact that people with a real skill set are not going to be answering a "support line" at minimum wage. Most telephone support people have a script they read from, and if the problem isn't part of that script then they are at a loss.
 

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