Warp wrote:
> 
>   Yeah, it's impossible to know whether the answer was generic and useless
> because the technical support guy was just being lazy, or because he is
> honestly trying to help but is so busy with the hundreds of emails he is
> getting that he simply doesn't have the time to scrutinize all the minor
> details in every single one of them.
> 

In addition, some places explicitly forbid the support people from 
exercising much creativity in their answers, but instead force them to 
select from a bank of pre-designed template answers.  So it might even 
be the case that the person knows what you're asking and wants to help, 
but couldn't because they didn't have the authority to answer it properly.

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"Kevin Wampler" <wam### [at] uwashingtonedu> wrote in message
news:4b68a6b0$1@news.povray.org...
> In addition, some places explicitly forbid the support
people from
> exercising much creativity in their answers, but instead
force them to
> select from a bank of pre-designed template answers.  So
it might even
> be the case that the person knows what you're asking and
wants to help,
> but couldn't because they didn't have the authority to
answer it properly.

Now THAT is a new one... I can see it though, just surprised
me. By the time I'm calling for support, I coubt some list
of stock answers is going to help me. :) Not that I'm some
high-falootin' tech genius, but I do build and take care of
all the servers here in my department, all three of them! :)
Usually my problems aren't trivial. And not all of them are
caused by me!

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DungBeatle wrote:
> 
> Now THAT is a new one... I can see it though, just surprised
> me.
> 

I should mention that the only data point I have for this some of the 
Amazon.com customer service policies (and they probably aren't nearly as 
bad as I make them sound).  I'd hope that people don't do this in 
technical support, but given that he policy exists in customer service 
I'd wager that it's used in technical support some places as well.

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Kevin Wampler <wam### [at] uwashingtonedu> wrote:
> In addition, some places explicitly forbid the support people from 
> exercising much creativity in their answers, but instead force them to 
> select from a bank of pre-designed template answers.  So it might even 
> be the case that the person knows what you're asking and wants to help, 
> but couldn't because they didn't have the authority to answer it properly.

  Why would they do that? Who does it benefit? Why would a company
actively *forbid* a tech support person from giving an answer he
knows fits the question best and instead *force* him to give an
irrelevant answer? What for?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:06:38 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

> Sometimes the hardest thing is figuring out why you're actually writing
> something. Like, I mean, I *know* I have to write this policy. But *who*
> is actually going to read it, and why?

Yep, that is the hardest thing about writing.  If you don't know your 
audience, then all else becomes secondary.

> But, IMHO, *the* hardest thing is figuring out all the stuff your
> audience doesn't know that happens to be trivially obvious to you. 

That also can be difficult, because it requires putting yourself in your 
audience's shoes.  I had a discussion with a coworker who does some 
course development recently, and he observed that another guy who has 
expertise with the software in question was involved in designing a 
course and was designing it to be something he'd *take*, not something 
he'd *teach*.  He was having a hard time explaining that the course being 
developed wasn't for the other guy to take because there wouldn't be a 
huge market for it.

> Like,
> I've read *so many* projects on SourceForge that tell you about all the
> fantastic features this software has but doesn't actually say... what...
> it... does! >_<

I see this in a lot of different areas, not just in technical areas.  
Even in advertising, I occasionally see a commercial where I get to the 
end and wonder what exactly it was they were advertising.

> even the vaguest clue what the software is for. This is so trivially
> obvious to them that they've completely forgotten about it.

Happens in professional development houses all the time.

Jim

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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:36:15 -0800, DungBeatle wrote:

> He hasn't spoken to me in over a year now.

That must make the job - and performance reviews - interesting (to say 
the least).

Jim

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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:10:41 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

> My favourit is when you email (say) the technical support for your ISP,
> saying "I know you offer features X, but I'm looking for something
> similar but slightly different" and they reply with "hey, have you heard
> about feature X?" And you're like "um, did you even ****ing READ what I
> wrote?"

A coworker shared an IM exchange with me that was along these lines:

CW:  Customers are having problems reaching <site>
CW:  When they go to <url> they get the following error: <error message>
HD:  Thanks for this information.
HD:  What site are they trying to access
HD:  And what is the problem they're having?

He had a similar issue that he reported where the site was down, and he 
gave the URL to the help desk person, and the help desk person responded 
"I can't get to that site now, it seems to be down - which means I can't 
reproduce the problem right now."

I'm sure there's a hole in his wall where he has been hitting his head 
repeatedly the past couple of months.

You can't make stuff like this up.

Jim

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"Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
news:4b68b0dd$1@news.povray.org...
> On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:36:15 -0800, DungBeatle wrote:
>
> > He hasn't spoken to me in over a year now.
>
> That must make the job - and performance reviews -
interesting (to say
> the least).--Jim

Very, no reviews for two years now and I don't expect one
this year. It doesn't really matter, I don't respect his
opinion anyway... :)

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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:27:23 -0800, DungBeatle wrote:

> Now THAT is a new one... I can see it though, just surprised me.

I actually had a discussion with a support guy for my ISP (based in India 
I believe).  I use Linux pretty much exclusively; if I use Windows, it's 
in a virtual machine.

I called my ISP's support line and specifically selected the option for 
"not Windows or Mac support".  I ended up with someone who supports 
Windows.

I mentioned that I had selected the option that should have gotten me to 
someone who knows Linux, and he confessed that he actually had a lot of 
experience with RedHat, but that the support organization management 
policies prohibited him from using that knowledge because he hadn't 
"certified" on providing Linux support.  So he knew what my problem was 
and how to fix it, but he was bound by policy not to tell me.

I convinced him to tell me anyways, and promised not to tell anyone from 
the organization who asked how I got help.  But it was one of the 
stranger support conversations I've ever had.

Jim

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"Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
news:4b68b240$1@news.povray.org...
> I convinced him to tell me anyways, and promised not to
tell anyone from
> the organization who asked how I got help.  But it was one
of the
> stranger support conversations I've ever had.--Jim

That was pretty cool of him. The last time I called my ISP
for support I finally said that the fix for my problem will
take the right person less than one minute to correct it,
find that person. Until then, I would not shotgun any
changes... The right guy called me back the next day, 30
seconds... Bingo!

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