Blowing off steam -- MSCONFIG

[RJM62]

I have a SOHO client who adds new meaning to PEBKAC. (This is the same guy I mentioned in another thread who took about half an hour of phone support to plug in his keyboard. And the guy has a Ph.D, mind you.)

So when he called me yesterday and told me that Sage Support (ACT) had told him he had a network problem and that's why ACT couldn't sync, I figured user error: He only has one desktop and one laptop and it's a simple peer-to-peer Windows network, so how much could go wrong? I was going to T/S it over the phone, but it had been a while since I'd been there; so I scheduled him for an onsite today.

Good thing, too.

When I got there, the first thing I noticed was that his background was pink. The second thing I noticed was that Trend Micro wasn't running. So I checked MSCONFIG and found that almost everything in the startup except ACT had been disabled -- on both machines -- by Sage support a few days ago in the course of trying to fix the sync problem.

Most importantly, they'd turned off the Trend antivirus and the automated Internet backup and left them that way, which is pretty irresponsible in my book.

In this case, the problem was a simple one: Gary (the client) had been having trouble with his cable connection, and had been "borrowing" his neighbor's unsecured wireless connection instead of using his own router. Once the cable connection was fixed, he never changed the connection back; so although both machines had Internet, they weren't connected to each other.

When Sage connected remotely, I guess they didn't notice that the two computers had different WAN IP's, which I think would have clued me in that something wasn't kosher.

But that part is excusable. What's not excusable is disabling a client's virus protection and backup, and leaving the machines in that state. And I get this all the time. The worst offenders are the support people from AOL and HP, but I've occasionally encountered it from other vendors' support people.

Once I fixed the problems, I called ACT and yelled at them for a while for leaving my client's machine unprotected. They actually agreed and apologized, to their credit. But I'm really getting tired of phone tech people using remote connections to mess up my clients' systems, just so the crappy software they have to support will work.

I understand the position they're in. I've been there. Management at most of these outfits beats it into Level-1 guys that their job is to get the caller off the phone. But if there's a genuine resource problem or a conflict, let the user know so they can get it corrected. Don't just go turning things off -- especially security and backup programs.

I tell my techs all the time that MSCONFIG is a diagnostic tool, not a corrective one. Once they diagnose the problem, I want them to fix it using the proper tools. If they can't, then I'll come over personally and we'll work on it together. But in the end, when they return MSCONFIG to "Normal Startup," the machine should work properly. I think using MSCONFIG as a permanent fix is amateurish, at best.

At least, that's my opinion. Anyone else have other opinions on this?

 

[SkyHog]

At least, that's my opinion. Anyone else have other opinions on this?

Yes. As a multi-year call center support person, I can honestly say that the blame is on companies like AOL that hire anyone to do the job, regardless of their qualifications (I worked for AOL tech support). There were times when I knew what would fix the problem for the customer, but I was still required to go through the pre-planned steps to solve the problem the AOL way (which at the time was one call one solution, not one call fix).

Using the OCOS model, if a customer's problem is solved by disabling things in MSCONFIG, then the call ends, because the problem was found. A responsible agent would then explain that there is a bigger issue at hand and refer them to a real tech support person (as in "Its not my job, call your manufacturer), but most customers are unwilling to accept that answer because they are too dense to realize that AOL support persons do not fix computers, they fix AOL, and Comcast support persons do not fix VCRs, they fix cable connections.

So what happens is a limped fix that will shut the customer up. If the customer is an understanding type of person, they'll get the full story, and possibly even more support that will avoid having virus scanners disabled, but if the customer is a "No - AOL caused my CMOS battery to die" person, then they get the minimum to make it look like the problem is solved.

Then there is an additional step, the step that separates the good call center folks from the bad. After a few years of dealing with the customer that is a jerk, you start to realize that there are more of the jerks than the understanding folks. You get jaded, and even the understanding folks are treated the same as the jerks. That eventually leads down the path where everyone gets the same shoddy support, and you start to see trends like what you experienced, where it seems that the AOL support staff just limp all fixes and blow off the customers.

It sucks, but its nature, and even on these boards, do a search for customer service and see how many times you'll see someone being a jerk to a customer service agent who was honestly trying to help, or how many times sheer disrespect is shown to those that try to help. Its the American "Everyone's trying to screw me" attitude that causes it.

C'est la vie. Customers and support will probably never get along well again, because Customers expect support to take their abuse without so much as a peep about respect, and support expect customers to not be total jerks about their problems. Neither one is likely to happen.

 

[RJM62]

C'est la vie. Customers and support will probably never get along well again, because Customers expect support to take their abuse without so much as a peep about respect, and support expect customers to not be total jerks about their problems. Neither one is likely to happen.

True, unfortunately. I guess what bothered me about this call is that Gary may be clueless, but he's lovably clueless. One thing he's not is rude. His PhD is in communications, and he's a consultant who helps organizations to learn to communicate more effectively. So despite the fact that my 3-year-old nephew probably is more technologically savvy than he is, Gary's a pleasant guy who makes you want to help him.

But he's the exception, for sure. The majority of callers are obnoxious. I just didn't do phone support long enough to get jaded. And now I'm a small-time independent operator with a couple of bright college kids who work for me part-time, so it's easy to maintain a friendly relationship. People relate differently to someone they've met in person.

 

[wsuffa]

At least, that's my opinion. Anyone else have other opinions on this?

Yep.

I stayed at a hotel not long ago that had internet service through Stayonline. Couldn't get VPN to connect, nor would Webmail connect reliably. Never had a problem at other hotels. Problem pointed to port blocking.

Called support - over an hour with them on the phone. One of the first things they did was to instruct me to "disable all firewalls on the laptop". Why, I queried? "It's because we have a firewall on the network and yours isn't needed. You should ALWAYS disable your firewall when you're on a hotel network." Bzzzztttt. Thats one place I MUST have a firewall. And they asked me to disable anti-virus, too. Apparently firewalls prevent them from looking back into my PC (well, that's the point), or even knowing its on their network (I don't believe that one).

Idiots.

In the end, they concluded that "there's not enough bandwidth and you'll have to wait for another user to stop".

I went and got an EvDO card. Problem solved.

 

[t0r0nad0]

I agree wholeheartedly with the statement about it being easier to relate to someone you've met in person. I work for a small software company that makes management systems for health clubs and rec centers. I started out in Support/Training, and I always found it easier to help those people that I had been out to train in the past. Thankfully, I'm in a higher position now, but I see the same results with our current techs.

On a slightly related note, have you guys noticed that when people are trained in a highly-structured corporate environment, and they excel there, but when they have to exhibit any bit of independent thought, they're completely lost? Nick, you seem to be an exception to this, as you seem to have risen above your AOHell days (I say "seem to" since I've not met you in person... yet). But, I can think of two distinct situations where this was apparent. 1) For a short time, we had a guy in our Tech Support department who worked for Compaq for years as a tech. He apparently had done pretty well. But, this guy was CLUELESS when it came to supporting our software and relating to the customer without a script! 2) I have one client now that has 8 facilities, and they used to dba a major health club chain. They decided that they wanted to do a lot of things that the corporate chain they were a part of didn't allow them to do, so the owner broke off from the chain and made the 8 clubs their own chain. All of the senior managers did very well under the old paradigm and in their old proprietary software, where everything was structured. In the software, if they wanted some kind of report, they would call the corporate office and it would be generated for them. Now, in our software, there is a Query Builder, and they haven't quite grasped yet that if they want to get a report, they have the ability to generate it themselves. I've trained all of them on multiple occasions on how to use it, but I'm still getting emails asking me to build a query for them or to help them with something that they should be able to do easily, with just a little thought and creativity. It amazes me how intelligent people can psych themselves into thinking that they are inept.

 

[SkyHog]

Yep.

I stayed at a hotel not long ago that had internet service through Stayonline. Couldn't get VPN to connect, nor would Webmail connect reliably. Never had a problem at other hotels. Problem pointed to port blocking.

Called support - over an hour with them on the phone. One of the first things they did was to instruct me to "disable all firewalls on the laptop". Why, I queried? "It's because we have a firewall on the network and yours isn't needed. You should ALWAYS disable your firewall when you're on a hotel network." Bzzzztttt. Thats one place I MUST have a firewall. And they asked me to disable anti-virus, too. Apparently firewalls prevent them from looking back into my PC (well, that's the point), or even knowing its on their network (I don't believe that one).

Idiots.

In the end, they concluded that "there's not enough bandwidth and you'll have to wait for another user to stop".

I went and got an EvDO card. Problem solved.

You got one of two types of support people here: 1) A representative that doesn't know what they're doing or 2) A representative that has dealt with the customers claiming they don't know what they're doing for long enough that they stop listening to logic....or I guess 3) A representative similar to an AOLer, that is required to follow the steps in front of him without deviation.

Let me give a story about number 2. At Comcast, people would call to report outages, but to them, it wasn't an area wide outage. It never was. Call usually went like this:

=customer
= me

- My service doesn't work, and I expect a technician to be here in the next 10 minutes to fix it.
- It appears we are having an outage in your area, we have technicians working on it now
- I'm not going to fall for that, this problem is specific to my house
- Well, I'm showing that everyone in your area is out of service, completely
- Why does my internet work then? hmm? You're just blowing me off
- because this is a television outage.
- Fine then, I want to get a free month for this, since you're obviously unwilling to help
- No. I can give you credit for the time you're out. Calculating that out, you've currently been out of service for about 45 minutes. I'll be nice and make that a full hour. That works out to be $0.06. Since that is below the credit threshold, I'll go ahead and make that 20 cents.
- 20 cents? That's not fair.
- I'm sorry you don't think its fair, have you been experiencing an outage for longer than the most recent 45 minutes?
- I'm going to switch to satellite and DSL, I bet they don't treat me like garbage.
-

Or - the exact opposite problem would happen. The customer is NEVER happy.

- All of my service is out, my television, my internet and my phone.
- I'm sorry to hear that. Looking at your area, it appears we have no outages, since all of your services are broken, I'll need to schedule a technician to come fix this for you, will....
- Listen, bub, I'm not going to take you blowing me off, I know there's an outage in the entire area.
- You know, it is possible. We have a system in place that will alert us to any undetected outages if we have more than 3 people in the same area call and report the problem. To report this, we will need to schedule a technician to come, that is what the system is based on.
- But I know this is an outage, why can't you just do your job and report this?
- Well, I am trying to report this, but in order for us to report it, we have to schedule a technician to come help. The reason is because we are required to fix 100% service interruptions within 48 hours of the problem being reported. To comply with that part of the city's agreement, I have to schedule a technician to come.
- You're just blowing me off, I'm going to switch to satellite and DSL!
- I'm sorry to hear that, can we schedule a technician to come fix your problem now?
- fine....

Then, a few days later, I'll look at the account, out of curiosity....guess what? The tech solved the problem by replacing the cable that was cut by a neighbor or the customer, or something. Every time.

Jaded.