In an Ideal World
Most of the points are valid, and are what people want. However, when calls go through and even if the notes are detailed on the first call, the next level may not get access to them because they might be at a "call center" cross country or continent. Try calling these support places when you know exactly what the issue is, and yet despite the top level of contract support, you cannot simply state the symptoms and ask for a heat sink, you MUST go through 20 to 40 minutes of script, or if the symptoms show that a Motherboard is dying and key parts are failing, yet its script time again. Thus far, only DELL have been the most amenable to reasonable cause and effect calls, especially where all I want is a replacement power supply after a new unit has either died or is rebooting. Calling some places for technical support is only good when you get someone with what I call "nous" , basically a+ b = c ( or the equivalent), just the understanding that if I call in, and I have seen this issue anywhere from 15 to 100 times, then I expect some credit for the experience, but don't bet on it. The "Doing More with Less" philosophy is a virus that supervisors with defined "metrics" at call centers expect techs to follow; of course it does help that the right info is recorded, which I understand, since if I don't get the info from the service desk, I don't know if the issue is a two click password issue, or a failed graphic card, e-sata card, or drive access, even when they( person calling in ) have the error available, if help desk does not tell me, then I don't know. But I know from my end of things that even if I do report in detail I have no guarantee that my detailed report to the service desk/help desk, is going to get to the level 3 tech, when I have a Xeon Workstation T7500 that has boot issues, PXE, AHCI errors, or event logs that indicate something fairly specific.
I don't know what the answer is overall, all I know is that I try and help staff I support as much as I can, and keep them informed. Seems to work in my main area, since that area has the least local problems, but network problems still happen thanks to budget cutting "cost saving" measures.
