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tech support blooper

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by longennamer

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This is what happened to me while talking to a support rep with Dell today. It shows how tech savvy the support reps are anymore.

First, the support rep asked me for my e-mail address. I proceed to give her my e-mail address, and she asks, "Is that all lower case?" It was all I could do to keep from laughing at her.

I had little faith in her computer abilities far before we even started trying to figure out the computer problem.

30 replies

by jaqui

most *x systems are case sensitive in everything including email
and the majority of mail servers are still *x based.

so most mail systems are case sensitive.
as a matter of fact, if the mail account is also a user account on an *x system, it has to be lower case for most.

by gstone

One of our remote sites was experiencing a
T1 outage. I was remotely troubleshooting the
problem when our onsite tech tracked the
extended demarc back to a smart jack that
had not an alarm light, but, absolutely no
lights or power. I told our providers engineer
that the smart jack had no lights or power and
they needed to dispatch telco, He replied, "
Can we try reseating the T1 module in the
router first?"

I could've folded it half, turned it sideways and
fit it in the slot with a hammer, but, with no
power to the smart jack it will still be a dead
circuit. Even more dead if I had done that
customization to the module and router. You
get the idea.

by gbickel

But, if the manual that the hpone support guy has does not mention a power loss, then a power loss is just not possible. :)

by oz_media

Tier one tech support:
"Is it plugged in....YES?.......Hmmmmmm, I'll have to put you back in queue for 40 minutes to wait for tier two support and they will ask if the power light is on before passing you to tier 3. Hold please."

by gralfus

I guess all the various systems I've used over the past 14 years must have either been set up to ignore it or were not *ix based. Go figure.

by Member 28662770

In all my years in Help Desk support I have yet to experience an e-mail system where the address was case sensitive. Although, when interviewing prospective Help Desk personnel I have found many of them to be case-sensitive; Doh.....

My favorite case was when a user called asking to have their retractable cup holder repaired because it wouldn't extend when the button was pushed. For several years our Help Desk would get 2 to 3 of these calls a year. Finially, we found the reason. It seems that whenever one of our installation techs would encounter a new user that was really "PC challenged" he would tell them about the retractable coffie cup holder in their PC. Doh....

by jmgarvin

'Course I thought some users had brains too, but they almost always prove me wrong :-0

by gsg

I had a Dr. call and chew me out because an application wouldn't work. This was in the middle of severe thunderstorms that dropped 7 inches of rain in 1 hour, and flooded the ER. When I got there, the PC wouldn't power on. So, I go get a GYN exam light, plug it in, and it won't light. I ask the Dr. if he was aware that the power was out and that they were on generator power (Only medical equipment is to be plugged into generator outlets). He indicates that he is aware of it, and asks why the PC won't work. I then have to explain to this highly educated man that PC's require electricity. Without it, they won't turn on. He was still scratching his head when I left. Of course, I won't tell you about the time that I was sure that the power switch was broken on a pc, when the problem was that I hadn't plugged it in. No sir, I won't admit to anything...

by oz_media

I've swapped a 'dead' CDROM out of a new PC because I didn't see the clear packaging tape placed across the door.

I took the 'old' CDROM home and while poking a paperclip in the manual release hole, my little light bulb blinked on once or twice and I finally got it. DOH!

by der tommissar

He may have been wondering why it wasn't on the generator. As someone who did support work in a hospital, I've met a few doctors who consider their PC's critical medical equipment.

"But Dr., shouldn't we save the power for the respirators?"

by jbaker

Takes all intelligence not medically related and blasts it right out of a doctor's head. Some of the dumbest users that I have ever had to support have been some of the best doctors in their respective fields...go figger.

by gralfus

I was in a Metallurgy class years ago and was reclaiming iron from rust through a thermite reaction. I showed a nursing student a piece of the iron I had "made", and she looked really confused. "What do you mean by 'iron'? Iron is an element." Her only reference point for iron was something in your blood. I tried to explain about "ironing your clothes" is called that because of the large piece of hot iron that you use to get the wrinkles out. "But that is steel..." Yes, common steel is around 99% iron with a bit of carbon added. She still didn't get it.

by oz_media

I had a product support rep in Texas ask me for a URL I was referring to (a basic html based web page), when I gave it to him he asked, "Do I need to put WWW first?"

by oz_media

Or it SHOULD be anyway.

How many help desks have YOU spoken with that didn't ask/confirm what OS you were running before passing your call into queue? Unless calling 'Linux users only' of course.

the other one I like is when asked for a URL, "is that all one word?"

"NO, it's a paragraph with spaces and hyphens I decided to not tll you about when I spelled out the address, I thought you'd be abe to figure it out!"

by poppawookie

That is not the first time I have heard about an issue like this. I deal with Dell and Gateway on a consistent basis. There are many other bloopers. When they ask if you are an on-site tech and tell them that you work for the IS dept in your organization, they still run through the "script" that has been written for them.

It makes you feel real stupid.

by shorne

I thought tech support started to get bad in the last half of the 90's (prior to that I often seemed to talk to guys who seemed a lot smarter than me and really knew the stuff). The offshoring doesn't help. I had a problem with a Treo that I won at a cell phone company seminar. The CSR in the Phillipines could not understand what I meant by "winning" a phone apparently and just kept repeating "I need your sales invoice number". We were locked in that loop for many minutes until my head finally exploded.

by firstpeter

At least after you've called them the first time you can start to script your answers and give them what they want before they ask, a la:

Support: "Good morning. Are you experiencing a problem with your computer?"

You: "Yes, that's why I called. For your next six questions the answers are: Yes, I've tried turning it off and then on again. Yes, I've unplugged it and plugged it back in. No, I haven't spilled any coffee on it. No, there is no smoke pouring out of it. I'm running Windows XP SP2 with all 2.16GB of patches installed, including the fourteen that were released last week. And yes, I'll hold while you transfer me to someone that can help. Thank you."

Really cuts down on the time wasted on the phone.

by shorne

Good one...but why do I suspect there would be a pause and they would just go on to question two anyway. Same as the burger drive thru script writers.."Is that a combo sir" Did I ask for a combo? Did you hear ther word combo?

by jerry~beans&bytes

time was, the script was a way to help well-educated profssionals avoid skipping the boring, but important, questions involved in isolating the problem.
my question i when "they" decided that the script was more important than the professionals

by jmgarvin

Tech support is there to make it look like they care. Most companies see tech support as a loss center that they HAVE to have to keep the consumers coming back.

The reality is good tech support goes a LONG way to GAINING customers.

by benny

I've been a unix SysAdmin for 10+ years, and adminned many email servers (qmail, postfix, even Exchange, Dog help me!), and never seen a case-sensitive email server.

In unix, only the items following the .com are case sensitive, because at that point you're interfacing with the actual file system, where case DOES matter.

But you should be able to type:
www.LinUx.CoM
wWw.lInUx.cOm
...or any variation and still get to the website. Same is true of email addies.

Just my two bits,

Unca Xitron

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