I searched for part one to this series, didn't see it, so here goes.

How about telephone tech support? It has degraded, imnsho, far worse than finding an employee at Best Buy who knows how to tie his shoes.

I go back to 1977 with computers. My first was an IMSAI which I had to put together. I later added a cassette tape interface to facilitate program loading and storing - the equivalent of today's hard drive. I bought it from Tarbell Electronics.

One day I had occasion to call for technical support. The person picked up the phone and when I asked who I was speaking to, the answer came back "Don Tarbell." Don Tarbell WAS Tarbell Electronics.

Fast forward to today. If you need technical support, likely as not you end up speaking to a "technician" in Delhi, Bombay or possibly Katmandu. I don't know about you, but I really have trouble understanding these people. It seems to me EVERY computer manufacturer now employs these folks via VOIP (voice over internet protocol) for answering our questions.

In the old days (ahem), it was at least easy for a computer nerd such as myself to have a call escalated to someone who spoke perfect mid-American slang and was leaning back with his cowboy boots propped up on his desk - but could answer my question intelligently.

Until recently, all my network hardware here was LinkSys. If I had a problem, I could call LinkSys and get an intelligent answer by a person speaking English. Now LinkSys is part of the Cisco empire and my problems are seemingly complicated rather than solved by someone from a foreign land reading text off a video screen.

So what did I do? All my equipment is gradually being replaced by Belkin equipment. I find where my LinkSys router provided a seemingly endless stream of "try this, try that" via e-mail to get MSN Messenger to work using speech, the Belkin equivalent worked out of the box. Where I couldn't understand a word the techs at LinkSys were saying, the Belkin techs speak perfect English.

So here's my question. My computers used to be Gateway, then Dell and now Sony, I find no one in tech support who speaks English. List your own experiences with thech support people on the phone and seriously, are there any brands that still employ Americans in tech support?



Gerry

 

I put in a call to Motorola a few weeks agom and ended up in Costa Rica. It was not an entirely unpleasant experience.

If you call HP, I think it depends on what you are calling about. Handheld support is most likely coming out of India these days; digital camera support is coming from Canada, I think.

 

Had this experience 2 days ago. My Sony remote control that runs the DSS box on the TV pooped out on me. So...like a good soldier, I march off to the new Best Buy store. The "kid" tells me I can't get the same one that came with my satellite originally, but that any Sony remote will automatically work with my Sony DSS box. Fair enough. I bought an inexpensive $20 one. I get home, put fresh batteries in it and wallah...nothing works. So I ponder the directions and still nothing works. I call the Sony 800 number and I am connected to India. I can barely understand the woman who was clearly reading from a script on a computer. I had to withstand 15 minutes of her telling me to try all the things I already tried. Because dammit, her computer tells her to go step by step through this script. I was on the phone for 32 minutes. . Oh, and she felt compelled to get my email address too, as if that has anything to do with my immediate problem.

 

My son still speaks English and that's who I call.

I bought my PC system from a local store, DigiLink, and they have been very helpful for PC stuff and upgrades. I must say one of the most pleasant experience has been solving a couple problems with Comcast. Their call center rep's were very knowledgeable and helpful and they spoke perfect English.

However, when I called on my Linksys router I did have the same experience Gerry had and its frustrating for sure. I too gave up on Linksys for assistance (maybe that's their real goal).

 

Spoke to an Indian gentleman today from Customer Service--he was very little help. He happened to be in Maryland (I always ask when I hear an accent).

Frankly, I don't care where they're located, as long as they can help, and as long as I'm not put on "terminal hold".

 

When I call Dell, I'm usually connected to either a guy in Canada or occasionally a lady in Chile -- fortunately I can understand them. However, too bad for them, they have trouble understanding me: I speak southern.

 

My problems with customer support via telephone don't involve an accent or where the person I am speaking to is located, they start way before that. I have a great deal of trouble negotiating my way through some of the automated telephone switchboards.

I typically call up a credit card company, a bank or a brokerage looking to speak to a customer service representative. Inevitably, I follow the prompts and end up at the automated balance, office hours or additions customer services area. I usually try to make my way back to the main menu but as often as not I end up having to call again. I find myself wasting a great deal of time this way.

Oftentimes I am calling a brokerage on behalf of a client in order to obtain information necessary for the proper filing of the client's tax return. I always have the client call the brokerage first in order to give the broker permission to give me the information. Sometimes the broker is cooperative and provides me with the information, often it is a struggle. Often the broker acts as if he/she is doing me the biggest favor in providing me with the information my client (his customer) needs. I have even had to resort to telling some of them, "I'm simply going to have to tell Mr.XXX that you are unwilling to provide me with the necessary information concerning his account." Usually that does wonders, but considering that these brokers make money from dealing with the same client that I am working with I'd have thought that they would be glad to cooperate.

The other problem that I often run into is that the tech reps that I talk to sometimes don't have a clue, but are unwilling to admit it. I have wasted hours on the phone trying to solve IT problems that were way beyond the scope of the rep I was talking too. Unfortunately, before they are willing to hand me off to a higher level, they insist on taking me through every conceivable solution that has ever been thought of. Often after hours like this, a more experienced rep can solve the problem in a snap. Usually the soluton is not related to anything the first rep tried.

 

I've found the online real-time customer support at AOL to be very handy. I've used it a couple of times. Of course, if you can't log on for some reason, that doesn't work.

 

I've been through the touch tone wars many times. After getting frustrated listening to endless instructions, I simply hit zero. As often as not, this works.

I don't know the reason for the touch tone instructions ad nauseum anyway. You inevitably end up talking to someone who knows nothing about the product anyhow.

: hello:

Gerry

 

How many times have you been told, "I'm sorry, you've reached the wrong department, let me transfer you." And the next sound you hear is a dialtone, and you have to make your call all over again.