Just wondering how others deal with tech support when you've got a guy on the phone and you know that all he's doing is looking at a data base for troubleshooting solutions.
I had an issue with my Directv box not working correctly. It was working fine then a message came on the screen that it was going to check for the best screen resolution. After that the screen gets garbled.
After an hour with tech support - replace HDMI cables, reset the box (did that 5 times before we called), etc. - it was obvious that the guy on the phone didn't know any more than we did.
Finally, I told him to get a more knowledgeable tech support person on the phone to troubleshoot the problem.
What would you have done?
I called back and got an an American woman and she immediately scheduled a tech. Tech came out said the box was defective replaced it and I have zero problems since.
Can’t wait to watch the Giants on my 75 inch 4K Sony tv. Yanks and the USWNT look GREAT on it!
Interestingly enough not shortly after I left they decided to outsource their phone support. I still had some friends that were working there when it happened.
Most of these companies that have outsourced their phone support don't provide that type of service any more.
As to sending someone out to fix the problem. It costs money. I don't remember if it was Directv or Spectrum who told me flat out-it's going to be $X for an in home service. Some times it may be worth it if it means avoiding hrs being on hold and waiting while the box reboots only to find that the problem still is not resolved.
I called back and got an an American woman and she immediately scheduled a tech. Tech came out said the box was defective replaced it and I have zero problems since.
They eventually got another guy (without an Indian accent) on the phone and he wasn't much better. Then they started with we had to buy a protection plan and pay for a tech to come to the house. That's when the frustration hit its peak. I told them that if they charge me one penny to fix their problem I'm cancelling my service. We did nothing to cause the problem. There was no outside force like lightning or wind or anything to cause the problem. It took them another 45 minutes to schedule a tech to come out which will happen tomorrow.
I disagree - L1 support for a lot of these companies does little more than a simple webpage could do. By having this tier in the first place, you're paying more for the service.
A properly run company would do some automated online L1, running through basic scripted troubleshooting - which would also let a user who's somewhat savvy bypass obvious parts of the troubleshooting, saving aggravation to the user and money for the company.
Elliott.org Company Contact list - ( New Window )
Really the best you can hope for is to keep customer anger to a minimum.
Most of these guys seem to be trained in being polite and not on actual product knowledge.
In Canada choosing the 'French' option usually gets you a local.