Windows 7: Clueless Tech Support?

There's another thread running regarding funny tech support stories regarding clueless users but how about the opposite where you call and get a clueless tech support person? Here's my story (kinda long):

About a year ago I came to my office one morning and found that my phone didn't work and I couldn't access the network. We have VOIP phones which plug into a network port and the network cable from the computer plugs into the phone.

I called tech support from my cell phone and talked to a young lady. I told her that my phone didn't work and I couldn't access the network. She started having me check settings under IE->Tools->Internet Options. I was trying to be patient with her but after a couple of minutes I told her it was pointless to check browser settings since I couldn't access the network. I told her that since my phone didn't work AND I couldn't access the network I figured it was a network issue or a problem with the port. She said something about it being significant that my phone didn't work and I told her I thought so too which is why I it was the first thing I told her!



She said she would have to submit a request for someone to come to my office. I told her to make a note that my desk phone didn't work and gave her my cell phone number.

After I hung up, I decided to try something. I unplugged the phone and plugged the computer's network cable into the network port. I now could access the network which meant the phone was bad.

Since I could now access the network, I logged into the Tech Support database and located my call. The young lady had written up the problem description as "User reports that he can't access the internet." Argh! I add a note correcting the problem description and added that I determined the phone was bad and I just needed someone to bring me a replacement phone. She had failed to make a note regarding calling my cell so I added that as well.

In my job, I don't use my desk phone much, my communications are primarily via chat and email so the fact that my phone wasn't working wasn't a high priority for me. That evening it occurred to me that no one had contacted me regarding the phone.

Our phone system forwards our voicemails to our email inbox so when I came to work the next morning there was a voicemail from an IT tech telling me to call him back so he could help me with my internet problem. I immediately called him from my cell but got his voicemail. I left him a message stating that I needed my phone replaced and since my phone didn't work to call me back on my cell. I also logged into the Tech Support database and added another note about needing the phone replaced and to only call my cell. He didn't return my call that day.

The next morning I got an identical voicemail so I called and left another voicemail for him. I logged into the Tech Support database and added another note that I needed a replacement phone and to only call me on my cell. No call that day either.

The next morning I had an identical voicemail from the IT guy. At this point I gave up. I went and found a phone in a vacant office and left my non-functioning phone. I hooked up the phone and the computer and everything worked as it should. I then called the IT guy and left a voicemail telling him to forget it, I got tired of waiting and swiped a phone from another office. I also went in to the Tech Support db and closed the case and left a note regarding what poor service I got and that I took a phone from another office.

I guess I'm pretty naive in these matters. I thought techs actually read the notes in the db and I even thought their managers read comments about poor service. I thought somebody would admonish me for taking a working phone from another office. Apparently not as I never received any feedback of any kind regarding this incident.

This seems to be pretty common. I had a TV cable problem last week. I had my local TV guy check it out and he made a detailed report to the cable company. The local TV guy could not fix it because the cable company keeps their amplifiers under lock.

Next day a guy from the cable company calls me and it was obvious that he only read the first line of the report - he had no clue about the problem that was described in great detail with all the measuremnt data that my local TV guy determined. I told him to read the whole thing and come back later.

It turned out that one of the cables on one of the amplifiers was not installed correctly - and the funny part was that the guy who came to rectify it was the same guy that had installed the system in the first place. And all of that happened in Germany.

A lot of years ago, we decided to upgrade from dial-up to dsl.
Our first dsl modem was a usb model, since we didn't know much about ethernet.

One time after the handbrake was unable to sort a problem with the modem, she contacted our isp.
After running through a variety of tests, etc, the guy (Richard) said to disconnect the usb cable.
Sally told him, if she did that, she would have to re-install the software again.
He said it would be alright and to go ahead and do it.
AARRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! (sounds from the handbrake after proving she was right).

Ofcourse, in the end it did get sorted, including the re-install, so all was good.

From that day on, every time we needed tech support, we hung up after hearing: "Good afternoon, Richard speaking".

Jon

When I did IT tech support, you know what I hated the most? When people would call and put a ticket in saying that their computer was "slow". I would take the time to go down to their desk and NEVER ONCE could I duplicate it. Computers aren't randomly slow. What they were doing was whining to try to get a newer computer.

That frustrated me to no end. I'd close the ticket with: "Could not duplicate problem."

My sister was having problems with her phone one day and asked me if I could get to the bottom of it. I looked at it (not in great length) and decided to call support because I had other things to clear up. To make a long story short, the tech was unable to assist me with the problem and while I was listening to him go on and on I was messing with the phone and came across the problem and was able to resolve it. After I told him about it he stopped me before hanging up and asked me if I could explain to him how I had gone about fixing the issue because he did not know how. Now I just attempt to solve my own problems in great lengths before I even want to call any kind of support.