Poor support can give Linux a bad reputation.

Story: You only know good when you've seen bad...Total Replies: 11
Author Content
pat

Mar 12, 2008
5:19 PM EDT
Big mistake to not fix the problems, even if she caused them. Best to use this has a learning experience and to remember, it is better to fix the problem with a, "I'll have to charge you for this", then to leave the user hanging.
jdixon

Mar 12, 2008
5:27 PM EDT
Pat, I'm certain helios fixed the problems. He's not the type to leave someone hanging. I'm not so certain he didn't indulge in large quantities of alcohol before and/or after.
pat

Mar 12, 2008
6:04 PM EDT
No, he waited a week, or didn't you read the story. IMO, this was handled poorly on his part. I hope he learns from the experience.
thenixedreport

Mar 12, 2008
9:08 PM EDT
Well pat. In all fairness, have you done anything similar to helios? Have you provided individual one-on-one support to a person who refuses to turn on their brain when it comes to a computer. The individual is also at fault as well. When I use a computer, I don't automatically turn off my brain. If I don't understand something enough, I don't jack with it until I do understand it.
Sander_Marechal

Mar 12, 2008
10:26 PM EDT
Quoting:Have you provided individual one-on-one support to a person who refuses to turn on their brain when it comes to a computer.


I have. The easiest solution is don't give them the root password and don't use a distro that allow user passwords to gain administrative privileges (i.e. Ubuntu).
pat

Mar 13, 2008
3:32 AM EDT
Yes, and I've been doing it for +17 years now. The individual may be at fault, but you don't punish them for it.
jezuch

Mar 13, 2008
3:44 AM EDT
Quoting:he waited a week


You mean this? "I didn't hear anything from Paula for over a week." Or this: "I said no. She was going to have to learn to do these things on her own. If she broke it, she needed to learn how to fix it."

Otherwise I can't find it.
pat

Mar 13, 2008
3:49 AM EDT
Yes, he waited a week for the customer to call him, instead of being pro-active and fixing the issue. He left the user hanging with software he installed. Imagine if your car repair place did this, "Well sir, we told you to change the oil every 3 thousand miles and now your engine is dead, your just going to have to fix it yourself".

jdixon

Mar 13, 2008
6:07 AM EDT
> Yes, he waited a week for the customer to call him,...

He gave her the tools and knowledge need to fix the problem, knowing she would call him if she couldn't. She didn't call him. Working in tech support myself, that's an almost certain bet that she was able to fix the problem without his assistance. Such customers always call if the problem isn't fixed.
thenixedreport

Mar 13, 2008
11:48 AM EDT
Quoting:The individual may be at fault, but you don't punish them for it.


How was he punishing the person for it? This is making no sense. I understand the whole mentality of being a professional at all times. However, what you seem to be leaving out is the simple fact that support people are real people too who also have lives of their own. As a person who works in retail I often see how a customer can be very inconsiderate at times. They bring in things to return, not realizing (or claiming so) that each and every item has to be tagged to maintain the inventory's accuracy. There was one time when I had to tag practically a cartload of merchandise, and not all the items were in the system. That was unfair to other people who had fewer items that they wanted to return.

As a customer, I did not understand how those providing a service felt from time to time. Now I do. Concerning the person with a PhD, you seemed to gloss over this tidbit:

Quoting:I didn't hear anything from Paula for over a week."


So at the time, she may very well not have had any issues. How is any support person supposed to know if they are not called whether an issue has surfaced or not? So pat, you have done this for over 17 years. What operating system did primarily offer support for one-on-one instances? In other words, door-to-door home support....
techiem2

Mar 13, 2008
12:25 PM EDT
How many times have those of us doing support for someone (onsite, on phone, or whatever) said "Try X, Y, and Z and let me know if you still have the problem."? The assumption is, if they don't call back, they don't have the problem anymore.

And also..wow..just..wow..at that article. Poor Helios...
rijelkentaurus

Mar 13, 2008
12:44 PM EDT
Quoting: said "Try X, Y, and Z and let me know if you still have the problem."? The assumption is, if they don't call back, they don't have the problem anymore.


This is particularly true if they are cost-conscience and don't want to pay you to try some of the simple stuff. The easiest thing to do is to tell them to reboot, and then call if it still doesn't work. Yeah, if they don't call back because they like to suffer...F 'em.

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