Tips On How To Get The Best Out Of Tech Support
Dan Sgambelluri
Page 116 and 118.
Before You Call
- Have on hand your warranty, terms and conditions documents, hardware
packing list with serial numbers, and general documentation
- Keep all software discs nearby.
- Document every repeating crash or problem.
- Write down any error messages that appear. Technicians may be able to
use them to diagnose your problem.
- Try restarting and checking all your cables. Also do a Windows Update
to get updated patches and
- Type keywords in Google to see whether a common fix is available.
- Backup your data.
When You Do Make The Call
- Befriend The technician. Say something like "Hey listen, I probably sound
pretty irritated and upset right now. I want you to know that this is
because I am frustrated with the product. Not with your personally. I know
you are trying to help me.
- Thoroughly and accurately describe the problem.
- Don't be afraid to ask questions.
- Don't let the technician get you off the phone without solving your
problem or finding someone who can
- Some technicians are more knowledgeable than others. If you hit a wall
with one, ask to escalate the call.
- Write down how long you were on hold, the tech's full name, every fix
you've tried, and any trouble-ticket numbers you are assigned.
- If one supervisors refuses to or can't help. Call back as calling back
means getting another supervisor and another chance for help.
- Above all, be polite.
Dean Esmay www.deanesmay.com does tech support for a leading ISP and he
blogs about his job.
Dean says "The most important thing to remember is that you are talking to
another human being on the other end." Dean goes on to say "Yes, that
human being is being paid to support you, and yes he does represent the
company, so he has an obligation to be professional, but at the same time,
he is still human. Furthermore, he probably does nothing but take tech
support calls all day, every day."
SCW
"Dan Sgambelluri" <dsgamb...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:axd%a.765144$Vi5.17...@news1.calgary.shaw.ca...
goop
documenting the problem can be useful, but the rest is just fluff. it's the
tech's job to solve your problem. if not, then there are thing s/he can do
from there, but you shouldn't have to prepare significantly to get tech
support on something as simple as your computer.
"SCW" <SS...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:TP6dnQ601s3...@comcast.com...
Dan Sgambelluri
usually the first things asked by people on newsgroups who are trying to
help
"goop" <go...@goop.com> wrote in message
news:FGt%a.170784$XV.90...@twister.austin.rr.com...
davefr
need to speak fluent Indian.
"Dan Sgambelluri" <dsgamb...@shaw.ca> wrote in message news:<axd%a.765144$Vi5.17...@news1.calgary.shaw.ca>...
Dan Sgambelluri
one in Istanbul.
"davefr" <hennyh...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c8c760cf.03082...@posting.google.com...
SCW
"davefr" <hennyh...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c8c760cf.03082...@posting.google.com...
~. * .~
> need to speak fluent Indian.
HP is just as bad. I have a real HP Pavilion lemon and made many, many
calls to their tech support office - in INDIA! Some of these techs barely
speak English, others can't understand what you're trying to explain.
It's horrible. What these PC companies are saving in cheap salaries
they're wasting in TIME and phone bills.
FS............
Ben Myers
cost of internet-based telephony are chump change... Ben Myers
S.Lewis
<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:4026e601...@news.charter.net...
> YOUR time is not valuable to them. And the salaries they pay the techs
plus the
> cost of internet-based telephony are chump change... Ben Myers
>
<snip>
Until you get pissed enough to convince your boss that the next 125 systems
purchased for his business should be with some other company. *Then* it
begins to add up.
Stew
Ben Myers
received better treatment (support, warranty, repairs) than only a few systems
sold to either consumers or small businesses.
Long time ago when I worked for one of the BUNCH, the IT Director threatened to
double-park the mainframe on the street if it wasn't repaired. And he meant it.
And the computer got fixed... Ben Myers
On Sun, 8 Feb 2004 20:55:57 -0600, "S.Lewis" <stew...@nospam.bellsouth.net>
wrote:
Lawrence Glasser
>
> Too true. But computers sold in volume to larger businesses have always
> received better treatment (support, warranty, repairs) than only a few systems
> sold to either consumers or small businesses.
>
> Long time ago when I worked for one of the BUNCH, the IT Director threatened to
> double-park the mainframe on the street if it wasn't repaired. And he meant it.
> And the computer got fixed... Ben Myers
As an individual or small business, top-of-the-line tech support is available,
but at a price.
On my recently acquired Precision Workstation, I opted for the more costlier
Gold Tech Support... Guaranteed U.S. based.
Larry
Brian Corll
that the American-haters can get back at us. And the American companies who
send their tech support (or manufacturing, for that matter) off-shore are
too dumb to realize that.
"~. * .~" <noJWp...@myhouse.com> wrote in message
news:5rOdncivn6C...@heartoftn.net...
Bruno R
to a URL (for convenience sake let's say YAHOO) I'll get a "NT/AUTHORITY
remote procedure call CAL (RPC)" after about 5-15 minutes on line.
Then, it will give me 60 seconds to save whatever, before the machine
turns itself off and restarts from scratch. I can't figure it out and
probably will have to return it to the store to have it properly
adjusted. How are others dealing with such issues?
Furthermore, I have the feeling that the battery charge doesn't hold
long. The battery registers fully charged, and yet, when I unplug the
A30-S159 the picture starts to dimm within minutes ;-( Bruno
ronald haynes
This was happening with a friends machine and it was indeed
virus/worm.
The next time you boot, enable the firewall (if not already)
before connecting to the internet. After establishing a
connection update/download your favorite virus software
(I just use avg since it is free...). AVG found the worm/virus
immediately on the friends machine. Run AVG. If AVG
doesn't work their website has a bunch of tools specifically
designed to find/delete particular worms. Try each one in
turn.
A google search of the exact message you get before the
machine reboots will give more info.
Cheers:)
R Haynes
Bruno R
Rocket J. Squirrel
virus. It takes a fraction of a second. Don't blame Dell - "a brand new (out
of the box!) system" - blame yourself.
Rocky
"Bruno R" <p.ro...@att.net> wrote in message
news:XE7Zb.52077$hR.11...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
Kevin Childers
online to gather the proper MS O/S and Antivirus updates. Seems as thought
the virus was sitting on the Internet service providers system (radius or
DNS server, I'm guessing) and infected the machine immediately upon
connection. It blocked the antiviral app (Norton) and was a real pain to
remove. I had to use another machine to D/L a specialty testing & removal
application to clean and protect the system. Once it was D/Led onto a
floppy, I booted the infected machine using the floppy and it did a very
slow scan of the drives in DOS while cleaning/repairing the infected files.
If you must do this plan for about 20 minutes of your time to get the app
(if you're using 56Kb dial-up) and booting from the floppy. After that it
too a couple of hours to scan a well loaded 40 Gb drive (XP(+) some added
apps) on a 1.2 GHz, 512 MB RAM system. After it finished I had to use a
selective restore to fix a couple of files that couldn't be repaired. Sorry
I've forgotten the name of the virus, but I'm sure that if you've got one
you'll know it's name in short order.
KC
"Bruno R" <p.ro...@att.net> wrote in message
news:XE7Zb.52077$hR.11...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
ronald haynes
message before shutdown says... a worm/virus.
Bruno R
The PC notebook Toshiba A35-S159 seems to work somhow erratically.
Thanks again, Bruno
Bruno R
posters did, indeed! What could I have done differently? I bought this
Toshiba A35-S159 with a (to me!) unfamiliar Windows XP, and I couldn't
even register the Norton AV. It must have happened right after I plugged
in the phone connection, because it didn't let me do any registering.
(But I did get connected to YAHOO for 10-15 minutes several times).
I can imagine that this sort of thing happened to many other PC buyers,
because before me (w/i 2 hours) 4 other people bought the same A35-S159.
P.S. Please hold off with your sarcastic "blame yourself" bit, because
folks aren't all experts like you. Why was the AV pg. not operational?
S.Lewis
> I have a peculiar issue with a newly bought A30-S159. After I logged on
> to a URL (for convenience sake let's say YAHOO) I'll get a "NT/AUTHORITY
> remote procedure call CAL (RPC)" after about 5-15 minutes on line.
> Then, it will give me 60 seconds to save whatever, before the machine
> turns itself off and restarts from scratch
That's called the MSBlaster worm.....
John
Your computer isn't broke, but you do have a worm.
"NT/AUTHORITY remote procedure call CAL (RPC)" after about 5-15 minutes
According to this site http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1831.html , it's a virus.
This one http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1831.html says it's the
W32.Blaster.Worm.
These sites will help you with how to get rid of it.
Screen dimming after a few minutes.
This is probably a Toshiba feature to reduce battery drain.
The Toshiba utility lets you change the time, how much it dims, or disable
screen dimming totally.
John
"Bruno R" <p.ro...@att.net> wrote in message
news:qa7Zb.51873$hR.11...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
Bruno R
week who will fix the VIRUS problem, thank you! The dimming of the
screen makes sense, and meanwhile I've found out how to adjust it.
Kind regards, Bruno
P.S. It would have been nice if the NORTON virus protection pg. would
have been working right out of the box instead of asking questions.
John wrote:
> Bruno,
>
> Your computer isn't broke, but you do have a worm.
>
> "NT/AUTHORITY remote procedure call CAL (RPC)" after about 5-15 minutes
>
> According to this site http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1831.html , it's a virus.
>
> This one http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1831.html says it's the
> W32.Blaster.Worm.
>
> These sites will help you with how to get rid of it.
>
> Screen dimming after a few minutes.
>
> This is probably a Toshiba feature to reduce battery drain.
> The Toshiba utility lets you change the time, how much it dims, or disable
> screen dimming totally.
>
> John
>
> "Bruno R" <p.ro...@att.net> wrote in message
> news:qa7Zb.51873$hR.11...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>
>>I have a peculiar issue with a newly bought A35-S159. After I logged on