Some tech-support people are completely useless

[MissMillie]

not because they don't know their stuff, but because they don't listen!!!!

I just called my ISP. I told the tech-support person that I was thinking of buying a new tower, and that I was worried that I would need to install the drivers for the modem I have in order for the modem to work w/ the new tower.

He said, "I'm sorry you're having problems, let me send a signal to your modem"

Um... I'm not having a problem. I'm asking a question.

It took him a few iterations of the question before he understood me.

He told me I wouldn't need to install the drivers for the modem onto the new tower.

Somehow, I'm having a hard time believing him.

I'm happy to go to their office to pick up a disc. What I don't want to do is to wait around half a day for someone to come to my house to do something I can do myself in less than 5 minutes.

[CatholicEdHead]

1. Cable modem or dial up?

With an cable modem, all it would take is an unplug, replug of the ethernet cable and your new computer should work automatically with your new one. Otherwise, cable modems have an short term memory which at worst would mean 6-8hrs of being unplugged (e.g. overnight), the replug in the morning and it will see the new computer/NIC.

If it is an DSL modem, an simple on-off restart is all you should need.

Dial up settings should be the same from computer to computer.

[MissMillie]

5. cable modem

thanks for the tip

[LynneSin]

2. Verizon?

I had nightmares with them.

There was screwy wiring in my house - everytime my neighbor got a call my DSL would be bumped. So Verizon said they could fix that and send out a technician but they would have to come into my house.

That's fine with me.

So I schedule an appointment and even make arrangements with my boss so I can be at home to let them in (because this is all during business hours). So the day before I get a message from a Verizon tech that he was done early with his appointments and would be stopping by my house. Only problem - I AM NOT AT MY HOUSE. That night I get an email that they couldn't find any issue and were closing the ticket (except I already knew the problem was in the house - not outside).

:grr:

So I call back to verizon and screamed until I got a manager. He apologized and said he would send a tech Saturday morning so I would be home and they would fix my problem. Friday afternoon I get a phone message that the tech was done early with his work and stopped by my house and since he couldn't see anything wrong on the outside of the house he was closing the ticket as resolved.

:grr: :grr:

So I called Verizon and they ASSURED ME that they were still sending someone on Saturday and they would be there by noon. At 12:01 I called Verizon and they said there was no open ticket because my issue was resolved. At 12:30 I called comcast to have them come out to my house and install cable modem. They showed up the next day and Verizon has been gone every since.

[MissMillie]

4. Charter

but I'm not sure they're much better than Comcast

[CatholicEdHead]

6. Charter is the worst there is

So I can understand not getting much in the way of tech support.

[sarge43]

10. No, no. Earthlink.

Been outsourced to India. "Bob" and "Michelle" read from a script. If the problem isn't in the script, they default to "Your modem must be bad."

[woo me with science]

8. My sympathies.

Boy, that sounds familiar.

We tried to have Verizon in the new house for about two weeks before giving up in frustration. Our experience included multiple two-hour calls trying to get help from someone and being put on hold, and multiple instances in which they promised to come to the house to install the damned thing but never showed.

We had paid the deposit on the new account, and they had cashed the check with alarming efficiency.

I finally called back and said we'd changed our minds and wanted our money back. They told us...

since they never actually installed the service, they didn't have an account on us, AND...

since we weren't even their customers, they couldn't possibly owe us a refund.

Verizon is truly in its own league with regard to customer service.

[Phentex]

3. I vote for the comcast people...

For example, when I say the lines are down because the POLE IS ON THE GROUND IN THE STREET, please do not tell me the signal is strong and it must be my computer.

[Xipe Totec]

7. No kidding!

[Orrex]

9. Any solution more nuanced than "reboot it" is beyond the grasp of most IT people I've dealt with.

Brilliant people for the most part, but they have trouble with the dynamic between "asked question" and "spoken answer."

[Posteritatis]

11. Front-line tech support people are not permitted to listen or know their stuff

Most of them are required to go through some silly flowchart or another, even if you know for a fact the problem is a fire in their server room and call to point that out. If they know your connection's out because there's a fire in their server room, and they take the step of going to the server room with a fire extinguisher without telling you to reboot your computer and power-cycle your modem, they can risk losing their job for going off-script.

Bit of an ugly situation. ;P