So, I got called around to my auntie's place to set up her new ADSL connection.
I got the modem out of the box, plugged it in, set it up and we were away... No, wait, we were getting authentication failures. I got her to retype her password to make sure it was correct; it was. I suspected that Xtra hadn't activated her account for ADSL access, so I got her to ring tech support and ask them. She asked straight away if the account had been activated for broadband, and the guy ignored her, launching right into his off-the-sheet generic step-by-step idiot's guide to walking an idiot through setting up ADSL that he'd been provided, so she handed over to me.
He started walking me through pointless steps:
"Click on the 'start' button at the bottom of your screen"
*blabber senselessly for 5 seconds*
"Ok, now click 'run'"
*blabber senselessly for 10 seconds*
"Ok, now type 'cmd'"
*blabber senselessly for 15 seconds*
"Ok, now click ok... and you should get a DOS window. Now type 'ip--"
"LOOK, I've got it connected, got it configured, we're just getting authentication failures. The first thing I want to know is if the username has been activated for ADSL..." I cut in, completely fed up with his treating me like somebody who's using a computer for the first time and his persistant attempts at making me do pointless things and refusal to answer my question.
After asking for the username, being unable to find the username in the system and having to 'try to find it another way' - then making sure I had the right capitalisation and had added in their absurd username suffix ".xadsl" - he EVENTUALLY came back to me with "Oh, the .xadsl form of the username hasn't been activated yet. I'll just do that for you now."
So, after a long wait to get through to tech support, and several attempts at getting him to check if it had been activated he finally discovered that it was exactly what I suspected from the get-go. Unfortunately, it took until I got pissed off and cut him off mid-instruction to knock his tiny brain off the tracks of his instruction sheet he seemed to be thoroughly glued to before he would even check what I was suggesting - totally wasting not only his time and my time, but also the time of whoever was next in the tech support queue.
My advice to any company hiring staff for tech support roles: Make sure they have an IQ greater than their shoe size; that they know how to use their initiative and can recognise users with technical knowledge; and that they themselves have more knowledge in the field than the majority of the people they will be helping.
I got the modem out of the box, plugged it in, set it up and we were away... No, wait, we were getting authentication failures. I got her to retype her password to make sure it was correct; it was. I suspected that Xtra hadn't activated her account for ADSL access, so I got her to ring tech support and ask them. She asked straight away if the account had been activated for broadband, and the guy ignored her, launching right into his off-the-sheet generic step-by-step idiot's guide to walking an idiot through setting up ADSL that he'd been provided, so she handed over to me.
He started walking me through pointless steps:
"Click on the 'start' button at the bottom of your screen"
*blabber senselessly for 5 seconds*
"Ok, now click 'run'"
*blabber senselessly for 10 seconds*
"Ok, now type 'cmd'"
*blabber senselessly for 15 seconds*
"Ok, now click ok... and you should get a DOS window. Now type 'ip--"
"LOOK, I've got it connected, got it configured, we're just getting authentication failures. The first thing I want to know is if the username has been activated for ADSL..." I cut in, completely fed up with his treating me like somebody who's using a computer for the first time and his persistant attempts at making me do pointless things and refusal to answer my question.
After asking for the username, being unable to find the username in the system and having to 'try to find it another way' - then making sure I had the right capitalisation and had added in their absurd username suffix ".xadsl" - he EVENTUALLY came back to me with "Oh, the .xadsl form of the username hasn't been activated yet. I'll just do that for you now."
So, after a long wait to get through to tech support, and several attempts at getting him to check if it had been activated he finally discovered that it was exactly what I suspected from the get-go. Unfortunately, it took until I got pissed off and cut him off mid-instruction to knock his tiny brain off the tracks of his instruction sheet he seemed to be thoroughly glued to before he would even check what I was suggesting - totally wasting not only his time and my time, but also the time of whoever was next in the tech support queue.
My advice to any company hiring staff for tech support roles: Make sure they have an IQ greater than their shoe size; that they know how to use their initiative and can recognise users with technical knowledge; and that they themselves have more knowledge in the field than the majority of the people they will be helping.
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