True Tech Support, And the Power of Blogging

This past week, I found the power of the blog affirmed mightily. Within hours of writing this post about Norton 360 and my problems with Symantec Tech Support, I had a comment from a Symantec Public Relations agent hoping to resolve the matter. Wow, who knew the power of a simple grievance post. I first made sure the post was legitimate - someone would have to be very bored to impersonate Symantec PR, I imagine - and then waited for the promised tech support contact.

I had an email from a senior tech within a day. I did not feel like going in to work on the weekend to work on the problem, so I asked him to contact me Monday or Tuesday. He said he would call me at 2:00 PM EDT on Tuesday, and he was punctual. I explained my problem, and he quickly initiated a remote control session on my server to diagnose it. He checked the version of the product (something the prior tech's never even asked) and discovered it was not the latest available. He explained that anyone with a subscription to a Norton product could upgrade to the lastest edition of that product for free, and then he downloaded the upgrade I needed.

Voila, within thirty minutes of the initiation of the call, I had a resolution. The latest version did not have any of the conflicts the prior version did. It almost seemed too easy, but before I even had a chance to cast any doubt, he assured me he would check back in a couple of days to verify that I was still satisfied with my situation. He made some additional suggestions to help my server's performance and let me know he planned to follow up on those as well.

I retract any complaints I had about Norton, save one: I am sorry it took me writing a blog post to get this kind of help. If I could have had that kind of help from the beginning, the post would never have been necessary. That said, I am highly pleased with Norton 360 and with the tech support agent who helped me with my problem.

-- Robert

Tech Sup... Well, Maybe Support's Not the Right Word

So my server's back in place, but with a very different problem. We can't leave the firewall on and still get to the files on the server. At first, I thought it was being caused by a change in some settings that my software provider recommended to work with their software. They spent two hours trying different ways to fix the problem, and in the end they determined the firewall was causing the problem and it had nothing to do with settings they created (for the record, I agree with them, so I am leaving their names out of this rant... I mean post).

So, I went to the "contact us" link on the Norton 360 product, which runs the firewall in question. The first tech support agent - using lots of hot-keyed phrases with my name inserted to look like he was really paying attention - suggested a couple of ideas before offering to remote in to my computer and change the settings "while [I] sit back and watch." Before I could even try to say yes, though, he'd closed the chat window.

So I tried to use the link he provided to get him back in case we got disconnected. No luck. So I went for tech support agent number two, one Priyadharishini Mohan (I saved his name for posterity... or for a future complaint filing). He offered the same remote session - with the hot-keys again, because it was if I didn't log on and immediately ask "Hey, your other agent was about to remote in, and I would really like you to do that." Which, of course, was exactly what I had done.

This tech did get the remote session going. He changed some settings on my computer, which was not the one causing the problem, and said "Check the issue now." I showed him I still could not reach the files on the server. He said he would need to reach the server, so I tried several ways he offered, only to finally suggest, "How about I remote in to my server from this computer, then you can control the server here?" I did and he proceeded to do exactly what I already knew how to do: he turned off the firewall. Then he said, "Check the issue now." So I turned the firewall back on and showed him the issue was still there. He said, "You still have the issue with the firewall down." I said, "No, I don't, I turned the firewall back on because I already know how to turn the firewall off to get in. You just watched me do it when I created this remote session. I don't want to have to take my firewall down every time I want to log on to my server's files from another computer." The next phrase I saw, I swear (I can even copy it from the transcript as proof) was Priyadharishini Mohan is rebooting your computer...

Rebooting the computer solved the problem for him very simply: it got rid of me. He did not ask if he could reboot the computer. He did not suggest it first. He simply did it, and then his connection was severed. I had unsaved work on my computer. It was lost as a result of his reboot, but no matter. At least he no longer had a problem to deal with.

So I got on my server to get tech support agent number three. He changed various settings, fortunately he made no effort to reboot my computer or just turn off the firewall to solve it. He actually tried to change a few settings. I realized as I watched him that he left several things undone in his process, so he was sloppy, but he at least tried. Still, in the end, having started at ten that morning, by three I was still not able to do the one thing I needed: to leave my firewall in place against everyone but the computers in my office. If my co-worker had not given me some of her lunch I might have been in really bad shape, but instead I was just very annoyed. I gave up for the day, since I actually had other work to accomplish (no, seriously, I had work to do, honest, I was not playing "prank the techie" or anything). I got a case number and a phone number to contact Norton again, and I logged off. Nothing having changed about my problem. Well, that's not exactly correct: I now had a deeper problem than just not getting to my files without turning off my firewall. Now I have a problem with the firewall creator not even knowing how to set it up correctly to protect my server.

In short, I'm not sure when I will ever buy another Norton product again.

Server Crash

This work week did not start well. That is to say, Monday morning, I came in to find I had no access to my main files. After repeated attempts to resolve the problem - okay, I'm oversimplifying, after an entire day of doing my own checks and finally calling tech support for my main software - it was apparent that the server was not well. Fortunately I had the foresight to back up the file with all the day's work sometime before the last crash that seem to completely disable it.

Seemed is an important point here.

For all the problems I was having, each time I attached a monitor to it, it would appear to go down. What I discovered when I had a more capable computer tech work on it, though, was that the problem was not the computer itself, but the video card. I had a blown DVI video card. Because of that blown card, though, I had been repeating rebooting a computer, unaware it was probably booting fine - just without a picture. The repeated reboots slowly corrupted my mirrored hard drives, which led to the other problems I was encountering. The computer tech also helped me learn that I actually had a VGA card that worked on the server, but it was disabled early in the boot process (before my monitor would wake up) when I did not "press F1 to run in VGA mode". Without the DVI card in, though, it automatically booted with the VGA working, and now it should be fully recovered and back in place tomorrow.

What have I learned? Even triple backups can't automatically overcome something as simple as a blown video card. At least not right away. Within a day or so, I could have a new server in place, or this server with new hard drives, and have all my files restored. But the triple backups did not help me realize the real problem.

I feel myself beginning to wax philisophical, pondering what I might learn from this experience. What we see is not always as it appears, for one. I thought I had a blown server, when all I had was a computer that wasn't showing me a picture. Sometimes we have to look deeper. I might not have caused the other problems with the computer if I had considered the video card.

-- Robert

P.S. My wife did think it was just a video card after I took the computer to someone else. Hat's off to her for considering what I didn't. Important lesson number two: men, listen to your wives.

Technology Fun

Since moving to our new house, we have only one internet connection for all of our computers: a wireless card. Our previous wireless card worked through a wireless router that allowed all our computers to share the Internet, but that card never actually worked well (or at all), so it had to be replaced. The router still works for network activity, and we've been able to connect all of our computers to it, but it couldn't use the wireless card with a USB cable like it could with the old card.

Last night, though, we had a great idea (I'm man enough to share credit). I was logged on to the internet with the wireless card, and I knew my computer was sensing the wireless router, so I decided to share the internet connection to see what would happen. It worked! The desktop, once connected to the router, was immediately able to get online. We uploaded the wireless card software to the desktop (our desktop was only recently recovered from the graveyard of a dead power supply and had not "met" this new card) and got it online. Then I shared the connection again and my computer immediately saw it and connected. Mission accomplished!

Now we just need to get my wife's laptop on, which runs Vista (the rest of them run XP). Still, I find it pretty great that we have managed to created a sort of back door on to the World Wide Web for our computers. We just need to show Vista how to unlock it and come out to play!

-- Robert

P.S.: Now if I can only explain why my laptop would believe it is not online (i.e., won't connect to certain websites) but will connect remotely to my office.... just crazy.

Older Posts Revisited

My wife and I were laughing together about some of the crazy phone calls I've had over the years, and she told me I should write about them. I reminded her I already had, but she thought I had omitted a particular one. I realize why she might have thought I omitted it when I reread the original post. It was the last thing I said, but since the call said "I' M FINISHED!" really loud on a voice mail, I used it to segue into finishing the post. So, here is the original post:

Crazy Things Heard On The Phone

While I was back there digging, I thought I might also share some other gems of wittiness from my early days that some of my newer readers might not have gotten to see.

One Of Your Drivers Just Ran Over My Car

Tony Drove Off the Side of a Mountain

I Regret to Inform You...

So, enjoy. Feel free to comment here on any of these posts, or comment there. I'll try to look all four places. My apologies if some of these stories seem indelicate. Most of them happened between five and ten years ago, if that helps.

-- Robert

Technician Who Left Me Wishin'

Today's Hump Day Hmm asks "when and how do I use my words?" and Julie was kind enough to propose several scenarios to elaborate on.

Her first and fourth scenarios each remind me of stories from my own experience. I want to relate the story that came to mind because of her fourth, since it ties in well with the general theme of my blog dealing with my working life.

Technician Who Leaves Me Wishin'
My office relies on phones more than anything, though computers have become a close second. We make our living communicating with shippers and drivers, easing the correspondence between the two we have helped come together. We are, after all, a broker of freight.

Several years ago, we had several instances of needing some technical assistance from the phone company because of lines going down or individual phones going down. Each time we called, one of two men tended to respond. One man always seemed to solve the problem quickly and effectively, and we rarely needed him to return for the same issue he had previously solved. The other man almost always required a follow-up visit from the first to solve whatever else he managed to screw up, along with the original problem. Because of this continued record of disservice, I finally decided to make a specific request when I called for support. I talked to the manager of the local phone company directly and asked him to send the competent man, explaining I had always been pleased with his service.

Not long after my call to the manager ended, I was greeted by an obviously irate technician - the second man. He threw open the door of my office and began his visit with the words, "So I hear you don't want me workin' on your phones anymore?"

Given his obviously excited state, I decided to calm him down with an explanation that veered away from my dissatisfaction. Yes, it could easily be construed as a lie, but I mainly avoided the topic of his competence. I simply explained that it would be fine for him to work on the system. I had simply requested the other man, but I needed help and would take what I could get. It would not have surprised me if the man had gone in and torn out my phone system to spite me, but to his credit, he went to work on it instead. Once he left, I placed another call to his manager.
"I did not ask you to tell [the man I didn't want] that I did not want him," I explained, rather calmly I recall despite my agitation. "I wanted [the first man] to come because he gets it done right. I do not appreciate how this situation was handled."

Ever since, I am fairly certain we have always been serviced by the first man I wanted, or by another man who came to work for them later who is equally competent. Rarely have I been more displeased with how a service company handled a request I made. When people I deal with ask me not to refer their business to a particular employee of mine, I simply comply with the request in the hopes of a continued relationship. If they explain some problem they have with a particular employee, I admit that I have often had cause to take notes on their concerns and convey them to the employee in question. I do not recall ever forcing the specific employee on the displeased customer, though.

And for the record, I am not sure if the man who came in with such fury solved my problem or not. I do recall the first man coming the next day, which suggests he did not manage to get it done. Without any grisly details here, I will just say the second man is no longer employed by my phone company.

-- Robert

Crazy Things Heard on the Phone

The following is a list of things I've actually heard from Tech Support, Customer Service, or other individuals who I got to talk to after sitting on hold for hours:

"Sir, can I call you back, I need go bathroom very badly," in a strong Asian accent that added to the effect of making me fight laughter.

"As soon as I get off the call with this jerk, I'll come out there," said to someone else regarding me, to which I said, "Can you finish helping this jerk before you leave?"

"Sir, you will have to pay $75 to receive support at this time," said after the previously free support tech had told me to format my hard drive and call back.

I know constantly answering support questions must be very taxing, but sometimes I wonder if on the job description it says, "nasty attitude a must" or lately if it says, "must speak in heavily accented English" on the job listing on Monster. I have a lot of experience making phone calls for charity groups or for a living, and I have been called all manner of names in those endeavors. I know it probably gets really old for some people who work in support to deal with people's ridiculous requests. They have my empathy and gratitude. I just think I have had some amazingly bad luck with tech support over the years, and those are just a few of the crazy comments I've heard. Probably among the funniest things I ever got to hear while making calls, though, came when I was working for the University of Georgia as an assistant to the Institute for Leadership Advancement. I was calling various companies to let them know about an upcoming event, and I misdialed one digit from some corporation and got:

"You have reached the Fordham Group" in a thick Northeastern accent. I realized I had misdialed one digit and dialed 1-800-FORDHAM. An even funnier call from that same list went through the automated attendant to someone who said loudly (on a recording), "I'M FINISHED."

And, with that, so is this rambling post.

-- Robert