Technical Support
Contributed - by Joan Simms
Take heart, anyone among you who believes you are
technologically challenged, you "ain't seen nothing yet". This is an excerpt
from a Wall Street Journal article:
- Compaq is considering changing the command
"Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls
asking where the "Any"key is.
- AST technical support had a caller complaining that
her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the
plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.
- Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get
his Computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of troubleshooting, the Technician
discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the
monitor screen and hitting the "Send" key.
- Yet another, Dell customer called to complain that
his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water
and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them
individually.
- A Dell technician received a call from a customer
who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "Bad and an invalid."
The tech explained that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid"
responses shouldn't be taken personally.
- A confused caller to IBM was having trouble printing
documents. He told the technician that the computer had said it
couldn't find the printer. The user had also tried turning the computer screen to
face the printer, but that his computer still couldn't "see" the printer.
- An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support
couldn't get their new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was
plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button.
Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and Nothing
happens." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.
- Another customer called Compaq tech support to say
her brand new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in
and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what
happened when she pressed the power button, she asked, "What power button?"
- Another IBM customer had trouble installing software
and rang for support. "I put in the first disk, and that was OK. It said
to put in the second disk, and had some problems with the disk. When it said to put
in the third disk, I couldn't even fit it in..." The user hadn't realized that
"Insert Disk 2" implied to remove Disk 1 first.
- A story from a Novell NetWire SysOp:
CALLER: "Hello, is this Tech Support?"
TECH: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?"
CALLER: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty period. How do
I go about getting that fixed?"
TECH: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?"
CALLER: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer."
TECH: "Please excuse me. If I seem a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did
you receive this as part of a promotional at a
trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on
it?"
CALLER: "It came with my computer. I don't know anything about a promotional.
It just has 4X on it." At this point, the Tech Rep had to mute the caller
because he couldn't stand it. He was laughing too hard. The caller had been
using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder and snapped it off the drive.
- A woman called the Canon help desk with a problem
with her printer. The tech asked her if she was "running it under
windows." The woman responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But
that is a good point. The girl sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window,
and her printer is working fine."
- And last but not least:
TECH SUPPORT: "Okay Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time.
That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter
"P" to bring up the Program Manager."
CUSTOMER: "I don't have a P."
TECH SUPPORT: "On your keyboard, Bob."
CUSTOMER: "What do you mean?"
TECH SUPPORT: "P, on your keyboard, Bob."
CUSTOMER: "I'm not going to do that!"
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