Offshore customer support

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

> Matrox - Best ever! Intelligent people taking a personal interest
> in your problem. I was trying to put my Matrox G400 graphics card
> into this computer after I built it and it just didn't like it.
>
> This computer had a chipset that they didn't have in their support
> department so they were going out to buy a motherboard with this new
> chipset to duplicate the problem. I solved the problem by myself,
> but I thought that was pretty amazing support.
>
>
> Dallas

Matrox are fantastic! When I first tried to install my Parhelia (in the UK)
I could only get two monitors to work. They invited me to bring my pc up to
their main office in Berkshire so that they could look at it. It worked fine
with all three monitors, and I came home. I still could not get my third
monitor to work so they sent me a spare monitor from their own office to
try! Delivered by courier the following day. It worked OK and they said I
could keep the monitor 17 inch !!
Their help forum in Canada is the best I have ever used anywhere.


--
Cheers,

Quilly











An individual reply goes into my spam filter

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

On Mon, 09 May 2005 21:46:24 GMT, "Ches" <ches@lineone.net> wrote:

>I bought a Mesh computer in April 2004 and my experience may be of interest
>to those in the U.K. It worked 'straight out of the boxes' and I only (so
>far) had to ring for advice once. The call was noted and an engineer rang
>back in about 20 minutes and talked me through the problem, a slight
>adjustment. Since then I have had a couple of somewhat OT queries. I have
>sent these by e-mail and they have been responded to in a short time. I
>would be happy both to recommend their products and to buy from them again.
>I have nothing to do with the company other than as a customer.

Hi Ches

Mesh here too. Like yourself, my PC worked out of the box (literally,
not management speak).

My one complaint was that a speaker cable - the phono-plug device
connecting the sound card to the sub-woofer - was missing and, IMO,
that was Creative's fault and not Mesh's. Nevertheless, Mesh sent me a
new cable which arrived within two days.

One time, about 18 months ago, my house was zapped by lightning and my
PC decied not to function. Mesh's customer support told me simply to
remove the fax modem card ... et voila, a working PC. As my net
connection is via an ethernet card to my TV's set top box the lack of
a fax modem hardly hurt. Also, I had never used this device anyway.

As I and others have implied in other posts, this sort of service
would steer me towards Mesh come the day when I have the dosh to buy a
new PC - all other things being equal, of course.

Conversely, I have read in some NGs of horror stories regarding Mesh's
products.

Like you, Ches, I am merely a satisfied customer.
James

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

"CRaSH" <sorry@aint-here.spam.com> wrote in message
news:4v2ge.1446$DC2.503@okepread01...
> I got my Dell XPS and haven't had a bit of trouble (except an attempted
> Office 97 install - not XP compatible - screwed things up so bad I had to
> do a reformat/reinstall to finally get things right again about the second
> week I had it) so haven't had the need to call them.

Hi Crash

We still use Office 97 at the office (our company database would need some
development on it to bring it up to 2000) and I've never had trouble putting
it on out XP (Professional) machines. Now you've got me worried!

Chris

 

[crash]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

Chris Curtis wrote:
> Hi Crash
>
> We still use Office 97 at the office (our company database would need
> some development on it to bring it up to 2000) and I've never had
> trouble putting it on out XP (Professional) machines. Now you've got
> me worried!


Office 97 is a strange one. I got the wife a budget $399 Gateway a few
years back, XP home, and before I'd heard about the compatibility thing, I
loaded 97 on it no problem! A few months later I got my XPS, with XP home,
and the only thing I actually wanted from Office 97, was Word to have spell
checker with Outlook Express. I ended up with all kinds of things botched
up, including Outlook Express, and right now I can't even remember all the
little things. I went to M/S site where they had a repair list of things to
edit in the registry about a yard long to uninstall Office 97, so I wasn't a
random case, plus a friend down in Texas (no, not Varmit) who's a runs the
networking at a hospital told me they were warned against using it on XP...
The M/S cleanup list did NOT cure all the problems, so I figured it was a
good time to get rid of all Dell's bloatware and get things the way I wanted
it............

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

On Tue, 10 May 2005 04:04:38 GMT, "Dudley Henriques"
<dhenriques@noware .net> wrote:

>I can't for the life of me figure out how some of these poor everyday people
>manage to solve the issues that pop up with computers they buy.
>I honestly don't know what to recommend to people anymore who ask me where
>to go to buy.
>Admittedly, ANY kind of phone tech support isn't the easiest thing in the
>world to accomplish.

Hi Dudley

What bugs me is when telephone peeps simply go through a list. If my
particular problem is not on their list, well, they're stumped.

For example, I've occasionally phoned my ISP to ask if they're having
mail server problems.

Me: Are you having an e-mail server problem at the moment?
Them: Do you use Outlook Express, Mr Hodson?
Me: No, I use Eudora.
Them: Sorry, Mr Hodson, we only support OE, not Eudora.
I feel like saying: "So f'ing what!" Of course, I'm far too polite to
say so.

Ditto re FreeAgent and news-servers.

Regards and about to self combust
James

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

On Tue, 10 May 2005 04:29:00 GMT, "Dallas"
<Cybnorm@spam_me_not.Hotmail.Com> wrote:

>Here's a place to go to entertain yourself for the next 30 minutes:
>
>http://www.gripe2ed.com/scoop/story/2003/6/12/10720/0194
>
>One common complaint I read is that "THEY HANG UP ON YOU...." I couldn't
>believe it but it's common, when one of these guys from Bangalore or
>Hyderabad does not like the direction the conversation is going they hang up
>in your ear. 🙂

Hi Dalli (Lama?)

Excellent. Actually, it really is a shame that those from India are
receiving a bad press here. In general, Indians are more than pretty
well educated, certainly better than UKians in general.

Also, it seems to me, that many IT bods in the UK are originally from
India - or, rather, their parents or grandparents were. British empire
and all that.

I have also heard, but can't truly state, that most Indian call centre
operator people are also very well educated.

Western companies use people from the sub-continent purely as a cost
saving excercise.

James

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

On 9 May 2005 11:14:00 -0700, "pr" <proffice@twcny.rr.com> wrote:

>Isn't this version of English known as the "Queen's English?" I
>never heard of the King's English...

And thank goodness for that! Have you ever heard Prince Charles speak?

James

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

"CRaSH" <sorry@aint-here.spam.com> wrote in message
news:B69ge.1462$DC2.310@okepread01...
> Chris Curtis wrote:
>> Hi Crash
>>
>> We still use Office 97 at the office (our company database would need
>> some development on it to bring it up to 2000) and I've never had
>> trouble putting it on out XP (Professional) machines. Now you've got
>> me worried!
>
>
> Office 97 is a strange one. I got the wife a budget $399 Gateway a few
> years back, XP home, and before I'd heard about the compatibility thing, I
> loaded 97 on it no problem! A few months later I got my XPS, with XP
> home, and the only thing I actually wanted from Office 97, was Word to
> have spell checker with Outlook Express. I ended up with all kinds of
> things botched up, including Outlook Express, and right now I can't even
> remember all the little things. I went to M/S site where they had a
> repair list of things to edit in the registry about a yard long to
> uninstall Office 97, so I wasn't a random case, plus a friend down in
> Texas (no, not Varmit) who's a runs the networking at a hospital told me
> they were warned against using it on XP... The M/S cleanup list did NOT
> cure all the problems, so I figured it was a good time to get rid of all
> Dell's bloatware and get things the way I wanted it............

No, not had a single problem! The only thing I can think that might be
different is that we use Outlook 2000/2002 as an Exchange client and they
are usually installed from the server before Office 97.

Chris

 

[Mike]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

Have you ever tried ringing HSBC recently?

It is just as bad 🙂

Mike


"Dallas" <Cybnorm@spam_me_not.Hotmail.Com> wrote in message
news:kRufe.10346$BE3.4840@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> (Politically correct disclaimer: If you think I am making a racial slur,
> please re-read and you will see that I am not.)
>
>
>
> My ISP Earthlink used to have a team of young, intelligent, college
> graduates manning the customer support phone lines and dealing with them
> was
> a pleasure.
>
>
>
> Then Earthlink outsourced offshore to India...
>
>
>
> Now, I absolutely dread having to make that customer support call. I was
> trying to decide if the problem was cultural or incompetence and came to
> the
> conclusion that it was both.
>
>
>
> When I'm speaking to them I strive to use the King's English as to not
> confuse them. English is virtually their common language and they go to
> classes to further Anglicize their speech. So, why is it when I talk to
> them I get long pauses on the other end of the phone as if they were
> trying
> to somehow work out what I am saying? And often, when they answer me I
> don't get what they are saying either. For some reason it just seems
> like
> my brain can't connect to theirs, the wiring is different.
>
>
>
> Example:
>
>
>
> Me: "I can't connect to the Earthlink news server".
>
>
>
> Long Pause.
>
>
>
> Jawaharlal: "News server? Do you mean email server?"
>
>
>
> Me: "No, Usenet. newsgroups. the news server."
>
>
>
> Very long Pause.
>
>
>
> Jawaharlal: "Turn the power off and on again on your modem."
>
>
>
> Me: "Never mind."
>
>
>
> In the days of domestic customer support there was no shame in saying, "I
> don't know. Let me find someone who knows." With offshore it somehow
> mortally shames them to not have all the answers and they wind up making
> you
> jump through an endless series of inane hoops. And somehow they get mad
> and
> impatient with you if their advice doesn't work, as if somehow it's your
> fault.
>
>
>
> Corporations say that it decreases their operating costs dramatically,
> good
> for them! I didn't see my monthly bill go down when they did it. I hope a
> backlash is coming for all these companies that moved offshore.
>
>
> Dallas
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

On Sat, 14 May 2005 19:04:57 +0000 (UTC), "Mike"
<mike@SPAMmichael-cracknell.coDOTuk> wrote:

>Have you ever tried ringing HSBC recently?
>
>It is just as bad 🙂

Nope :-/ Llllllllllllllllllloyds TSB here. Incidentally, their call
centre people also are mainly Welsh.

James

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

I had to phone Barclays to ask about a education maintaince loan and I could
barely understand her, she spoke so fast as well. D-link are also like this
and I tried using the phonetic alphabet like Delta-Echo etc since I do it
with everything now as its saves confusion, he didn't know what I was
talking about. I love blueyonder, their call centre must be in Liverpool or
something, so easy to understand them, nice being able to talk to people
where you don't struggle to understand or just agree because you cant be
botherd to say "WTF" for the 50th time. I feel sorry for next gen people
like my kids (when I have them lol) because with all these companies going
of-shore, where are all the jobs going to be, I reckon even shelf stacking
will be, like they put it on a conveyer belt and it just comes all the way
from somewhere else

--
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join a team who is strict on Web standards complacency?
Go to www.deadlyhosting.com to see what positions we have available.
--

"Mike" <mike@SPAMmichael-cracknell.coDOTuk> wrote in message
news:d65i4p$clh$1@nwrdmz03.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com...
> Have you ever tried ringing HSBC recently?
>
> It is just as bad 🙂
>
> Mike
>
>
> "Dallas" <Cybnorm@spam_me_not.Hotmail.Com> wrote in message
> news:kRufe.10346$BE3.4840@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>> (Politically correct disclaimer: If you think I am making a racial slur,
>> please re-read and you will see that I am not.)
>>
>>
>>
>> My ISP Earthlink used to have a team of young, intelligent, college
>> graduates manning the customer support phone lines and dealing with them
>> was
>> a pleasure.
>>
>>
>>
>> Then Earthlink outsourced offshore to India...
>>
>>
>>
>> Now, I absolutely dread having to make that customer support call. I was
>> trying to decide if the problem was cultural or incompetence and came to
>> the
>> conclusion that it was both.
>>
>>
>>
>> When I'm speaking to them I strive to use the King's English as to not
>> confuse them. English is virtually their common language and they go to
>> classes to further Anglicize their speech. So, why is it when I talk to
>> them I get long pauses on the other end of the phone as if they were
>> trying
>> to somehow work out what I am saying? And often, when they answer me I
>> don't get what they are saying either. For some reason it just seems
>> like
>> my brain can't connect to theirs, the wiring is different.
>>
>>
>>
>> Example:
>>
>>
>>
>> Me: "I can't connect to the Earthlink news server".
>>
>>
>>
>> Long Pause.
>>
>>
>>
>> Jawaharlal: "News server? Do you mean email server?"
>>
>>
>>
>> Me: "No, Usenet. newsgroups. the news server."
>>
>>
>>
>> Very long Pause.
>>
>>
>>
>> Jawaharlal: "Turn the power off and on again on your modem."
>>
>>
>>
>> Me: "Never mind."
>>
>>
>>
>> In the days of domestic customer support there was no shame in saying, "I
>> don't know. Let me find someone who knows." With offshore it somehow
>> mortally shames them to not have all the answers and they wind up making
>> you
>> jump through an endless series of inane hoops. And somehow they get mad
>> and
>> impatient with you if their advice doesn't work, as if somehow it's your
>> fault.
>>
>>
>>
>> Corporations say that it decreases their operating costs dramatically,
>> good
>> for them! I didn't see my monthly bill go down when they did it. I hope
>> a
>> backlash is coming for all these companies that moved offshore.
>>
>>
>> Dallas
>>
>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.microsoft.flight-sim (More info?)

On Mon, 16 May 2005 09:58:30 GMT, "Chris Harries"
<chrisflyer@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

>I had to phone Barclays to ask about a education maintaince loan and I could
>barely understand her, she spoke so fast as well. D-link are also like this
>and I tried using the phonetic alphabet like Delta-Echo etc since I do it
>with everything now as its saves confusion, he didn't know what I was
>talking about. I love blueyonder, their call centre must be in Liverpool or
>something, so easy to understand them, nice being able to talk to people
>where you don't struggle to understand or just agree because you cant be
>botherd to say "WTF" for the 50th time.

Hi Chris

Scouse-speak is no problem for me as I once lived quite near to
Liverpool. More precisely, I lived in Ainsdale, a place between Liv
and Southport.

I was in my local Barclays' bank a while ago - I was combining a cycle
ride with paying off a bit of the old credit card. As usual, the
teller asked my for my post code just in case I happened to be a major
money launderer.

"Bravo, November, 1, 4 ... 9, Papa, Sierra," I stated.

It turned out that that lady's hubby flies Cessnas from Shoreham
Airport (EGKA), the strip where I base my own simulated Cessna 172.
When studying for his PPL, he used his wife to test him on his
phonetic alphabet. Naturally, she picked it up at the same time.

Barclays was a tad quiet to she and I spent a few moments testing each
other on our phonetic alphabet knowledge. My FSing probably gave me
the advantage 🙂

Personally, I learnt all that stuff from my days using a dictaphone
Missus!). The typists at the life assurance company I used to work for
in Guildford insisted on everybody, but everybody, using phonetics
when dictating letters ... not that our doing so prevented them making
some horrendous typos.

Cheers
James