QOTD: How Important is Good Tech Support?

[dawn323]

As a former Dell computer owner... i can tell you that their tech support NEEDS HELP. and yes tech support can make or break the customer experience. it sure as hell broke it for me.

 

[spectrewind]

Assuming the tech support has something to do with computers running some kind of Microsoft OS...

I saw some references to Dell. While I have promised myself to never own one of their products, I have plenty of experience dealing with their technical support.

Last I checked, Dell has different tiers of support:
Gold, Silver, Bronze, Free.

They range in expense and level of experience between the tiers. My employer uses the Gold level, and whenever I have had hardware problems (my company laptop D630 is on its 3rd mainboard), this support has high accuracy, are efficient, and I CAN UNDERSTAND THEM.

A counter-example:
The free-user warranty support (From Dell) is the outsourced garbage technical support with some idiot, probably in India, calls himself/herself Bob, Mary, Joe, or Kim (fake name of course), who is restricted to scripts and is incapable of performing bona-fide technical support. For example, I once had to tell one of these outsourced low-lifes how to get into the Windows Control Panel, to gain access to the device manager so he could review something with me for God sakes! He could not grasp the concept of keyboard shortcuts, such as WIN + PAUSE/BREAK to do the same thing.
I could not believe that guy was employed there!!


Oddly enough, I often end up on the tech support line with the company I work for. Their tier-1 support is as bad as Dell's, and I cannot understand them either (outsourced French support).
I once experienced call-center guy saying something that sounded like "man-gerr-leet" when he was trying to say "lead manager", which was really the shift supervisor; only he did not know how to say/iterate it, in American English, on the English language support channel, of which he was a part of.
The only benefit of this to me is that company policy dictates I take this route whenever esoteric problems appear with no known easy fix and other technicians cannot be reached.
I am paid hourly. In my line of work I usually break 30+ hours OT per week when on-call and 10+ hours OT per week when not on-call.


Don't get me started on retail tech support...

 

[spectrewind]

Apparantly ViewSonic tech support will only assist me if I'm still under warranty (of which I must prove proof of purchase...).

Logitech has the same policy. If it's outside that 1-year mark. They give you the canned answer, purchase a new one.

I ran into a problem with my Logitech G7 USB mouse a few month ago. The LI batteries would no longer retain a charge. When I contacted Logitech and offered to purchase replacement batteries and pay for shipping, they declined and told me to buy their new mouse of tantamout capability.

I found replacement batteries on Ebay. $23.00, shipping included for a pair. They work perfectly!

Logitech? F*ck 'em! They lost my business AND all the business of my consulting clients.

 

[pirateboy]

for n00bs and people without much money: very

 

[JeanLuc]

I think this question is being asked at the wrong people. Let's face it most posters/readers here are computer enthusiasts/geeks and there aren't many technical problems we can't resolve ourselves and the idea of calling a support line is kind of like admitting defeat.

However for people like my Dad who isn't as technically savvy (SP?) or a youngster who is having problems with a video game tech support over the phone is vitally important.

From my experience most companies operate a two tier system, the first stage is just some guy with a flow chart going through all the regular fixes (update drivers, check the wires etc) and it's not until you get through the level 2 support you start to talk to someone who is more knowledgeable then you but not all companies operate that type of system.

 

[1ce]

Yeah that laptop just got owned by a 19 Kilowatt Phase-Cannon....

 

[1ce]

Woah woah easy there.....good thing you're not the one holding the phase cannon....all the poor customers would be dead.

Yeah I worked at a call centre before, except it wasn't tech support, it was credit card support. I had people call in who didn't know what a credit card was.....then they accused me of being a canadian terrorist hiding out in the mountains shooting at innocent americans.... yeah just another day in the life of working at a call centre. I moved on after 7 months, that was enough.

 

[sanctoon]

Here in South Africa Acer, HP and Dell have very good tech support, at least with RMA's. Theres only about 2 or 3 people per company I talk to, so I just tell them its product x with serial number y, and they'll tell me if its still under warranty or not, or what's the cost, and couriers would be at my company in 2 days max.

 

[viometrix]

well the only reason i ever call tech support is for rma or replacement.... i am a tech myself....and i find most tech support either unhelpful or very patronizing.... worse yet i work in america, i spend american money on products i bought in america... i dont want to get stuck with some guy in india calling himself Jerry and speaking with some wannabe texas accent....

 

[Bolbi]

On a scale of 1 to 10, 2. I can usually figure it out myself, find it on Google, or get the answer on Tom's Hardware Forums!

 

[LATTEH]

google is my tech support

 

[phatbuddha79]

This question is moot on this forum because the only people who surfs this website are people who are already a bit savvy with technology. We only need tech support for warranty and stuff.

 

[mindless728]

tech support is usually useless, between my knowledge, google and their manuals, tou can usually figure out what you need

 

[nickchalk]

[citation][nom]micmic[/nom]I work for Dell - and have gotten stupid customer's calling in for stupid question, what I like most is the one who calls in and done there part already, like example (trouble there issue before calling in) stupid customers calling in are the one's does not know what there problem is/are or have not done anything all and they want us to just fixed there computer - We are not your personal technicians!!!!!, base from my experience handling customers - I would like to say that tech support from what I understand is to just to support if issue that are basically hard to fixed and just replace hardware parts if found if there is an issue with the hardware on your Dell system, there are some issue that "CUSTOMERS" can do on there own but lazy to find the answer, USE GOOGLE - GOTO FORUMS - ASK YOUR FRIENDS OR GOTO A LOCAL COMPUTER SHOP!!!! - if you have done you part already before calling in asking I like a mobo replacement, I like a hard drive replacement - and cannot provide any symptoms or error codes , so please to all DELL customers out there DO YOU PART FIRST BEFORE CALLING IN TROUBLE SHOOT FIRST THE ISSUE YOU HAVE MAKE SURE YOU KNOW ALREADY WHAT ARE/IS THE ISSUE ON THE SYSTEM DON'T MAKE US ASK YOU WHAT ARE THE ISSUE - ALSO ONE NOTE IS THAT BATTERY HAS ONLY 1 YEAR WARRANTY THIS IS FACTORY STANDARDS IF YOUR BATTERY IS DEAD AFTER 1 YEAR WHEN THE SYSTEM WAS PURCHASE WE CANNOT REPLACE IT!!! BUY A NEW BATTERY!!! ALSO FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE A COMPUTER - GO TO SCHOOL FIRST AND LEARN THE BASIC ON HOW TO USE A COMPUTER - MY BP (BLOOD PRESSURE) KEEPS ON RISING EVERY TIME A DUMB QUESTION IS BEING ASK FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW BASIC ON COMPUTERS!!![/citation]

You are a ....
Not everybody has to know everything about computers you know.
Some have a pc just to check their mail or buy/sell stocks, or use ms word at their office.
And it's because of them that you still have a job you ignorand sh..head.
Also if you have blood pressure problems, use google, go to forums or cut your vains to decrease the pressure.

ps. I think you forgot caps lock on.

 

[Dave_69]

I've never needed tech support in ca. 15 years of home computing. And rarely do I call them at work.

 

[homerjay]

You have to split the issue. Consumer vs commercial business support. There isn't much reason to provide steller tech support to the guy whose buys from Best Buy. Typically his issues will be limited to my computer's coffee mug holder is broke. In the corporate market you see a more sophisticated tech support department from the likes of Dell. This is because it is the money maker. Consistant workgroup sales and more importantly server sales are revenue drivers for the big manufactures and thus require the customer to be kept more happy than the shleps who walk out of a store with their laptop. Does Apple have any corporate sales? Nope. So they are left to compete on service as thier comparative advantage.

Lots of detail missing from this post but hopefully the point has been sufficiently made.

Oh to directly answer the question, a sufficient level of tech support is needed. Replace it if it's broken.

 

[scooterlibby]

In the videocard market it is hard for brands to differentiate themselves when they sell the exact same product, save for a few custom tweaks on occasion. EVGA's customer service is what makes my choice easy when buying a new card. I just wish they'd start making some for the Red Team too!

 

[omnimodis78]

Very important! It all boils down to quality customer service. If a company takes your money when you buy their product/service, then it's their obligation to provide you with the support that you may need to get the most out of that product/service. The best tech support I have ever experienced was with Teksavvy (ISP). The absolute worst was Dell (I was in contact with them to get support with my CEO's 3 month old laptop - ended up being a warranty issue). I swore to myself never, ever to buy from them, or to promote them! So yes, tech support can make or break customers' impressions!!!

 

[Aoster87]

Tech support is a must for every company. I once had an issue with my Linksys router so I turned to their tech support. I got some guy on the line from India and it only made my problems worse because he was very difficult to understand and all he could tell me to do was reset the router. Boo to Linksys tech support =[

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]pcxt21[/nom]Honestly the forums here on Tom's as well as the rest of the internet are more helpful to me than any telephone tech support ever was. As long as a company's RMA service if functional, I really don't care about there telephone help line.[/citation]
+1.

I am my own tech support

 

[mjello]

Tech support. Dell's gold server team is a life saver even when all hope seems lost.

 

[dingumf]

Tech support is for the stupid and weak. Or your mother who can't press the "any" key

 

[michaelahess]

Unless it's a very propriatery app, or I need a hardware replacement under warranty, I don't use tech support, ever.

 

[lemonhedo]

I know my way around my PC. Tech support = useless. I do value the quality of the machine built. Had 5 HP laptops, 4 had problems. Of the 4, 3 of the laptop's motherboard burned out. Afterwards I just switched to sony and self built desktop pcs. Tech support are for people who are not too familiar with the pcs. Useless for me!

 

[katanadude]

I have never experienced good tech support. I always have to figure out problems on my own and researching the web. So, yes, good tech support is important. However, the question is, does it exist?