Qwest Phone companies Manilla tech support has to be one of the worst. My new modem hasn't worked right in 2 weeks that I have had it and can't seem to get to real tech support. Anyone know how to get thru the Manilla Untech crew. Maybe a direct number? There has to be a way to make companies stop farming out jobs...

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Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
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Qwest Phone ... new modem...

Try Google to see if anyone else has the same problem?

Tried the obvious like a second machine? And checked all connections?...


The support for my cable company used to be rather 'poor'. One user took it upon himself to set up his own help site. A few years later and it is now referenced from the cable company's own help site! Meanwhile, their tech help has improved just enough once you get past the "reboot everything Windows and it will all be alright in an hour" phase...

(I don't tell them that I'm running a Linux machine! Far easier that way...)


Good luck,
Martin

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There has to be a way to make companies stop farming out jobs...

Pass a law that states all tech support must be done in the country, or even the state, the customer is calling from.

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I do not fight fascists because I think I can win.
I fight them because they are fascists.
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A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

I agree Bob.

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Honestly, I have no problems with people in developing countries getting decent jobs in call centers. This does not mean I do not cringe when I detect the accent and the too-proper english and too-professional phone demenor that usually comes with it. Because I know that whoever is at the other end of the line will NOT have the tools to help me. It is not their fault, it is the fault of that corporation that had management decide it could be done cheaply, and had no idea what they were outsourcing. Short term it made sense. But the customers have enough 4-8 hour phone calls just getting someone to take a report to FIX THEIR STUFF is grounds for any customer to head to a competitor.
There are short cuts IF you know the tech lingo. But it is still a nightmare.

People in those centers are qualified to take your credit card information(assuming they do not resell it) for the latest set of knives off of a shopping network. And honestly not much more. They have no business even attempting to handle technical support.

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Janice

I supposedly talked with a guy from Oklahoma, webcams still don't work and my gateway is a different address so now I have to set them all up all over. Had 3 modem changes in the past and no problems. Just venting and tired of hearing all the people lying about their names at Qwest....

EDIT>>>Hi I'm Suzy....

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Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
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If I get a tech support guy that is obviously doesnt speak my language primarily I will immediately demand to speak with a supervisor. Generally speaking, so to say, a supervisor usually has better language skills than the average phone jockey. IF the supervisor is the least bit unintelligible then I'll just ask for someone that is english or American to assist me.

I've done this with Lingo VOIP before. I spent 3 hours diagnosing the phone modem connectivity and I explained every time that I was using skype and had already rebooted my Modem. At which point they would remotely reboot the modem... After the 4th moron I finally got a person that had a darn good fake Scottish accent or was really Scottish. I was able to detail the problem, my modem stopped working after near miss with lightning, at which time he sent me a new modem. It took 2 minutes of not just reading off the script to actually get a resolution.

Its funny how the supposed help desk was helpless to actually listen to me.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
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It's actually not necessarily the phone support's fault. In nearly every company I've worked for, Tier 1 Support (help desk, or hell desk if you will) are mandated to follow the company script and any deviation could mean a loss of their job. Their phone calls are recorded, and not just for training purposes.

That isn't to say that some of them aren't morons, just that even if they're bright they can't troubleshoot outside the company script without losing their income. Those overseas aren't protected by American laws as employees, so they can be treated in whatever fashion is allowable by their laws, which is usually very poorly.

Had a guy named "Gary" from Oklahoma...he screwed my modem up even more. When my Q1000 modem starts going out we loose a connection then a few minutes later another goes down not all at once so I am convinced I have a bad modem. This morning all was down again and even hooking computer directly to modem couldn't open modem by putting in 192.168.0.1 which is supposed to open my modem setting page. Had to do a 2 minute reset on modem to make it communicate. 3rd time in 2 days but they still aren't replacing the modem......ARGGGGG

EDIT: Would anyone know why my Gateway IP used to end in 153 but now ends in 158? That has seemd to cause lots of conflicts.

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Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
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Had a guy named "Gary" from Oklahoma...he screwed my modem up even more. When my Q1000 modem starts going out we loose a connection then a few minutes later another goes down not all at once so I am convinced I have a bad modem. This morning all was down again and even hooking computer directly to modem couldn't open modem by putting in 192.168.0.1 which is supposed to open my modem setting page. Had to do a 2 minute reset on modem to make it communicate. 3rd time in 2 days but they still aren't replacing the modem......ARGGGGG

EDIT: Would anyone know why my Gateway IP used to end in 153 but now ends in 158? That has seemd to cause lots of conflicts.

I'm not from Oklahoma!

Suggestions: for the setup/recovers, use wire only. Turn off the wireless port while you do the setup. Immediately after the big reset before anything else, change the default username/password. Make sure the computer is set to the correct settings so it is pulling its IP from the right place. Make sure the DHCP settings are to your liking. When you enable the wireless make sure you change the key to a new value, in case some neighbor has been playing games with you. You may even want to set up all you LAN network settings with the internet disconnected so as to reduce the possible problems.

When you get to the internet stage, verify your DNS settings. That is sometimes where a lot of problems happen. You may even want to add an entry for a independent DNS service, or change to one all together.

Now as to tech support, they must read the script. Just accept this and know it will be a couple hour long call before they give up on the script and send you another modem. Do what they say. I've heard tell of ROM's that if they saw four reboots in a hour in the log file then they would actually do a cold boot, rather than a warm boot. Crazier stuff has been written!

Oh, I see actionwreck has it's own support site. Good luck.

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before I ever call.. first ping your router.. ending in .1(in my case 192.168.1.1). If successful and error free, ping your modem( 192.168.1.0)
also make sure it is clean and error free.

If you can get a clean ping to the modem.. you can rule out your stuff, and start saying no to their requests to mess with your network(which they have NO clue on).

The overseas tech support, they may handle coffee grinders on their next phone call.. yes it is all scripts. If you know it is not your issue.. request an ATM ping.. insist on it.. it shortcuts their "dummy do this" guide which as far as I can tell is 99.9% useless, IF you have followed the above steps.

So no it is not a "ricken flipin ferners" thing. It is you have gotten to someone with no technical clue that although they speak the language very well textbook wise, they have no cultural connection, no technical expertise, and are really there to waste your time.

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Janice

Totally off topic, but it made me think of this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9e3dTOJi0o

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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Seti Ambassador
Not to late to order an Anni Shirt

I like that Chris...
"If anyone is thinking of changing their IT supplier, ask them if they outsource their IT support. If they wont tell you, or say that they do, just tell them you don't wish to do business with them. Follow that up with a letter to their MD telling them why. If enough people did it, we might just see the beginnings of a change."
Seems like a great idea I will do. We almost changed our web host and they realized or something but they gave me their direct number to their Canadian Tech support. LOL they actually can help, I believe they are tier 2.

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Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
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The reason we get all this crap is quite simple. Because these days companies are run by accountants who in turn listen to stockbrokers. They are not run by Managers any more. If the Finance Director tells the board they can save £5 million a year by outsourcing IT support, they will do it. They don't give a damn whether their customers are happy or not, they just want to please the shareholders. Generally speaking the majority of customers just put up with it, and they can weather the odd complaint.

You do realize that the board is bound by law to maximize the return to shareholders? So if they piss off half their customers but make 2.1 times on the ones that are left, they are required by law to do it! <rant>There are far too many lawyers far too eager to file far too many lawsuits for shareholders claiming just this and far too many judges and juries who listen to this claptrap.</rant>

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In my opinion the only companies that can actually get away with this are Monopolies or de-facto cartels such as the cell phone/ gasoline, textbook and cable TV/satellite industry. These are characterized usually as government sanctioned or in industries with low or manipulated raw material cost but relatively same, high retail prices. Also in industries where there is essentially only one game in town.

Not all of these companies use foreign help desks and tech support. Some just simply have ineffective support that is buried under layers of secrecy so that you can't find who is responsible. Have you ever been able to find the VP in charge of service or the address and phone number of any board member in order to complain about outrageous performance.

If you have no choice but to deal with a Monopoly or Cartel then there will be no competition and no alternative to the only game in town and therefore no concern about satisfied customers. I don't like Government regulation but in fact there is no effective regulation of protected monopolies. There may be rules but there is no regulation. The price and quality of their product will be: "anything goes" up to the limit of what the Market will bear.

As industry consolidation continues with the FTC's and Justice Department's sanction, rubber stamp and political pressure; the consumer loses big time in his wallet and in the quality of service. Don't get me wrong I am a Capitalist and so too, I presume, was Teddy Roosevelt and his Trust Busters.

This is often how large corporations view these decisions as "for the benefit of the share holders". Or at least how they justify it. The overseas call centers do save money... at first.

The problem is this is short sighted, delivering poor or no customer service, serves as a cheap buffer to actual solutions which could keep the customers much happier. While this is not often enough the "last straw", it does burn down customer good will, and when something truly out of the companies control does happen, the patience of the customer is at an end.

So the profits are made slightly larger one quarter, and the adverse effects spread years down the road. But by then the executives have collected on their stock options and taken off running.

Common practice does not equal common sense.

And though I repeat myself, this is not the fault of the people in those call centers. They are given nothing to work with and told to hide that the best that they can.

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Janice

Not naming it, but I work for a national ISP that has publically committed to keeping its workforce in the US...and I'm proud of it

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The problem is this is short sighted, delivering poor or no customer service, serves as a cheap buffer to actual solutions which could keep the customers much happier. While this is not often enough the "last straw", it does burn down customer good will, and when something truly out of the companies control does happen, the patience of the customer is at an end.

I completely agree, and by the time that is discovered the accountants have also moved on!

And though I repeat myself, this is not the fault of the people in those call centers. They are given nothing to work with and told to hide that the best that they can.

Yes indeed you can't really blame them. In BT's case with the Indian call centres, they won't pass a fault back to the UK to deal with until they have completed the idiot script that finally tells them to do so.

Over in the states you have Tier 1 and Tier 2 support, over here in the UK it is called First Line, and Second Line support, bit is essentially the same thing. The point here is that companies use the initial point of contact as a filtering system, so that only the more serious problems are passed to the real experts.

That way they can staff the desks with minimally trained and lower paid people who are capable of dealing with easy problems like "you have plugged it in and switched on the wall socket have you? And only use their highly trained and highly paid technicians on the difficult stuff.

Let me get a flashlight to see if it is plugged in, the lights are out in the building.

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outside the companies own heirarchy... here is the secret on what "tech support" means.

Tier 1: They person that picks up the call(after the 20+ minutes of recordings).
They have only pre assigned tests and can do nothing for you other than take a report.

Tier 2: Basically a dispatch position. (which section does this go to, when and where to send the problem). Might be able to test something and/or reset an option somewhere. This is usually an inside the country clerk.

Tier 3: you have now reached the first actual technician who might be able to understand the complaint, fix it if tier 2 sent it to the right place, or send to another tier 3 if they sent it to the wrong place.

Tier 4: Actual technical support manager. Calling in, you will never talk to them as a customer. Tier 3 might get ahold of them for a real head scratcher.

Tier 5: The brightest minds the company has to offer. The end of the case.
If they can not fix it, it can not be fixed. As a customer, you will never know they exist. They know how irritating the chain is to get to them. And they know by the time they get it they almost never need to hear anything directly from the customer.

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Janice

Let me get a flashlight to see if it is plugged in, the lights are out in the building.

Oh, and by the way, my coffee tray is broken ...

push the button in the top right corner. Your cup holder should extend again.

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Janice