Just Bill Pissed At Big Companies
2008 October 21
I certainly don’t mean this post to be offensive. If it offends you, though…well, then it offends you.
I am sick and tired of calling [large] companies for techinical support and:
- Receiving “help” from someone who doesn’t speak my language
- Dealing with the phone noise that is produced when the person on the other end of the phone is on the opposite side of the world
- Receiving “help” from someone who is technically incompetent
- Receiving “help” from someone who couldn’t care less about their job
- Dealing with lengthy “press 1 for…, press 2 for…” recordings, only to repeat ALL OF THE SAME information to the tech once she fields my call
Big companies (HP, Microsoft, Dell, Verizon, etc): your horrendous excuse for techinical support is nothing short of a slap in the face. I do everything I can to avoid the hellish experience of calling you guys. Sacrifice some of your next billion and put it towards a decent tech support department.
What awful business. You should be ashamed.
I’m right there with ya, Bill. I’ll throw a few more under the bus:
- Cisco
- SunCom
- The Nicaraguan government and any and all businesses operating within the borders of this otherwise friendly, relationship-oriented country
I’ve actually encountered some big companies with surprisingly good tech / customer support:
- GoDaddy
- BlueDomino
- Blackbaud (my former company! yeah, I’m biased, so what?)
I’ve been there. Spending hours upon hours trying to figure out why they don’t make it a little easier for the consumer.
-Microsoft Small Business Accounting
-JanDrugs(I have to order my RX online from Canada and I’ll be on hold forever)
You are so right. Phone companies are the worst though.
Many years ago a former IBMer and Microsoft MCSE tutor told me a story about the automated phone systems. Apparently they were conceived as a means to limit contact with customers rather than help people to call the right person. By making people wait and go through menu after menu they eliminate all the non-essential calls and time wasters which cost them money. Of course this has now been taken to such an extreme that you are always treated like a waste of time and so get annoyed with them.