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Tech support — why bother?

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cranioscopical:
A recently purchased Photoshop plug-in was creating all kinds of problems. After trying a few potential remedies, to no avail, I sent email to the tech support group.

The product is available both for PC and Mac. That being so, the first line of my email was to establish which O/S I use.

I began:
My system runs Windows 7-64.
--- End quote ---


The reply began:
Go to your Macintosh HD => Library => Application Support => CrashMaster*
>and delete the CrashMaster* folder...you will need to enter your system password
>to OK this change.
--- End quote ---

* Product name changed to protect the imbecilic.

I suppose it's better than "First, format C:" but only just.
 

 

Renegade:
I can sympathize... It's really hard to deal with tech support that run off copy/paste or some other silliness.

As part of a past job I had, I did tech support as part of it. I was the only English speaker at the company. I worked very hard to create extremely detailed help for people with LOTS of screenshots (made with Screenshot Captor I might add), and so I had massive support resources available for people, and had very few "new" cases (i.e. unknown bugs). I damn near cried when after I'd left, I saw that they got rid of it from the web site. :(

So when I encounter crappy support... I see red...  >:(

40hz:
I bother. Because I need tech support. :tellme:

And I must admit one thing Microsoft does do extremely well is handle its Tech Support Incident requests. On the 'professional' and enterprise level Microsoft has been a lifesaver more than once when the voodoo required to fix some utterly esoteric server problem went beyond what I knew how to comfortably handle. Or at least comfortably handle at the time it happened. A real plus with having your hand held by an MS über-wonk through something godawful is it becomes a "been there, done that" learning experience once it's over. (For example, one thing I've learned is how much I hate all things SBS! Absolutely hate it! :sick:)



Microsoft doesn't do everything right. But when it comes to 'real' tech support, I must say they do that extremely well. The big drawback is getting access to "the real stuff" if you're only on the consumer level.

Renegade:
I need tech support.

And I must admit one thing Microsoft does do extremely well is handle its Tech Support Incident requests. On the 'professional' and enterprise level Microsoft has been a lifesaver more than once when the voodoo required to fix some utterly esoteric server problem went beyond what I knew how to comfortably handle at the time it happened. Another plus with having your hand held through something godawful is it then becomes a "been there, done that" learning experience once it's over. For example, one thing I've learned is how much I hate SBS! (Absolutely hate it! :sick:)

Microsoft doesn't do everything right. But when it comes to 'real' tech support, I must say they do that extremely well. The only drawback is getting access to "the real stuff" if you're only on the consumer level.
-40hz (August 24, 2012, 10:46 AM)
--- End quote ---

I basically used DOS and UNIX and skirted around Windows until 1998 when I bought a computer. In Korean. Which I was still learning. And it had Windows 98 on it. And it tanked. And I called MS Support. And they were awesome! :) I knew NOTHING about Windows at the time (I used Windows 3.1 from the command prompt and skipped 95). I knew Fortran and Pascal and Basic (a few flavours) and DOS and UNIX and some then defunct systems (PET, CBM, C-64, VIC-20, TI-99-4A), but not Windows.

I have no idea what their tech support is like now, but that's a "consumer" story from 1998. Not sure if it counts for jack anymore though.

40hz:
^Actually, Windows support on the end-user level is still quite good from what I've seen.

Props where props are due! :Thmbsup:

And which also highlights one of the drawbacks of owning an inexpensive OEM copy of Windows (as in the one that comes with almost every manufactured PC) since you're supposed to go to the PC manufacturer for OS support when you have one of those. If you bought your copy retail, the tech support is terrific. If you didn't, Microsoft is usually pretty good about assisting so long as you're running the most recent version of Windows. Or at least they used to be good about it.

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