Thank You For Calling Tech Support
That's a phrase I've heard more than any one person should in the past week. I've had to call the help desk at work a couple of times in the process of setting up my new computer. I had to call the ISP that my parents use. Those were fairly easy calls. It was the two+ hours that I spent on the phone with Dell technical support that nearly drove me insane. They really should have more options on the phone tree. 1 for English; 2 for Spanish; 3 for I've-already-restarted-the-computer-and-actually-know-what-I'm-doing.
I've been threatening to rebuild the wireless network at my parents for a year or so now. I didn't have big goals; I wanted to security enable the network and fix it so that more than one computer could access it. I wish I'd just kept my mouth shut. Once I moved in here, there was lots of time to work on this little project. After figuring out that the problem was with the router, I built a new network using my old router. This took about six hours longer than it should have and in the end was fixed with a five minute phone call to the DSL company.
But I'd forgotten to include the wireless printer in this new network, so I spent the next week working on this at night, going as far as to rebuild the entire network. By Sunday night I finally gave in and called Dell, the maker of the printer. For two hours I sat there while the technician tried everything I had tried over the past week. He even wanted to rebuild my network. I know that tech support has to assume that callers know nothing, once you say, "I've already tried X,Y and Z, and it still doesn't work," they should be able to skip ahead on their flow chart and give you some other ideas. Two hours in, we were no further along than when we'd started and my patience was beginning to wear thin. Then he informed me that the only other option I had was to reinstall the entire operating system on the computer. This is when I lost it. Three different computers were unable to access this printer; reinstalling the operating system on one was going to fix that? I suggested that I believed the problem was with the printer's wireless card; would they please send a new one? He told me that in his "expertise" this rarely solved the problem, but because my frustration was clearly rising, he finally agreed to send a new one and assured me he would call back later in the week to help me reinstall the operating system.
The new wireless card arrived this afternoon. It took me less than ten minutes to install it and get the printer on the network. I can't wait for him to call so he can further share his expertise!
I've been threatening to rebuild the wireless network at my parents for a year or so now. I didn't have big goals; I wanted to security enable the network and fix it so that more than one computer could access it. I wish I'd just kept my mouth shut. Once I moved in here, there was lots of time to work on this little project. After figuring out that the problem was with the router, I built a new network using my old router. This took about six hours longer than it should have and in the end was fixed with a five minute phone call to the DSL company.
But I'd forgotten to include the wireless printer in this new network, so I spent the next week working on this at night, going as far as to rebuild the entire network. By Sunday night I finally gave in and called Dell, the maker of the printer. For two hours I sat there while the technician tried everything I had tried over the past week. He even wanted to rebuild my network. I know that tech support has to assume that callers know nothing, once you say, "I've already tried X,Y and Z, and it still doesn't work," they should be able to skip ahead on their flow chart and give you some other ideas. Two hours in, we were no further along than when we'd started and my patience was beginning to wear thin. Then he informed me that the only other option I had was to reinstall the entire operating system on the computer. This is when I lost it. Three different computers were unable to access this printer; reinstalling the operating system on one was going to fix that? I suggested that I believed the problem was with the printer's wireless card; would they please send a new one? He told me that in his "expertise" this rarely solved the problem, but because my frustration was clearly rising, he finally agreed to send a new one and assured me he would call back later in the week to help me reinstall the operating system.
The new wireless card arrived this afternoon. It took me less than ten minutes to install it and get the printer on the network. I can't wait for him to call so he can further share his expertise!
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