Current Events > IMO, One of the bad things about doing tech support...

(+) Yeah! (+)

Is when customer service agents just cold transfer any kind of call to you when they don't understand the situation even if there's nothing you can do for them.

Call 1: "I need to buy a seat."
- I used to do ISP tech support for Frontier Communications. I got this call...

Me: Thanks for calling Frontier's tech support. How can I help you?
Him: I'm trying to buy a seat.

Now... It had already been a s***ty day among s***ty days, so I figured I'd go ahead and entertain him and try to figure out what he's talking about.

Me: You're trying to buy what?
Him: I'm trying to by a seat.
Me: A seat?
Him: Yes, a seat.
Me: Well, uh... We don't sell seats. We provide internet and phone service.
Him: I'm on your web site, but it won't let me buy a seat. That's why I'm calling.
Me: What web site are you on?
Him: Yours.
Me: We don't sell seats on our web site. What kind of seat are you trying to buy?
Him: A seat on a plane.
Me: ... ... ... *Googles* *Finds out there is a Frontier Airlines* Oooohhhhh, I see. I see what's going on here. You are on the phone with Frontier Communications and you need to call Frontier Airlines.
Him: They transferred me to you so I can buy a seat.
Me: By they do you mean customer service?
Him: Yeah. Why would they transfer me to you if this is the wrong company?
Me: ¯\O/¯ I don't know.

I gave him the number to Frontier Airlines.
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you never realize how insanely stupid people can be, till you work in a customer support facing position...
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Dustin1280 posted...

you don't realize how insanely stupid people can be till you work in a customer support facing position...

Yeah, I did tech support for about 5.5 years and lost faith in humanity. In that 5.5 years, I had one call where a dude from MIT was trying to understand how email worked in Outlook. I explained it at a pretty highly technical level one time and he understood what I said completely. It was the best call I ever had.
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CableZL posted...

Dustin1280 posted...

you don't realize how insanely stupid people can be till you work in a customer support facing position...

Yeah, I did tech support for about 5.5 years and lost faith in humanity. In that 5.5 years, I had one call where a dude from MIT was trying to understand how email worked in Outlook. I explained it at a pretty highly technical level one time and he understood what I said completely. It was the best call I ever had.

The most frustrating ones are the people who are obviously wasting their precious time talking to you because they have <insert degree here> and know exactly what they are doing, it's clearly the fault of <insert product here> not them.
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Me: Your username is the first letter of your first name, followed by your last name
Her: Oh, that sounds hard. How do you spell that?
Me: *Screams internally*

Me: I'll just need to verify your date of birth and answer to the security question you set up which is "________."
Him: I don't know what I put in. I always put in random information.
Me: Ok. I'll need to verify some other information then to reset your password. Please provide the last 4 digits of your drivers license and credit card.
Him: WHAT?!? I never gave that to you! WHY DO YOU HAVE IT?!?!
Me: We have it because you provided it to us at some point in time when you activated your service.
Him: Are you calling me a liar?!?!?
Me: No I am not. I'm just attempting to verify your identity with the information listed on your account.
Him: This is outrageous! I'm going to call the newspaper and tell them your company steals private information!!
Me: You're more than welcome to do so sir.
Him: So is my password reset?
Me: Not yet. I'm just waiting on the answers to the questions I asked earlier.
Him: Well I'm not giving you my drivers license or credit card.
Me: I'm not asking for it. We already have it. I'm asking you to verify the last 4 digits of each.
Him: No.
Me: Ok. Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Him: Is my password reset?
Me: No it hasn't as I can't reset it without verifying your information.
Him: What a waste of time!!! Does everyone go through this torture for a simple request?
Me: No, it's usually a quick process as they put in the correct date of birth and answer to the security question. It doesn't even have to be real, just something they remember they used.
Him: I want to speak with your manager.
Me: They're just going to tell you the same thing I just did.
Him: I DEMAND A MANAGER!
Me: Ok. One moment please. *before anyone asks, if they insist on a manager, we have to transfer them*
*contact manager*
Yeah I have this customer who can't verify any information on the account so I can't reset their password and they won't take no for answer and is demanding a manager.
Manager: Ok, put him through.
Me: Ok Mr. X, I have a manager on the line, you can speak with her now. Is there anything else I can help you with before I complete the transfer?
Him: Reset my password.
Me: I can't do that just yet because of what's already been discussed. Is there anything else?
Him: Reset my password.
Me: Ok, I'm just going to put you through to my manager. Have a nice day.
Manager: There's nothing we can do if you can't/refuse to verify any information on your account.
Him: This is ridiculous! Over an hour for a stupid password reset!!
Manager: I'm sorry but we don't have the authority to reset an account password without proper identification. Anyone could call in and ask for any account password to be reset otherwise.
Him: I'm cancelling all of my services.
Manager: Would you like me to transfer you to our cancellation department?
Him: *hangs up*

For a freaking password reset. And it's not like this kind of thing was rare. Email related calls were the absolute worst.

Dustin1280 posted...

The most frustrating ones are the people who are clearly wasting their precious time talking to you because they have <insert degree here> and know exactly what they are doing, it's clearly the fault of <insert product here> not them.

Duuude, yes. YES. When I was about a year and a half into doing ISP tech support, this guy with an MCSE certification called in because he couldn't send email.

Me: Thanks for calling Frontier's tech support, how can I help you
Him: I can't send email. It seems to be a problem on your servers.
Me: Hmm... What error are you getting?
Him: It just says internal server error.
Me: *Sets up Outlook on my computer with Frontier's servers* *Sends an email to my personal account and replied to the email* *Email goes out and comes back just fine* Well, I'm able to send/receive email just fine on our servers. We're also not getting very many calls about this right now. Can you click on Fi-
Him: This is something on your end.
Me: I can send and receive just fine, though. It's probably going to be something on your side, but we can probably figur-
Him: Well, I'm an MCSE, so I think I'd know more than you if there was a problem on my end.
Me: But it's not on my end because email works for me. If it was on my end, I wouldn't be able to send or receive email, either.

This argument went on for about 45 minutes. I finally got him to agree to let me remotely connect to his computer. It took me about 30 seconds to figure out the problem.

Me: Alright. *Tries to telnet into the mail server* You can't telnet into the mail server on the SMTP port, so it's probably a firewall problem. You don't have any 3rd party firewall software installed on your computer, so let's check the firewall on the modem. *Logs into his modem* Ah, the firewall is set on high when the default is low.

Him: HOW'D THAT GET CHANGED!?

I didn't even respond to that question because we both knew who the f*** changed it. Come on, now.

Him: I can't BELIEVE your email service doesn't work with the firewall on high!
Me: Well, it's not that it doesn't work. It's just that it blocks port 25, which is used for SMTP. If you want the firewall on high, you'd have to set it to allow traffic on port 25. We don't support doing that for you, but I can show you where to go to do that.
Him: No, no, don't worry about it. ... ... ... ... ... (meekly) I'm the one who changed it.
Me: *Mute* I know, jackass. *Unmute* Yeah, it's cool.
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Dustin1280 posted...

you never realize how insanely stupid people can be, till you work in a customer support facing position...

I mean in this instance the caller was completely justified and the insanely stupid person is the one who transferred him to a completely different company
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nclrwntr posted...


LOL. How would he even cancel service if he can't properly identify himself?
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myztikrice posted...

I mean in this instance the caller was completely justified and the insanely stupid person is the one who transferred him to a completely different company

Nah, I think the customer called the wrong number, then a Frontier Communications customer support rep transferred the dude to me in tech support because he or she didn't understand what was going on. That kind of thing happened a lot more than it should have.
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I did tech support for a year and a half. It was the bane of my existence. I got so many dumb calls like that. I'd never do it again.

Cleo_II posted...

I did tech support for a year and a half. It was the bane of my existence. I got so many dumb calls like that. I'd never do it again.

Yeah, I definitely couldn't go back to doing tech support.
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This is far and away the most relatable topic I've seen on this website ever.
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I'd say about 50 to 60% of my job is basically tech support and is excruciating.
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nclrwntr posted...

Him: I'm cancelling all of my services.
Manager: Would you like me to transfer you to our cancellation department?
Him: *hangs up*

I bet that requires proper identity verification too. Otherwise, any jackass would be able to call and cancel his services!
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