Sorting Technicalities Out Over the Telephone - a Dying Art?

Automated answering systems with their ever-braching menu trees (press 1 for sales, press 2 for customer service, press 3 for product information... Press 138 if you wish to hear this menu again...) discourage people from using telephones. When combined with the crappy sound quality of mobile phones, it can be a suicide-inducing experience.

Agreed. Calling is a last resort for me. (But, I don't frequent forums with my questions, either.)

A phone call is always my first resort, and with most manufacturers or distributors here in the US my technical issues are quickly resolved.

However, there is too often that "All our associates are busy helping other customers. Please stay on the line for the next available Representative", or "I'm not at my desk at the moment. Please leave your name and number at the tone, and I will get back to you as soon as I can."

Then when you finally contact a human, they can barely speak your language. Now imagine the problem if you aren't very fluent in their language either.

Could be that they don't want to appear stupid to someone closely associated with them and they feel like bearing the brunt of some of the gurus here;)

BTW this is NOT a smack for the GURUS here I gleen some very good info just from reading the posts

I'd say that 3/4 of the questions posted here could be answered by a quick internet search, or contacting the supplier, his distributor, or a tech rep. Most companies have complete web sites that display almost everything that would be needed to research the subject. They also contain a "Contact us" button.

Lots of these desperation requests do not provide sufficient information for an informed response, even if one was inclined.

We grew up with the phone (we got ours back on the farm in 1956), and see it as a tool, not a game portal.

I see no relief in sight.

You are right, now days many companies depend on call centers for customer services. Most of the call attendents have only basic knowledge of the products so they are not competent to solve the problems. In process the customer complaints remain unattended.

I think you hit the nail on the head!. At one time the phone support guy had worked on the line, got into service and got into phone support because (s)he know everything from what the equipment looks like to how it was put together. Now the phone support guy is just a person that can read a flow chart. You would be just as well off with "Press 1 if your unit is plugged into the wall outlet...." -- JHF

Yes. An even more specific instance, and role reversal, is being that experienced person trying to guide someone on the other end who isn't very technical. I used to do a few over-the-phone "service calls" many, many years ago, trying to help customers troubleshoot their instruments. And even using a DVM was sometimes a challenge for them. The frustration can build quite quickly in this scenario. That is mostly a bygone experience since most companies make a lot of money out of physical service calls. We used to provide schematics and technical drawings to our customers. So they had something to follow in such a phone call. As Inspector Clouseau would say, "Not anymore!"

An example of the "cook book" help that is now available, is DirecTV. I've had representatives refuse to help because I refused to "reset" my receiver, when I'm sure that isn't going to fix the problem. And sometimes I'm watching something I don't want to interrupt and would appreciate "other" suggestions. But, they have their protocol to fulfill. I generally bypass the troubleshooting part of the automated menus. When asked to describe why I have called, I just say, "Complaint." Gets you straight to a rep. with no automated troubleshooting questions.

Laziness.

I believe that it could do with "having it in writing". You don't know who you are talking to (someone that thinks they know all but don't, talking to the wrong person for answers, or even your own misinterpretation {broken telephone excuse the pun}).

If it is in writing then you could always refer back to it without bothering with repeated calls and embarrassment.

Your telephone may not be close to your problem or ...er...no pen!

While I will endeavour to make the call first, at times the problem does require something 'in writing'.

As others have said, the semi-automated 'switchboard' which (in some countries) always ends in a 10 minute bill for a long-distance call, mostly on hold, and zero satisfaction from a call-center operative has put many people off using the phone first.

So, what's the best approach? If I can't see something I need in the kitchen I will ask my wife. She usually knows where to look but will chastise me for not bothering to search. Expedience is my excuse but there's a personal element, too. If I had a maid I would ask the same question without risk of backfire. Perhaps there's some kind of parallel in the way we handle technical technical queries in an impersonal setting.

It seems that the era of employing knowledgeable people with communication skills to handle customer technical inquiries has passed. Example: my first serious job was as an 'inside sales engineer' with Honeywell. I was part of a team of graduate engineers with reasonable telephone presence. We would handle queries ranging from "what does Normally Open mean?" to advising on circuit design using our products in novel applications. If we couldn't answer at the time we would arrange to call back after consulting a senior engineer - or have a specialist engineer call direct. And we always called back promptly, if only to request a longer time for a good answer. Now I reckon that was good value for Honeywell and ideal for the customer. Wonder if they still operate the same system 40 years on!

Yeah, good point about the call back.
The phrase "We'll call you back" has lost any value these days.
Del
(If you want to be jerked about endlessly press #1,... if you want to hear the endless list of inappropriate options again press #9)

I would argue that avoiding a phone call to the supplier can be a good thing for two reasons. First, as mentioned before, getting connected to the actual technical gurus who are responsible for the engineering and desing could take far more time then an exhaustive internet search. This is more true for electronic/electrical equipment then for say hardware. Second, as in my case, nothing is free. You have to sit through sales pitches or pay for subscription fees.

Plus, the responses, at least on this forum, are often immediate. The only tax you have to pay are the tiny daggers of disgust towards a potentially stupid question. That said, CR4 should add a LMGTFY emoticon.

Its quite possible that a well meaning poster is just looking for some confirmations or peer reviews coming from unkown - unbiased members/ gurus of CR4!

It is a fact that Not every person working for a manufacturer are qualified and can be considered as experts. Specially so for those manning or assigned at the other end of a telephone line.

"a well meaning poster is just looking for some confirmations or peer reviews "

Well, we don't get many requests for confirmation, or peer review.

Many times they just want us to do the work, so they don't have to hire someone who knows what they are doing.

Or they want to save time and get some free consultation.

Or, do the work for them because they are just lazy, as has already been said.

Usually one can tell if the questioner is competent or just looking for free advice, or instruction.

Never, do they give adequate information about the tsak and never do they say what they have already tried.

^{I'm amazed when I listen to my wife when she calls people at how much extraneous information she gives, before she describes what she wants!}(looks around to make sure Mrs Cat isn't peering over shoulder)
I agree...
Del
(scampers off quickly)

I'm like the old school instrument guys who wouldn't dream of calling for help until they'd exhausted all the available resources like manuals, tech notes, help files, etc. So I don't even think of the telephone as the first approach.

I do agree with Tom Consulting that reading the manual suffers greatly. I'd guess that the vast majority of my responses come from the product manual that the OP has not obtained, opened, or read.

Even so, it's like pulling teeth to get most posters to provide a correct brand, model number, or part number. For everything outside of the cell phone market, providing that data is not a language issue, it's a laziness issue, because the info is printed on the device itself.

I vote for "lazy".

I spent 3 years writing technical manuals for the U.S. Marine Corps. I never wrote a manual before, so I put myself in the position of having to use such a manual in the field. I spent many research hours studying how the system works, how it is set up and maintained. The result was two of the best tech manuals the USMC had ever seen. That was because I did my homework. A professional manual writing company had presented a manual to USMC and was rejected. I took over the job of rewriting a new manual which eventually was accepted along with an additional manual. What I'm saying is; to write effectively, you have to know what you are writing about. That requires a complete understanding of what it is you are writing about. I also had the advantage of being able to express myself in good English.

Today, I cringe when I have to read an instruction manual provided for any number of consumer products, from toasters to electronics.

Every telephone nowadays is something like a computer. A mobile phone is more or less a computer. I would like to know how many already use CR4 on smart phones or pads.

Yes I think the phone is slowly going under. The use of Help desk E-mails is on the forward trend.

I like this one:

User: I can not send E-mails

Helpdesk: Send us a mail stating the problem

User: As I said I can not send E-mail

Helpdesk: you need to send E-mail, otherwise we can not register the ticket

User: how am i supposed to send the E-mail?

Helpdesk: Switch the computer on . . .

It was not enough to call! Go figure! (happend to a college with an outsourced company IT helpdesk)