Tech Support Rule #2
Jan. 6th, 2005 09:23 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
tertiumquid.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
techrecoveryDon't be an ass.
Pissing off the person trying to assist you is counterproductive and will likely cost you in one way or another. Most of us are people pleasers. We want to make you happy. A really happy customer is one of the few things that makes this hell worth while. Most of us will bend over backwards and bend rules past the breaking point to make you happy. Being a jerk is a sure fire way to get yourself the absolute minimum service required for us to remain employed. Being nice will frequently get you much better service and maybe even a few perks.
Oh, and it's just the decent thing to do. What would your Mother think?
Guy calls in three minutes before closing tonight. I could have ignored it and left for tomorrow morning. I'm too nice.
There's a registration discrepancy. Most likely the guy isn't entitled to support at all. I could easily let it go for tonight and would probably be able to close it tomorrow without even calling him once the entitlement discrepancy is confirmed. I'm too nice.
I call the listed number and I get a message that the company is closed. I should have stopped there but I happened to find a cell number in the record. I'm too nice.
He has a shiny new Treo 600 and an extremely old version of our synch software. He has it mostly working with one exception. I'm shocked he has it working at all. He's three versions back from the first one to actually support that device.
I explain that he will need a new version as the new device isn't supported with that old version. My next statement would have been "It's not really a free upgrade, but I will send it to you to get you back up and running." Yep. That would have been my next statement, as it usually is in these situations.
Not this time...
Before I can get out the good news the guy says "I don't believe you."
You don't believe me? You call in at closing time with ancient software, no entitlement, a bad phone number, and you wanna screw with me? Screw you.
Guess who's buying new software tonight...
Pissing off the person trying to assist you is counterproductive and will likely cost you in one way or another. Most of us are people pleasers. We want to make you happy. A really happy customer is one of the few things that makes this hell worth while. Most of us will bend over backwards and bend rules past the breaking point to make you happy. Being a jerk is a sure fire way to get yourself the absolute minimum service required for us to remain employed. Being nice will frequently get you much better service and maybe even a few perks.
Oh, and it's just the decent thing to do. What would your Mother think?
Guy calls in three minutes before closing tonight. I could have ignored it and left for tomorrow morning. I'm too nice.
There's a registration discrepancy. Most likely the guy isn't entitled to support at all. I could easily let it go for tonight and would probably be able to close it tomorrow without even calling him once the entitlement discrepancy is confirmed. I'm too nice.
I call the listed number and I get a message that the company is closed. I should have stopped there but I happened to find a cell number in the record. I'm too nice.
He has a shiny new Treo 600 and an extremely old version of our synch software. He has it mostly working with one exception. I'm shocked he has it working at all. He's three versions back from the first one to actually support that device.
I explain that he will need a new version as the new device isn't supported with that old version. My next statement would have been "It's not really a free upgrade, but I will send it to you to get you back up and running." Yep. That would have been my next statement, as it usually is in these situations.
Not this time...
Before I can get out the good news the guy says "I don't believe you."
You don't believe me? You call in at closing time with ancient software, no entitlement, a bad phone number, and you wanna screw with me? Screw you.
Guess who's buying new software tonight...
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}