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Dave Hardenbrook
Guest
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 Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:10 pm Post subject: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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One thing I'm really finding a challenge is when I'm "talking at cross
purposes" with a customer on the phone, largely because they don't know
the "techno-talk" and are expressing things based entirely from their
own non-tech POV, while meanwhile I, locked in my "geekspeak", am
hopelessly slow on the uptake. This can range from things like the
client who nonplussed me by asking what the "Doghouse" was for (the
"Home" button in IE), to the following, my most recent and possibly
extreme example:
A customer called saying her TV wasn't working. What then followed was
about ten minutes of my patiently suggesting that she call a TV
repairman, and her saying things like, "Why? *You're* the computer
expert, aren't you?", until I finally realized that the "TV" she was
referring to was her PC monitor!
Does anyone here have any useful tips (or at least amusing anecdotes)
for preventing phone conversations with clients from turning into a
Abbott and Costello routine?
--
Dave |
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Steven L Umbach
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:10 pm Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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Heh he. I guess with experience it will get better and be patient,
understanding, courteous, and have a sense of humor. Just understand that
the customer does not know much about computers. Try asking question like
"exactly where do you see this - what does it say at the top of the screen
or the window you have open or what does it say in the address bar or what
does it say when you place the mouse pointer on the doghouse" or "can you
remember what exactly you did" and try to follow along with them on your
computer or coach them as to what to do. Have a lot of the shortcuts printed
out that may help you speed up doing certain tasks and those for when a
keyboard has the Windows key rather than trying to walk them through all the
steps such as hold down Windows key and then press E to open Windows
Explorer or Windows key and F to open find menu. Good luck. --- Steve
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=126449
"Dave Hardenbrook" <daveh47@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:DPCmg.620$ii.19@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
| Quote: | One thing I'm really finding a challenge is when I'm "talking at cross
purposes" with a customer on the phone, largely because they don't know
the "techno-talk" and are expressing things based entirely from their own
non-tech POV, while meanwhile I, locked in my "geekspeak", am hopelessly
slow on the uptake. This can range from things like the client who
nonplussed me by asking what the "Doghouse" was for (the "Home" button in
IE), to the following, my most recent and possibly extreme example:
A customer called saying her TV wasn't working. What then followed was
about ten minutes of my patiently suggesting that she call a TV repairman,
and her saying things like, "Why? *You're* the computer expert, aren't
you?", until I finally realized that the "TV" she was referring to was her
PC monitor!
Does anyone here have any useful tips (or at least amusing anecdotes) for
preventing phone conversations with clients from turning into a Abbott and
Costello routine?
--
Dave |
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SBFan2000
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:10 pm Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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There used to be a list of these floating around in cyberspace. The one I
will never forget is the customer who called and said her cup holder was
broken and would not longer open! Of course she was talking about the
CD-ROM.
I also remember one where the customer was trying to use the floppy drive as
a credit card reader. That one, if memory serves, went to a shop and the
tech found two three credit cards in the drive.
"Dave Hardenbrook" <daveh47@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:DPCmg.620$ii.19@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
| Quote: | One thing I'm really finding a challenge is when I'm "talking at cross
purposes" with a customer on the phone, largely because they don't know
the "techno-talk" and are expressing things based entirely from their
own non-tech POV, while meanwhile I, locked in my "geekspeak", am
hopelessly slow on the uptake. This can range from things like the
client who nonplussed me by asking what the "Doghouse" was for (the
"Home" button in IE), to the following, my most recent and possibly
extreme example:
A customer called saying her TV wasn't working. What then followed was
about ten minutes of my patiently suggesting that she call a TV
repairman, and her saying things like, "Why? *You're* the computer
expert, aren't you?", until I finally realized that the "TV" she was
referring to was her PC monitor!
Does anyone here have any useful tips (or at least amusing anecdotes)
for preventing phone conversations with clients from turning into a
Abbott and Costello routine?
--
Dave |
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Tom MacIntyre
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 11:10 pm Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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On Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:11:15 GMT, Dave Hardenbrook
<daveh47@mindspring.com> wrote:
| Quote: | One thing I'm really finding a challenge is when I'm "talking at cross
purposes" with a customer on the phone, largely because they don't know
the "techno-talk" and are expressing things based entirely from their
own non-tech POV, while meanwhile I, locked in my "geekspeak", am
hopelessly slow on the uptake. This can range from things like the
client who nonplussed me by asking what the "Doghouse" was for (the
"Home" button in IE), to the following, my most recent and possibly
extreme example:
A customer called saying her TV wasn't working. What then followed was
about ten minutes of my patiently suggesting that she call a TV
repairman, and her saying things like, "Why? *You're* the computer
expert, aren't you?", until I finally realized that the "TV" she was
referring to was her PC monitor!
Does anyone here have any useful tips (or at least amusing anecdotes)
for preventing phone conversations with clients from turning into a
Abbott and Costello routine?
|
Part of the problem is in the nomenclature at times...think about the
word "desktop". :-)
Tom |
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Michael A. Terrell
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 2:10 am Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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Dave Hardenbrook wrote:
| Quote: |
One thing I'm really finding a challenge is when I'm "talking at cross
purposes" with a customer on the phone, largely because they don't know
the "techno-talk" and are expressing things based entirely from their
own non-tech POV, while meanwhile I, locked in my "geekspeak", am
hopelessly slow on the uptake. This can range from things like the
client who nonplussed me by asking what the "Doghouse" was for (the
"Home" button in IE), to the following, my most recent and possibly
extreme example:
A customer called saying her TV wasn't working. What then followed was
about ten minutes of my patiently suggesting that she call a TV
repairman, and her saying things like, "Why? *You're* the computer
expert, aren't you?", until I finally realized that the "TV" she was
referring to was her PC monitor!
Does anyone here have any useful tips (or at least amusing anecdotes)
for preventing phone conversations with clients from turning into a
Abbott and Costello routine?
--
Dave
|
This is nothing new. I ran some TV shops back in the early '70s and
most people couldn't even tell you what brand their TV was, they always
said it was an RCA. Their first question was usually, How much is a new
picture tube? :(
There are stories like this from the early days of radio, as well.
In the late '80s I was working as a broadcast engineer at WACX TV55,
in Orlando Florida. An old lady called, furious about the bad picture
quality on cable TV. I finally calmed her down enough to get her to
answer some questions, and had her look at our station on another tv
without cable, and the picture was perfect. Then she asked, How do you
people put two different programs on the air at the same time? It
turned out that her cable TV company had dropped us, and was importing a
low power station with lots of problems in our place, but we were the
ones catching hell because they didn't notice it was a different station
on the same channel. Most people are not very observant, and are quite
stubborn even when they have no idea what they are talking about.
--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.
Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida |
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Mister
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 8:13 am Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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Over the years I found that dumbing things down to the lowest common
denominator works very well.
Also, going to bars and listening to people who had way to much to
drink talk about computers is very helpful to.
To help things along, check out this link for a cigarette lighter and
cup holder made for the PC.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/pcmods/6b35/
On Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:11:15 GMT, Dave Hardenbrook
<daveh47@mindspring.com> wrote:
| Quote: | One thing I'm really finding a challenge is when I'm "talking at cross
purposes" with a customer on the phone, largely because they don't know
the "techno-talk" and are expressing things based entirely from their
own non-tech POV, while meanwhile I, locked in my "geekspeak", am
hopelessly slow on the uptake. This can range from things like the
client who nonplussed me by asking what the "Doghouse" was for (the
"Home" button in IE), to the following, my most recent and possibly
extreme example:
A customer called saying her TV wasn't working. What then followed was
about ten minutes of my patiently suggesting that she call a TV
repairman, and her saying things like, "Why? *You're* the computer
expert, aren't you?", until I finally realized that the "TV" she was
referring to was her PC monitor!
Does anyone here have any useful tips (or at least amusing anecdotes)
for preventing phone conversations with clients from turning into a
Abbott and Costello routine? |
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Paul
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 12:09 pm Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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That is absolutley golden! |
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Tom MacIntyre
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 8:10 pm Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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On Fri, 23 Jun 2006 01:37:18 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
<mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:
| Quote: | Dave Hardenbrook wrote:
One thing I'm really finding a challenge is when I'm "talking at cross
purposes" with a customer on the phone, largely because they don't know
the "techno-talk" and are expressing things based entirely from their
own non-tech POV, while meanwhile I, locked in my "geekspeak", am
hopelessly slow on the uptake. This can range from things like the
client who nonplussed me by asking what the "Doghouse" was for (the
"Home" button in IE), to the following, my most recent and possibly
extreme example:
A customer called saying her TV wasn't working. What then followed was
about ten minutes of my patiently suggesting that she call a TV
repairman, and her saying things like, "Why? *You're* the computer
expert, aren't you?", until I finally realized that the "TV" she was
referring to was her PC monitor!
Does anyone here have any useful tips (or at least amusing anecdotes)
for preventing phone conversations with clients from turning into a
Abbott and Costello routine?
--
Dave
This is nothing new. I ran some TV shops back in the early '70s and
most people couldn't even tell you what brand their TV was, they always
said it was an RCA. Their first question was usually, How much is a new
picture tube? 
|
Right, because the most common failures in most brands of TV are in
the vertical section, and everyone thinks it's a CRT problem...funny,
huh?
Tom
| Quote: |
There are stories like this from the early days of radio, as well.
In the late '80s I was working as a broadcast engineer at WACX TV55,
in Orlando Florida. An old lady called, furious about the bad picture
quality on cable TV. I finally calmed her down enough to get her to
answer some questions, and had her look at our station on another tv
without cable, and the picture was perfect. Then she asked, How do you
people put two different programs on the air at the same time? It
turned out that her cable TV company had dropped us, and was importing a
low power station with lots of problems in our place, but we were the
ones catching hell because they didn't notice it was a different station
on the same channel. Most people are not very observant, and are quite
stubborn even when they have no idea what they are talking about. |
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SBFan2000
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:11 pm Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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Maybe I'm being alittle "strick" because we all have liquids around our
computers. But liquids is not something I would want hanging on the front
of my tower.
"Paul" <ncc-1701d@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:DDQmg.122442$dW3.19727@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
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PM
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:17 am Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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Dave Hardenbrook wrote:
| Quote: | One thing I'm really finding a challenge is when I'm "talking at cross
purposes" with a customer on the phone, largely because they don't know
the "techno-talk" and are expressing things based entirely from their
own non-tech POV, while meanwhile I, locked in my "geekspeak", am
hopelessly slow on the uptake. This can range from things like the
client who nonplussed me by asking what the "Doghouse" was for (the
"Home" button in IE), to the following, my most recent and possibly
extreme example:
A customer called saying her TV wasn't working. What then followed was
about ten minutes of my patiently suggesting that she call a TV
repairman, and her saying things like, "Why? *You're* the computer
expert, aren't you?", until I finally realized that the "TV" she was
referring to was her PC monitor!
Does anyone here have any useful tips (or at least amusing anecdotes)
for preventing phone conversations with clients from turning into a
Abbott and Costello routine?
|
There's really no way to fix stupid. Just bite your tongue and have a
laugh after you finish the call. Every experienced tech has their "war
stories." |
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Kathy
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:42 am Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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PM wrote:
| Quote: |
There's really no way to fix stupid. Just bite your tongue and have a
laugh after you finish the call. Every experienced tech has their "war
stories."
|
I'm not experienced like some of you here, but I do get the calls. Just
wish there was an easier way to explain things to people without getting
them too confused - LOL. |
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Thumper
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 6:54 pm Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 23:42:20 -0400, Kathy <forme2no@u2findout.com>
wrote:
| Quote: | PM wrote:
There's really no way to fix stupid. Just bite your tongue and have a
laugh after you finish the call. Every experienced tech has their "war
stories."
I'm not experienced like some of you here, but I do get the calls. Just
wish there was an easier way to explain things to people without getting
them too confused - LOL.
|
Don't ever look at the person who called as stupid. They are usually
very frustrated and may not know much about computers or their problem
but thinking their stupid is the wrong way to go about things. First
you should re-assure them that you're there to help and that you CAN
help them. Then you can explain that just so you can really
understand where they are in the problem, you're going to start at
square one and work through the problem.
You must have called for support at some time and should remember that
by the time you do call you are REALLY frustrated and sometimes afraid
that the problem can't be fixed or you will lose data.
Troubleshooting is a logical exercise and some people's brains don't
work that way, but YOURS does. So lead them through thing logically
and patiently and KAZAAM! The trouble will be fixed.
Thumper |
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Tom MacIntyre
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:27 pm Post subject: Re: PC Phone Support: Dealing with "Who's On First?" Moments |
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On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 10:54:36 -0400, Thumper <jaylsmith@comcast.net>
wrote:
| Quote: | On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 23:42:20 -0400, Kathy <forme2no@u2findout.com
wrote:
PM wrote:
There's really no way to fix stupid. Just bite your tongue and have a
laugh after you finish the call. Every experienced tech has their "war
stories."
I'm not experienced like some of you here, but I do get the calls. Just
wish there was an easier way to explain things to people without getting
them too confused - LOL.
Don't ever look at the person who called as stupid. They are usually
very frustrated and may not know much about computers or their problem
but thinking their stupid is the wrong way to go about things. First
you should re-assure them that you're there to help and that you CAN
help them. Then you can explain that just so you can really
understand where they are in the problem, you're going to start at
square one and work through the problem.
You must have called for support at some time and should remember that
by the time you do call you are REALLY frustrated and sometimes afraid
that the problem can't be fixed or you will lose data.
Troubleshooting is a logical exercise and some people's brains don't
work that way, but YOURS does. So lead them through thing logically
and patiently and KAZAAM! The trouble will be fixed.
Thumper
|
Right...I am right back to my story of the annual visits to the
surgeon's house to program his A/V gear. There probably aren't any
stupid surgeons. :-)
Tom |
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