If You're a Tech, Don't Piss Off a Former Tech...
I still have some more pics, albeit mostly of other folks besides our group, to post courtesy of Tama from AWA. I'll get them up sometime this week. Right now, I just need to rant. I'm a geek. When software auto-updates, I like to download the new installer so that I have that as a backup, just in case something happens and I have to reinstall the software. So, a couple of weeks ago, when my sister's cell phone software (not the firmware, but rather a PC application for transferring files and whatnot) updated, I went to the manufacturer's site to download the latest version. Sadly, the latest version wasn't up there, but rather a fairly outdated version. I figured that the update had just come out, so the new version would be up soon. A couple of days ago, I checked again, and the new version still wasn't up. I used the contact form on the site to explain the situation (including the fact that I did Google for the new version, and didn't find it), and to ask for them to update the site. Tonight, I got a reply back from tech support, telling me that I needed to call them to resolve the problem, because some things just can't be done by email.
Say what.
I'm sorry, but I used to professionally do tech support by both phone and email. OK, I still do tech support at work, but that's in person, and technically out of my department's purview (it's Ref's job, but they come to me if it's really sticky). My question could very easily be answered by email. Either a) give me a download link, b) tell me that this is being passed on to the website team, c) do both a and b, or d) say that this isn't possible, and either give me a reason why or say that you can't explain it to an outsider. The last wouldn't make me happy, but I would at least admit that you had read my question and understood it. It honestly looked like the tech that got me question didn't bother reading it, since I pretty clearly stated what I was asking for at the end of the message, and instead just fired off a "call tech support" template in reply. Needless to say, that pissed me off. I angrily but politely sent another message via the contact form (since you can't reply directly by email to the address used to send me that bull reply), stating the above and that their techs needed to learn some better customer service (which I was explicitly trained in at my first tech support job before they let me near the phones - seriously, that was part of the core training along with general OS stuff for all techs, no matter what department we were in). They were lucky they got me as the pissed off customer - I can express my anger without swearing, and actually know what it's like to be a tech (heck, I admitted to being a geek in my first email). Of course, that's also unlucky for them, since I know when I'm being given a bull answer. (g) I wonder how they'll reply this time...
Say what.
I'm sorry, but I used to professionally do tech support by both phone and email. OK, I still do tech support at work, but that's in person, and technically out of my department's purview (it's Ref's job, but they come to me if it's really sticky). My question could very easily be answered by email. Either a) give me a download link, b) tell me that this is being passed on to the website team, c) do both a and b, or d) say that this isn't possible, and either give me a reason why or say that you can't explain it to an outsider. The last wouldn't make me happy, but I would at least admit that you had read my question and understood it. It honestly looked like the tech that got me question didn't bother reading it, since I pretty clearly stated what I was asking for at the end of the message, and instead just fired off a "call tech support" template in reply. Needless to say, that pissed me off. I angrily but politely sent another message via the contact form (since you can't reply directly by email to the address used to send me that bull reply), stating the above and that their techs needed to learn some better customer service (which I was explicitly trained in at my first tech support job before they let me near the phones - seriously, that was part of the core training along with general OS stuff for all techs, no matter what department we were in). They were lucky they got me as the pissed off customer - I can express my anger without swearing, and actually know what it's like to be a tech (heck, I admitted to being a geek in my first email). Of course, that's also unlucky for them, since I know when I'm being given a bull answer. (g) I wonder how they'll reply this time...