do the people who do tech support actually have any experience?

[rudeguy]

I have been emailing Activision back and forth for 3 days now trying to figure out why Doom 3 runs like crap on my computer. The guy keeps giving me completely generic answers. If he tells me to download the latest drivers for my sound card one more time I might just turn into Neo and go through my cable modem, find him, kick his ass, then smash his computer to little tiny bits. I would then take all the shards from his computer and impale them into random parts of his body.

/rant

 

[neutralizer]

They can read advice off of cards .

 

[nageov3t]

depends on the company.

 

[Philippine Mango]

script

 

[Ryan]

ATi's tech support was pretty good for me When my parents Gateway ever had problems, I never had a problem with Gateway's tech support (although, that was before they outsourced to India.....).

 

[trmiv]

Really depends on the company. Our support people are very competent. I just started a few weeks ago, so I'm not so much, just learning our products. But I get the info from the other techs, and they know their stuff.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: rudeguy
I have been emailing Activision back and forth for 3 days now trying to figure out why Doom 3 runs like crap on my computer. The guy keeps giving me completely generic answers. If he tells me to download the latest drivers for my sound card one more time I might just turn into Neo and go through my cable modem, find him, kick his ass, then smash his computer to little tiny bits. I would then take all the shards from his computer and impale them into random parts of his body.

/rant

They probably follow the script, because

1) it's almost always much easier, quicker, and usually right. It might not be in your case, but in 9/10 others, it was probably right.

2) You're dealing with computers, and it's hard to know EVERYTHING about all the various Windows OSes and all the possible device conflicts that could occur. And that's without the game. With the game, do you really think they know every single aspect of the game and all possible malfunctions that could occur, and have all that memorized. AND be able to deduce what your exact problem is by your rambling?

The guy probably receives a hundred calls with your exact same problem... and 90% of the time, they're probably similar things, like drivers issues. So with you, instead of going over things that are most common and most likely, he should start off with wild ideas like killing your startup incase you have some junk that's loaded in the background (might help, but you'll be pissed when you don't have your Norton AV, Norton Internet Security, McAfee Security Center, Morpheus, Kazaa, Bearshare, Cosmo pointer, etc loading at startup)?

These guys are getting paid probably little more than minimum wage. If you want a computer expert to fix your problem, take it to a computer expert... even though they're not trained by Activation, they'll be able to pinpoint what exactly your problem is, i guarantee it. They'll probably charge you $150hr as well though.

 

[GhettoFob]

Originally posted by: trmiv
Really depends on the company. Our support people are very competent. I just started a few weeks ago, so I'm not so much, just learning our products. But I get the info from the other techs, and they know their stuff.

word

 

[Yossarian]

you're trying to get tech support from a game company? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: loki8481
depends on the company.

 

[her209]

I know for a fact they read from a book. I was asked my name, then a question, and then my name again. I was like "WTF!? You just asked me that."

 

[Gunslinger08]

I'm in tech support, and I actually know what I'm doing (most of the time). However, many of my coworkers just read from our knowledge base. Varies by rep, I'd say.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: her209
I know for a fact they read from a book. I was asked my name, then a question, and then my name again. I was like "WTF!? You just asked me that."

More than likely he was busy reading from a forum or caught up in an IM. I've worked for a number of call centers, and if an agent is distracted, it's almost always because they're NOT paying attention to work.

 

[narcotic]

sometimes, when I call tech support, I act for a while as if I know nothing, and I hear all the crap the support guy is telling me... Sort of funny, sometimes I wonder if they really don't know what they're talking about, or they're just trying to impress you...

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: Hardcore

Originally posted by: rudeguy
I have been emailing Activision back and forth for 3 days now trying to figure out why Doom 3 runs like crap on my computer. The guy keeps giving me completely generic answers. If he tells me to download the latest drivers for my sound card one more time I might just turn into Neo and go through my cable modem, find him, kick his ass, then smash his computer to little tiny bits. I would then take all the shards from his computer and impale them into random parts of his body.

/rant

They probably follow the script, because

1) it's almost always much easier, quicker, and usually right. It might not be in your case, but in 9/10 others, it was probably right.

2) You're dealing with computers, and it's hard to know EVERYTHING about all the various Windows OSes and all the possible device conflicts that could occur. And that's without the game. With the game, do you really think they know every single aspect of the game and all possible malfunctions that could occur, and have all that memorized. AND be able to deduce what your exact problem is by your rambling?

The guy probably receives a hundred calls with your exact same problem... and 90% of the time, they're probably similar things, like drivers issues. So with you, instead of going over things that are most common and most likely, he should start off with wild ideas like killing your startup incase you have some junk that's loaded in the background (might help, but you'll be pissed when you don't have your Norton AV, Norton Internet Security, McAfee Security Center, Morpheus, Kazaa, Bearshare, Cosmo pointer, etc loading at startup)?

These guys are getting paid probably little more than minimum wage. If you want a computer expert to fix your problem, take it to a computer expert... even though they're not trained by Activation, they'll be able to pinpoint what exactly your problem is, i guarantee it. They'll probably charge you $150hr as well though.

I would castrate myself before I had someone else fix my computer. Their game is the only one that won't work right. I figured maybe they knew of a bug I didn't. I wish I could speak to someone on the phone, but of course that is not an option.

Either way, I am not talking to this guy anymore.

 

[Svnla]

It depends on the company and the time you call (more experience techs usually work on dayshift and weekdays). There are some good techs and there are some moronic ones.

I used to work with a guy strongly believed that his dial up modem was about as fast as a T1 line...LOL. Talk about stupid. That's why I hate people that know just enough to be dangerous. That guy reminded me of the Best Buy computer sale guy told a customer "Intergrate graphic is better than AGP/PCIExpress**.