Got my review at work...

[homestarmy]

Apparently my talktime is too low. I got a 4/5 instead of 5/5 because my talktime is below their standards. Normally I would be in the range to get the highest score, but if you are under a certain point, you get the lowest score in that category. It's not my fault that I know what I'm doing, been doing it for over three years, and people tend to hang up when switching to speakerphone (happened today) or disconnect the phone line when checking cables (happened multiple times today).

Oh well, I don't really care that much, it's only my BS weekend job now, but what a way to treat your best people (skill wise anyhow).

And this is for SBC tech support. Actually now, SBC Customer Self Install because regular tech support has been moved overseas to India and the Philippines (I lost my nice easy overnight job to this). It's outsourced through a company named Converygs, what a sucky company they are too... It wasn't so bad through college (especially when I could sleep through a good portion of the shift).

It's bullshit, but what is there to do?

 

[Injury]

So wait... do they charge for tech support or something? Because I would think the faster you can get someone's problem taken care of, the better you would be...

 

[HappyPuppy]

Are you saying they want you to keep people on the line longer, even though you can solve their problem in a shorter amount of time? That makes no sense.

 

[FoBoT]

i don't like the way call centers are run, it reminds me of the factories of the industrial revolution where people were paid pennies per piece and made to work 12-15 hour days

 

[Mo0o]

Well obviously if people have trouble staying on the line, the other operators should be suffering from this as well.

 

[homestarmy]

It's free...

and yep, exactly...

It's there because they assume that if you're below a certain point, you're just hosing people.

But it's funny, because my time (high 12 minutes to install DSL service, averaged with any hangups and anything) used to be just above the goal for the account...

Funny how things change...

 

[z0mb13]

thats dumb, you should be rewarded based on the number of problems solved, not minutes on the phone

 

[homestarmy]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Well obviously if people have trouble staying on the line, the other operators should be suffering from this as well.

Well this place has a horrible turnover rate, so almost everyone decent has gotten another better job (as have I, this is only my weekend job), everyone else here is new or just plum retarted.

 

[FoBoT]

start asking them about the weather, their pets and stuff like that to fill in some time

 

[homestarmy]

While on the subject, at my new job, if you get over a certain number of calls per hour, you get an extra 10% (6cph), 12.5% (6.5cph), and 15% (7cph) in pay. This is determined per week, and you cannot be late during that week or get under a 90% on a quality audit (which is pretty easy really, only my first one was 89%).

It actually makes me want to get those calls resolved FAST (but there are enough calls where I don't need to hose to get the goal).

 

[homestarmy]

PS: SBC tech support = sucky, and this is why.

Olympus = awesome support (and all in the US).

 

[Rapidskies]

I concur on the SBC teir one support suggage. I recently had a customer call up with no internet connectivit. So I dialed into their server and got over to our Cisco router and couldn't get beyond the SBC router. I called up SBC support and the converstation went like this:

SBC Rep: "Hello this is Chris can I help you" with a heavy India accent

Me: "Hi, I have a customer's DSL line down (gave subscriber info). I'm dialed into the server and remotely telneted to their Cisco router which sits behind your Cayman router"

SBC Rep: "Oh, you will have to call Cisco support at..."

Me: "No, there isn't a problem with the Cisco router, I can get to that and to your router, the WAN side on your Cayman is down or has a problem"

SBC Rep: "What version of windows are you running?"

Me: "Umm what does that have to do with anything?"

SBC Rep: "Please sir what version of windows are you running?"

Me: "Umm my personal desktop or the server I'm dialed into?"

SBC Rep: "The version you have on your computer right now"

Me: "Umm Windows 2000 Pro"

SBC rep: "Ok please click start/settings/control panel/network..."

Me: "That won't work, I am RASed into the customers system, I am 4 states away. Can you see if you can hit your router?"

SBC rep: "Ok the line looks good"

Me: "Really? Are you able to ping the public IP?"

SBC rep: "Yes I can ping it the line looks good"

Me "What IP are you pinging?"

SBC Rep: "68.122.x.x the line looks good"

Me "Their IP should be 68.10.x.x, not 68.122.x.x. Did SBC change their IP scheme again? (6 months ago SBC changed their "static" IP address without any notification which isn't uncommon)"

SBC Rep: "I show the IP to be 68.122.x.x the line looks good"

Me: "Ok I show the cayman still has an IP of 68.10.x.x, so how are you able to ping 68.122.x.x if the router isn't using it"

SBC Rep: "The line looks good"

Me: "ok I give up what IP's should I change your router to?"

SBC Rep: " 68.122.x.x - 68.122.x.x can I help you with anything else?"

Me: "No thanks Chris"

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
start asking them about the weather, their pets and stuff like that to fill in some time

Yeah and ask them what they're wearing.

 

[dman]

Hah, nice tech support call above... I love that 'what os are you running' question. Ugh.

Ah well. Still no answer on why they penalize you for calls being too short... only time I've seen that penalized is when it's an incomplete call (IE, didn't solve the problem). Perhaps they suspect you are giving people stuff to try and dismissing them too quickly, hence they are getting return calls from those folks, but, if that was the case I'd expect them to tell me that as the 'too short' thing doesn't help at all.

Glad you got another job already... sheesh.

 

[wyvrn]

Originally posted by: Whade
I concur on the SBC teir one support suggage. I recently had a customer call up with no internet connectivit. So I dialed into their server and got over to our Cisco router and couldn't get beyond the SBC router. I called up SBC support and the converstation went like this:

SBC Rep: "Hello this is Chris can I help you" with a heavy India accent

Me: "Hi, I have a customer's DSL line down (gave subscriber info). I'm dialed into the server and remotely telneted to their Cisco router which sits behind your Cayman router"

SBC Rep: "Oh, you will have to call Cisco support at..."

Me: "No, there isn't a problem with the Cisco router, I can get to that and to your router, the WAN side on your Cayman is down or has a problem"

SBC Rep: "What version of windows are you running?"

Me: "Umm what does that have to do with anything?"

SBC Rep: "Please sir what version of windows are you running?"

Me: "Umm my personal desktop or the server I'm dialed into?"

SBC Rep: "The version you have on your computer right now"

Me: "Umm Windows 2000 Pro"

SBC rep: "Ok please click start/settings/control panel/network..."

Me: "That won't work, I am RASed into the customers system, I am 4 states away. Can you see if you can hit your router?"

SBC rep: "Ok the line looks good"

Me: "Really? Are you able to ping the public IP?"

SBC rep: "Yes I can ping it the line looks good"

Me "What IP are you pinging?"

SBC Rep: "68.122.x.x the line looks good"

Me "Their IP should be 68.10.x.x, not 68.122.x.x. Did SBC change their IP scheme again? (6 months ago SBC changed their "static" IP address without any notification which isn't uncommon)"

SBC Rep: "I show the IP to be 68.122.x.x the line looks good"

Me: "Ok I show the cayman still has an IP of 68.10.x.x, so how are you able to ping 68.122.x.x if the router isn't using it"

SBC Rep: "The line looks good"

Me: "ok I give up what IP's should I change your router to?"

SBC Rep: " 68.122.x.x - 68.122.x.x can I help you with anything else?"

Me: "No thanks Chris"

It is glaringly apparent to me that you do not begin to understand the economics of customer support. People bitch about high prices, so companies leave the real troubleshooting to their NOC techs and let the level 1's handle everything else that comes into the 800 number. Why would you expect SBC phone techs to understand the network at a router level? Unless you want to pay 2x what you can pay now for service so they can hire 100 quality techs to answer phones, don't ever expect that kind of service when you call support.

Elitest techies who bag on phone reps is really the dumbest ass thing on the earth, I swear.

 

[Rapidskies]

Originally posted by: wyvrn

Originally posted by: Whade
I concur on the SBC teir one support suggage. I recently had a customer call up with no internet connectivit. So I dialed into their server and got over to our Cisco router and couldn't get beyond the SBC router. I called up SBC support and the converstation went like this:

SBC Rep: "Hello this is Chris can I help you" with a heavy India accent

Me: "Hi, I have a customer's DSL line down (gave subscriber info). I'm dialed into the server and remotely telneted to their Cisco router which sits behind your Cayman router"

SBC Rep: "Oh, you will have to call Cisco support at..."

Me: "No, there isn't a problem with the Cisco router, I can get to that and to your router, the WAN side on your Cayman is down or has a problem"

SBC Rep: "What version of windows are you running?"

Me: "Umm what does that have to do with anything?"

SBC Rep: "Please sir what version of windows are you running?"

Me: "Umm my personal desktop or the server I'm dialed into?"

SBC Rep: "The version you have on your computer right now"

Me: "Umm Windows 2000 Pro"

SBC rep: "Ok please click start/settings/control panel/network..."

Me: "That won't work, I am RASed into the customers system, I am 4 states away. Can you see if you can hit your router?"

SBC rep: "Ok the line looks good"

Me: "Really? Are you able to ping the public IP?"

SBC rep: "Yes I can ping it the line looks good"

Me "What IP are you pinging?"

SBC Rep: "68.122.x.x the line looks good"

Me "Their IP should be 68.10.x.x, not 68.122.x.x. Did SBC change their IP scheme again? (6 months ago SBC changed their "static" IP address without any notification which isn't uncommon)"

SBC Rep: "I show the IP to be 68.122.x.x the line looks good"

Me: "Ok I show the cayman still has an IP of 68.10.x.x, so how are you able to ping 68.122.x.x if the router isn't using it"

SBC Rep: "The line looks good"

Me: "ok I give up what IP's should I change your router to?"

SBC Rep: " 68.122.x.x - 68.122.x.x can I help you with anything else?"

Me: "No thanks Chris"

It is glaringly apparent to me that you do not begin to understand the economics of customer support. People bitch about high prices, so companies leave the real troubleshooting to their NOC techs and let the level 1's handle everything else that comes into the 800 number. Why would you expect SBC phone techs to understand the network at a router level? Unless you want to pay 2x what you can pay now for service so they can hire 100 quality techs to answer phones, don't ever expect that kind of service when you call support.

Elitest techies who bag on phone reps is really the dumbest ass thing on the earth, I swear.

It is glaringly apparent to me they shouldn't be answering a TECHNICAL SUPPORT line unless they can give some level of TECHNICAL SUPPORT or direct the customer to someone that can (higher Tier). It is also glaringly apparent that they should escalate the call instead of trying to sham me off on Cisco support . I never said DSL was expensive, in fact it is cheap. But what good is a DSL line that you can't get back up when it goes down?

And for the record Elitest ATOT members who bag on shortimers is the dumbest ass thing on earth, I swear.

 

[jai6638]

Originally posted by: Whade

Originally posted by: wyvrn

Originally posted by: Whade
I concur on the SBC teir one support suggage. I recently had a customer call up with no internet connectivit. So I dialed into their server and got over to our Cisco router and couldn't get beyond the SBC router. I called up SBC support and the converstation went like this:

SBC Rep: "Hello this is Chris can I help you" with a heavy India accent

Me: "Hi, I have a customer's DSL line down (gave subscriber info). I'm dialed into the server and remotely telneted to their Cisco router which sits behind your Cayman router"

SBC Rep: "Oh, you will have to call Cisco support at..."

Me: "No, there isn't a problem with the Cisco router, I can get to that and to your router, the WAN side on your Cayman is down or has a problem"

SBC Rep: "What version of windows are you running?"

Me: "Umm what does that have to do with anything?"

SBC Rep: "Please sir what version of windows are you running?"

Me: "Umm my personal desktop or the server I'm dialed into?"

SBC Rep: "The version you have on your computer right now"

Me: "Umm Windows 2000 Pro"

SBC rep: "Ok please click start/settings/control panel/network..."

Me: "That won't work, I am RASed into the customers system, I am 4 states away. Can you see if you can hit your router?"

SBC rep: "Ok the line looks good"

Me: "Really? Are you able to ping the public IP?"

SBC rep: "Yes I can ping it the line looks good"

Me "What IP are you pinging?"

SBC Rep: "68.122.x.x the line looks good"

Me "Their IP should be 68.10.x.x, not 68.122.x.x. Did SBC change their IP scheme again? (6 months ago SBC changed their "static" IP address without any notification which isn't uncommon)"

SBC Rep: "I show the IP to be 68.122.x.x the line looks good"

Me: "Ok I show the cayman still has an IP of 68.10.x.x, so how are you able to ping 68.122.x.x if the router isn't using it"

SBC Rep: "The line looks good"

Me: "ok I give up what IP's should I change your router to?"

SBC Rep: " 68.122.x.x - 68.122.x.x can I help you with anything else?"

Me: "No thanks Chris"

It is glaringly apparent to me that you do not begin to understand the economics of customer support. People bitch about high prices, so companies leave the real troubleshooting to their NOC techs and let the level 1's handle everything else that comes into the 800 number. Why would you expect SBC phone techs to understand the network at a router level? Unless you want to pay 2x what you can pay now for service so they can hire 100 quality techs to answer phones, don't ever expect that kind of service when you call support.

Elitest techies who bag on phone reps is really the dumbest ass thing on the earth, I swear.

It is glaringly apparent to me they shouldn't be answering a TECHNICAL SUPPORT line unless they can give some level of TECHNICAL SUPPORT or direct the customer to someone that can (higher Tier). It is also glaringly apparent that they should escalate the call instead of trying to sham me off on Cisco support . I never said DSL was expensive, in fact it is cheap. But what good is a DSL line that you can't get back up when it goes down?

And for the record Elitest ATOT members who bag on shortimers is the dumbest ass thing on earth, I swear.

dude, ever tried calling comp usa support??? its worse than this..