I love incompetant techs :|

[reitz]

I'm on the phone now with a very irate customer right now, walking him through physically removing his modem, thanks to an incompetant tech who had the customer uninstall his LT Winmodem, but was then unable to get Win98 to detect it. He promised to call the customer back today, on a day he is not scheduled to work.

Needless to say, the customer is quite pissed off, and I get to take the responsibility of walking him through taking his computer apart. My experience with these cheapo winmodems is that if Windows can't detect it after uninstalling and rebooting, the only option is to physically take the modem out, boot up and shutdown, and replace the modem (the installation program for the drivers didn't work). The best part? In no way should the tech have uninstalled the modem. The customer's problem was a simple Dial-up Networking error. :|

 

[reitz]

He finally got the computer open. His first question: "Now which one is the modem?"

Ahhhh...the joys of my job. :|

 

[fdiskboy]

Once again, end user = loser.

 

[Doggiedog]

I love it when techs bash other techs.

A long time ago I had some dial up problems with Mindspring and the tech I spoke to said I needed to reset my registry settings. I told him I wasn't sure if that was the problem but he insisted. Needless to say, I trashed my computer and called up another tech who was very helpful and wanted to get the guy's name (never got it) so he could report him.

I commend you. At least there are some people out there that really care about doing a good job.

 

[Moonbeam]

I love getting a competent tech who can help me. I also like gratitude when I help somebody.

 

[hpkeeper]

I love it when you can outsmart a tech... it kind of defeats the purpose of tech support, but really.. it's kind of funny to listen to them babble as they tell you what they think is wrong.

No offense to Reitz

 

[-SpYrL-]

So thats why they are always typing... Y'all come to places like this to laught at us...

-SpYrL-

 

[Viper GTS]

So thats why they are always typing... Y'all come to places like this to laught at us...

Guilty.



Actually, they're probably also documenting the case. But they're also probably entertaining themselves while they wait for you to reboot. People never seem to figure out that if we're waiting for an 800K file to download on dial up, WE'RE ENJOYING THE PEACE! Leave us alone!

Viper GTS

 

[Windogg]

It's funny how many people fancy themselves "techs" when they truly do not know what they are doing. It would be like my paramedic friend calling herself a "surgeon" because she has done something medical related.

Windogg

 

[Cable God]

Yea, I know Windogg. Some people really "spiff" up that resume to boost their image. When I see potential "net.engineers" hand in resumes listing "Word,Excel,Powerpoint,Outlook,Outlook Express" and things like that, it really tickles me. That has nothing to do with a 56gbps Layer3 switching fabric...... or ATM,etc. I get a good laugh outtas it.

 

[flood]

Looks like you are an incompetent speller

 

[TheDennis]

yeah I know what you mean I had this lady call me up one day with a problem with her computer and a tech at Best Buy told her the modem needed to be replaced. I fixed her problem in two minutes. It was just a driver problem.

 

[squirrel dog]

Well,you've got techs and then you have techs.....To many its just another job in a long list of jobs they have had and hated.Then there are those for which tech things are a passion.Do you know what I mean?

 

[Windogg]

One of my favorites which required some help from the people here to figure out. All this is coming from an "Associate Literature Distribution Specialist" which means he stuffs envelopes all day.

"Yea I thinking about doing what you doing. Hell all you do is slap a few NICs into systems and if it doesn't work you play with the VIC, SIC, and FIC"

Uhhhh.... riiiiiiiiiiight......

I figured out the NIC part because I upgraded his network card to a 10/100 and he heard me call it a "NIC". I guess he assumed the video card is a VIC and a sound card is a SIC. "FIC" is what baffeled me. Someone here figured out that I was spelling it wrong. The idiot wasn't saying "FIC" rather he was saying "PHIC" or the infamous "Phone Interface Card" AKA "Modem"

Windogg

 

[toph99]

that reminds me of the time i called Dell to find out whether or not the memory settings on my PIII 500 were set to CAS2(which they are both able to do at 100mhz according to their markings and Sandra readings) and they guys basically said "cas-what?" he asked 7 other people and they all had no clue as to what i was talking to

 

Cablegod: 56gbps switching eh, would that be your expertise?

 

[Abomination]

My favorite is when you go to a small computer store and the workers there know less about computers then your average household pet. For instance, one time I asked them how much they were selling their GeForces for and the salesman replied, "would that be the 3dfx or the Asus model?" I'm like, wow, Nvidia lets their competing companies build their own chipsets? And he's like, "yeah, they always have... (as he looks around to see what he said wrong)." heheheh

 

[Windogg]

Sammy, cablegod does live up to his name. He plays around with enterprise leval networking equipment (ie. you could trade one piecr of equipment of a house).

Windogg

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

I had fun the other day at a local computer shop. Up until this point, I had only been in the place to price up components, and had never actually bought anything. However, each time I went in, I had asked for prices on AMD chips/motherboards. ...Anyway, I had the guy put together a system for my brother (free warranty/installation if I bought all the parts from him). Right before he handed me the bill, he asks me:

"You know AMD, right?"
'I guess'
"Oh.. Well, I've got this customer with an Athlon 800, and they are experiencing this problem...." (describes something that sounds like a PS issue)
'What power supply is being used?'
"OH! a good 250Watt one!"
'What brand?'
"Oh, I don't know. Generic."
'What about the RAM?'
"Oh, thats good 128Meg stuff!"
'What brand?'
"I don't know..."

...later
"OH! So you mean your computer shouldn't be built with this power supply then?" -Continues to display a beautiful generic POS.

...The interesting thing though, is that until I got that system from him, I'd never touched an Athlon system before.

 

[reitz]

Just finished my first call of the day...

At least I set a new record: 4 hours and 52 minutes for a single call, and I fixed the problem.

 

[Viper GTS]

I'm 110 minutes into my last call of the day. Took the moron the last hour and a half to uninstall his UPS software so we could FINALLY get into his router through hyperterminal.

:|

Viper GTS

 

[AMDJunkie]

Maybe it isn't so bad to be a kid tech. You don't have to fix other wannabe's problem after he went screwing around in control panel, all you have to do is install that video card and look good doing it.

 

[reitz]

AMD Junkie, unfortunately, this incompetent tech is one of my co-workers.

 

[Dameon]

reitz, let me guess... with Winmodems...

Didn't completely uninstall... left crap all in the registry, doesn't detect. Tech probably didn't have them correctly uninstall, just pulled it from Device Manager or something like that.

Unless the modem has a specific uninstall APP, then you get to run thru the registry in the friggin HKEY LOCAL MACHINE area digging out corrupted entries, and pulling driver files, and pulling out drvdata.bin and drvidx.bin to make Windows forget previously used drivers for the device.

Eeek... flashbacks.