What is the difference between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Tier technical support?

[Scrapster]

Give me some examples and descriptions.

 

[Ludacris]

1st Tier = Help Desk
2nd Tier = Techs that come out to your desk and have more skills and knowledge than Help Desk.
3rd Tier = Developers or Specialists

 

[charliebrown]

First Tier - Moe
Second Tier - Curly
Third Tier - Shemp

 

[supesman]

<< First Tier - Moe
Second Tier - Curly
Third Tier - Shemp >>



Hey, what happened to Larry???

 

[charliebrown]

I think Larry replaced Shemp in the latter episodes... or visa versa

 

[Viper GTS]

It varies by place, but basically it comes down to:

Why should we pay all our techs $20 an hour when 90% of the issues they deal with are $10 an hour issues? The 10% that do need extra tools/training to resolve can be escalated.

Siome customers are so fvcking stupid & think they deserve to go directly to "Tier 2," or whatever they want.

God I hate people like that. And just like everybody else, 90% of the time a "Tier 1" tech could have solved the problem.

"Sir, I am Tier 2. Now STFU."

Viper GTS

 

[Mean MrMustard]

First Tier - Moe
Second Tier - Curly
Third Tier - Shemp

pretty much...

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

<< I think Larry replaced Shemp in the latter episodes... or visa versa >>

goodness, that lack of knowledge should lead to deportation! joe replaced, shemp who replaced curly. well not really replaced, was the next guy.

 

[dman]

1st Tier - End user talks to them for support. They do all the basic stuff and get paid crap wages. If you are reading this board, you can qualify to do 1st Tier Tech support.
2nd Tier - Who you get to talk to after 1st Tier tried their standard procedures and didn't help you any. 2nd Tier folks can "wing it" and try other stuff not documented in the 1st Tier's manuals. Sometimes really screwing up your system in the process. The 2nd tier folks also deal with idiots who 1st tier felt they aren't getting paid enough to help.
3rd Tier - This is who the 2nd Tier folks talk to when they can't figure it out or have a real special customer who EVEN they don't get paid enough to help. Depending on the industry and product 3rd Tier techs can be gurus or just 1st tire techs who know people who run the company. 3rd Tier folks get paid a lot because they have to deal with 2 tiers of idiot customer pass thrus and/or folks with really tough problems.

Of course, 99% of this is sarcasm.

 

[chiwawa626]

I know a guy who does tier 4 support for sun...i guess thats a lot?

 

[joohang]

Presentation, business logic, data storage? Oops.. This is about tech support.

 

[Rent]

Tier 1 :: Have you tried turning your computer on?

Tier 2 :: Is your monitor turned on

Tier 3 :: Ma'am, please take your cup out of the CD-Rom drive

 

[Viper GTS]

Real-life example:

The company I worked for (broadband ISP):

Tier 1: Modem installation, Windows DUN troubleshooting, e-mail client support, login/pd changes, e-mail alias creation
Tier 1.5: DNS & MX records, account updates, static IP assignment, initial troubleshooting of ISP side routing problems, reporting of major problems to Tier 2
Tier 2: Major account issues, relatively minor routing problems
Tier 3: Major routing problems

Customers never actually talked to anyone past T1.5, & usually not even that. Tier 1 talked to 1.5 for the customer, 1.5 to 2, 2 to 3, etc.

Viper GTS

 

[bret]

well if you call a number for assistence you pay more for the 3rd guys answers?

 

[dman]

BTW, if you are wondering where the buck stops, either Tie3 or Tier4. At the end (3/4) the tech is usually tied in with the development group of the product with the problem, so, if it gets that far and isn't solved by them, the resolution is "working as designed" or "will be fixed in the next servicepack/product update".