The Irony

Shortly after my last entry...we had a crash again. I guess it has been similar to the stock market. Crash one day, up for a couple days and crash again. Anyway that isn't the only irony that I have found in this whole situation. I have to just tell you about the conclusion of my 5 hour Tech support conversation on Thursday. So after much attempt (4 1/2 hrs) to restore things again, it was determined that the Hard Drive had totally crashed and that it would be best to just send us a new computer. I agreed and the tech guy (from India mind you) transferred me to the parts department to get a service ticket created so that they could Fed Ex me a new hard drive....The conversation ended with the statement....Ma'am, I thank you for your patience and I just want to let you know all we have to do is input your information for a service ticket, but my computer tool is currently not working" I simply busted into laughter and said "really, now isn't that ironic" He assured me that it was not an issue with the company, and that he would gladly call me back when his computer was up and running, so that I didn't have to go through the 10 min. automated phone processing in order to reach him again. About 1/2 hour later he called back and we got the process rolling. UNBELIEVABLE!!! We recieved the next day and Sunday evening finally had a chance to get it installed. That process only took about 5-6 additional hours.

I have to say it has been an educational process....Did you know?
*Most Tech supports are outsourced to India
*1-800 numbers are not easily located in your original paperwork of your computer
*you pretty much need to have every number associated with your computer and computer terminology in order to make your way through the automated prompt when calling the number for help. And when the computer doesn't recognize what you are saying and asks you to repeat it...it truly doesn't help to yell the numbers into the phone.
*Upon getting a live person to speak to they encourage you to go to thier web page and find the answer to your problem...however when your computer has crashed and you can't get online...this truly isn't a viable option.
*The overnight work shift starts at 8:30pm and runs to 4:30am (that is 9:30am - 5:30pm in US central time)
*India is 13 hours difference in time from us
*Currently it is the rainy season in India (although it is not as cold as Iowa)
*The meaning of customer service varries upon Tech person and how close they are to the end of thier shift.
*If you ask to speak to someone else because you don't feel that you are understanding each others needs....thier attitude changes and then they won't let you off the phone. They also say their names really fast so you won't quite catch it.
*Tech support people have very little sense of humor(this is a generalization)
*Most tech support people are reading from a script and if you ask a question that varries from that script, they will put you on hold and check thier resources...often times forgetting where they left off in the script and upon return repeat the same script.
*Upon closing the conversation the support person always thanks you, encourages you to visit thier website if you have futher ?'s and tells you to have a great day.


I hope to have everything up an running, downloaded and installed by the end of this week. Please pray for my patience as I do so.