Horrible tech support

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

The actual response given by tech support when a customer asked if they
could take a peek inside the case of an external hard drive to check
for something:

"Opening a drive is not a resource I have available."

Much better than, "I can't open a drive."
 
The actual response given by tech support when a customer asked if they
could take a peek inside the case of an external hard drive to check
for something:

"Opening a drive is not a resource I have available."

Much better than, "I can't open a drive."
Click to expand...

Thanks for letting us know why he/she is in techsupport and why you are not.
 
since when is opening a drive a resource......
Click to expand...

It is unclear from the original posting who is supposed to open the
drive. The "they" normally refers to the closest noun which is
"customer". OTOH it is a plural pronoun which could refer to "tech
support". All of which makes me suspect that the real meaning of the
tech support response is "Your request makes no sense and you are
becoming a pain in the ass." although it is probably "We have no
external drive here to take apart and the information you want is not
to be found by opening the drive anyway."

Danny

Don't question authority. What makes you think they
know anything? (Remove the first dot for a valid e-mail
address)
 
On Tue 15 Mar 2005 15:24:16, Folkert Rienstra wrote:
Thanks for letting us know why he/she is in techsupport and why
you are not.
Click to expand...


He is commenting on the weird English.

If your English is not up to understanding that then it's better you
refrain from posting your eccentric remarks.
 
...
He is commenting on the weird English.
Click to expand...

The ability is to open the drive is a resource. The term "resource" is
very ubiquitous in the business world. People are a resource so
Personnel is now Human Resources. Equipment is a resource. Time is a
resource. Money is a resource. Office space is a resource. Skills and
knowledge are resources. The sentence is technical English instead of
common English but it is not really weird English. It only sounds
weird unless you hear it everyday and in the tech industry, "resource"
has become way over used. I am surprised that Scott Adams has not yet
done a Dilbert sequence on the word "resource".

Danny

Don't question authority. What makes you think they
know anything? (Remove the first dot for a valid e-mail
address)
 
Mark M said:
He is commenting on the weird English.
Click to expand...

If exceptionally good english is something 'weird' then you are probably right.

What the tech support person said is that the answer to that question wasn't
in his/her Q&A database and he/she therefor was unable to answer it.
If your English is not up to understanding that then it's better you
refrain from posting your eccentric remarks.
Click to expand...

Wotanidiot.
 
Folkert said:
Thanks for letting us know why he/she is in techsupport and why
you are not.
Click to expand...

That person was a mere page flipper and had almost no technical
knowledge.
What the tech support person said is that the answer to that question wasn't
in his/her Q&A database and he/she therefor was unable to answer it.
Click to expand...

And she worded it in the worst, most pretentious way, an indication
that she majored in business or sociology.

My second round with the company's tech support, with a different
person, was equally pleasant. The person accused me of opening the
drive and voiding the warranty after I mentioned the model number of
the IDE drive used for the USB drive. But I got the information from
the company's utility program for closing the files of the drive.
 
The ability is to open the drive is a resource. The term "resource"
is very ubiquitous in the business world. People are a resource
so Personnel is now Human Resources. Equipment is a resource.
Time is a resource. Money is a resource. Office space is a resource.
Skills and knowledge are resources. The sentence is technical
English instead of common English but it is not really weird English.
Click to expand...

Its very weird/silly english. The individual should have said "I cannot open a
drive"
It only sounds weird unless you hear it everyday and in
the tech industry, "resource" has become way over used.
Click to expand...

Its completely silly in that particular context.
 
Its very weird/silly english. The individual should have said "I cannot
open a drive"
Click to expand...

This may not be true, though, whereas the original statement was.
Personally speaking, I can open a drive. In fact, I can do it with my eyes
closed. However, I find it difficult to do without a drive in front of me
and a screwdriver in hand. Without these, opening a drive is a 'resource I
don't have available', whereas my ability to do so, given the equipment,
remains unchanged.
 
This may not be true, though, whereas the original statement was.
Bullshit.

Personally speaking, I can open a drive. In fact, I can do it with
my eyes closed. However, I find it difficult to do without a drive
in front of me and a screwdriver in hand. Without these, opening
a drive is a 'resource I don't have available', whereas my ability
to do so, given the equipment, remains unchanged.
Click to expand...

Pity the individual said that was on the other end of a phone
call, so was never going to be physically able to open the
drive, even if they did have a screwdriver etc available.
 
Its very weird/silly english. The individual should have said "I cannot open a
drive"
Click to expand...

You are presuming the guy had a drive to open. Phone support people do
not have such equipment. They are supposed to only answer simple
questions and pass on any calls that require real technical expertise
to tier 2 support. However the phone center is probably an outsource
company thousands of miles from the actual company who makes the drive
and that is where there is a drive and someone who can open it up.

There is also the possibility that the real message is "You are a jerk
and I do not want to deal with you any more."

Danny

Don't question authority. What makes you think they
know anything? (Remove the first dot for a valid e-mail
address)
 
There is also the possibility that the real message is "You are a jerk
and I do not want to deal with you any more."
Click to expand...

Given his posts, I'm going to have to put my money on this theory.
 
That person was a mere page flipper and had almost no technical
knowledge.
Click to expand...

Exactly, perfect qualifications for someone to 'take up the phone'.
And she worded it in the worst, most pretentious way,
Click to expand...

If you don't have the knowledge, bluff your way out, but politely.
an indication that she majored in business or sociology.
Click to expand...

More likely a student that was about to and paying for her studies this way.
My second round with the company's tech support, with a different
person, was equally pleasant. The person accused me of opening the
drive and voiding the warranty after I mentioned the model number of
the IDE drive used for the USB drive. But I got the information from
the company's utility program for closing the files of the drive.
Click to expand...

More indication that these persons were call center personnel hired to
handle the companies tech support.
 
Given his posts, I'm going to have to put my money on this theory.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily intended that bluntly tho.

I had the same problem yesterday, not computer related at all.
The phone monkeys just resort to stonewalling like that when
they are out of their depth and need to say something.

They're really just saying that they cant do what the user is requesting.
 
Danny said:
On 15 Mar 2005 09:34:12 -0800, (e-mail address removed) wrote:
Click to expand...
It is unclear from the original posting who is supposed
to open the drive. The "they" normally refers to the
closest noun which is "customer".
Click to expand...

The sparkling conversation, which took place while I had time to kill
while waiting for my ride to the airport, went sort of like this:

Me: My external hard drive runs unusually hot. Is it supposed to have
a cooling fan? I looked through the round opening in back, but I
didn't see a fan there.

Her: It has a cooling fan.

Me: I don't see it. There's also a metal grill behind the opening,
about 1/2" from it, and it looks like a miniature version of a PC power
supply fan grill.

Her: The fan is behind it.

Me: I looked in there with a flashlight, and all I see is what seems
like the end of an IDE drive cable.

Her: Every one of our drives has a cooling fan, sir. This I know for
a fact.

Me: Could you verify that from a diagram?

Her: (long wait) There is no diagram available.

Me: Could you look at one of these drives?

Her: It has a cooling fan.

Me: How can you see it?

Her: It's there.

Me: Could you open it up to verify?

Her: Opening a drive is not a resource I have available.
OTOH it is a plural pronoun which could refer to "tech support".
Click to expand...

I accidentally majored in women's studies and had a radical feminist
professor (Rush Limbaugh liked to be beaten by her) who insisted I use
gender neutral plural pronouns even for singular pronouns.
 
Folkert said:
Exactly, perfect qualifications for someone to 'take up the phone'.

More indication that these persons were call center personnel hired to
handle the companies tech support.
Click to expand...

The call center sems to be run in-house because the reps have access to
the actual products. As for qualifications, the company follows
through each contact with e-mail recommending the customer contact the
very same people if her or she has "more complicated technical
issues..."
 
The actual response given by tech support when a customer asked if they
could take a peek inside the case of an external hard drive to check
for something:

"Opening a drive is not a resource I have available."

Much better than, "I can't open a drive."
Click to expand...

Huh? What possible reason would the average person who needs to call
tech support in the first place ever need to open up an external disk
drive? This makes no sense to me and I have done tech support for many
years.
 
Stan said:
Huh? What possible reason would the average person who needs to call
tech support in the first place ever need to open up an external disk
drive? This makes no sense to me and I have done tech support for many
years.
Click to expand...

Did you read the entire thread, which originated months ago? My
external hard drive ran very hot, and I detected no air flow at its fan
opening and couldn't see a fan inside it. Yet tech support "assured"
me there was a fan, but because they seemed so ignorant, I asked them
to verify their incredible claim by looking at an actual drive.
 
Back
Top