The Tech Support Run Around
from the sounds-veeeeeeery-familiar dept
We've all experienced the same thing, but Charles Cooper has written yet another column about a dreadful customer support experience, starting with a two hour wait time on hold, before being told that it would cost $70 to have a tech support person help him fix his problem. What's most ridiculous about this is that he was having trouble installing a Symantec product designed to make his computer secure... and the reason he was having trouble installing it was because there was some kind of Trojan already on the machine. So, you have a situation where he paid $70 for a product to protect his computer from bad things, but it won't install because the bad thing it's supposed to protect you from is already there. On top of that, Symantec wants you to pay the entire price of the software to help you figure out why they couldn't make their own software work properly. The worst part, of course, is that almost everyone has similar stories -- they just don't get to write about it on a technology news site that's likely to get a quick response from the company.
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Support Contest
(Via GMSV):
Microsoft Tech Support vs. Psychic Friends Network
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RE: The Tech Support Run Around
You can't buy car insurance and expect coverage on an accident that happened prior to purchasing the insurance.
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Re: The Tech Support Run Around
A better analogy would be that your garden is full of weeds, so you buy a weed killer. However, when you get it home, it says you can't use it at all because you already have weeds, and you first have to call a help desk, spend more money, have them tell you how to get rid of the weeds before you can use the weed killer.
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Origins
Why is Symantec, one of the biggest-name a-v companies I know, not pushing support cases through fast enough? Is it not spending time training its support personnel to answer cases quickly? Is it imposing strange internal beaurocracies on its support people that take much longer than need be, when a quick email or post in a web-based support system would suffice?
I hope Mr Cooper had the decency to complain and demand money back on something that failed to do what it claims...
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Nothing to see here, ignore Cooper
He wasn't starting with a clean system, the spyware was already loaded in memory and he was trying to install AV to take care of a spyware problem.
He called at 4pm on a Sunday.
He knew the name of the spyware, and the FIRST hit on Google is the Symantec page with manual instructions.
From the Symantec home page there are multiple FREE ways to find the same answer.
Symantec clearly states the cost for a support phone call.
He's refused to admit his errors.
This was a pissy and biased piece. Nothing to see here, move along.
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Re: Nothing to see here, ignore Cooper
He was doing a clean install?? How did that adware survive the formatting of the drive?
I wonder if he was denied an interview or admittance to a symantec conference and he is exacting some revenge here?
Silly piece.
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