Untechnical, Technical Support People

Z

Zachary McClung

New member
Today, I called into Charter my INternet provider to have the port 25 blocking lifted. The ldy goes, we do not block any website. I was like port 25 has nothing to do with websites, it has to do with e-mail. She goes well we do not block that, whatever it is. The conversation followed with can I talk to another agent, no. Can I talk to your supervisor? I don't know how you can tell me you don't do it, if you don't know what it is. She goes to get her supervisor and comes back to say, we block port 25 but cannot unblock it because its for charter e-mails only.

I find this really odd because all the other providers such as AT&T, Verizon, & Comcast will all unblock their ports by calling technical support. The other thing that is funny is she is in a technical support position and then respondes with whatever that is. She is suppose to be the expert.
 
LOL. Charter reps do not have a great reputation for customer support. I have my own horror stories about them, but it would go on for pages.
 
There was a rep a few months ago who told me he did not care about my outage. It wasn't a rep it was a team lead. A week to get out to fix their issue and I'm still paying for service. I liked my AT&T DSL service.
 
I have AT&T DSL at my Salon and it's killer SLOW - and I'm right down the street from the CO!! I have no complaints about Charter's speed, when it's up.
 
Steve,

I had AT&T DSL for years and never had downtime or any issues with slow speeds. I have spent almost a month out of the four months I have had charter with it being down.
 
COX and Adelphia/Time Warner were the main Cable guys that I get service through over the years. I can't honestly remember calling to get any support stuff though.

As for port 25 --- if it's for mail, do what I do, reroute through another port on the server and then link it back. So many of our customers get blocked by their ISP, and rather than dealing with support, we just have them enter port 587 and that will access our server instead.

MOST ISPs will unblock port 25 if you say it's for business emails on a remote domain. Some of them go so far as to then try to upgrade your service to a busienss package, but that's a whole different story :)
 
handsonhosting said:
COX and Adelphia/Time Warner were the main Cable guys that I get service through over the years. I can't honestly remember calling to get any support stuff though.

As for port 25 --- if it's for mail, do what I do, reroute through another port on the server and then link it back. So many of our customers get blocked by their ISP, and rather than dealing with support, we just have them enter port 587 and that will access our server instead.

MOST ISPs will unblock port 25 if you say it's for business emails on a remote domain. Some of them go so far as to then try to upgrade your service to a busienss package, but that's a whole different story :)
Click to expand...

At the office, I have a business line with no problem. With outlook which allows you to select the port I have no problem. In ACT E-mail 2009, Sage did not add the ability for you to select the port. So, the software is dead in the water. I run exim on both port 25 and 26 on our server. No problem, but main those bastards did not want to give up today. I'm going to be moving my office back to my home office so I wouldn't have a problem with upgrading to the business package. If I had a basement I could run a data center too but I don't have one. oh well.
 
:) Yeah sometimes support people are just reading out of manuals, and something so "technical" is beyond them. It's very simple to say "I DON"T KNOW" and then pass it up the chain to someone with more experience. This is something that I insisted with our own staff. Saying I don't know is honesty in it's purest form. I think it's crazy that when you asked to speak to another agent, they refused. Hopefully someone went back and listened to that tape!
 
handsonhosting said:
:) Yeah sometimes support people are just reading out of manuals, and something so "technical" is beyond them. It's very simple to say "I DON"T KNOW" and then pass it up the chain to someone with more experience. This is something that I insisted with our own staff. Saying I don't know is honesty in it's purest form. I think it's crazy that when you asked to speak to another agent, they refused. Hopefully someone went back and listened to that tape!
Click to expand...

I doubt they listened to it. I was always told the same. If you don't know, don't try to bull**** someone because they will figure it out. Back in the days of cell phone sales, it was simple, I don't know crap about this phone, I cannot recommend it. hehe
 
Yes, I've dealt with a few people over the years who fall into this category, including a young lady who answered my support call to Rogers not so long ago and did not know what I meant by "SIM card" :P

True story!
 
I'm guessing most people wouldn't know what you meant by a SIM card.
Most people don't know and don't want to know the technicalities of the electronics they own. They just want them to work.

That is why there are customer service departments.
 
Zendevi said:
Yes, I've dealt with a few people over the years who fall into this category, including a young lady who answered my support call to Rogers not so long ago and did not know what I meant by "SIM card" :P

True story!
Click to expand...

Oh God! I sold cell phone for years. I did not run across a technical support rep not knowing what a sim card is; however, I have had reps recently who couldn't understand that no matter how many times you turn on and off the phone, it will not stop routing to their call center.

I finally just said here is the deal. The account is in error not the phone. Reset the status of the cell phone account to active again. Sure enough when she forced active again it stopped routing.
 
Blue said:
I'm guessing most people wouldn't know what you meant by a SIM card.
Most people don't know and don't want to know the technicalities of the electronics they own. They just want them to work.

That is why there are customer service departments.
Click to expand...

It is not about the consuming understanding it. Its about the reps taking the calls not knowing what it was. You would be amazed at how many customers do know and understand what a sim chip is. I did cell phone sales for four years and there was very few under the age of 50 who didn't get it.
 
Blue said:
I'm guessing most people wouldn't know what you meant by a SIM card.
Most people don't know and don't want to know the technicalities of the electronics they own. They just want them to work.

That is why there are customer service departments.
Click to expand...

Do note that the story was about a call to a customer service department, not "most people" :)
 
Zendevi said:
Yes, I've dealt with a few people over the years who fall into this category, including a young lady who answered my support call to Rogers not so long ago and did not know what I meant by "SIM card" :P

True story!
Click to expand...

Great Story Chris. I'm sure Rogers is not the only one that has the problems. I think every cable and phone company have a few of those reps.
 
TurnKeyInternet said:
Great Story Chris. I'm sure Rogers is not the only one that has the problems. I think every cable and phone company have a few of those reps.
Click to expand...

This is true, but it surprises me. Many years ago I did a stint in a call centre providing sales and support for a technology company and I've never received better training in my life! To be fair though, most of my communication with Rogers is with knowledgeable people :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Supporters

Back
Top