Comments on: Hello Sympatico

By: Hamster

Hamster — Thu, 12 May 2005 17:14:38 +0000

The best way is to compose off-line (in say notepad) and cut and paste the final draft into the mail program. That way you always have the original - until the hard drive crashes of course!
I find that the forehead crashes into the brick wall within 30 seconds of the hard drive failure.
<;-)

By: Bene Diction

Bene Diction — Wed, 11 May 2005 20:32:38 +0000

What a great idea - the hold queue. I could live with that.

Simple solution to a complex problem - people with internet trouble that need to know when they will be heard and get whatever is wrong fixed.

Calling tech support means I’m not in control and that sense of lack feeds my frustration. Helplessness is hard.

Even though logic tells me I have to wait my turn and the problem won’t be fixed in my time frame, I find calling tech support rather humbling. 65 thousand other computer users down too, and trying to reach the support desk.

Ha. I can hear it now.

Thank you for calling ***** Our technical support staff is serving others at the moment, your call is important to us, please stay on the line. There are 58,293 customers ahead of you, the wait time is estimated at 16 hours and 39 minutes.
Please listen carefully and chose one of the following options…

By: Ian McKenzie

Ian McKenzie — Wed, 11 May 2005 19:28:02 +0000

Not to sound like I’m gloating in the face of your aggrevation, but I have found Shaw to be very responsive in help desk/customer service. Not only do they have 24/7/365 service desk, but also communicate the types of problems they are experiencing and the expected resolution time. Their planned service and upgrade outages are scheduled for the middle of the night, with loads of e-mail (and sometimes even phone) messages that service will be unavailable.

One of their best customer service features is in the hold queue. When you call the service number and go through the necessary selection menu, the standard recording comes on and tells you all the reps. are currently busy. Then comes the number of callers ahead of you and the estimate wait time. The system then gives you the option of continuing to hold or recording a message and hanging up. The message then stays at your place in the queue and is heard by the rep., in turn. The rep. then calls you back. No more sitting with the phone to your ear listening to insipid music and regular declarations of the importance of your call to the company.

However, I find Shaw to be an exception in customer service. I experience similar frustrations to yours when dealing with my web hosting service.

By: Richard Hall

Richard Hall — Wed, 11 May 2005 13:47:16 +0000

I feel your pain BD. It’s great when it works, but when it fails you can feel so helpless. The folk on the helpdesk say what they’re told to say and you don’t need to be much of a cynic to feel that they don’t always play with a straight bat.