Bad customer and technical support is the new good. You only think it’s bad. The problem is your attitude. Or so they’d have you think.
YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE
All the big technology companies are working hard to save a few bucks. Competition is fierce. Every penny counts. Since executives won’t accept lower pay nor will stockholders accept lower returns, it’s customers who fill the cost-cutting gap.
In the race to be the cheapest, tech companies stopped including chargers with devices. No manuals. No system software. No reinstallation software. Short power cords that don’t go from an outlet to a desktop. No connector for printers, speakers or whatever. Everything you need to finish setting up costs extra.
Customer service was the first thing to go. They hired people who don’t know anything, don’t understand or speak English. For all I know, they don’t understand or speak Spanish either. They aren’t trained, don’t know the products. And since manufacturers no longer include documentation, you don’t have the option of taking care of it yourself.
No company — not cameras, computers or software — includes documentation. I became obsolete years ago when the industry decided no one reads the manuals. So they fired the tech writers, put some generated information in an online PDF. They figured customer service techs would handle the fallout. But they don’t. Many of us would be happy to fix minor glitches but have no alternative to spending our time on the phone, frustrated and angry.
THE PLAN IN ACTION
You can’t say they didn’t have a plan. Corporation had a really terrible plan. It was such a bad plan that everyone adopted it. Of course, these days any plan is a big deal being as we live in a nation that hasn’t had a viable plan for anything in more than three years. And now, we have a plague. How cool is that?
It’s not a Microsoft issue or a Dell thing. It’s not a plan that anyone can claim as their own. It’s a cross-industry problem, affecting virtually every tech corporation in this country.
Bad has become the official new good. Really and truly good is remarkable and so rare.
WOULD IT KILL THEM TO INCLUDE A MANUAL?
In every industry, business, service — service support stinks. It doesn’t matter where you go. You’ll get the same lousy service. It’s the great leveler.
Sometimes, you get lucky. The guy or gal you connect with knows the product and you think “Wow, that wasn’t bad! Maybe it’s improving.” The next time, it’s the same old, same old. Mostly you spend hours online listening to the worst music ever written and every once in awhile they point out how important you are and the next time anyone can take your call, they will.
Okay then. I think it’s possible I’m still on hold.
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Categories: Computers, Customer Service, Humor, Marilyn Armstrong, Software, Technology
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I fully agree with all you’ve written here. As an added ‘bonus’ (which in ‘new speak’ means they thought up a new way to wrest that last thin dime from your cold dead hand) now they’re sending out the collection agencies to collect money from an account that was closed and presumed settled almost (but not quite) seven years ago. I’ve told them in English where they can stick their bill and what they might use it for in these toilet paper rationing days. I’m certainly not paying. I went through the stress of discontinuing the service and paying it in full to ensure they never came back to bother me again. Well here they are. They may come to your neighborhood soon too. Be prepared. If it ain’t the virus, it’s gonna be death from a stress induced stroke…
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I’ve had that happen a couple of times. I didn’t pay. They couldn’t force me to pay.
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Great post! So true.
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I wonder if this will ever change. Bad enough that computers come without any support, but when you buy an expensive camera, you’d think a manual would not be too much to ask.
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I know right? I bought a Canon Rebel t6i a couple of years ago (since gave it as a gift 🎁) and I remember thinking the same thing! But my $10 under the counter battery-operated light came with a manual. 🤦🏼♀️
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Seems to me there would be a good market for companies that provided that invaluable customer service.
Leslie
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I used to BE one of those services. No, there aren’t. They don’t want to pay ANY money for support. That’s why it’s all some Indian or Pakistani who generally knows less about the product than you do.
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Now that is something that should change….
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It should, but it won’t.
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I think they stopped the written manuals with products in a bid to converse paper. And most people don’t read them. But instructions should be available.
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No one reads them like a book, but everyone uses them for reference and they should be part of the product. Especially expensive products. It had nothing to do with paper and everything to do with being cheap and figuring we’d buy the products anyway. And we do buy them anyway. See? They were right.
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They are cutting costs here.
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The irony is that a good tech writer is cheap compared to a mediocre developer and works for less than a year. It’s folly.
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It is. But then most of the priorities are Topsy turvy.
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We sold our jobs so we could give bigger dividends to shareholders and screw the customers. And that’s really what they said. I know. I was there.
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Too bad. Note people are paying for it
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We always wind up paying the bill.
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Yes that’s true.
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