Don't you all just love the people at your help desk?!

We have to call a few states away to get help with the program we use here. They came down for a week to teach us how to use it and for us to ask as many questions as we could think of. I asked and asked and asked to the point where the guy was like "Don't make this harder than it is. Its a simple program". So I had to call today cause I have a question that I just haven't been able to find the answers to in like 3 months. So I finally give in and call. He just acts like I am an idiot. And Ifeel like an idiot when i talk to him. He tells me to look for one thing and words it one way but it is worded differently on my screen. Then he acts like it is SO hard to get on the coputer and log on and look at what i am looking at. Turns out the program won't do what I need it to. He said someone is creating work for me (chances are really good that he is right). I just hate calling up there. Oh well! Just had to vent!

after years of doing help desk type work.. often we get a very neutral sound in your voice . that soem people take the wrong way. i know that i am very gulity of doing that on the times that i get bored and log my phone in And sometimes i have seen helpdesk people get that sound if they dont know what they are doingl.

Oh he knows what he is doing. He did it to me when they were here! He is really nice most times except when I don't understand something. Then I guess he feels like he explained it once and doesn't want to do it again!

That's typical IT...they're still newbies (well most of them) and they haven't been threaten with their job yet if they are sounding mean on the phone (trust me, this happened to me).

IMO though it is more frustrating to support someone over the phone because your screens are not always the same and your not looking in the same places.

Oh and most support desks are require to start off with the basics, thus making you feel like your a monkey on the computer. That's usually because they don't get to experience many people that understand what they're doing. Heck, I even heard the support person turn the page of the book he was reading off from

"Is the computer turned on?"
"Yes"
"Do you see your desktop?"
"What's a desktop?"
"Do you see color on your monitor?"
"Yes"
"OK that's you're desktop"
....

I'm pretty good with computers, but there's a reason I'll never go into working for IT (which is the same reason why I'll never be a teacher): I cannot explain things that I know how to do to people who don't know how to do them. If I can do a thing, I can just do it, I can't break it down into simple steps, and I can't tell another person how to do it without sounding like I think they're mentally deficient. It's almost as if once I know how to do a thing, my brain forgets the learning it took for me to get that knowledge and I become incapable of passing it on. I just know how to do things, I can't explain how I came by that knowledge. So, when I try to teach other people, I come across as very abrupt and condescending, and I don't mean to sound that way at all. Half the time I'll give up trying to teach them anything and just do it myself (ask poor J, who has yet to solve a computer-related problem on his own because the moment he asks me any questions I kick him off the computer and take over).

The teaching part IS hard to learn. The trick for me was to write documents first...THEN after many critiques (stuff I skipped over because I assume someone "would just know") I began the reverse thinking.

That is the hardest part though and it really is just a whole lot easier to kick the person off the computer

Personally I think he sounds just plain rude. You wouldn't be calling if you didn't need help - one of the things that any call-site agent should be able to do is respond with a smile in their voice. If they can't do that, they're in the wrong profession!

Our people are AWFUL!! They either don't know what they are talking about, or they make stuff up OR they can't explain something to save their life

Originally Posted by lunasmom

"Is the computer turned on?"
"Yes"
....

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Questions like that are what bug me about our IT dept. A while back, I had a problem with my computer refusing to start up, it would just have a flashing orange light and never actually boot up, I reset it a few times, tried a different socket, checked all the cables etc and told him this when I called. He says to me 'ok, first,I need you to make sure the power bar is switched on', umm how do you think the orange light is coming on? After him going through everything I had already done and me doing it while I am on the phone with him, he tells me, 'well I can't log onto your computer because it says its is not powered up'. OK lets start from the beginning, the computer will not boot up (they are right above my office, just a 1 min walk down stairs he could have sorted this a lot quicker by listening and just coming down). Anyway, eventually he says he will send a tech down, who walks in, says yeah the machines have this problem and the power packs have been recalled, replaced the power pack and now it works fine... why can't they speak to each other and tell the phone guys this?

I joke with the guys at the helpdesk. Normally when I call them it is a programing problem and not anything that I did. They are good spirited guys and are normally glad to have someone not critical of them to talk to. Somtimes it's nice to talk to them just to lighten up the day.

We have one helpdesk guy that is great. He's always really friendly and easy to understand. The other 2 guys I've dealt with have very thick Indian accents that can be hard to understand.

I wish we HAD a helpdesk! I work for a small charity as 1 of 2 part-time staff, and I haven't had a network connection since early August! I can't fix it myself and there's no-one else to do it, and we don't have the money to pay someone to fix it. I can't even print stuff from my work computer. We are trying to find someone to come in and fix it on a voluntary basis. I am not holding my breath

Originally Posted by Epona

I wish we HAD a helpdesk! I work for a small charity as 1 of 2 part-time staff, and I haven't had a network connection since early August! I can't fix it myself and there's no-one else to do it, and we don't have the money to pay someone to fix it. I can't even print stuff from my work computer. We are trying to find someone to come in and fix it on a voluntary basis. I am not holding my breath

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Yikes! That is rough!

My problem with our IT staff is more that they want to do everything over the phone. Plus, we are a computer/clerical training facility, and it looks really bad when staff computers don't work/cant stay connected/etc.

We have what we call the "helpless" desk. It's designed to be a call center (all calls go in and are then passed on to the people who might know) but it should be a real service desk. Many times, the people answering the phone don't know hardly anything and are hired because of that. They're typically students (I work for a University) and many are turned away if they know too much.

I used to work for the ResNet (residential network) help desk as a student and we rocked. When I worked there, I knew how it felt to be treated like an idiot when calling tech support, so I made sure to try and assess the person's knowledge. My first question was always, "Is the network cable plugged in?" If they answered, "What's a network cable?" I knew I could continue with the most common problems. But if they answered where I could tell they knew what a network cable was, I could ask more difficult questions.

I think my favorite, yet typical, problem to solve was students plugging in phone cables instead of network cables. Wouldn't be so funny to me if they weren't give documentation that stated exactly what they needed, and that they could get a cable from the main desk in their residence hall for around $3.