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View Full Version : Got stuck into the xtra helpdesk guy today



bradc
03-03-2008, 07:15 AM
Went out onsite with the complaint of the internet not working.

Logged into the router which was saying the line was training, then up, then down, and then training again.

Called xtra and spoke to a person who shall we say just might come from India and couldn't speak english. I informed him of the problem, that the adsl light wasn't on at all on the router, and that the log was saying training, up, down, etc. Also that I had tried another router and disconnected everything else from the phone line.

After going through all the usual account number and name on the bill crap, his first question to me was:

What colour cable are you using?

My answer: uhhhh what? -- to give the non-techies an idea, this is like calling a mechanic and saying your tyre is flat, and the mechanic asks you what colour are your spark plug leads?

So he repeated again, what colour cable are you using?

This time I was 100% sure that he had infact asked me this rediculous question, so I responded, how the hell should I know?

He asked if I was using wireless or wired, and I said that I can't see how that can possibly make a difference because I'm logged into the router and can see that the router is connecting and then failing.

He insisted that it was important and asked me to have a look around for the cable if there was one and tell him what colour it was. So I told him it was Trigger Mauve with (and pitslayer will like this) turquoise coloured stripes. He said that was fine and wanted to know if I was using a desktop or a laptop.

I again asked him how this was relevant (again going back to my earlier example with a flat tyre, imagine the mechanic's response being is it a station wagon or a coupe?)

He said that it was very important that he had all the details and insisted I tell him. So I said both, and that I was in front of both of them at the moment and neither of them were working.

I spent the next 15 minutes answering questions such as if there was a virus on the computer, if I could restart the router and the machines, then the machines before the router, what OS was being used, etc before (after 30 minutes) I finally said:

Look FFS you're wasting my time here, I realise you're only clever enough to barely speak english and read off a flow chart, but I'm smarter than you and I'm sick of this crap, the problem is nothing to do with the computers and it is simply to do with the Router connecting to your exchange and that I would like his name and be forwarded onto the supervisor.

Spoke to the supervisor, got told the exchange was playing up and will be sorted in the next two hours , and spent less than 5 minutes on the phone with him :)

And sure enough, it was back up later that day :)


STUPID CALL CENTRE WORKERS

Subaru ETA
03-03-2008, 07:23 AM
lol yeah i hate talking to them aye. even tho im a mechanic i have a piece of paper saying i have a diploma in IT. i have had arguments like this before and just hung up.

once i even got my mates dad to ring them up and he kept on telling him he didnt know what he was talking. the help desk guy told him that he know more than he did!! my mates dad said "well really...im the senior network acrhitetc for Gen-i and i developed you bloody network you are working on right now"

hahah that was funny

Paul Beazer
03-03-2008, 01:56 PM
I had the same sort of crap when trying to report a line fault for my mum. Things i deal with faults as part of my job. This poor sod is asking me all these question and im trying to tell him i've done EVERYTHING, its the line is down and he wouldnt shut up until i'd answered all his poxy Qs.
I kind of feel sorry for them, as they work from a script with NO deviations allowed from it, they get paid a pittance too.

Bal
03-03-2008, 02:18 PM
all sounds familiar. i had this when BT were trying to install broadband at my home. it took them three months even though straight away i said it's a problem with the exchange. explained to the guy im a network engineer so i know what im talking about but still had to try the 2 different routers they sent me plus the varioius engineers to check my line.