3 ms·

the blog is full of other ways to trick your support cases while not showing at all you deem yourself superior https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040

by breppp 10mo ago

the blog is full of other ways to trick your support cases while not showing at all you deem yourself superior https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040303-00/?p=40423 https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040303-00/?p=40...

ErroneousBosh 10mo ago
When I worked for an IBM helpdesk looking after point-of-sale systems, we used to ask them to check if the power cable had a black or a blue bit of plastic surrounding the pins. "It's black? Okay, it's not that then, I was hoping it would be easy. Right, plug it back in again and... oh it's working now? Cool, ring me back if there's anything else then!"
- jonway 10mo ago
  This is really brilliant. Once thing I've noticed whe dealing with support cases in a variety of industry is, while there are different types of customer needs/comlaints (ex. a customer who is afraid of losing their warranty service via chicanery versus a customer who is dissatisfied with the results of the warranty service) customers sometimes really need to first feel like they are being heard. Sometimes the emotional response of a person is literally "Can i speak to your manager?". It comes off rude, and it sure and shit is rude, but maybe they need to feel acknowledged, like maybe someone farther down the line was a jerk to them and they just feel blown off, or could just be a bad day. You sometimes do indeed need to perform emotional labor in order to achieve the best customer service. I like this approach because it acknowledges the customer intrinsically and they feel like the maze has ended. The process has now become pro-active: There is light at the end of the tunnel. This is not easy to bang out @work 9-5!
zahlman 10mo ago
> Corollary: Instead of asking “Are you sure it’s turned on?”, ask them to turn it off and back on. This is a two-for-one: sometimes it is turned on, and sometimes restarting it actually does resolve the problem (at least temporarily) anyway.
- em-bee 10mo ago
  https://youtu.be/5UT8RkSmN4k https://youtu.be/5UT8RkSmN4k
DerArzt 10mo ago
Dang that way of helping folks fix their problems without loosing face is such a cool approach!

by breppp 10mo ago

ErroneousBosh 10mo ago

When I worked for an IBM helpdesk looking after point-of-sale systems, we used to ask them to check if the power cable had a black or a blue bit of plastic surrounding the pins. "It's black? Okay, it's not that then, I was hoping it would be easy. Right, plug it back in again and... oh it's working now? Cool, ring me back if there's anything else then!"

jonway 10mo ago
This is really brilliant. Once thing I've noticed whe dealing with support cases in a variety of industry is, while there are different types of customer needs/comlaints (ex. a customer who is afraid of losing their warranty service via chicanery versus a customer who is dissatisfied with the results of the warranty service) customers sometimes really need to first feel like they are being heard. Sometimes the emotional response of a person is literally "Can i speak to your manager?". It comes off rude, and it sure and shit is rude, but maybe they need to feel acknowledged, like maybe someone farther down the line was a jerk to them and they just feel blown off, or could just be a bad day. You sometimes do indeed need to perform emotional labor in order to achieve the best customer service. I like this approach because it acknowledges the customer intrinsically and they feel like the maze has ended. The process has now become pro-active: There is light at the end of the tunnel. This is not easy to bang out @work 9-5!

zahlman 10mo ago

> Corollary: Instead of asking “Are you sure it’s turned on?”, ask them to turn it off and back on. This is a two-for-one: sometimes it is turned on, and sometimes restarting it actually does resolve the problem (at least temporarily) anyway.

em-bee 10mo ago
https://youtu.be/5UT8RkSmN4k https://youtu.be/5UT8RkSmN4k

DerArzt 10mo ago

Dang that way of helping folks fix their problems without loosing face is such a cool approach!