NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test

[Russ]

That's what I thought - the IVR advises people to try that.

[Racingdick]

ok smarty pants...
rather than continuing this thread that has run its course, how would you with your vast experience and unquestionable knoledge change things.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Racingdick

ok smarty pants...

Haven't worn trollies for about 2 years now, but I'm sure you didn't need to know that...

Originally Posted by Racingdick

rather than continuing this thread that has run its course, how would you with your vast experience and unquestionable knoledge change things.

Wow, don't you just love the ones who suck up to the admin team

For a start I'd suggest a change of attitude. Customers cannot be expected to have all the knowledge - in fact they cannot be expected to have ANY knowledge. As a TSA you should be prepared for all eventualities with regards to what they do and do not know. Yes yes it is frustrating when they don't know how to use a mouse but that's where your patience comes in to it, assuming you have any. If you find it too annoying when people don't know what an operating system is, then perhaps you're in the wrong job?

People aren't born with knowledge, neither is there any requirement on their part to learn any, although it certainly would help. What is needed is a first line of techs who, instead of getting huffy with customers who don't know what a CD-Rom is, will use simpler terms that people are more likely to understand. What we need are techs who will be honest and say "I don't know what this is, I'll pass it on to a senior tech" rather than the ones who will BS a customer by fobbing them off with a "reformat".

You are customer facing, you are representing the company. From the tone of your posts so far, you are not painting a very good picture.

Me? I don't have all the answers but I don't need to: I'm with BT tech Support now but if I had to suggest something, I'd recommend some kind of community forum run by ntl where experienced techs can give advice and tips.....



....only they tried that didn't they??

[Racingdick]

The role of tech support is evolving from what its original purpose, there is and cannot be denied more pc education being given to customers.
The number of calls to tech support of a network or modem problem are reducing. The number of calls for basic information and small pc issues is inceasing. That is due to the fact that pc's are no longer for the enthusiasts they are for the general billy no mates in the street.
The IT industry is growing and the tech support is changing. What drives the calls up is the lack of pc knoledge.

regarding the calls there is nothing worse than a call to start "ive been waiting x minutes" only for the issue to be resolved by simply making sure the usb is connected and then system rebooted.

I cant see any more being added to this thread unless Russ D wants to have the final word..

[BBKing]

You are customer facing

Not in this thread he isn't, since ntl don't pay him to participate. He's made clear in his posts that he's professional in his work - this isn't his work.

Since ntl have a large majority of non-PC literate customers it's unlikely that the call centres would work better if the tech support was geared to PC-literate customers, which unfortunately means some customers being asked to do things that they find beneath them. Better than presuming a level of knowledge that most people do not possess.

If it were the other way round, I can imagine the Watchdog story now - 'ntl expect you to have a degree in computer science before calling them'. Racingdick is speaking from his personal experience as a *current* ntl tech - I think his opinions deserve respect as they're based on fact rather than prejudice. 107 minutes on one customer is above and beyond the call of duty.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by BBKing

Racingdick is speaking from his personal experience as a *current* ntl tech

In which case he shouldn't put his experiences forward as 'fact'.

[BBKing]

Except that they are facts.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by BBKing

Except that they are facts.

I don't know, some people will argue just for the sake of arguing....

Originally Posted by Racingdick

for 30 calls there is maybe one who knows what they are doing..
FACT!

So how do you propose that the above is a fact? Has there been any independant research which has confirmed the above statistic to be true?

Please, provide me a link so I may see it.

Whereas I have 4 people on msn who work alongside Racingdick at Matrix Court and none of them have corroberated his figures. Whilst that does not prove or disprove anything, so far it surely indicates that 1-in-30 is not a fact.

[Racingdick]

and atleast one of those doesnt take front line calls..

[Russ]

OK, this is getting daft now, you don't know who I have on msn. And just for the record the 4 of them joined the same day I did and have been frontline ever since.

[Ignition]

I could mention how smug

They couldn't pay me enough to come back

Contradictive

Seeing as you cannot produce ANY evidence to back that up at all, it is just your OPINION, nothing more. One thing we can all do without is techs who think they know it all.
----------------
Ahh yes, I forgot, customers are required to have a high level of pc knowledge aren't they? Silly me, there's me thinking technical support was for people who needed, er, technical support.

and rude

Dont take my word,
---------
Don't worry, there's not much chance of that.

you are coming across as, however I think you're doing a perfectly good job yourself. Too good for ntl tech support I guess.

I did it for quite some time, not entirely enjoyable but always a variety of people calling up, and while it annoyed me having to go through the same procedure as everyone else when phoning in while a network engineer it had to be done. I put up with this because I've been there and done it, no need to be rude

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Ignition

I could mention how smug

So you didn't spot the smiley just after my comment then?

Originally Posted by Ignition

Contradictive

How?

Originally Posted by Ignition

and rude

Why should I take his word for it when I did the job myself?

Originally Posted by Ignition

Too good for ntl tech support I guess

I've NEVER said or suggested that.

Originally Posted by Ignition

I did it for quite some time, not entirely enjoyable but always a variety of people calling up,

Definately.

Originally Posted by Ignition

I put up with this because I've been there and done it, no need to be rude

Absolutely.

[Ignition]

In my experience 30 to 1 against technically minded people is probably an overestimate. Most calls will no doubt be trivial.

I'm just thinking back to the guy who was a network engineer and called into TSB because his cable modem wasn't working. Diagnosis - he hadn't switched it on. Regardless of experience we all make very silly mistakes. Sticking to process all the way through as much as possible eliminates these things. Given the choice of following this or escalating a fault to a local network engineer 'because the customer is in the IT business' then finding out it's a local PC problem think I know which I'd choose.

As the customer base of ntl evolved away from early adopters it required a change of tech support focus somewhat more towards 'hand holding' through things that technical people may regard as trivial but to your average person who thought broadband would be good for the emails, etc, are complete voodoo.

I have all the respect in the world for the TSB, I've done similar but supporting network engineers at businesses, and freely admit I don't have the patience, knowledge, skills or attitude to do their job. Hats off to those lovely people working away under at times extreme pressure, trying to remain courteous and professional in the face of someone furious because an engineer hasn't turned up or their broadband hasn't been working for days, and in turn patient with a technophobic grandmother who is just trying to figure out how to get her email working.

[Russ]

I don't doubt there are some/many odd calls in to tech support (my favourite was the guy who, when I asked him to 'right-click' on an icon, thought I meant he had to use his right hand) but that is not the point I'm making.

I take issue when someone whose job it is to be patient with customers goes on to deride their lack of knowledge elsewhere. yes of course he's posting here in his own time but why would he not make his superiors aware of his comments here? Because he'd get in trouble for it. I'm not saying techs should not post their thoughts an opinions here or anywhere else but they should then be prepared for a reaction from people who take exception to what they say.

And when they post something which they claim to be 'fact', they should be prepared to back it up. Which has not happened on this occasion and, as I see it, won't happen at all.

[Chris W]

To be honest, i prefering the teching the "technophobe grannies" because they do what you ask them to.

I remember when a woman said she didn't know much about computers so could i talk to her daughter.... yes fine i said... thing i didn't know was that her daughter was 7 years old! But despite being such a little nipper, she was fantastic.... did exactly what i asked, nothing more and nothing less, and people like this make my job easy

However, if every call was like this i wouldn't work there because it would be so boring!

The flipside are the people who think they know everything and are not prepared to listen to what you say... to give one example... one tool we have (thanks BBKing ) tells us how long the modem/ stb has been online.
Me: "Could you please reboot your modem now"
Customer: "I have just done that"
Me: Wonders why the uptime is showing 1day 3hours and 7 minutes...

My solution to this is not to argue with them about it, but just say that i need to test the line with the stb/ modem turned off... in reality it is just an excuse to make them reboot it... but they don't have to know that.... it gets done what i want

There are people who think they know everything and infact don't.... for example the other day i had an argument with someone who told me there was no relationship between ICMP traffic and ping requests.... no matter how many links i provided them they wouldn't believe me!

I think what i am trying to say is that there are a mixture of customers.... from ones who don't have an ounce of common sense, to those who may not know much technically but at least have some common sense. I think how difficult it is to tech them depends on how much sense they have, not how much technical knowledge. This applies to techs as well- there are people who know a lot more than me technically who will turn to if i am stuck, but they are not necessarily as good in the role as me.

I am not the god of all techs, i make as many mistakes as the next man (and yes i did tech someone for nearly an hour who had the ethernet cable unplugged ) and i will freely admit that. But there are some techs who have the wrong attitude and develop a superiority complex because of the job they do. It is people like this that cause the problems, not the customers.

MB