How to get technical support without spending hours on the phone
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Sunday, May 3, 2020.
Sometimes it's fun to argue with support. Sometimes you just need to short-circuit the idiot script to get through to the person who can fix the problem.Them: Hello, my name is Phil, how can I help you today?
You: My DSL connection is slow.
Them: Okay, I can help you with that, have you...
You: My first thought was that the Linksys router that's been working perfectly for five years has gone wrong. So I connected my computer directly to your off-brand modem with the same result. I then thought that the problem must be with the computer, so I reinstalled it from the manufacturer discs and rebooted about seven times.
Them: Let me connect you to my supervisor...
Them: Tap, tap, tap, oh, we seem to have switched your service back to the basic package. Tap, tap, tap, fixed.
I think it's time for CAPTGUAs or Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Geeks and Users Apart. A quick puzzle or two that bypasses the first couple of levels of support.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: How to get technical support without spending hours on the phone #etc #support How to bypass the first few levels of tech support and talk to someone who can actually help you. )
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