"Please help me with this very, very, very high priority request." Tech Support |
- "Please help me with this very, very, very high priority request."
- The customer threatened to write a bad Google review!!
- The Ritual
- You want to plug it in where?
- I'm having one of those days, guys...
- Favorite ticket this year
- New Hire New Laptop Request Post Haste!
- "There was a Windows update and now I can't log in to my computer anymore."
- Your PC repair broke my Xbox Live and other things
- ThinkPad HDD0 Error
- How to deal with “My Computer Won’t Turn On!”
| "Please help me with this very, very, very high priority request." Posted: 11 Sep 2018 11:04 AM PDT This story is about a "productivity manager" at my workplace. Let's call him Larry. JUNE: Larry tells me about a "very high priority report" that he needs from me. We get this type of request a bunch so I sent him a form he needs to fill out, as well as instructions on how to complete the form. JULY: After no word for a month, Larry requests a meeting with me in July so I can teach him how to fill out this form. I meet with him for an hour and literally fill out a sample form for him to look at. I don't hear from Larry for the rest of the month, despite following up twice. AUGUST: Larry asks me about the status of the report. I tell him I haven't considered starting because I don't have his forms, so I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT HE WANTS. Larry claims I never sent him any forms. I reforward him the original email from June. I reattach the form and instructions. SEPTEMBER: Larry called me today asking if he could meet with me tomorrow so I could teach him how to fill out the form. He wants to meet as soon as possible because this is a "very high priority report." ... [link] [comments]  |
| The customer threatened to write a bad Google review!! Posted: 11 Sep 2018 07:51 PM PDT Quick background, I work at a large dealership, I am the IT manager (official title), the whole IT department (Yay me!), Inventory Manager and about 3 other titles. 90% of my IT issues are resetting passwords or teaching people how to login into Windows 10 Pro. So today, I am auditing our preowned inventory and I get a text message from one of the sales guys: "The XM radio people will not give my customer the free three months that comes with the car." I respond, " I have nothing to do with XM radio." I get back, " Don't you have like a back door password or scrambler that you can put on her car to make it work?" Then, his Manager comes in and asks the same flippin question. I respond that I have nothing to do with XM Radio. Manager does that, " but, but it is a car thing and a computer program." Line. At this point I have wasted 30 minutes of my time, so I call my boss, the owner of the company and explain the sisuation. His response, " Tell the (Sales Manager) to get out of your office, quit being a baby and help the customer or HE will be finding a new job." My boss always has my back. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Sep 2018 05:03 AM PDT I'm a developer, and had a ton of issues starting yesterday: failures to connect sockets, new crashes, and quadruple the compilation times. A SFC scan reveals corrupted files, etc etc, but after fixing that the slowdowns remain. Everybody else in the office is flummoxed. Coworkers suggest RAM tests, intel processor test, driver updates, nothing helps. Eventually I notice in the resource monitor that cpu maximum frequency is at 30%. Ah? And it seems that the event logs have some messages about the cpu been throttled. Oho? I check the power plan, the bios settings, nothing. Then I notice the computer has been completely quiet the whole time. After a gpu stress test, yep, fan is dead. Dismantling the computer and blowing air at the fan doesn't help. Eventually, I just poke it dejectedly, accidentally cutting myself and leaving a bit of blood on the fan. One last test afterwards and... it runs! Cpu maximum frequency is now at 120%! All it took to quadruple the computer's power was one drop of developer blood. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Sep 2018 04:32 PM PDT I used to work at the consumer tech support desk of a large electronics retailer. Most of the time it was just simple things like Facebook password resets and decrapifying laptops and phones, but customers would often come up and ask us about what products they needed to do a particular thing. One evening a guy comes up to the desk for help. Customer: "Hi man, I need one of those cables that goes into the vag" Me: "Sorry, pardon?" Customer: "I need one of those cables that goes into the blue vag...on my laptop?" Me: "Sorry...what is it you're trying to do?" Customer: "I need to connect my laptop's vag to my TV's vag, so I can watch the movies on my TV" Me: "Ohhhhh! You mean VGA!" I pointed him to where he could get a cable and one of the sales staff took over. I went into the back room and got the giggles out of my system and then it was on with the rest of my shift. [link] [comments]  |
| I'm having one of those days, guys... Posted: 11 Sep 2018 01:59 PM PDT Tech: Security alert received, per our KB send affected machine ID, IP address, and code from our security program to Security Team. Create ticket, include all information, directly copied and pasted from a template prior to escalating the ticket. Many of these types of alerts have been received in the past, and always escalated using this template over to the Security Team. ------------A few minutes later------------- Security Team chats to the Tech who escalated the ticket Security: We received your ticket 123456. Which machine is this affecting? Tech: It's in the ticket notes, and also it's Machine ABCDEF (copied and pasted). Tech and Security Team member are both looking at the same ticket (ticketing software lists who's looking at it). Security: OK, and what is the IP address of the machine? Tech: Copies and pastes the IP from the ticket to the chat. Security: Can you repeat the IP address? Tech: 123.456.789.012. confused, it's typed (copied and pasted), maybe it didn't send? But then why are they asking me to repeat it? Security: OK, hold on a moment. Tech: really confused...this is a chat that's occurring, with a written record literally on the screen. Copy and paste, literally what's in the chat window a few lines up and send. Security: OK, thank you. Please pull the ticket back to your team. Tech: And do what with it? Security: It's not a security team issue, please send it to the concern team. Tech: Who's the concern team? Security: (no response over 30 minutes) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Sep 2018 10:34 PM PDT We have a ton of applications that are developed in house for our end users. One day the F key apparently wasn't working on a user's computer and they didn't notice it. The following ticket ensued Submitted by $User
$Me
$dev/DBA who has developed a majority of the applications that would make this place grind to a halt if something happened to them
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| New Hire New Laptop Request Post Haste! Posted: 11 Sep 2018 09:58 AM PDT Tech: Thank you for calling XYZ Help Desk...you're calling to complain about an existing ticket? What's the ticket number? User: 987654 Tech: OK, for a new laptop request for a new hire...placed on August 31, 4:37PM, is this correct? User: Yes, and the new hire started on September 3. Do you see the problem? Tech: There's nothing further in the notes, it's marked as closed, the laptop was received by the user. User: They started on Monday the third. They didn't get the laptop until last Friday. Tech: There is a one week timeframe for a new laptop to be imaged out to a new employee. The laptop was issued on Friday, September 7, at the end of the week timeframe User: That's not good enough. I submitted on the 31st and requested it for the 3rd. Tech: It was submitted toward the end of the day on Friday... User: It doesn't matter when it was submitted. I specifically wrote in the ticket that it needed to be completed by the employee's start date of the 3rd. Tech: How can I help you? Is there a problem with the laptop now? User: I just wanted to let you guys know that this was not taken care of properly. Tech: I'll make a note of it in the ticket notes. Was there anything else I can assist you with? User: No. *click* [link] [comments]  |
| "There was a Windows update and now I can't log in to my computer anymore." Posted: 11 Sep 2018 11:34 AM PDT I'm no professional, but together, my dad (internet-guy), my brother (hardware-guy) and I (software-guy) form the go-to tech-support team for the neighborhood and extended family. I read something earlier today that reminded me of this. A few days after the last(? I think) bigger Win10 update had rolled out to my computer, I got a call from my grandma at work in the early afternoon. As soon as I greet her, she starts apologizing for calling me at work.
Hours later and after a thourough greeting from her dog, I am sitting at her desk. With a glass of ice-cold water standing between me and her laptop, I wait for the machine to boot up. After two minutes of waiting, I see the same screen my own computer had shown me a few days earlier. I grab her mouse and wiggle it a bit; cursor moves. I click on the 'agree' button. Nothing happens. I click around the screen for a bit when I see what is going on. A blue frame had appeared around the field with the license agreement text. I groan and get my phone out of my pocket.
Five minutes later, everything is as it should be, she is logged in to her computer and happy. The rest of the two hours I was at her place was spent chatting about the various happenings in the extended family. TLDR: Grandma couldn't log into her computer, because a Windows update had turned the narrator on. EDIT: For some reason, during every previous encounter with the narrator, it was blocking interactions between the mouse and the actual UI/programs. I encountered this on at least four devices, two with upgraded Windows 10 and two with clean installs. Until now, I just assumed it did that to be able to read the labels of buttons back to the user without them accidentally clicking an unwanted button. It never had occurred to me the it isn't supposed to do that... [link] [comments]  |
| Your PC repair broke my Xbox Live and other things Posted: 11 Sep 2018 04:26 AM PDT A recent XBOX story on here takes me back to a few years ago when I ran my lan gaming centre 2010 to early 2015. It's a long one but a good one... I hope. This is a story that happened over a 2-3 week period and I even kept the scrap of paper as a memento so I can treasure the list of faults I apparently caused and I have the emails saved in my inbox too. Naturally I used to do PC, laptop, phone and tech repairs on the side for extra income in my lan centre. One of my regular customers who was kind of a friend by the time of this story, he had recommended me to his sisters boyfriends dad for a PC repair. This was around the end of 2010 so we're still in the days of mass Windows XP use and most machines are now dual core with quad core being top of the range so I expect an older machine to arrive. The dad brought the PC down it turns out to be an older Intel Pentium 4 Packard Bell so around 4 to 5 years old. It wasn't booting just going to BSD nothing major turned out to be one of the ram modules, so I diagnosed there and then as dead simple swap out part would be there next day as I have no stock of ram at the moment. The guy reports the machine is running slow and things keep crashing so I suggest a system tweak too. I recommended another 512mb of ram to help with his apps and a clean up inside the case I'll give the case a nice clean to optimise temps and get rid of the dust and grime, which I'll do for free so only charging him for ram and tweak up. Obviously being a techie I mentioned with Windows 7 on the horizon as being mainstream it might be time for a new PC or upgrade soon to support Windows 7. As he was on a tight budget he says he'd start saving up but he'll bare with the older PC a bit longer. I suggested I could source 2nd hand ram if he wanted to save money but could only offer him small warranty as it was used, he agreed as it was about £15 cheaper. I always make it clear if I use 2nd hand parts but a lot of people want to save money. He was very happy and away we go I charged him for the ram, tweak up plus system updates and I leave it at that but do the case clean for free and he collects next day in the evening. PC now boots, runs a bit quicker is up to date with free anti virus and is nice and clean with fans less noisy as they are no longer caked in dust and grime I even replaced thermal paste on the cpu. Quick and easy repair so I thought couple of hours work nothing stressful. So the next day I closed for Christmas Eve and return the 2nd of January. As I ran the place on my own and only had part time staff I always took a long Christmas as most of year I'd only get away with odd days or half days off as I opened 6 days a week. This was my first year of trading so felt having run the place and set it up I needed a longer Christmas holiday with family. Upon opening my lan centre I'm greeted by several angry voice mails left from his wife saying I had ripped them off and several moan and groan emails from the dad/him claiming since I had bodged his PC loads of things had stopped working. As he was only 2 miles away from my shop I rang up and agreed to take a look at the PC for free I'll drive over once my part time helper gets in. I arrive and for some reason PC wouldn't turn on so I take it back to my shop free of charge and apologise but stress this wouldn't be a ram problem. Whilst there they moan about their internet being slow I run a speed test and suggest they ring their ISP and Google the number for BT as speed seems to be under 1mb per second they were on 8mb broadband according to their contract/letter. I ask about other problems and they explain I'll see them when I get the computer working. Upon inspection in my shop it turns out the fuse had gone in the power lead so I give them a new kettle lead free and deliver it back all good. I plug it in and make sure it's working they seem happy no more further problems. I normally have a kettle lead in the car so bit annoying but I consider my free call out good service and they are a friend of a friend. A week later he/dad returns to my shop with the PC demanding a full refund and that I undo any of the work I had done. I'm bit confused I ask why and he explains the PC kept turning off or crashing so his wife took it to the PC repair store further down the high street as I am closed on Mondays. The other computer shop have replaced the power supply and have done a few other bits. I explain then its nothing to do with the ram and more than likely age related or down to the fact they had let dust and grime gather in the psu which I had cleaned out previous. I explain to him/dad that the ram is fine and what I had done had in no way damaged his machine and that being a 4 year old computer parts can fail too. I tell him I gave him a free call out and most businesses close over Christmas and New Year and Monday is my day off after a busy weekend. They go on and on about how I kept them waiting and I was slow to reply which is why they decided to use the other repair place. A bit annoyed I kept my cool and explained I had done loads of repairs and they were the first complaint I had. Getting no where they decide to leave and swear they'll speak to trading standards and leave a bad Facebook review. The next day I check my lan centre inbox and the wife has sent me a massive list of things that have gone wrong since I touched their PC they need to be fixed in 7 days or they'll go to a small claims court to get money from me. Attached is an invoice they were going to charge me £70 + £10 petrol money as they had a power supply replaced and had been to another local PC retailer who had to fix the bodge job I had done "apparently". They wanted more money for lost earnings as the dad was unable to update his building company accounts and records several times because of me. I email back and ask them to come and visit my lan centre or give me a ring so we can discuss I really want to help and explain everything to them. I ask for a full list of things they assume I had broken or had gone wrong as a result of my work. I assure them I haven't caused issues but would happily assist. The wife replies saying she no longer has time to waste standing in my lan centre for me to be rude to her and that she has worked in IT a few times over the years and knows that I had tampered with their computer and everything was a result of me breaking the computer and costing them money. I had touched thing they asked me not to and I obviously didn't know as much as my website claimed. I leave it at that and decide to leave them to it no win situation. I talk to the guy who recommended me and he is happy I've done all I can and texts his sister. Next day I get a scrap of paper posted through the shop door looks like a 9 year old written it bad grammar and scribbled address and signature, and an email pops up in my inbox. List of things his wife sent me: Xbox Live not working won't connect anymore since computer repair in December Xbox games keep crashing since computer repair in December Internet speed is now very slow Company accounts spreadsheet takes ages to load and crashes a lot Computer is louder and now has a knocking sound Mouse speed is too fast Games no longer run on the computer Son/boyfriend cannot access email anymore There were now two hard drives in the computer CD/DVD drive is turned off and won't open I had wasted their time and conned them out of money for faulty parts I knew were going to break I should refund them and pay for any costs to fix the computer. So I email back as they won't answer calls and suggest they ring BT as their ISP might be able to fix the slow speed and I'm pretty sure the Xbox not connecting is related to this. I ask her to send me a video of the computer showing the CD/DVD drive not working and to include audio of the noises and show me the problems with email and games. An hour later I get back a video sent via MMS to my mobile. The first thing she shows is the CD/DVD drive being turned off. On the screen there is an empty tick box for System Restore/System Backup WTF WTF WTF I literally laughed out loud. Next she fires up Outlook and it's asking for sons password and giving the standard error. I explain about going onto webmail looking up Outlook settings and doing a password reset. On we go to the game problem...the game they are trying to run is Battlefield Bad Company 2... on a Pentium 4 with old ATI card and 768mb RAM. Naturally it takes ages to load and must be running at about 5fps. She then shows me the second hard drive which turns out to be the Windows XP install partition. Frustrated but unsurprisingly I emailed back the above with a long list of answers firstly I explain to her that this tick box is nothing to do with the CD/DVD drive and include a link to an online website explaining what System Restore/System Backup was in Windows XP. I expect many of you have worked out that the other computer repair shop had forgotten to plug the CD/DVD drive in when they changed PSU and the noise the computer was making was cables not managed and touching the cpu and case fan fins every now and then. I tell her to go back to them and say the drive is not plugged in. I finally explain to her that the computer is not good enough to run the game and I had told her husband before christmas the computer was near the end of its life. She then rings me up swearing calling me stupid because they have been able to play games on the computer in the past. She slams the phone down and I never hear from them again. Needless to say me and the friend who recommended me still laugh about this now... his sister split up with the nutjobs son shortly after. I love this story and tell everyone because I've never gotten over the fact she claimed to work in IT and had no idea what System Restore was. I took a while trying to figure out if they were stupid or trying to con extra work out of me but to this day I just don't know lol. It's the most bizarre IT support story I have and shows people are mentalists. Those wanting to know I ran my lan centre for just under 5 years had a great time I loved every minute even the 6 day weeks, long hours and all night gaming sessions. I didn't make lots of money but I had a enough money to live off and made great friends who I still ,ix with today. I'd love to do it again and I reckon in the E-Sports age would make a killing and a lot more money. I closed down because I went back into IT full time as a manager which has enabled me to get a 4 bed big house and saved my relationship with my partner of 10 years. I still do tech repairs on the side and haven't had anyone near as bad. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Sep 2018 11:14 PM PDT Hello again TFTS! Long time no see, but I've gotten my hands more dirty in the world of tech since last time, so I should have plenty of stories to share with y'all this year. Today at school I had a weird story. My friend $Pete brought in an old ThinkPad tablety laptop which was giving a weird error involving the hard drive. $Pete isn't your average user, so he knows what's going on usually with simple hardware problems, but I'm usually the goto for anything out of the ordinary. So I try some things. Can I boot into BIOS? Yes. Can I boot off the portable Linux drive I always carry? Yes. So, things seem to be working, and we keep getting this HDD error. But just before I say the drives probably dead, I noticed a plastic tab coming out the side of the laptop. Turned off. Removed drive cover. Pushed in drive. Tested. Worked. Closed cover. One and a half hours well spent. Sorry that this story was a lot less interesting than my last one, maybe my job shadow this year could be just as exciting as last year's. [link] [comments]  |
| How to deal with “My Computer Won’t Turn On!” Posted: 11 Sep 2018 12:26 PM PDT I've been working in the IT field for years now and have heard different stories from numerous people that I have met throughout the times. One of the most entertaining goes something like this: H: Helpdesk Tech C: Client H: "IT Helpdesk, how may I help you?" C: "Hi, my computer is broken and won't turn on" H: "Okay, are there any lights on your computer or on your monitor?" C: "No" H: "Alright. And if you press them to power them on, does that do anything?" C: "No" H: "... can you make sure the computer is plugged in?" C: disgusted "It's not my job to make sure my computer is plugged in" H: "Well it's not mine either so call XXX and have them fix it" Click! Note: This was posted for merely entertainment and was a story that someone told me about during my years in the industry. [link] [comments]  |
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