No ma'am I cant turn that off... Tech Support |
- No ma'am I cant turn that off...
- Tycho Electric Anomaly
- "How did my contract details get on this website?".... It's a google prefill
- The tale of the automated misrouted ticket and a Tier 3 admin who (I’m convinced) can’t actually read!
- Wheeeeeeeeee
- My phone is cracked. I want you to give me a new one! Angry Customer.
- A crimping tale
- I don't know what I need but please fix it
- Standard user experience
- User thinks I can fix an ISP outage
- Working from home + language barrier = head + desk
- Overprotected Servers, or, Wait For It
- Figuring out poor application performance
| No ma'am I cant turn that off... Posted: 06 May 2020 07:33 PM PDT I work as a printer technician, but specifically on connecting customers to a printer or help set them on to scan to email. This customer recently had their email server compromised and needed to update their password in their copier so they could scan to email. Basically, I asked if I could remote into her computer so i could do it from her computer (so someone wouldn't have to head over, changing this call from $45 to $100 for milage). The website was being blocked by her IT. Well not much I cam do but she asks me If I can disable it or tell her how to disable it. I know I can't and wont do that without their ITs permission so I ask if she can call her IT to get it approved. She responds with "Are you sure you dont know anyways to disable the security on my computer? If you were with another customer and they had a popup blocker you would have no way to turn it off?" At this point I feel I can tell how their email server was compromised, but ignoring that, I responded with "There is no way I am able to disable the security on her computer without ITs permission" She sighed and finally called IT, and they let me remote in and out took 10 minutes to actually fix the problem. Hopefully I wont have to deal with them again for the next week or so... [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 May 2020 11:23 PM PDT Thirty-nine years ago I did telephone tech support for a computer hardware company in San Diego. (Never did on-site visits except for one odd situation that I'll post about another day.) We made controller boards to connect minicomputers to printers. I was learning on the job do I kept a detailed card file of each user's symptoms and ultimate resolution, so that over time I evolved a paper database of problems mated with solutions. One of our customers called me because their board had arrived and a physical inspection revealed damage. I asked what kind of damage. He explained it looked like one of the components exploded. Now that board was working the last time I saw it, so something must have happened in transit. We sent him a replacement and he shipped the damaged board back. Customer was happy. But we were still out the cost of a new board, around $1500 if I recall. When the damaged board arrived it looked like a crater on the moon. The component that exploded was a large capacitor. Almost nothing was left of it. Burn marks covered most of the board radiating out from the capacitor's location. We had to badger the shipper for a few days before they admitted that the delivery truck was struck by lightning. The driver was unharmed so they assumed the cargo was okay too. We filed a claim and got reimbursed. As for the board, the director of manufacturing hung it on the wall of the factory. Every time he gave a tour he told the story. [link] [comments]  |
| "How did my contract details get on this website?".... It's a google prefill Posted: 07 May 2020 01:06 AM PDT So I am the youngest person at my work and somehow I have become the tech support skivvy because I have basic computer skills and everyone else seems to be afraid of technology. It's super weird and frustrating, but I try to be as helpful as possible. This morning I get sent a photo of a web page with this message from B: "Hey DarlazMIRS, I logged into random sales site this morning and this product belongs to XYZ Sales person. Yet I see my personal contact details are listed on the site. Do you know why that is?" I look at the photo and see that the item is listed for sale with the contact details of the seller on it. Below it is a "Contact Me!" request form, one where you submit your details and the seller calls you back. This is filled with the persons personal information. So just from looking at this, I can't see an issue. I call the person up to try help. "Hey there B! I dont understand what the issue is with your question." "DarlazMIRS! Thank god. So I'm looking at this site and for some reason my contract details are listed as the seller. But I'm not selling this product!" "But you aren't listed as the seller..." "No. Have a look at my photo. All my details are there." "Okay.... have you bought something off this site before?" He pauses. "Yeah." "Okay. So Google saved you information and has prefilled the form for you to contact the seller directly." "Really?" He thinks about it. "Google can do that?" And on that magical day, people learned something new about the internet. TL:DR Google prefilled in some personal information on a sales site contact request form; now person is worried they will be contacted for the product that is on sale. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 May 2020 09:29 PM PDT Apr 24: customer submits proper form for waiver in ticket submission application and ticket handling application misroutes it ---jump to TODAY--- Customer calls: got am ETA? Me: not even an assignee, but I'll reach out Me: Reaches out to only person online in the queue the ticket is assigned to Guy assigned that queue: nope, why are you asking me about this, send it to OS Security Team Me: Reaches out to OS Security person who does this Guy who does this: I'm busy talk to my second Me: Reaches out to Second Second: are you wanting to submit a waiver? Me: the customer did, they submitted the form in the ticket submission application Second: I need them to submit the form in the ticket submission application Me: they did wonders if Second can read Second: I need them to go and attach the doc that the form had them create Me: They did, can't you see it? realizes that Second hasn't actually looked at the ticket and is simply assuming the customer did it wrong Second: Logs Off ---end shift hits—- Me: yells to manager in other room can I tell Second to pull his head out of his ass? ends yelling Manager: laughs No, I wish Me: leaves and goes the fuck home without waiting on the response from Second (I did tell my oncoming shift about it, but I was done with today by this point after dealing with/fixing another stupid coworkers laziness/mistakes...) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 May 2020 06:44 AM PDT I know CD-ROM cupholders have jumped the shark. But that's OK - this is a CD-ROM story, but it's not a cup holder story. One fine day a few jobs back, I'd finished one customer PC so it was time to get the next one off the queue. The attached paperwork had some vague comment about a CD fault. I plugged the box in, fired it up, shoved a test CD in it and started trying it out. And found no fault. OK, I'll try another. Slapped the eject button and ... ... the tray opened. With the CD spinning very very fast. Fast enough in fact that, presumably with a bit of help from being slightly warped, or maybe not I'm not a physicist, it rose about a centimetre off the tray and hovered there for two or three seconds. Well I'd sure reproduced the fault now! But it boggles the mind that the customer (or perhaps the service counter) hadn't found the fault remarkable enough to say explicitly what it was. [link] [comments]  |
| My phone is cracked. I want you to give me a new one! Angry Customer. Posted: 06 May 2020 06:17 PM PDT Hello, I use to work tech support at a large retail company. The company was great, fun and at the time i was more hands on when it came to computers but also supported phones. A customer who seems to be doing very well in the world and said was a very important business man from the middle east. You know, expensive looking suit with a diamond watch and multiple rings. He had damaged his phone and wanted to get it replaced and transfer all data before his important meeting the same day (in about an hour). Rewording it, the companies policy is if we can fix it we will. Due to shortages of the product and wouldn't want to run out for those who have no other choice but to replace it. If we can't fix it, we would gladly replace. We have a coded system that can only be bypassed by a managers code to replace a device for any serious purpose if there is no other option. Here's the encounter. Me: Good morning what seems to be the problem sir? Customer: Hey i have a cracked display. I dropped it this morning when getting ready for work. I'd like a new one and have everything (512GB worth) transferred before my meeting in an hour. (It's 11am and he wants it fixed by 12. Take note of the time.) Me: Thats unfortunate but we'd be happy to replace the display for you and have it done by 12pm (Because we can fix it). Also from our database, it shows you have the extended warranty plan. The display will be replaced for $30. (without warranty its around $300 extra) Customer: Did you not hear me? I want it REPLACED. Hurry up i have a meeting that i CAN NOT miss. When he raised his voice a little, i noticed other customers and techs at our table watching our encounter. Me: Absolutely sir. I understand you'd like to have your phone replaced, but if it is not repairable we'd be happy to.. He cuts me off and answers a call from a second phone he has. He then shoo's me away for a while. I help out a couple more customers but keep an eye on him. Half an hour goes by and he's still on the phone. After i finish with an appointment, i return to his table. Perfect timing as he ended his call. its now around 11:35. Me: Hello sir, is everything alright? Customer: No i want a new phone right now. Me: Sir our policy cannot simply replace the device if it's just the display that needs to be fixed. You would only be charged $30. Unfortunately because of the delay (his phone call), it may not be done till 12:30. We can also hold onto the device for you while you're in your meeting, and can pick it up once your meeting is over. Would this work for you? Customer: You're not listening. I don't want it fixed. I want it replaced. I don't care how much the screen cost. Why is this hard for you to understand? As he tapped the table loud enough for everyone at our table can hear. I thought if i added an example with something, it would get my point across. Me: I understand completely sir. Please tell me in your opinion. If a window in you car is shattered but the rest of the car is in mint condition, would you spend a little to get the screen fixed or purchase a new car. Customer: This is a stupid question. I'd buy a "better" car. I looked at a customer to the left of him and she was shaking her head in disappointment. Me: Sir i have also tried to bypass the system and see if we can replace your device, but in the many changes i have done to your file, it only prompts to replace the display. (I answered the system truthfully) Customer: Then get me your manager, you've already wasted too much of my time. Me: Yes sir, please hold on a moment. It's about 15 minutes before his "Important meeting". I find one of the managers in the field and explain the situation. He asked if i told him the company policy and how the system works. I said i did but he does not approve this option. I walk one of the managers to the customer. Some customers while their appointment are done, stay to see what happens next. Me: Hello sir thank you for your patients. This is (Manager1) Manager1: Hello, my worker has informed me that you'd like your phone to be replaced. Customer: Yes i don't understand why he cannot simply do this. I don't care how much it costs. Manager1: I understand, but due to the condition of the device, it does not qualify to have a full unit replaced. As (OP) stated, we can replace the screen for you and with your warranty, it would be no more than $30. As manager1 tries to explain how the company system works. He cuts off my manager grabs his broken phone and slammed it do the floor screaming Customer: I want my new phone and i want it now!! As a loud slam hits the floor, the entire store goes silent. (This was the first time the store was so quiet with a large amount of people in it. This was in a Mall too). While the store was quiet, another manager who's not afraid to speak his mind screamed out. Manager2: Nothing to see here folks please carry on. As the sound began to rise again, i looked down at the phone and noticed it was faced down. On the same side that was damaged. I picked up the device and did a cosmetic check to make sure there was no other damage. Surprisingly nothing was damaged other than the display. Now chips of glass was coming off. I thought to myself, this was surprising as he slammed the phone to the ground in anger. I told my manager that it is still in good condition and surprisingly functioning. Manager1: Sir i must worn you, if you continue to damage the phone, i would have to ask you to leave. Its now 11:55am Customer: I'm not going anywhere, i want my new phone. The customer earlier that was still there with the expression on her face "This man can't be serious". My manager pulled me to the side and said Manager1: I'll take care of this, try to help one more customer then go onto lunch. I help one more customer and head to lunch at 12pm. As im walking out the store, i see my manager talking with the customer. He should be at his meeting by now. I get off my lunch an hour later. The customer's still arguing. This time, manager 1 and 2 are speaking with him but i continue to help other customers. When i see him walking out of the store its now 1:20pm. He's over an hour late for that important meeting. My manager pulls me aside to speak to me. Manager1: (OP) don't let this one customer get to you. You've done nothing wrong and things are fine now. Me: So what was the solution we were able to do for him? Manager1: He decided to have the display replaced for $30 and will pick it up in an hour. The man comes back two hours after we called informing his phone is fixed and ready to pick up. I watch as he took his phone and walked out of the store. Unfortunately the random survey we give out made it to him so he gave me a review. Customer: "Worst experience i've ever had im my life. (OP) Refused to give me a new phone after i told him several times i need it replaced before my important meeting. He kept me in the store longer than i needed to be. He even dropped my phone to the ground and said it was an accident! He was the rudest worker at the store and i will never purchase another device from this company again. 1 star!" My manager informed the other managers who reviewed the survey that the customer was at fault the entire time. I handled the device with care as i did not want to cut myself from the shattered glass He came back a month later and purchased the new phone when it was released. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 May 2020 06:14 PM PDT A little background. I work for an ISP. One of my relatives previously worked for an ISP, for the purpose of the story he'll be Jay. I'm off work sick and trying to rest. Jay and I get a group text message from a mutual friend, we'll call her Ann, randomly asking us about our family. It is out of the blue, but not out of the norm with her. Jay and I both reply to her each giving a brief update. What is out of the blue is what happened next.
Unfortunately for me Jay knows exactly what happened the first time that I tried to crimp an ethernet cable because he was there for most of my frustrations with threading it. Jay also knows I'm sick. I give Jay the bird in my head as I push myself out of bed to go rummage through my tool table.
By this point I've got my crimping tool out and am squeezing it while contemplating finding an old cable to mangle. I get her call.
Ann puts her husband on the phone. He starts describing what they are trying to do. They have a competitor to my employer, but this isn't the first friend that's had me troubleshooting this company before. While the other company runs things a bit different, I start suspecting that Kyle is describing to me their D Mark location. At this point I am sitting at my desk chair that I use for work at home with pretty much the same look on my face I sometimes have while working.
A few minutes later he reads off the model. I run a quick search since its not an approved device for my employer.
I get the router model and confirm it is a gaming router.
I put my crimping tool away and head back to bed. An agent for a competitor owes me and they don't even know it. TLDR: Friend wants me to convert a rj11 coming from their d mark to a rj45 to run their new router that they bought to replace their modem. [link] [comments]  |
| I don't know what I need but please fix it Posted: 06 May 2020 02:51 PM PDT Ticket: User states they cannot print to their cube printer (user is WFH but HR, so I'm thinking they might go into the office as needed). Me: Hi User, still having printer issues? User: yes Me: Ok what seems to be the problem? User: normally I print while I WFH and then when I get into the office it just prints all my stuff, but now I can't see my cube printer. Me: (thinking about her print queue loading up) Ok, do you have a date you are returning to office or just once this is all over? User: Once it's all over. Me: so your plan is to just print to your cube printer until and let them stack up until the return to office order is given? User: yes, why? Me: (screams internally) I'll address that in a moment. What's your printer name? User: I don't know Me: ...ok, is it this one that is further down the selection list? User: no Me: Ok, here's a list of every printer in the building and their names (uniform name scheme so if she sees hers she should recognize it). Do you see the one you use? User: IDK Me: ...... User: It's in my cube, can you go look Me: I am aware of that. I am not in the office, do you know the name of it? User: no [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 May 2020 01:54 PM PDT Small-town tech support story again. Over the course of my business I had a lot of people with issues with HP printers. They... just wouldn't install. Oh, if you download the software from HP it works but Windows was robust enough to just install what you needed for everything EXCEPT HP printers. But the problem is that users are... users, and don't know the nuances of going to the manufacturer's websites to download the latest software. So, it got to the point where I told any user who called about them to not get one from HP. User: I need to get a printer. Which one should I get? Me: I recommend Canon, Brother, Epson, basically anything but an HP. (Note that I've had all of these brands over the years with little to no issues getting them set up.) User: What about HP?Me: I don't recommend it. I've had other users with issues getting them set up. User: So, a Canon...? Me: Or Brother or Epson or anything except an HP. User: Got it. Thanks. Fast forward one week. User: I'm having trouble setting up this new printer I bought. I plug it in but the computer won't recognize it. Me: What kind did you get. User: An HP blah blah. Me:... Me: And what did I tell you last week? (It's nice owning your own tech support because you can't get in trouble for saying stuff like this to users) User: Not to get an HP? Me: Right. Okay, I'll be by in about 20 minutes. Edited for formatting because I'm still getting used to this. [link] [comments]  |
| User thinks I can fix an ISP outage Posted: 06 May 2020 07:14 AM PDT I work internal IT for an independent appraiser. Employees have been working from home for the current apocalypse but I still have to come into the office. The user put in a ticket saying she was unable to connect to her computer in the office so I called her. Me = Me User = User Me: Hello this is Me from IT. I saw your ticket, can you explain a bit more? User: I'm trying to connect in and when I hit connect on the VPN, it gives me an error and then remote desktop says I can't connect. Me: Ok, well I am unable to see your computer in TeamViewer, does your network icon in the bottom left say connected? User: Yes but it says no internet access. Me: Do you have any other devices on your home network? If so, please try opening the internet on one of those devices. User: My phone is on my wifi and it says no internet access when I open the internet. Me: Ok, your ISP is likely having an outage in your area. User: Ok well how are we going fix it. Do I need to reboot my computer? Do I need to bring my computer in? Me: I can't do anything, it's your ISP that's having an outage. You just need to wait. User: But I have work to do. How long will it take for you to fix this? Me: I can't fix anything, this is an issue with your ISP. We have nothing to do with them. User: But I have work to do. Can you let me know when it gets fixed? Me: head becomes acquainted with desk I will look into this and leave the ticket open. I will only know it's truly fixed when you are able to connect so let me know when you're able to connect. I would say try in about an hour. User: Wonderful, thank you so much for looking into this, I'll let you know when I'm able to connect. Hangs Up Me: Says outloud Did she really think I could fix an ISP outage? Edit: A good few people are saying that she might not have known what an ISP is, I said to her ISP and then said out Internet Service Provider and asked if she has Verizon or Cox (didn't add it into the story as I figured it was irrelevant, she has Cox by the way) and insisted there was nothing I could do so I just did the whole I'll look into it when in reality, I put the phone down and started playing RuneScape. [link] [comments]  |
| Working from home + language barrier = head + desk Posted: 06 May 2020 08:25 AM PDT Someone needed to change their password while working remotely. They are pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del like normal, but that is trying to change the password on their home computer. $Me: "OK, instead of Ctrl-Alt-Del, when in Remote Desktop press Ctrl-Alt-End" $User: "It's still not working" $Me: "Let me remote into your computer to take a look. Here's the address you need to go to" "No, don't search for it, put it in the address bar" "No, you don't need to Google it. You need to put it in the address bar at the top of the screen" ~20 minutes later I manage to walk them through going to a website, putting in a session number, and starting the session. After each time I told them to do something there was a plethora of mumbling half sentences without any indication if they were able to do it or what the problem was before actually responding to me. $Me: "I'm connected now." I press Ctrl-Alt-End. Click change password. They put in their old and new passwords. It works. It was a challenge to remain calm during that. I am not really mad at them though, part of the issue was that English isn't their first language, and they were being very patient with me as well. Doesn't make it any less frustrating to deal with, but it's the difference between being frustrated with them and frustrated at the situation. But still, it's 2020. How do you not know how to go to a website? [link] [comments]  |
| Overprotected Servers, or, Wait For It Posted: 06 May 2020 08:03 AM PDT As part of my continuing efforts to drag my business unit, kicking and screaming, into the modern era, I finally convinced them to let me upgrade the non-prod DB servers to RHEL 6. Since they don't want to take any kind of real outage, this means creating a brand new 4 node cluster. I got the servers racked, cabled, and installed. Part of the cabling process is to have the network team provision the ports on the switch. A pair of links for public access, a pair of links for cluster heartbeat, and a pair of 10GbE links for storage. Network team provisions them as virtual port channel groups and puts them on the appropriate VLANs. DBA team does their part by installing and configuring RAC. Everything is setup and ready. Until the app team complains that they are able to connect directly to the DB cluster. All DB servers are supposed to be protected by the layer 2 firewall, which restricts access to ONLY app servers. The solution is pretty simple: the ports just need to be moved to a slightly different VLAN that's behind the layer 2 firewall. The subnet stays the same. I don't have to do anything. Network contacts me to let me know that the servers aren't responding. I hop on the console and can't ping the default gateway. mii reports that both links in the bonded pair are up, though. Network asks what kind of bonding it's configured for. Round-robin load balance. He asks that I switch it to LACP, so I change the mode to 802.3ad and bounce the interface. Network reports that the links aren't joining the port channel. Curious. Investigation reveals this to be a bug on Cisco's part. I switch back to round robin, and the link now functions. I can login to each server over its public interface. Except we're not done. Network can't hit the TNS listener. I check, and the port is listening on the SCANVIP, not the public interface. For those unfamiliar with the way HA systems work, here's a brief overview. Each node has an IP address that's always there. The cluster also has a SCANVIP address that can move from node to node in case of failure. The cluster software controls it, and it is bound as an IP alias on the network interface. Each service in the cluster has its own SCANVIP. We have 3 services, so one node doesn't have a SCANVIP...it's the hot standby. I can't get to the SCANVIP from my management host. Management system is supposed to be allowed on the firewall. A quick check reveals that when I bounced the network interface, the cluster saw this as a failure and MOVED THE SCANVIPS. I basically shuffled the services when I bounced everything. The first SCANVIP miraculously starts working. I can't get to the other 2. I jump on the node that owns the second SCANVIP and it's up. The listener is up and listening. For shits and giggles, I ping from the SCANVIP to the management system. No response. I ping the gateway. No response. I ask network. "ICMP is blocked by the layer 2 firewall." And that's when it clicks. You see, the IP address moves, but the nodes' MAC address stays the same. So if I want to send a packet to SCANVIP number 1 on node 2, I look at my ARP table to see what MAC address is associated with that IP, and send a frame to that MAC. If the destination is on a different subnet, I send the frame to my router, and the packet makes its way to the router for that subnet. That router then uses its own ARP table to figure out where to send the frame. If the VIP moves, though, the ARP table contains stale information. Frames will go to the wrong node, where they will be discarded since the IP address isn't right. To fix this, HA systems will ping the gateway from the VIP to refresh the ARP table. Except the firewall blocks ICMP packets. SO the ping never goes through. And the ARP cache remains stale. After the cache TTL expires, the table gets the new MAC address, and now packets get sent to the VIP correctly. I tell network to enable ICMP. He can't without InfoSec approval. Which means that if we have a node failure, the DB will stop working until the ARP entries on the router expire. At least it's not production! TL;DR - In an effort to protect the database server from unauthorized access, InfoSec policies have ensured that failover will take much longer than it should. [link] [comments]  |
| Figuring out poor application performance Posted: 06 May 2020 06:51 AM PDT This happened years ago and English is not my first language. I worked for a telecom billing system, the application would process 10k records per second, it had an insane performance. Over a time span of 1 year, all went fine, then over 3 months, the performance degraded like hell... less than 2k per second. I kid you not, me and my colleague worked non-stop for a week, bugging everyone in the company to help us on this and we were called to be at the customer 24/7 until it was solved, due to the sales team had a huge sale on the way and they did not want to look bad :disappointed: A war room was going on with 7 people from the customer... DBA, analyst, infrastructure, manager, Director knocking on the door every hour, the whole show... On the 7th day, almost 2 am.... my soul was escaping my body - suddenly the guy from Infrastructure went white as a ghost, picks up the phone, starts whispering and leaves the room. He comes back with his manager and tells us the nice story. The disks that were assigned for the application were changed due to some nice deal they had with the disk provider, then they told us that the disks assigned were some lame SCSI disks. They migrated to a set of SSD disks and the application started processing the same thing as the first day it was installed. TL:DR: Application support with no-fault, due to corporate greediness, but bashed anyway. [link] [comments]  |
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