Leave the money on the counter and you better not be there when I arrive Tech Support |
- Leave the money on the counter and you better not be there when I arrive
- No Computers - Call Us
- Another Shortcut Story
| Leave the money on the counter and you better not be there when I arrive Posted: 03 Nov 2020 07:18 AM PST This customer was just rotten and add to that a server crash. Looking back, I think he was going through some tough times because 15 years later he's a decent guy. But while he was a steaming pile of poop . . . This guy owned a hotel and was cheap. I know, shocker! We should have known there was a problem when he started crossing out parts of the support contract like the part requiring him to maintain an on site backup if they don't use ours. We had a really old backup app that we installed anyway because it's better than nothing. We no longer support it and it was just there because he refused anything else. A couple years later the peak vacation season of that year is about to hit them in 2 days and the server crashes. They have no backups. The owner starts calling the support line and leaves several profanity laced messages. Then he emails sales and support demanding that we come fix his mess. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for us, he cancelled his support contract after 6 months because he considered it a waste of money. The person on call emails him to let him know that he has no support contract and doesn't use our backup service, so he'll need to contact his IT professional for assistance. This sets off a few profanity laced emails in which he insults several of us by name and the company in general for taking his money all these years but providing no help. He hadn't paid us a penny in a couple years. Our CEO gets wind of this because he likes to check in on the support mailbox from time to time and tonight was one of those nights. He tell us to let the customer know he will not be helped and that any number he calls from will be blocked because of his abusive attitude. Since I've had the most interaction with this guy and was involved in the install, I'm picked to break the good news. But I have a thought. I remember that we installed that old, unsupported and unreliable backup and maybe it's still running. I propose to the CEO that I write up a short contract stating that I will come to his hotel representing myself, not my company, which has chosen to sever ties with him. The CEO agrees to this and tells me to go for it. I write up the short contract and add a couple things.
He emails back that the money is waiting for me and asks that I be there as soon as possible. I arrive about an hour later and get to work. The server hard drive is making a clicking and grinding noise - I'm pretty sure software isn't fixing this. The guy working that night was there during the initial install and when I asked about the backup we installed, he said that it was still being run. He also said that after they added a second workstation about a year ago, he modified the backup to make a copy on that second workstation. This guy's actions saved the owner's ass. Without the backup tens of thousands of dollars in advance deposit payments would be unaccounted for. All those reservations would be gone and he'd have no way to prove who had a reservation or pre-paid without time consuming research. A nightmare for the busiest weekend of the year. Because of this employee's decision to add the second workstation to the destination list on the backup, the only lost a couple hours of work. In the end I spent about an hour there. I restored the software to the second workstation and even tried installing the server hard drive in the workstation but it was dead. I left with $500 in my hand and a customer who would later email me and thank me for coming out even tough he had "acted unprofessionally". [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2020 05:56 AM PST The thread title is an email subject line I got this morning. So I called the branch office it came from, no answer. Called every extension in the office (small office), no answer. Called the cell phone of the person who sent the message, no answer. Pulled up the security camera feed, looked at all of them huddled right by one of the phones I just called and see that the computers are in fact there. Remote into one, everything seems normal. Screenshot the camera feed, circle the PC's in red, attach the photo and reply to the email: "Looks like they came back, call me if they wander off again." 30 minutes later, no response. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Nov 2020 01:58 PM PST Desktop Shortcuts have been the bane of my existence for years. I do not understand the mental capacity of a person that can not do their job without relying on a shortcut to do the most simple tasks. So I get a ticket from a manager "Jane is having a problem connecting to the corporate server. Please give her permission. I sent her a link to the server and she can not connect." Well, first off that is not my server to administer so I would have to contact corporate to give her additional rights. Luckily the manager included the link to the folder that she was trying to access. It is something like \\CorpServer6\Production\Groups\ProductionAce\Input. So I follow the link and I immediately go to the folder. So the server is up and someone (me) is able to get into the folder so the link works. I can't edit the folder permissions but I can see them. Yep, it is wide open. Low-security risk so no problem having "Authenticated Users" with permissions, which of course includes Jane. Email back to the Manager and Jane for her to call me. With so many people still displaced by Covid, it is easier for her to call me than me chase her down. The phone rings and she explains the problem that the shortcut he emailed don't work. I remote her machine and have her show me what she is doing. She opens his email showing a path to where the folder is. She clicks and tries to drag the texts of the address path to her desktop. "Uhhhh, Jane. Why don't we go to the folder first? Do you see that the address is highlighted in blue with a line under it? Well, that means it has a live hyperlink associated with it. Just click on it." She does and the computer magically follows the hyperlink to the server and she is in. "What did you do?" "Nothing. You just clicked on the hyperlink and the computer went to the address." "Well, you make me sound dumb when you say it like that....." Me: long pause..... "Well just make a short cut on the desktop so you can get back here when you need to." Jane "How do I do that?" :::Sounds of my head slamming into my desk::: [link] [comments]  |
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