Originally published at: https://quickbox.io/blog/stories-from-a-technical-support-adviser-part-1/
In real life, I work as a Technical Support Adviser for a major UK retailer supporting customers with their computers, laptops, mobile phones (cell phones for you Americans) and other technology items. I advise on how to use these products, what might have gone wrong, and how to get them fixed.
The work I do falls essentially into 2 types of categories. One of which is that the customer’s have got a genuine fault with their devices, and the other is user knowledge. User knowledge is hardest type of call you can take because the person you’re speaking with doesn’t know anything about the device.
A classic example of this type of call would be the follow.
A customer calls through after 3 days of owning their brand new MacBook Pro claiming that it is faulty and not fit for purpose. The customer was demanding me to refund his laptop because he couldn’t get it working. He was trying to install Microsoft Office onto his MacBook and it wouldn’t install.
The solution was to enable both 3rd party and Mac Store apps to be installed in the Security settings of the MacBook which resolved the issue. However, the call gets interesting.
The customer wanted us upset, angry and disheartened that we as a retailer don’t advertise on our website all of the applications, software and more that is supported by MacOS. Can you see a problem with that?
So I advised the customer this;
It is not down to the retailer to provide a list of over 100,000+ pieces of software that could be available on the MacBook and provide that list on our website. When purchasing any product, the earnest is on the customer to do their research about what they are going to be using their product for, and matching that to the computer.
In addition, it is not our responsibility if you are using a brand new platform or a brand new operating system to provide you with training and guidance on how to use it. You don’t go to a car showroom to buy a car and expect the salesperson to tell you how to drive.
What made this whole call even more funny, was that they turned around and told me that they work in IT. Yes. IT. As in Information Technology. As in, he was an IT Manager who doesn’t know how to use a MacBook and expects me to tell him what to do.
What do you think of this? I’ve got more stories to tell so keep an eye out on our blog for more funny stories like this!