Stories from a Technical Support Adviser - Part 2

Originally published at: https://quickbox.io/blog/stories-from-a-technical-support-adviser-part-2/

Here’s another story to tell about a customer who believed that they had a faulty item when in fact, they simply didn’t know what to do.

A customer calls through who had purchased a brand new iPhone 11 Pro Max. They were really excited to have the latest flagship phone, and super excited to take some awesome photos on the phone as well.

However, this customer couldn’t make or receive phone calls and kept getting an error message popping up on the screen. So one of the first questions I asked was “What is that error message?”

Well, this is where the story gets strange. The message was “No sim card installed”.

Photo courtesy of ioshacker.com

So obviously I ask the customer have they inserted their sim card and the response that I got just blew me away.

“Of course I’ve tried to insert my sim card but the only place it will fit is in the hole at the bottom and the only thing that’ll actually fit in there is the charging cable”

Yes. That’s right. You read it correctly. The customer was trying to put their sim card, into the charging port of the iPhone expecting it to work.

So obviously I let this customer know that it is not the right place to put that sim card, and on the right hand side of the phone, they should see the sim card tray cut out with a hole big enough for a pin or something to eject the tray.

Well, this customer wasn’t prepared to put a paperclip, a drawing pin, a back of an earring into that hole because it will break the phone. It was damage it and then the customer can’t return the phone.

I advised that it is simply impossible to damage the phone by placing a paperclip into that hole to eject the sim card tray. However, this customer was adamant that I was wrong, and I didn’t know what I was doing.

Obviously as a Technical Support Adviser for over 7 years, and an avid technology enthusiast and an iPhone owner myself, of course I didn’t know what I was talking about. Of course I must be wrong because the customer called Technical Support to speak with a professional, who does this day in and day out.

This customer just was not listening. Didn’t want to actually hear what I had to say. So I told her to go to the Apple store, and ask them what to do, and if I’m wrong, then please let me know and I’ll apologise and make everyone else aware that the information we have (and know to be true) is incorrect. However, if I’m not wrong, then Apple will resolve your issue and you can see how easy it is to actually insert the sim card.

And that’s the end of that story!