By John D. Sutter
Update: GoDaddy says hackers are not to blame for the service outage.
GoDaddy, the massive Web hosting company, went down for several hours on Monday, taking an untold number of websites with it.
A person affiliated with the hacking collective Anonymous — named @AnonymousOwn3r on Twitter — claimed responsibiRead More…
Authors: Derrick Wlodarz
Building an expanding customer base is one of the utmost concerns for any growing or budding computer repair business. My Technibble articles consistently focus on the various ways to harness new business and keep it for the long term. But an unwieldy topic that comes up in every businesses’ lifespan is the quandary of not only knowing how to let go of a bad customer, but just as importantly deciding when exactly is the right time to come to such a conclusion.
Consider this an unofficial extension to the discussion I started in my previous article that targeted the how-to of firing bad customers. This topic is very fresh on my mind because my company FireLogic recently ran across a situation that required me to make the tough decision to cut ties with what was originally an exciting new customer. While I won’t get into specifics, the reasons to drop this relatively new client were getting more and more evident with each day that passed.
From a lack of client-technician trust, to unwarranted and baseless finger pointing, and temper issues that would make Donald Trump look like a saint, I had to put my foot down and call it quits. It’s very hard to say no to potential business with a straight face, but knowing when the time is right to hasten such a decision will save you a lot of aggravation and time on a growing dead-end relationship.
Going off my own experiences with the above, and similar sub-par customers, here are my top pieces of advice when it comes to dropping bad business before it bites your company’s bottom line.
If you’re building a business along the lines that you’ll take on ANY customer as long as they can pay, you’re truly setting yourself up for major bumps in the long term. In the example I used above, one of the biggest reasons I cut ties with this unnamed customer is because of the degrading lack of trust that existed on their behalf. Let me clarify – there was almost no trust in my company from the day we stepped in for the first consultation. This customer cited issues with past technicians as the basis for their lack of trust, but I truly think it was the other way around: no techs could service this customer because they were unmanageable in every regard. This should have been my first clear sign of trouble.
Back to the point, however, is that you should approach each new customer with an eye to see how it is that they view your company as soon as you walk through the door. What kind of language is the customer using in discussions about what they are looking for, and what they expect of your company? Is your expertise and professionalism being questioned right out of the gate? Is the customer acting as the true expert, merely utilizing your services for the sake of manpower rather than professional insight? These are all warning signs to a relationship that could end up in disaster, as I very well experienced just a short time ago. A good rapport going two ways is essential to a solid long term relationship between your computer repair business and your customers.
Another reason why I decided to cut ties with the aforementioned troublesome customer is because my company was being blamed for numerous IT-related issues that we had no hand in. Our services were called in to help resolve a bevy of problems that were festering until our arrival. Even after our best efforts, we still had the lower hand in a vicious blame game that was being led on by an unnamed third party provider which had a longer business relationship with the client than we ever could have had. I rightfully defended my company’s stance on the issues and our decisions on how to resolve them, but a lack of trust further tarnished our ability to stand on a professional footing through this nightmare.
This rule goes pretty simply: if you’re stuck in a blame game war, either you vs customer or in a multi-party scenario, consider it your beacon that an exit path is needed soon. The customer always considers themselves right and will continue to view you in a poor light no matter what truths you may bestow your stance in. It’s a perpetual game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and you guessed it – your company is the eternal donkey here.
Just a few weeks back I argued why trimming services that don’t make money is a good idea. One of my main points in the article was that you shouldn’t let short term profits get in the way of good decision making. There definitely is such a thing as great short term money making that leads to horrible long term repeat business. This same model stands true for customers that should ultimately be dropped for a combination of reasons – some of which may look like what I described above.
I sadly looked past my gut feeling in dealing with the above customer because of the short-sighted promise of multiple near term projects and ultimately a fervent promise of long term business. That should have been one of my first clues to trouble ahead: when a customer uses the basis of their potential future usage of your services as to why discounts and/or promised service should be given in the shorter term. These should red flags for any serious discussion with a new customer, especially business clients that are looking to bring your company in for outsourced IT support needs. Getting entrenched too far with such customers places your company in a bad position and makes it ever-so-harder to cut ties down the road.
Just as much as a customer has the right to choose your company over another, you can freely decide on who YOU want to work for too. Don’t be afraid to practice this two-way right.
I was under the misguided impression that once “all this” blew over with the aforementioned customer, we could get off to a better footing and move forward. Time and time again, I was wrong, and felt the relationship spiraling downward on each subsequent visit. In fact, I dreaded waking up on the days that we were scheduled to be onsite at this client’s location – it literally brought out the worst emotion inside. Even our best efforts couldn’t clear the veil of doubt cast upon my company, and my wishing that the situation would improve didn’t end up happening. Instead, we blew through countless hours of free support that couldn’t be billed out and we had no clear path for moving forward positively on discussed projects.
Your gut feeling shouldn’t be dismissed as mere emotion. If you feel like a relationship is endlessly heading south, it’s probably gone too far already and you’re just catching on. Count your losses, close off efforts to patch the relationship, and follow my advice on how to cleanly cut ties and go your own separate ways.
Computer repair is a service that requires an imprecise mixture of trust, communication, and responsibility which are critical pillars to solid long term relationships. When any one of the above factors fall out of tune, it’s a downhill spiral that only grows out of control, eventually leaving casualties on both sides of the field. Use best judgement when consulting with prospective new customers to save yourself the frustration and stress that comes with defusing irreparable relationships. Just because someone calls for service, this doesn’t mean you are obligated to oblige blindly. An ounce of prevention will go a long way.
What kind of experiences do you have with customers that led you to re-think a relationship? When did you know that it was time to “cut the noose” with a customer? Do you have tips for dealing with out of control situations? Share them with us in the comments section – we’d love to hear about it!
© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.
We conclude our talk with a computer consultant who wrote an e-book with helpful tips for other computer business owners and is giving it to them FREE.
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The Computer Business Kit
Intro to Topic 1:37
Today we will conclude our discussion with Matthew Rodela, an IT consultant, owner of Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy and author of a free e-book called 20 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Computer Business. We’ll go through the last ten tips in his e-book, learn how you can use them in the daily management of your own computer business and find out how you can get his e-book FREE. Part two of a two part series
Interview with Matthew Rodela 23:51
Wrap up and Close :46
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Authors: Derrick Wlodarz
As a fellow technician, I know how difficult it can be to have a simplified discussion with customers about highly technical matters. What is bandwidth? Why do I need an x64 processor instead of an x86? How does more RAM actually make a computer faster? These are just a sample of the questions that get tossed my way every week. While I know very well how to tell another technician about these items, bringing the discussion down to the level of the average Joe is another matter.
People skills are tough to teach and that’s a known fact. Many computer repair business owners that I’ve spoken to have outright admitted that they will gladly hire a great people-person that has limited technical skills over an individual with a skillset that is flipped the other way around. My previous years in working IT support for a public high school has taught me that tech people (in general – I’m not saying all) have a hard time in remembering their audience in the line of support they are providing. This, in turn, creates an unwarranted bias against those providing tech support and what they represent.
While not every technical topic can be easily translated into “normal person speak,” a technician needs to make this a top priority in dealing with customers. While some customers will gladly stop you and ask for clarification, many people will merely nod their heads and give you blind agreement over the material being discussed. This not only does a disservice to the person receiving support, but is more often than not seen as condescending to the customer. Saturday Night Live had some excellent skits back in the day called “Nick Burns – Your Company’s Computer Guy” that played off this very facet (in a humorous way, I might add – check one video out for yourself.)
One of the reasons my company FireLogic receives so much praise is because of the people-first approach we take to providing service. I’m not going to lie and say that I’m perfect in this regard myself, but I do make every effort possible to watch over my lingo when consulting customers. It’s easy to get lost in technical acronyms and related geek speak when you are knowledgeable about the realm of computer repair, but remember that your customers are counting on YOU to act as curator and translator of their technical problems. They hire you as an expert in your field and expect to be treated as equals and not as subjects in a college classroom.
Here are the key things to keep in mind when having technical discussions with your own customers.
This has to be my top tip for dealing with sticky scenarios that involve highly technical concepts that your customer just won’t otherwise comprehend. It merely involves using the simple and known to explain the unknown to customers in a logical manner. I’ve got plenty of examples in my bag of tricks, but here are some common comparisons I make to otherwise difficult technology questions and terms:
Question: Why is more RAM better for my PC?
Answer: Think of RAM as the number of hands your computer has. The more hands it has available, the more work it can get done at once, which translates simply into better real-life performance for your everyday tasks.
Question: Why should I use OpenDNS instead of the DNS my ISP offers?
Answer: DNS is like the yellow pages that your computer refers to anytime you want to visit a website. There are many flavors of yellow pages out there, but OpenDNS is safer because it’s like getting a phone directory that is already cleaned up to remove many of the bad and fake entries that otherwise exist. The cleaner your phone directory is, the safer your online experience will be.
Good car mechanics are skilled at the very same types of translations for their customers. And it wouldn’t be a misguided guess to believe that those mechanics which can relate tough topics to their customers with ease are the ones which will likely see repeat business and foster better (and more) referrals. I’ve been practicing these kinds of discussions with my customers for years and can usually even come up with comparisons out of thin air. For some techs, this will take a lot of practice, but it will come easier as time goes on. I’m consistently praised for my ability to level with customers in light of previous technicians that simply talked down to them.
Some of my customers already have knowledge of what DNS, RAM, and CPU stand for. However, unless I know for a fact that someone has already made it known to me that they are aware of an acronym, I won’t bring it up in discussion. Avoid it like the plague. A CPU can just as easily be called a processor; RAM can be equated just fine as memory; and a PSU will always be a simple power supply in the end.
You don’t have to prove to yourself that you have the knowledge of various acronyms, or worse yet, believe that you should be showing off to customers by whipping out acronyms. You may think that you are coming off as experienced and knowledgeable, but you’re going to build a trust gap with your customers more often than not.
One of my colleagues at FireLogic is the funny butt end of an ongoing inside joke due to his past usage of the acronym “API” with a crowd of bewildered entry level computer users at a volunteer training event we held. While it’s a funny rub for us as techs, it’s a prime example that geek speak has its place. And that place is a technician’s lunch break, away from customers.
This piece of advice should be the easiest way to keep geek speak to a minimum. If you’re prone to bringing out the Einstein when you talk to customers, perhaps it’s best to merely assume by default that each customer is unbeknownst to a technical topic unless you either have previous experience with them or they blatantly prove otherwise during discussion. There’s no way to otherwise go astray in your conversation if you treat each customer as a “newbie” and steer clear of the acronyms techs love to throw around.
This is personally how I keep myself in check. I put on the mental brakes that allow me to think twice before conversing about a particular topic that may be above their heads. It’s too easy to otherwise ramble on and get exposed to the inevitable “mental slip” that occurs when we get too technical and don’t even realize it. If you treat each customer under the assumption that they need an explanation, you can catch yourself before the geek speak hits. The worst that can happen is someone will merely cue you in as to their comfort level with the topic at hand, and you can then let your guard down.
It pains me when technicians that otherwise have excellent verbal communication skills with customers let themselves blabber in tech speak in their invoicing or emails. Your written word is in some cases more critical than the spoken tongue because first and foremost, you generally can’t take back documented record! Whether it be a mailed invoice or a sent email, the “undo” button generally doesn’t exist.
It’s easy to let tech speak fill an email without thinking twice because many people naturally don’t keep mental check of what they write. It’s almost an innate blindness towards realizing what was said as a sentence rolls onward. I get caught in this conundrum many times over when I write articles, and hence why I always proofread my writing for clarity before they get posted. The same guidance should apply to all written communication you have with a customer. Keep it concise; keep out the acronyms; and don’t think that just because you write it they will read it. Customers can have selective reading and exercise that skill quite well.
Poor customer communication can have as much damage on your growing business as inadequate technical work. It breeds mistrust and it tends to foster a growing perception gap between a client and a technician. Using the above guidelines that I practice and enforce at my company FireLogic can be good ways to improve the approach you take with your own customers. You don’t need to be an English major to follow some simple techniques that can ultimately make a great technician an even better communicator.
How do you approach working with customers when it comes to technical lingo? What has worked for you, and what hasn’t? Let us know in the comments section below!
© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.
(TheForceField.Net) September 9, 2012 — Work Market, the world’s first Labor Resource Platform™ or LRP, is expanding its operation into Canada beginning today. In a telephone conversation with The Force Field last week, Work Market Vice President of Client Services Eric Castro confided the company is now actively recruiting technicians in Canada and will officially enter the market today.
Entering the Canadian market is a milestone 
for the company and one that places Work Market in an interesting position as a primary competitor against OnForce, the largest and most well known of the IT service platforms. OnForce, which introduced its services to Canada in 2006, has since been operating there with limited competition. The entry of Work Market into the Canadian market could potentially change that as Work Market recruits both clients and resources to work their LRP, including those who may currently use OnForce exclusively. This is of particular significance to both platforms, as Work Market CEO Jeff Leventhal, who founded the company in 2010, also founded OnForce.
According to Jeff Leventhal, Work Market is a welcoming opportunity to expand and compete beyond the US market. “Opening up to Canada is huge for us”, Leventhal said. “It is the first big step on our global mission to bring Work Market everywhere.”
In addition to the Canada expansion, Work Market is rolling out new features significant to the platform itself.
The company now provides techs (or “resources”, as Work Market calls them) with the ability to block companies from sending inappropriate or undesirable work, a practice referred to in The Force Field Forums as “spamming”. Resources will now be able to block any company they do not want to do business with and focus only on the work they want to receive.
The lack of ability to block undesirable clients has long been a point of concern and frustration among resources on the platform. Some complained they were recruited without solicitation by companies that they did not want to work for and bombarded with requests to perform work at extremely low rates or outside their area of expertise, with no option to opt out of such networks. Work Market aims to change that by empowering resources to block clients from which they do not want to receive work.
Another new feature is the recently released Resource Metrics, a tool for clients to rate the efficiency and reliability of the resources. Resource Metrics measures the number of assignments performed, punctuality, assignment cancellations and abandonment rates, level of activity and overall performance of each resource during thirty and ninety day periods. This tool helps clients better select resources for their groups and assignments, thus rewarding the most reliable resources with the best ratings.
Conversely, the client rating system was improved as well. Resources now rate clients after the assignment is completed and they have received payment for services rendered. According to Work Market, This improvement was made to encompass the entire work relationship.
While adding these new features, Work Market removed an existing one to improve the overall platform experience. The social and networking groups were phased out by Work Market due to under utilization by legitimate clients and complaints from resources alleging abuse of the groups by spammers. The company pared down the groups to a single category consisting exclusively of groups that send assignments.
In addition to the other features recently introduced on the platform, perhaps the most interesting is a new payment option. Work Market now offers PayPal as an alternate way to receive earnings. The new payment option was fully operational as of Friday, September 9. Resources who prefer PayPal to conduct monetary transactions can simply log into their Work Market account, go to Manage Accounts, click on Add Financial Account and choose PayPal from the Method drop-down box to receive payments from Work Market clients through the popular online payment system.
About Work Market
Work Market is the world’s first modular, web-based Labor Resource Platform™ designed to enable any business to efficiently deliver and manage employee, consultant and contract labor and services. Businesses post assignments and can invite professionals with specific qualifications or post the assignment to the entire Work Market network. Professionals can post their profiles, join groups, take tests and background screenings to align themselves for assignments that match their skill sets.
Work Market was founded by Jeffrey Leventhal, (who also founded the on-site services marketplace OnForce.com) and Jeffrey Wald. The company is backed by Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.
Authors: Diana
Success in IT Field Services and in working as an Independent Contractor takes many skills, but cutting through all the noise, finding the information that matters, and being responsive when it counts is certainly one key to success.
Authors: Micah Lahren
We’ve all lost clients from time to time, some of them very valuable. While it may not have been something we did, or something we didn’t do, it’s just one of those things that hurts business, and something we should keep to a minimum if at all possible. Clients switch from service to service sometimes because they hear of a discount, and often they find that service not up to par with the service you provide, and they call you back and resume business with you. Sometimes they never call back, and that’s where you can take the initiative. But the burning issue of the hour is: How can you make sure you are keeping existing clients, and not losing them due to some lack of effort on your part?
Clients are often impressed by a willing attitude. If you sound like you’re not looking forward to working with them, the feeling may be mutual. If you show a willing attitude in your voice and countenance, they’ll be much more likely to look forward to doing business with you again, and might even refer you to their associates and friends. Be attentive to their descriptions of the issues they’re describing, and help them out when they find difficulty explaining exactly what is wrong. Often, people pretend they’re listening when they’re not, and falling into that trend isn’t a good practice. Basically, make the client feel they are important to you and your business, that they are your ‘number one’ client, and they’ll be much more likely to call you back for repeat work.
If you say you’ll be there by 3:30, be there by 3:30. If you’re running late due to an absolutely unforseen emergency, notify them as soon as you can, so they can adjust their schedule accordingly. Punctuality is one of those pet peeves for many people, and causes them no end of frustration. Repeatedly being late for appointments is enough for some clients to pull the plug on your relationship. It’s just another way of showing respect to the client as well. You’ve got things to do, and so do they, and they don’t want to have to wait around while you get there. Punctual workers often get repeat work because they’re dependable, and that’s very important in the business sector. Keeping your appointments is a good step toward keeping existing clients satisfied with your service.
This pretty much goes without saying. This is probably one of the most important things in your relationship with your clients. Honesty is one of the most valuable assets in the workforce, and when it’s missing, the work will disappear as well. This applies to charges on invoices, clear descriptions of work performed, billed hours, honesty regarding parts purchased, replaced, and repaired. If they find something has been less than truthful between you and them, don’t expect them to call you again. On the other hand, if you’re consistently honest in your business dealings, you’ll be much more likely to get repeat work and referrals. I can’t emphasize this enough. Honesty is very important!
This is also a very important aspect of the client relationship. Don’t badmouth clients to other clients, word can get around quickly, and you’ll find yourself at odds with other clients. Then those clients will start to wonder what you’ve said about them to other clients, and before you know it, you’ve lost the respect and trust of a whole chain of referred clients. If you’re interested in keeping existing clients happy with you and your service, show them the same respect you would expect from them, and you can’t go wrong.
Also, some clients aren’t as tech savvy as many technicians, and they may not know all the terms we use to describe parts and computer issues, and that’s not their fault. Everybody has their area of expertise, and while a mechanic can’t tell you what’s wrong with his computer, he can tell you what’s wrong with your car and fix nearly any problem it could have. So be respectful and courteous, and don’t belittle a client or speak with a condescending attitude. It’s easy to pick up, and it’s not likely they’ll call you back unless they are absolutely desperate. If you show them decent respect, they’ll be very likely to refer you to others and call you back for more work.
This is more or less optional, but it’s a good idea. If you’ve kept track of how long clients have been with you, or how many calls you’ve made on them, implement a bonus based on how many calls or how many years they’ve been a client. Perhaps you could offer a free light computer clean-up, or optimization. You could also offer some sort of discount on their invoice. This is also the type of bonus that is likely to get passed around by word of mouth. If they find out you give discounts based on how long clients have been with you, and good discounts at that, they’ll tell all their friends and associates so they can get good deals too. This can result in a lot of extra referrals. I know in one situation we were nearly overrun by all the clients who took advantage of this bonus idea, so it’s good to use it in moderation.
In conclusion, it’s mostly just the basics of any relationship, but often these basics are forgotten in business relationships. You’ve heard the phrase ‘it’s not personal, it’s business’. Perhaps that personal touch in business has been neglected, and that’s what’s missing from a lot of business relationships. It’s important to be professional, but don’t lose that personal touch that makes the client feel important. Just remember the fundamental basics, and you’ll be much more likely to keep all your existing clients, and gain referrals at a steady rate.
© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.
Last night, Time Warner once again demonstrated their genius tech support and classy, top-of-the-industry customer service in a dazzling display of quick response time, troubleshooting, resolution and professionalism.
Our Time Warner Business Class Internet connection went down.
My wife and I rely on a constant, stable connection to the cloud. She works online from our home full-time and I remote into the office at my day job and manage The Force Field at night. We rely on 99.999% uptime from Time Warner. This service is crucial to our livelihood. So when we lose the service, it is a potential disaster and a matter of urgency to have it restored as quickly as possible.
I immediately called Time Warner Cable.
The first time I dialed their primary number, there was no response. I mean, there was literally no response from the phone. The number did not even dial out, much less ring. Strange, I thought. I was on my Droid and it had full bars. Perhaps it was the phone itself. I dialed my son’s phone to check. Sure enough, the call went through. It was not the phone. So I tried the Time Warner number again. The number was dead. I dialed the main customer service line. This one rang, but after a brief announcement from the IVR to “stay on the line” for connection to customer service, the call dropped. I dialed the number again. Same result. Then I called a third number for Time Warner. That one was dead too.
Now I was getting worried. Did the entire company suddenly go dark? What was going on at Time Warner?
I had one other source to check: the Time Warner web site. I pulled the browser up on my Droid and connected through Verizon’s 3G network. Yep, the site was still there. I checked for notices of an outage. There were none. This was no surprise, since Time Warner generally didn’t proactively announce outages on their web site. I clicked on Tech Support, which consisted of Frequently Asked Questions (and rather mundane ones at that), which was no help at all. There was only one other option: Live Chat.
Yes, I entered the world of Time Warner Live Chat. This was always a fruitful, entertaining experience, chatting with the knowledgeable, friendly professionals at Time Warner who were always quick to resolve an issue and never patronized their customers. I had a very strong feeling that this chat session would meet or exceed my expectations as usual; right on par with all of my previous experiences with the universally praised and highly regarded Time Warner Customer Service and Tech Support teams, whose various departments communicated with one another in harmony and with one ultimate goal: to provide best in class service to all of Time Warner’s valued customers.
I was not disappointed.
After years of troubleshooting technical issues and a “gut instinct” for deduction, I quickly put two and two together and realized this wasn’t an isolated incident, but a general outage. Based on my ability to access their phone system, or the lack thereof, I deduced that the suspected outage was probably fairly widespread. This outage was more than just disruptive, it was essentially a broken lifeline. I needed answers and, as a paying customer, I needed to be in the loop. So, on Sep 1, 2012 at 10:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time, I entered a live internet chat with a representative from Time Warner Cable.
Sep 1, 2012 10:23 PM:
Jasper: Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable. At the end of our chat you will be given the option of taking a brief survey. My name is Jasper. Please give me a moment while I access your account.
I provided my account information and a description of the issue when I entered the chat, including the fact that their phone lines were down. This is important to keep in mind as you read the chat log.
Sep 1, 2012 10:24 PM:
Me: Hello
Jasper: Hello!!
Jasper: Thank you for waiting.
Jasper: Since when you are experiencing this issue?
Me: Within the last half hour.
Jasper: Okay.
Jasper: To resolve this issue, I will refreshed the Signals from my end your cable box will reboot.
I knew he was going to try this first, because it follows their standard flowchart. Since I suspected a system outage, I didn’t think this was going to work, and I lamented the fact that Time Warner’s troubleshooting flowchart was flawed, because technically he should have checked for a possible outage first to avoid taking customers through tech support hell, but I wasn’t in the mood to argue, so I let him do his thing. To move things along, I gently offered a clue, just in case he happened to have any real troubleshooting skills and could think outside the box.
Me: Your tw phone numbers are not working so i am contacting you through my cell phone. (He didn’t get it and completely ignored this fact. That was disappointing, but no surprise.)
Jasper: I have refreshed the signals from my end this should resolve your issue. (It didn’t).
Jasper: Okay. (Okay, what? I could tell from my end he couldn’t even ping it, much less send a signal to reboot it).
Jasper: no problem. (At this point I realized he had no idea what was or wasn’t happening with the modem).
Me: So far no go.
Jasper: Okay.
Now, I’ve dealt with Time Warner customer service and tech support (if you can call it that) for a number of years, and I have lot of stories to tell, some of them absurd. But I didn’t quite expect what happened next.
Jasper: In this case, I will place a request for a service call. A technician will visit your house and will fix the issue.
Was he serious? One failed reboot and we get a truck roll? He didn’t check anything else and he didn’t even try? This was absurd even for Time Warner.
Me: When
Jasper: Let me check the earliest available slot for you. (I knew exactly what he was going to say next).
Jasper: Selected TimeSlot : 11-1PM on Tuesday September 04 2012
And he did. I knew he would say that for two reasons. One, it is Labor Day weekend, and Monday is a holiday. Two, For residential class service, it’s always on Tuesday. Yes, they will always schedule a truck roll out to me on Tuesday, no matter what day of the week I call. There was just one little difference, one that he should have been aware of since he already took a moment at the start of the chat to “access my account”.
Me: This is tw business class. Full uptime is needed for my job.
Me: That is not acceptable.
Jasper: Alright.
Oh, no, he won’t get rid of me that easily. He still didn’t get the situation and it was obvious he wasn’t interested in doing much more than whatever he could to close the chat, so I decided it was time for me to do his job for him and tell him exactly what he needed to do next.
Me: Is there an outage in my area?
Jasper: Let me check this for you.
A minute or two later:
Jasper: Thank you for waiting.
Jasper: There is an outage in your area.
Jasper: Our technician are working on it.
Jasper: It will be resolved within couple of hours.
That’s it? No further explanation? Not even the old “we apologize for the inconvenience”? At least give me that.
Me: What is the issue and is there an eta for uptime?
Jasper: Well, honestly I do not have detail information about it.
Sadly, I knew he was honest about this. It is a known fact, and one that I’ve corroborated by talking to many of their alumni over the years, that the different departments at Time Warner generally aren’t very good at inter-departmental communications, especially at times like these, much to the chagrin of their “valued” customers. However, Jasper could have figured the problem out on his own, had he been trained properly to “listen” to the customer and simply paid attention to the clues.
Me: Okay. Why are the tw numbers dropping when I call?
Me: is your cs call center down too?
Jasper: That is because of large calls volume.
Jasper: Yes, it is down too.
Now, it isn’t at all uncommon for customer service and support agents to make stuff up on the fly when they don’t really know the answer, just to tell you what they think you want to hear and to keep up the appearance that they do. Time Warner is no exception; they have falsified the facts to me on more than one occasion. This is also when I fully realized from the poor grammer that I probably wasn’t chatting with someone in my own country, so it was more than likely he had absolutely no idea what was going on at Time Warner Cable in North Carolina. So I pressed him.
Me: Do you know this for a fact or are you just saying that?
Jasper: I got an update about this.
Jasper: Then I am giving you correct information.
Jasper: I want to get this done for you.
Yeah.. riiiigght. Up to that point he really hadn’t done anything.
Me: Okay. Fair enough. Forgive my skepticism but I used to work in a cs center like tw and I know how it works inside. (In other words, okay, okay, but don’t patronize me. I can read between the lines. Don’t overdo it).
Jasper: Thank you for your cooperation.
Jasper: In this matter.
Jasper: You are so nice and patience. (He did it anyway, and he did overdo it).
Jasper: Don’t worry, I will try my best to resolve your issue. (How? What is he going to do?)
Jasper: I have made a note on your account about this. (Oh, well, that will help a lot. Hey, I may not have Internet, but at least we have notes about it. Woo-hoo! I feel better already).
Me: I will wait a couple of hours. Thanks. (Thanks for wasting my time. Just get me out of this chat).
Jasper: Your issue will be getting resolved within 2-3 hours.
Jasper: You are welcome.
Sep 1, 2012 10:46 PM:
Jasper: Is there anything else I may assist you with today? (I think you’ve already done enough, which was basically nothing).
The chat session has been closed.
This chat session would have lasted all of two minutes had Time Warner practiced better communications between departments and trained their agents to do one thing first after account verification before doing anything else: assure their own systems were in good order. One of the problems with this company is that they don’t take outages seriously enough to instantly notify all of their teams when an outage does occur and provide as much pertinent information as possible to keep the customer happy. Nothing complicates down time more than unhappy customers and nothing makes customers more irate (besides loss of service) than being kept in the dark and out of the loop as to why.
Unfortunately, Time Warner (and many, many other companies as well) don’t really understand their customers and what really makes them happy. Oh, they think they do, and their philosophies for happy customers are drummed into the heads of every customer service and technical support agent in call centers throughout the company. Take ownership of the calls, they say. Sympathize with the customer, they say. Tell them you “understand their frustration”. Connect with the customer. Tell them you will do whatever you can to solve whatever issues they have, even though in many cases you can’t. Repeat the issue back to the customer to assure him or her that you are actually listening to them. Before the close of the call, always ask them if there is anything else you can do for them today. Because when you close that call, you want that customer to feel good about talking to you, you want them to feel good about the company and you want them to feel good about themselves, even if you haven’t actually solved or even addressed the issue. Because that isn’t important. The most important thing is for the customer to feel good about the company and make the company look good to the customer, whether the customer gets what they paid for or not.
There’s just one problem. It’s all crap.
This charade of “customer service” is somewhat rooted in the ideology that people are idiots and can be easily satiated, at least momentarily, with the perceived notion that the company is personally interested in the problems of each individual customer, when in fact customer service is just another annoyingly necessary Cost of Business and a huge one that many businesses prefer to rid themselves of, if at all possible. Yes, there are idiots out there to be sure, but most people aren’t stupid and do not like to be patronized as if they are. They didn’t call the company for a warm and fuzzy feeling. They called the company to solve a problem.
Then there is the IVR. Ah, yes, the Interactive Voice Response, the virtual voice of big business that speaks to the customer with the warmth of a HAL 9000 computer and the personality of a vending machine. Some customers tolerate it, others loathe it, but few of them can escape it when it picks up the call.
The IVR was supposedly created to increase efficiency, decrease agent call times and generally save money on the staffing of real living, breathing people who could actually talk to customers somewhat intelligently and think for themselves. In reality, all it does is cause confusion, increase frustration and generally alienate callers. But that doesn’t stop companies from using it, including Time Warner Cable.
Among its other virtues, one of the greatest benefits of the Time Warner IVR is its natural ability to create an even thicker layer of protection from the customer and detach the company even further from the image of a brand perceived as consumer friendly and personal. Indeed, their phone system is long winded, counter-intuitive and seems designed to do whatever it can to prevent you from talking to a real person. It is difficult to describe in one paragraph. You have to experience it. To put it simply, Time Warner has an IVR from hell.
Companies complain about the Cost of Business when it comes to customer service and after sales support and do whatever they can to keep costs as low as possible. What many of them don’t realize or refuse to acknowledge is that when it comes to these costs, the company is usually its own worst enemy. Time Warner’s own corporate infrastructure, environment and management actually costs them more to deliver good customer service than it should.
Take the chat above for example, or any typical support call. Had I not told Jasper (probably not his real name) what he should have checked in the first place, the conversation could have taken one of two pointless directions. Either he would have authorized a truck roll (which he did anyway, more on that in a moment), which is expensive for the company, especially if its subbed out to tiers of contractors, or he would have taken me on a time consuming and expensive ride into tech support land, where we would be swapping cables, disconnecting devices and rebooting routers for eons until he either ordered a replacement modem or finally figured out the problem could be on their end, in which case he would have rolled a truck anyway, wasting not only more money, but everyone’s time.
Imagine if the company had a local or widespread outage. If they had a plan for broadcasting the news of such an outage to relevant departments quickly, to all customer service reps, to all support reps, with as much information as possible, and periodic updates on the status of the outage as well as an estimated time for repairs, and if such information were treated as if it were an urgent matter, an alert, if you will, posted on a relevant page on their web site, as if it were a weather alert, and if this plan were followed as a matter of corporate policy and adherence, they may find the load on both customer service and various levels of support to be quickly handled and greatly diminished, saving time, energy, and money. Since most customers who call during an outage want to either report the outage or want know what happened and when it will be fixed, these customers would get exactly what they wanted, improving confidence in the company and increasing customer satisfaction.
In other words, the customers would be a lot happier if, instead being patronized as idiots, the company just gave them what they asked for in the first place.
Unfortunately, this is not likely to happen anytime soon, if ever. After all, Time Warner has a reputation to uphold, and what a reputation it has! According to Customer Service Scoreboard, Time Warner Cable Customer Service has a terrible one, with a score of 33.62 out of a possible 200. Yes, I said two hundred. Over 92% of customers surveyed on the site are not happy with customer service at Time Warner.
Ratings on a scale of 1 to 10 in specific categories include: 2.7 for reachability (their IVR is extremely annoying, generally unhelpful and almost as long-winded as my posts), 3.8 for Friendliness, (one rep on another support call was rude and practically accused me of lying about the issue, but that is another story for another time), 2.8 for Product Knowledge (reference the chat log above) and only a 1.8 for issue resolution (I can certainly understand that one).
Now, if you are still reading at this point, you are probably asking yourself this question: if Time Warner is so bad, why are you still with them? The answer is simple. I need the bandwidth. I need the speed, and Time Warner has it (when it works). For high speed cable internet, they are the only game in town.
Oh, I want leave them, and if I could, I would. Thanks in large part to lobbyists, local governments and the FCC, my choices are limited to either one cable monopoly in this area or unacceptably slower speeds for what we need on DSL or wireless. Yes, there is AT&T, and they have Uverse, but their data speeds aren’t even close to what I can get from Time Warner. Ditto on the wireless option, and it may not work well where I want it. In addition, as bad as Time Warner is for customer service, AT&T is even worse. In fact, in December 2011 AT&T was rated by Consumer Reports as the worst carrier for the past two years, and according to complaints on the Internet, they may win that rating again for a third. At least Time Warner pretends they care about their customers. AT&T simply doesn’t. I used to be an AT&T customer, and I don’t plan to go back. I am basically stuck with Time Warner, unless or until another carrier with better bandwidth and a better reputation comes along.
So did Time Warner fix the outage? Yes, eventually they did. I woke up this morning relieved to find our household and our home offices back online. Unfortunately for Time Warner, I am now using their cable connection to write about my experience with their amazing customer service in the cloud.
And, yes, Jasper (or whatever his real name is) did schedule a phone survey as he promised at the beginning of our chat. We received it this morning. It was an automated survey doled out by a wonderfully humanless IVR, requesting a follow up on our internet chat the night before.
But it wasn’t really a survey at all. It didn’t ask for my sentiment on the customer service I received, or my satisfaction with their support or an opinion of their operation. It simply wanted to know if the service was now back up and if I still needed a truck roll.
As I was about to press a number on the keypad to confirm restoration of my Internet connection and cancel the onsite visit, the virtual voice suddenly, and without warning, said thank you, goodbye and hung up.
The truck rolls on Tuesday.
Authors: Micah Lahren
As PC repair techs, we’re often called upon to troubleshoot issues such as Wi-Fi network issues, such as low signal, no connectivity, and so on. There are many many apps related to network testing, exploration, security analysis, and basic troubleshooting. Many of these are included in the Linux distro BackTrack, a favorite among those who work in penetration testing and network security infrastructure. However, in this article, I’d like to highlight two Wi-Fi testing and mapping apps for techs, both of which are freeware. They are invaluable for wireless network mapping, and should be included in every tech’s toolkit. Depending on what you use in the field, laptop, netbook, tablet, or smart phone, and depending on the area you’re analyzing, one or the other might be more useful. Both support 802.11a/b/g/n, as well.
HeatMapper requires a device running Windows, and only takes a minute to install. There are two mapping options. You can upload a floor plan image, a screen-shot of a geographical map of the area you’re testing, or any other diagram that could be used as a floor plan. Alternatively, you can use the ‘grid’ option, which is basically a basic grid that you use to map your own ‘floor plan’ for network mapping. After you choose your option, you’re shown all available networks, and you can click on the area, and start walking. As you continue walking around the area you’re mapping, continue clicking at intervals to provide location coordinates to assist in accurate mapping.
HeatMapper will show the Wi-Fi coverage, including all access points, their security settings, their channel, speed, and more. It should work with any built in network adapter, as well as external wireless adapters. I’ve found the speed with which it maps target areas to be exceedingly fast, compared with some other testing apps I’ve tried. It’s very accurate at locating network access points, based only on signal strength and the coordinates you provide by clicking on the map or grid as you walk.
I should mention that this app limits your continuous site survey to 15 minutes, but it will probably be a rare occasion that you’ll need to spend more than 15 minutes walking through your testing area. If you have more than one floor, you’ll probably need to have a floor plan image for each floor. If you try to put all floors on one floor plan image, it’s not likely to come out very well. Instead, the signal strength lines will probably end up skewed and out of alignment. At the end of each survey, you can take a screen-shot, and keep the image for reference in your results.
I found Meraki’s WiFi Mapper very useful as well. It’s a browser app, but it can also be used even when you’re not connected to the internet. As a browser app, it will function on most tablets and some smart phones as well, and this is where it really shines. Google Map integration is included, which means you can pull up your location on a Google Map, and simply start clicking as you walk around, pausing as it tests.
You’ll notice it’s not quite as speedy as HeatMapper, but what it lacks in speed is made up in other features. After signing up for an account, you can upload floor plans and use them as maps. Unlike HeatMapper, here you can upload a floor plan image with several floors on the same map, and use the same map during the whole survey. The interface is very easy to use, and I found the color coding feature has a very professional look to it, and it’s easy to locate spots with very low signal.
WiFi Mapper is only in the beta phase, which is very promising, considering what it currently offers. There doesn’t seem to be any time limitation on the site survey, which also favors those who need a multi-story site survey. However, I do recommend that while you’re walking around and clicking to provide coordinates, stop walking while it runs the test for the coordinates you just provided, to provide better accuracy. I’d recommend going to Meraki’s site for WiFi Mapper, and over here for HeatMapper, just to check them out. Meanwhile, talk a walk around your office or business, and test your network coverage with whatever mobile browsing device you have handy.
Do you have a favorite Wi-Fi testing app you frequently use in your work? Leave a comment!
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This past weekend, The Force Field lost an Admin and a friend. Renee Wright passed away.
Renee, who was known on our site and forums as Genoagirl, died August 18 after a long battle with cancer. She was 48.
I knew she was dealing with a health issue but I wasn’t sure about the specifics. I had not spoken to her in awhile, so her passing came as a bit of a shock.
I first met Renee in the OnForce Forums sometime between 2005 and 2006. As a female in a male dominated platform, she held her own and quickly gained the respect of her male counterparts as a capable IT professional. She became an OnForce forum moderator and her dedication and common sense approach impressed me so that when I founded The Force Field portal, I made it a point to ask her to become an Admin. It turned out to be a good call, because her presence and influence became a great asset to The Force Field community, especially in its early days.
Although I never had the pleasure of meeting her in person, I did get to know Renee online and considered her a friend. As one of her fellow Admins, Todd Hughes said, “Renee (G-girl) was instrumental in making this forum what it is today. She spent many long hours organizing, adding content, etc. Although she was conspicuously absent from here the past year or so she will be missed by those of us that were here from the beginning and understand all she did for the FF forums.”
Renee was indeed instrumental in getting these forums up and organized, and she kept them in order, especially in the early days. She wasn’t always out front in the forums, but she was there, working quietly behind the scenes, and whenever there was a call to action she was usually the first to respond and do whatever was necessary to make things happen.
Renee had a lot of friends here. She was well liked and well respected by her peers. Forum communities tend to become highly charged and even volatile at times, and personalities tend to get in each other’s way. Renee tended to avoid getting caught up in such conflicts and always kept it professional. She moderated with a firm even-handedness and was quick to help calm a tense discussion. Folks liked her quiet, professional approach and engagement in discussions. She helped keep the peace in the community.
She was never hesitant to contribute when the need arose and she often did so proactively. She monitored the web site and forums closely, sometimes more so than I did. It was not unusual for me to log in late at night or early in the morning and find her online, checking up on the site or performing some task.
There is something else that most members are not aware of. Renee put a lot of work into the back end of the portal on the administration side that probably no one else knows about and likely no one will ever see. She also contributed to the ill-fated wiki and was one of the few to actually take an active interest in it. There was no doubt that she took her Admin position seriously and with dedication. I will always admire her for that.
I also interviewed Renee for The Force Field podcast. If you would like to hear her contributions to the show, you can listen to her in episodes 7 and 10.
I do have one major regret. Renee had been absent from the forums for the last year or so and other than the occasional post on Facebook I had not heard from her. I had not checked in on her for quite awhile and intended to e-mail her at some point but kept procrastinating because with everything else going on with the site, it just didn’t seem to take priority. This was a painful lesson for me about putting things off until tomorrow, because as the saying goes, tomorrow never comes.
It is rare that I find it difficult to express thoughts and opinions in writing and I am seldom at a loss for words. Today, however, is different, and the right words are not easy to find. I wish I could say it directly to her, but it is too late for that. I will post it here in her memory and honor.
Renee, thank you for your hard work, loyalty and selfless dedication to The Force Field. Your contributions meant more than you ever knew and I appreciate everything you did for us and our online community.
Thank you for your service as an Admin and thank you for your friendship. May God be with you and your family.
Rick Savoia
Update: I was informed by her sister that the funeral will be held Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 11 AM at the Robinson-Walker Funeral Home, 501 West St., Genoa, OH 43430. Interment will be at Clay Township Cemetary and a wake at Rayz Cafe in Genoa will follow.
We respectfully ask members and friends of The Force Field Community who would like to honor the memory of Renee Wright (Genoagirl) to participate with a donation to The National Breast Cancer Foundation.