Shut up, you Canadian slut. Don't you have some mountie to blow or something?

people are very angry about outsourcing (and it's growing). they shouldn't be abusive tho ever.

that said, telling someone to unplug and plug their computer back in is not help.

re: Switch off and switch back on again: It actually solves a lot of technical support problems. And as it's an easy thing to do, it is always the first thing you'll suggest for those "weird" problems.

Printer disappeared: reboot your PC.
Strange lines on the video or corrupt icons: reboot your PC.

People may mock, but it's an amazingly effective solution.

Wow. I guess next time I need tech support, I'll have to put on my faux British accent. "Say, old chap, I seem to have hit a bit of a sticky wicket..."

Yeah, you have to tell them to unplug it, "blow on the contacts to make sure the connection is good," and then plug it back in. So they don't feel stupid for having failed to the point of calling the help line because they never plugged the thing into the wall.

Seriously, though, complaining about outsourcing sucks. Write your fucking congressman.

Don't mess with India. They have the Bomb.

People sometimes just need to vent. Real customer service training recognizes this and trains people to deal with it. Very often the solution is the same as what the customer would have gotten had they been nice anyway -- it's just how you present it.

Of course, call centers with strict time quotas frown on too much service, and walking somebody back to sanity is extra service.

Anyway, my big call center story is working for the old Zenith laptop compnay for three months while the atrocious low-rent manufacturer who bought them transitioned out to California call centers. Our corp[orate customers were used to 45-second hold times and industry-award-winning service backed by a top-notch engineering staff. While I was there we ended up with 45-minute hold times and very little support except "send it to the Depot". There wasn't much we could do, and the customers felt they'd PAID for better support, so we got a lot of flack. One guy I finally got to just laid into me, sneering, ugly insults and barking in my ear -- fortunately for me I just put him over to my supervisor. But I felt for him.

Eh, they're not very nice to Americans, either. I worked in tech support, and damn people can get nasty. One notable guy called me repeatedly to tell me that he was on his way down to the centre to kick my ass because I wouldn't help him set up the internet on his WinCE PDA. I hope he gets syphillis and dies.

Ok. Let me just vent a tad here.

Some Indian call center people have been bugging me for MONTHS about refilling prescriptions. (I suspect that drugstore dot com leaked my account to them or something.)

Anyway...at first I was polite, requesting to be put on a do-not-contact list, that if they didn't understand that I wanted to speak to their supervisor. They told me each time they would put me on the list. Many dozen times this happened. Still the calls came, sometimes twice a week.

Strategy #2 was to simply hang up as soon as people asked to speak to my legal name, which is not what people I know use. Still. The. Calls. Came. So strategy #3 is now screaming, "STOP CALLING ME. WE'RE SICK OF YOU YOU CALLING US!" alternately with the hang up strategy.

So yeah. Diminishing sympathy from this household.

Any tips on how to get the fuckers to quit calling other than changing the phone # greatly appreciated. [grumble]

Could this help, chewie?

heh dano. if i used that I'd be on the phone way more than my boss would like I think. but chuckling did occur.