Octopus Overlords

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 1:17 pm Spoken like someone who’s never worked in customer support.

Never. Always avoided anything where I had to deal with people as the basis of my work. Well except that Kirby vacuum selling job....which I hated.

As I understand it, a CS rep's job is to close tickets, not solve problems.

hahahah.

They did well. Helped me for days and worked back and forth through a few emails. Always asked if it had helped what they suggested and such. Im frankly surprised they were good and fast considering how old the game is and the changing of owners and such. Props to them.

...by going through a checklist, in order, with very little leeway. And often the people on the other end have no understanding of what they're supporting beyond what's in the script.

Again, like when I called XFinity because I was having trouble forwarding some ports. It took me five minutes just to convince the CS rep I wasn't asking for help forwarding sports, and had to explain what a port was.

Customer service reps, at that level, are just interactive FAQs.

Know that pain. Often the case is, the script isn't even updated to be current. Had an unresolved problem with my service provider to allow me to properly use their streaming app. The rep wanted me to log in to a part of their site with a special streaming password, only it didn't do anything because technically the part of the website they were sending me to was no longer supported. At that point, was having a hard time understanding the rep (who must have been from India) and he was getting frustrated with me not being able to do as told. It felt like we were missing something that the script wasn't allowing for.

And sometimes the script is fiction. I had a problem with GTA 5 and spent days going back and forth. One of their solutions was to enable an Nvidia setting in the game.

They had never actually implemented that Nvidia option in the game. It didn't exist, and never had.

Sounds like they might have used a script for a previous game in the series or even from an internal beta version that changed before release and never updated their script. In that case, it's not exactly right and it's not exactly wrong either, just that it doesn't apply for that situation. And it's a situation that would be entirely their fault and frustratingly something you'd have to wait for them to realize. I'm curious, what did they end up doing?

In my case, the combination of an inaccurate script sending me somewhere that was no longer supported, along with the fact that the poor guy didn't know any better and couldn't go beyond the script was hard to bear. I felt for him and he was getting genuinely frustrated, could hear it in his voice, but there was nothing that could be done as long as he followed the script. We ended up giving up, he marked it as unresolved. It's in this instance where a little leeway via someone higher up the chain would have helped, someone with the ability to investigate. As it is, it remains unresolved as we don't have the piece of information needed to make it work, which is the very piece of information he should have provided.

You can ask to elevate this call and ask for his/her supervisor. Least thats been my experience. Just the next guy up the chain of pay. Doesn't mean that just their script is bigger.

Rumpy wrote: ↑Sun Oct 10, 2021 5:00 pm Sounds like they might have used a script for a previous game in the series or even from an internal beta version that changed before release and never updated their script. In that case, it's not exactly right and it's not exactly wrong either, just that it doesn't apply for that situation. And it's a situation that would be entirely their fault and frustratingly something you'd have to wait for them to realize. I'm curious, what did they end up doing?

Was that in reference to my non-existent GTA setting? I realized that at that point the tech had absolutely no idea what the problem was and was just guessing (there were a couple of other absurd suggestions, too.) I told them as much, and quit wasting everyone's time. I went to Nvidia's support instead and they were really, really helpful (although they couldn't solve it, either.) It turned out to be a hardware issue, by the way.

This was the issue, by the way, recorded for R* support:

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:39 am

Was that in reference to my non-existent GTA setting?

Spoiler:

Yeah, it was. It's rare, but I've heard references in the wild of support scripts that were developed via betas (and talking in in general, not Rockstar), which makes sense given you want to develop your support script based on actual features they'd support. In the past, you could find similar refences in manuals of features referred to and cut. So in this case, they either forgot to remove reference to something that never made it into the game beyond beta, or they used more of a generalized support script used by Rockstar or TakeTwo overall.

I've been with my provider for decades. Been with them since the daylight hours of consumer internet of the early 90's. They began as a small regional company, and there was a time we could call with a problem and actually make an appointment with the CEO for help with a problem, who would then do his best to helping solve the issues. It was a human touch that is sorely lacking in today's tech support. Since then they've merged and merged again and again until they were part of this big national company and each time they became less and less personable. Nowadays, it seems almost impossible to get someone who's willing to actually do any investigating, and they all seem to blame the user before they'll actively commit being in the wrong. It's like they're all trying to clear PEBCAK (problem existing between chair and keyboard) issues rather than getting to the heart of the issues.

It seems more likely that they'd updated the script with either a future feature that got delay, or a planned feature they changed their mind about. The tech in question (I forget what it was) was fairly new, much newer than the game itself.

Yeah, either of those make sense. A planned feature that ends up being removed due to performance issues would be likely, as we've often heard that story before.

Seems they done flubbed something up with yesterdays patch. When I start the game I just get a black screen. Its running as I can hear the menu startup music playing and if I move the cursor around I can hear it interacting with the main menu somewhere in that black.

I saw there was a huge backup of tickets too last night so started a chat instead. They answered instantly. When I explained my problem they said "Just a sec" and then came back and confirmed the black screen was affecting a huge number of people and they were working on it. Well its the next day and I still have the black screen when I start up STO. Guess no fix for now.

Been playing this like hardcore now 2 months or so again. Lots to do in it. Having a blast. New event right now is related to the movie First Contact. Can run a mission with Seven there on Earth when Picard and crew fought the Borg, can assemble your own first warp model and fly it in competition, and can fly a space mission of some sort. They will be giving away a real world borg cube PC soon.

Also you can get a Admiral Janeway crew member in another event going on too. So much to do.

Im back in STO for a little while now. I was playing a Mirror Universe series of missions and we took back the Terran Enterprise for Admiral Leeta. On the bridge we took down the Captain and she starts setting a self destruct after gloating and Leeta just shoots her. hahaha I loved it. I was like "FINALLY!" . So many shows and movies and games just let the bad guy set a self destruct or rig a bomb or some damn thing while they just stand around and let them. Not Leeta..BANG!. Made me smile.

How do I change my behind view side? Like it seems to want me to view from the right side when in 3rd person but I want to set it to the characters left side..also shoot with that view. I keep running into stuff being behind and to the right...even though Im right handed in real life. Its the view to be clear I want to change not my handedness.

Rumpy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:50 pm It's like they're all trying to clear PEBCAK (problem existing between chair and keyboard) issues rather than getting to the heart of the issues.

Having done desktop support professionally as I was starting my career as well as being drafted tech support for my entire extended family and friends circle, I can say that with few exceptions betting on it being a user problem is always a good first step. Even doing desktop support for Intel, where I was frequently supporting engineers and other smart people, I got loads of really dumb tickets. It sucks when you are knowledgeable, but I get why most customer service people assume people are idiots.

gbasden wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 2:39 am

Rumpy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:50 pm It's like they're all trying to clear PEBCAK (problem existing between chair and keyboard) issues rather than getting to the heart of the issues.

Having done desktop support professionally as I was starting my career as well as being drafted tech support for my entire extended family and friends circle, I can say that with few exceptions betting on it being a user problem is always a good first step. Even doing desktop support for Intel, where I was frequently supporting engineers and other smart people, I got loads of really dumb tickets. It sucks when you are knowledgeable, but I get why most customer service people assume people are idiots.

Yeah, I understand user issues being the first step, and it's actually a good way to eliminate issues before taking them a step up. The problem is when the company refuses to acknowlege a possible problem on their own end, and treating the customer with such disdain on top of that. "Oh no, it can't possibly be us, it's you' type of mentality. It's something I've experienced multiple times through dealing with the company. It hasn't been an isolated incident. It just ends up making me not want deal with them.

Rumpy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 2:29 pm

gbasden wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 2:39 am

Rumpy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:50 pm It's like they're all trying to clear PEBCAK (problem existing between chair and keyboard) issues rather than getting to the heart of the issues.

Having done desktop support professionally as I was starting my career as well as being drafted tech support for my entire extended family and friends circle, I can say that with few exceptions betting on it being a user problem is always a good first step. Even doing desktop support for Intel, where I was frequently supporting engineers and other smart people, I got loads of really dumb tickets. It sucks when you are knowledgeable, but I get why most customer service people assume people are idiots.

Yeah, I understand user issues being the first step, and it's actually a good way to eliminate issues before taking them a step up. The problem is when the company refuses to acknowlege a possible problem on their own end, and treating the customer with such disdain on top of that. "Oh no, it can't possibly be us, it's you' type of mentality. It's something I've experienced multiple times through dealing with the company. It hasn't been an isolated incident. It just ends up making me not want deal with them.

Yeah, that's for sure. Even if you are absolutely certain the issue is on the customer's end, you absolutely never make them feel that way. And of course equipment breakdown and infrastructure can be an issue. It's just that I ended up at a point where I go in assuming it's a dumb user problem and then let that basic troubleshooting guide me to more esoteric problems should it point that way.

gbasden wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 5:36 pm

Rumpy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 2:29 pm

gbasden wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 2:39 am

Rumpy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:50 pm It's like they're all trying to clear PEBCAK (problem existing between chair and keyboard) issues rather than getting to the heart of the issues.

Having done desktop support professionally as I was starting my career as well as being drafted tech support for my entire extended family and friends circle, I can say that with few exceptions betting on it being a user problem is always a good first step. Even doing desktop support for Intel, where I was frequently supporting engineers and other smart people, I got loads of really dumb tickets. It sucks when you are knowledgeable, but I get why most customer service people assume people are idiots.

Yeah, I understand user issues being the first step, and it's actually a good way to eliminate issues before taking them a step up. The problem is when the company refuses to acknowlege a possible problem on their own end, and treating the customer with such disdain on top of that. "Oh no, it can't possibly be us, it's you' type of mentality. It's something I've experienced multiple times through dealing with the company. It hasn't been an isolated incident. It just ends up making me not want deal with them.

Yeah, that's for sure. Even if you are absolutely certain the issue is on the customer's end, you absolutely never make them feel that way. And of course equipment breakdown and infrastructure can be an issue. It's just that I ended up at a point where I go in assuming it's a dumb user problem and then let that basic troubleshooting guide me to more esoteric problems should it point that way.

More times than not, I'm sure that's how it went. Sometimes it's people not understanding how things work. I mean, even I've had some rather dumb moments myself thinking I've had a monitor or speaker problems only to realize I had them either turned off or muted. I chalk it up to needing caffeine.

Latest boondongle with this company has been trying to get some tech support to get streaming through an app working. See, the way most streaming services work over here, is that the internet provider gives you a streaming password, and it's how a streaming service will identify you and know what you have access to. The provider has to be able to prove that you have access to this content. Last time out with this tech support adventure, I had an Indian guy try to get me to log into the provider's streaming hub. Only problem is that he kept pointing me to an outdated and no longer-used section of the website, and when I tried doing as he asked, it went nowhere. He got frustrated that I wasn't doing what I was told, I got frustrated that things were broken. Because he was beholden to his script, it went nowhere fast. And meanwhile, I was not told or was clear if there was something else I needed to do beyond that. It felt like there was a piece of information that was left out. We ended the call with things unresolved, which still are to this day. This means I can't use app-based streaming services until it gets resolved.

When I get someone I cant understand or who i know is a script reader and not helping I hang up and call back. Usually I can get someone in Kentucky or even Scotland. Ive had the best luck with tech help from Kentucky. They seem really good at their job and they dont read a script. Ive also had them ask my lvl of tech savvy and what Ive tried already before they start their help.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:09 pm When I get someone I cant understand or who i know is a script reader and not helping I hang up and call back. Usually I can get someone in Kentucky or even Scotland. Ive had the best luck with tech help from Kentucky. They seem really good at their job and they dont read a script. Ive also had them ask my lvl of tech savvy and what Ive tried already before they start their help.

Of course, that doesn't really help if all they have is off-shore support and don't really understand anything beyond the script.

There's always email or chat support. At least those are loggable.

Rumpy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 2:29 pm

gbasden wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 2:39 am

Rumpy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:50 pm It's like they're all trying to clear PEBCAK (problem existing between chair and keyboard) issues rather than getting to the heart of the issues.

Having done desktop support professionally as I was starting my career as well as being drafted tech support for my entire extended family and friends circle, I can say that with few exceptions betting on it being a user problem is always a good first step. Even doing desktop support for Intel, where I was frequently supporting engineers and other smart people, I got loads of really dumb tickets. It sucks when you are knowledgeable, but I get why most customer service people assume people are idiots.

Yeah, I understand user issues being the first step, and it's actually a good way to eliminate issues before taking them a step up. The problem is when the company refuses to acknowlege a possible problem on their own end, and treating the customer with such disdain on top of that. "Oh no, it can't possibly be us, it's you' type of mentality. It's something I've experienced multiple times through dealing with the company. It hasn't been an isolated incident. It just ends up making me not want deal with them.

The problem I have is that most of the time with larger companies, there is no longer any such thing as escalating an issue. The 1st level of support is all there is.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:39 pm There's always email or chat support. At least those are loggable.

Non-existent here, at least as far as I know. And believe me, it's not like I haven't tried. And it's already being logged, for example in the example stated above, I got a followup email stating that the call was ended with the issue being unresolved. It's just discouraging. We're paying for a service that I can't technically use because of these issues.

You could reach out to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to investigate for you.

The problem is that they're a regulatory commission, similar in role to the FCC. They're generally not interested in single-user issues, but rather on issues that affect a broader range of people. They would probably shrug and tell me to take it up with the provider.

But this does make me wonder how many other people would be in my situation. Surely I can't be the only one who's stuck in this manner. I only want things to work as they should, surely that's not too much to ask. What's missing is discourse and the ability to diagnose. Someone who'd be able to tell me, "This person is missing this thing in order for it to work properly." Also, another issue I notice in following a script is that none of them are actually trying the same things the customer is trying to do. It would be far easier for them to realize why I'm having so much trouble if they ended up facing the same thing as well. Then they'd see I'm not blowing smoke.

BTW did anyone know an answer to my STO question about left or right handed view up above?

These quest writer for this game. this one deals with time..and ive played it before waaaay back and didn't notice.......and in it you have to stop this guy who betrays the Fed and steals a timeship...but how...hmmmm how do time traveling Feds from the future stop a time traveler before his does all this?? the writers have no idea cause thats what my quest says..no idea how we do this...umm maybe got back in time a month or two and stop him then or kill him?..hmmmm.

To quote Troi in First Contact: "We have no time... for time!"

I just got a promotion in STO and they offered me a Pakled science officer lol...yaaaa that seems suss so I went with the bolian tactical officer. If his aim sux maybe it means a free haircut of he doesn't talk my ears off.

But he'll make things go!

Rumpy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 1:43 pm But he'll make things go!

No, he'd need to kidnap Geordie for that. And Captain Geordie doesn't have the patience he once did.