is it just me or....

[sadatx]

....are support numbers getting harder and harder to find? I know companies are probably understaffed and want to make sure people have exhausted all possible solutions to their problems before calling for help, but sometimes it's just ridiculous.

I'm having major problems getting my cell phone to transfer files to my computer over bluetooth, and from calling the cell manufacturer, to computer support, to microsoft windows support I spent more time looking for phone number than solving the problem.

I swear there's no actual people at microsoft support. Just Bill Gates in a room working on his plans for a real world SkyNet a la the terminator. Bill gates is probably a T4 the mop haircut with glasses series terminator.

[ducati999]

and then when you do find the number...after its buried under 20,000 links....you have to wait about 20 minutes on hold for someone who has no idea what you are talking about and tells you the same answer to "restart the computer"....

[Fallon]

Heh, try finding e-bays phone number...my god, I had to get it from an external website...ya that was horrible.

[The_Dude]

yup, it's hard to find all right.

it's really really hard to get to talk to/email with a human tech support.

[Fallon]

Ya, email is fun to, you get put into a queue of a crapload of emails and will more then likely get lost in the shuffle. Ya, technology...ain't it great...

[hrdwareguy]

Here is how support works at my company:

First we don't have a toll free voice line for support.

The phone rings we pick it up. (simple so far)

If we don't pick it up, it goes to voice mail, customer leaves a message. (no call queue, we call them back on our dime).

Voice messages, faxes, and support emails all go into a public folder on our exchange server. Tech can pull the messages as they come in. First come first serve.

Gotta love technology.

[Stare At The Sun]

cust service does blow ass at most places

[MPower]

Try finding your isp's #. I cant find it even when my connection is up, and when my dsl goes down im S.O.L. I would write it down but it is easier to bitch about it.

[sadatx]

Finally found a number for windows support. Guess how much it costs just to talk to them? $100 right off the bat and you'll be paying over twice that if you're a system developer.

See they want you to call your computer's manufacturer for windows help. Unbelievable.

Funny side note: The cartoon Dilbert on comedy central last night was about this very thing, the inability to get ahold of actual people at computer companies. Dilbert goes to the company and finds that there's no people just a giant supercomputer running everything. And the computer's voice sounds like.....Jerry Seinfeld....hmmmm

[egorey]

Must be an OEM license for Windows... basically if Windows came pre-installed on your system, the manufacturer negotiated a lower price on the OS by agreeing to provide the OS support instead of Microsoft. Unfortunatly, most OEM companies limit their support to 'recovery cds' to get you back to a 'working state'. Many times your best bet is forums like this (or others... try google groups) or online knowledge bases (technet.com).

While I share your frustration (35 min to get a warranty RMA from Intel earlier this week... toll call... no cross ship option... ), I have to say that, for many companies, support is the number one expense of doing business. Any way that they can reduce that expense, they will do (love the endless phone menus). Just remember that for every legit question they get, there are 5 stupid questions waiting to eat up their time too (How do I find my password?)...

wow.. this turned into a rant.

[bobbles]

People should need a license to own a computer. ie. basic computer course, like 90% of help desk calls wouldnt be needed, and then trained people would be on help desks, and companies owuld probably be proud of their support *sigh*