Why do I know more than my support desk?

[Apothecary]

Okay. Time to vent.

Last week, I had to call our computer software support desk. I am a pharmacist, and I had to bill a carpal tunnel wrist brace to an insurance plan. We bill "on-line", which means we transmit the claim via the internet, and it immediately tells us if the item is going to be paid for or not. To make a long story short, the insurance company's computer didn't like what my computer was trying to tell it. So, I called our software support desk to find out how to make it work.

The first guy I spoke with said that he would look into it and call me back in "an hour, max!".

When I hadn't heard from him by the NEXT DAY I called back. I got the same guy, and he apologized, saying he almost had it solved, and he'd call me back "by the end of the day". That was, again, last week.

Today, I still hadn't heard from him, so I called again, and got another guy. He said, yes they were looking into it, and they would call me back soon. Now, I had an idea of how to fix this and I told them my idea. Nope, they didn't like that at all. So 2 hours later, they actually call me back. They logged into my system and remotely starting trying to fix it. I'm staring at the screen, watching what they're doing. I mention to a co-worker "This isn't going to work!".

Lo and behold, it didn't.

They call back. I tell them it didn't work. And then I mention my original idea again. This dude is quiet for a second, then says "Hm. That would work!"

Three minutes later, we're up and running!!

I am so frustrated by these guys. We switched programs last August and have had nothing but problems with them. Our accounts recievables have been messed up ever since then. I mean it's a simple matter of adding up charges, subtracting payments and adding interest. How hard can that be??

Pretty hard, apparently. If it was up to me we'd ditch the whole program and buy another product. But the boss doesn't want to do that. She's nit the most computer-savvy person, and she doesn't want to have to learn another system.

Anyone else frustrated by "help lines" that really aren't much help?

 

[ktpool]

Well, I run a large Help Desk, and I can tell you that 90% of our incidents are user-induced problems. The most frustrating this in a call center is when you work on a problem for 3 hours - fix it - and THEN they customers says, "Oh, yeah, I clicked on that button to see what would happen yesterday.". UMMMMM - How could you not correlate what you did yesterday to the problem you experienced IMMEDIATELY after.

But of course, people only want to blame the Help Desk person for their 'lack of knowledge' becuase they are not mind readers.....

I see two problems with what you said happened. First, they should have called you back when they committed and second, the software never should have been accepted if it 'never' worked. Most implementations of software have a back out plan or go/no go tollgate during the implementation process. If it never worked, why would a company keep using it?

 

[troy mcclure]

At our company we call our Support Desk the "Helpless Desk." The running joke is that they have a big banner over their area that reads "Abandon hope all ye who call here!"

 

[CathrynRose]

Well, I run a large Help Desk, and I can tell you that 90% of our incidents are user-induced problems. The most frustrating this in a call center is when you work on a problem for 3 hours - fix it - and THEN they customers says, "Oh, yeah, I clicked on that button to see what would happen yesterday.". UMMMMM - How could you not correlate what you did yesterday to the problem you experienced IMMEDIATELY after.

But of course, people only want to blame the Help Desk person for their 'lack of knowledge' becuase they are not mind readers.....

I see two problems with what you said happened. First, they should have called you back when they committed and second, the software never should have been accepted if it 'never' worked. Most implementations of software have a back out plan or go/no go tollgate during the implementation process. If it never worked, why would a company keep using it?

Being a tech at a help desk I say - You hit the nail on the head.

 

[Maleficent13]

the software never should have been accepted if it 'never' worked. Most implementations of software have a back out plan or go/no go tollgate during the implementation process. If it never worked, why would a company keep using it?

Because they (the IS people) assume it is user error...and by the time they figure out that not all end users are idiots, it's too late, and we're stuck with it.

Now, I'm not saying that the techs who post to the thread are like this (patronizing and absolutely convinced that anyone not in the tech dept is an idiot)...but the ones I've worked with here for years certainly are.

 

[Apothecary]

Well, I run a large Help Desk, and I can tell you that 90% of our incidents are user-induced problems. The most frustrating this in a call center is when you work on a problem for 3 hours - fix it - and THEN they customers says, "Oh, yeah, I clicked on that button to see what would happen yesterday.". UMMMMM - How could you not correlate what you did yesterday to the problem you experienced IMMEDIATELY after.

But of course, people only want to blame the Help Desk person for their 'lack of knowledge' becuase they are not mind readers.....

I see two problems with what you said happened. First, they should have called you back when they committed and second, the software never should have been accepted if it 'never' worked. Most implementations of software have a back out plan or go/no go tollgate during the implementation process. If it never worked, why would a company keep using it?

This wasn't something that was broken, or not working right because of something I did - we had to set up a new pricing policy. I knew that's what we had to do, I just didn't know how to do it. But they wouldn't listen to me when I suggested that is what was needed. They went off on a whole other track that didn't work. That is what frustrated me most of all (besides the week long delay in getting back to me).

I agree about not keeping software that isn't working properly, but, as I posted, the owners don't want to change again so soon. I disagree, but it's their decision.

I also know that most call-centre workers are seriously underpaid considering the crap that they have to put up with from people like me . It is not a job I would enjoy.