inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | Would you like an extended warranty with your DSL?
Taking a page out of best buy's book I see.
if the DSL was reliable, perhaps such a draconian support method wouldn't be required. |
|
Ima
join:2003-10-23
Little Rock, AR | $10 dollars for unlimited tech support? ..what? |
|
axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC | great idea
Sounds like something a lot of people want, I hope that Verizon can make a little money on it and fix a lot of problems. It might relieve some pressure from their normal DSL support staff. |
|
karthwyne
join:2003-04-27
Atlanta, GA
 ·AT&T Southeast
| reply to inteller
Re: Would you like an extended warranty with your DSL?
the vast majority of calls to ANY helpdesk are not related to the product the desk supports.
During my time as a tier 1 & 2 of 2 different ISPs, the calls I fielded that were not PC or user issues accounted for less than 0.1%
should the ISP help setup OE for their email, sure; but is it their fault if the user can't figure it out, no.
during this age, i would suspect that 80% of connection issues are actually spyware or configuration, not lack of signal from the ISP.
the ppl who frequent this site do not call the helpdesks for these issues, and therefore who have no need of this "service" but it doesn't mean that it isn't a valid approach. |
|
jesseb_66
join:2002-12-06
Tucson, AZ | I agree with you 100% though 0.1% seems a little low... Do you mean 1 in 100 or 1 in 1000 calls were actually the ISP's fault?  |
|
MTC_Wes
join:2004-04-22
Fergus, ON
| reply to karthwyne
I agree with you 100% karthwyne, hopefully verizon hires support reps that are capable of diagnosing issues outside of no DSL sync. If not than there's isn't much of a point...
Customer: "I've paid my $10 this month for premium support, now I wanna know why is it that my windows 95 machine is so slow"
Support: "I believe there's a problem with your DSL, please call comcast....." |
|
karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
iraq
·Fairpoint Communic..
| Never work
Look at it this way, anyone who is paying 10.00 a month, will probably use it at least once a month. The only way verizon could possibly do this, and maintain a profit, would be to outsource all the calls to an indian call center. Even if the call only takes 5 minutes, that would wipe out their profit margin if any of the support people were based in the US. They can provide the same, useless, clueless tech support for about 10% of the cost if they outsource it to india.
--
Stick it to the MAN. Support your local torrent sites. Proudly providing 100mb of upstream for all your TV, Movie, and MP3 needs. |
|
Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium,VIP
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL
clubs:
1 edit | reply to karthwyne
Re: Would you like an extended warranty with your DSL?
said by karthwyne  :the vast majority of calls to ANY helpdesk are not related to the product the desk supports. During my time as a tier 1 & 2 of 2 different ISPs, the calls I fielded that were not PC or user issues accounted for less than 0.1% should the ISP help setup OE for their email, sure; but is it their fault if the user can't figure it out, no. during this age, i would suspect that 80% of connection issues are actually spyware or configuration, not lack of signal from the ISP. the ppl who frequent this site do not call the helpdesks for these issues, and therefore who have no need of this "service" but it doesn't mean that it isn't a valid approach. I concur. I worked Tier 1 with SBC DSL and the vast majority of the calls where problems with the PC or PEBKAC, not with the actual service.
I think SBC tried something out like this service, but I don't know how well it worked. |
|
bi0tech
join:2003-06-19
| reply to inteller
This sooo looks like a bad idea on their part. Even if they were willing to pay enough to get knowledgeable techs to work the phones (unlikely), there's just too much to cover in a short amount of time with accuracy. Utimately these type of circumstances end up leading to exteme measures to solve simple problems along with generally low approval ratings.
The best buy geeks may come out looking like technical gods in comparison. (*shudder*) |
|
tpac_man
join:2007-02-27
Riverbank, CA
·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to Maxo
Yep I worked Tier 2 at SBC and remember them making us push for "support plus". Customer's were charged by each call instead of a monthly rate. I think Verizon is doing a great job with this new Premium tech support and hopefully it works out for them. Most issues are PC related, but there are still alot of issues on the ISP side as well. |
|
tpac_man
join:2007-02-27
Riverbank, CA
·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to karlmarx
Re: Never work
I'm sure Verizon will use the same tech support agents to do this. All they need is a flag on the account letting the rep know this customer pay's for Premium support and u can assist them fully. When I worked at SBC I helped customers all the way... even though it screwed my stats a little, I didn't want to get repeat customer's calling in. So if a customer that doesn't have a premium support flag on there, they could upsell to that customer and add it to their monthly bill. |
|
Mike
Premium,Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA
clubs:  | reply to karlmarx
I was wondering where it would be based myself.
I had a few Indian tech support reps when calling Verizon and they were down right terrible. |
|
NYC Girl
Premium
join:2007-02-04
Bronx, NY | reply to Ima
Re: Would you like an extended warranty with your DSL?
RIDICULOUS, they should be providing unlimited support regardless. I am so glad I don't subscribe to their service anymore. |
|
Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium,VIP
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL
clubs:
| said by NYC Girl :RIDICULOUS, they should be providing unlimited support regardless. I am so glad I don't subscribe to their service anymore. No company provides supports for other people products for free. It won't happen. Just like Jiffy won't take complaints for Peter Pan peanut butter. Jiffy simply won't care. |
|
morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | right, but Jiffy must take complaints FOR JIFFY. that's the issue. |
|
Loker
Premium
join:2004-07-11
Fargo, ND
clubs:
| a little shocked....
I am honestly a little shocked the vast majority of people are supporting this....if any company I did business with tried to pull something like this I would not let it slide....I did not think the majority of people here would either?
Is it because its Verizon people think its ok?
--
"While preceding your entrance with a grenade is a good tactic inQuake, it can lead to problems if attempted at work." -- C Hacking |
|
kalphearion
In nomine Patri
Premium
join:2003-11-08
Denver, CO
clubs: | reply to NYC Girl
Re: Would you like an extended warranty with your DSL?
No ISP should feel obliged to provide unlimited support for third party hardware. If Verizon supplied secondary hardware as part of the service(Router, wireless router) then yes, they should support that. |
|
Techie714
join:2005-08-02
Anaheim, CA
1 edit | Your not paying enough people
See the problem here is that you people are not paying enough for your dsl, phone, etc to justify free tech support. ........SARCASM |
|
Alex G Bell
join:2002-07-02
Boston, MA
| Tech Support
Remember MS support? Here is what it will likely be like:
"Congratulations, you are caller 394 in cue with an estimated wait time of only 2 hours and 38 minutes, but please enjoy the rap music and the Verizon commercials every 2 minutes."
(much later)
"Hello, my name is Ragbadshaw? May I have your DSL phone number? . . . Have you tried rebooting?"
(1/2 hour later)
". . . Oh, I have to transfer you to level 2 support, it is only a 3/4 hour wait."
--
"Remember, Comrade, people who are willing to destroy an efficient telephone system may not be playing with a full deck." |
|
stevek1949
We're not in Kansas anymore
join:2002-11-13
Virginia Beach, VA
 ·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to Loker
Re: a little shocked....
It's not a Verizon user vs. another service user thing.
I am a Verizon DSL user and have been for years. I can count on one hand how many time I have had to call tech support, but NONE for PC related issues. I know my limitations, though.
I do tech support on the side and I cannot tell you how many people cannot even spell PC when it comes to diagnosing any issues. It makes sense business wise to offer this type of support, but I can see that there are those that will not need it. That is why it is OPTIONAL.
Most of the problems that I see are either virus or spyware related, which Joe User has little knowledge of. It's those users that this service is targeted toward.
Most people in this forum know a lot more than Joe User. That's a fact. But when a lot of those people see the name VERIZON, it cannot, will not, and will never be good for anything. |
|
