| [General] Earthlink Tech Support Earthlink's Technical Support is a monster if you don't know how to navigate it you will get the run-around. For those who haven't experienced it you don't know how bad it can be. I used to be a technical support agent in Tier-2 Support for everything and Tier-3 for Satellite. When the Omaha call center was disbanded I was let off so I'm giving a little tutorial on what's going on in TechSupport; why you are in the department you are in and why you are there.
HOW TO PREPARE
Get your earthlink email address ready. Get your security word, usually Mother's Maiden Name, Father's Middle Name, your email password, or the last four digits of your social security number or last four digits of the credit card number you are using to pay for your account.
Get a pen and paper ready to take notes (taking names is basically useless).
Get what version of windows you have.
If you have a DSL connection take down the make and model of your DSL modem (e.g. Zyxel 660r-Elnk).
Take down the Light's names and whether or not they are are on/off/blinking and what color they are.
Take down what ever error your getting on the computer.
HELP THEM HELP YOU
Be coorperative and friendly, even if you feel like screaming. Also don't present them with grossly outdated software. If you have anything before Windows 2000 you might want to consider upgrading your OS or your whole computer. Microsoft ended support for Window98 and ME in July of 2006. They are ancient pieces of software that are difficult to support. Use Windows 2000, XP, OR Vista. If you're on a Mac at least have OS9. And don't bother calling if you're using anything else such as linux.
MAKE THE CALL TO TECHNICAL SUPPORT
TIER 1
If you have an easy problem you should be fixed right here. Prepare to talk to someone from India who calls himself Bob. Don't take offense at these people. They are reading off of a flowchart called "Decision Tree". They are just doing what they are payed a horrible wage to do. Alot of people say that these people "Go through the motions". You should prepare for this because it could take a half hour to an hour. When he's done with you he will tell you that he needs to transfer you to his supervisor. He's not really transferring you to a supervisor, he's transferring you to TIER2.
TIER 2 - DELTA - TS-SAVES
This is for more serious issues. You have a chance of getting someone from the US but I wouldn't count on it. You have a better chance of getting the Philipenes. No matter what; they speak English on this line. They will take you through ALL possible things that could possibly be done over the phone. They generally shouldn't be repeating things from TIER1 but sometimes do because TIER2 techs often have a lack of confidence in what was done in TIER1. You will be transferred here from TIER 1 or CS-SAVES. From here you could be transferred to TIER 3 if you have DSL OR SATELLITE. If your getting transferred to TIER3 make sure you get your ticket number for the ticket the person you're talking to should have made. That ticket number is important. If you have Dialup or Cable this is where it ends. This is also where it ends if you're having issues with any of Earthlink's Software.
TIER 3 - TRON - VENDER RELATIONS
TRON IS FOR WHEN DOING STUFF ON THE PHONE WON'T WORK.
This is only on DSL and Satellite. If your cable or dialup isn't working after TIER 2 it means that there's something wrong with your phone lines or the cable lines.. You should call your Local PHONE PROVIDER or CABLE provider. Nothing can/should go beyond this. This can actually take weeks. I'm totally serious about this! You're here because Earthlink's technical support determined that the problem isn't your computer and it's not earthlink's fault. That means that Earthlink HAS to work with the real internet provider to make your connection work. Much of the time is spent convincing the provider that there is a problem. If you have an open ticket with Earthlink put aside ALOT of time to talk to Tron. Many of them are kind of clueless/inexperienced with this. God knows I was for a while. Don't get angry and I'd recommend getting a headset for your phone because having your head tilted for long periods of time on the phone can't be good for your neck. By the end of your first tron call you should have your problem solved or two ticket numbers. One ticket is on earthlink's side. That's actually the only one you need. The other one is on the vender's side. Any subsequent calls to Earthlink Technical Support will land you in tron for as long as the ticket is open. Simply give them the ticket number and they will tell you the status of the ticket or they will do 3-way calls with the vender.
EARTHLINK DOESN'T ACTUALLY PROVIDE ANY OF ITS INTERNET CONNECTIONS. Earthlink works with the DSL and Satellite providers. For Dialup they will simply change your dialup number or OEM your machine. OEM means that your computer is screwed and you need to take it to a local tech or the manufacturer or store you bought the computer. If you have cable they will refer you to real cable provider to fix the problem. They'll give you the number and times you can call them.
VALUE ADDED SERVICES
Earthlink's main services are DIALUP, CABLE, DSL, SATELLITE, LINE POWERED VOICE, TRUEVOICE. Don't ever bother to get any other service. There is no technical support on the phones for anything other than what you see above. They will refer you to textchat at support.earthlink.net but those people are clueless.
WHAT NEVER TO DO
NEVER ASK FOR A SUPERVISOR. ALL SUPERVISORS WILL EVER DO IS CALM YOU DOWN. Supervisors are techs just like the person you are already talking to. You should just calm yourself down and save yourself the time. Never ever ask for supervisors if your talking to TRON. TRON is the highest department. When you ask to talk to a supervisor when your already talking to TRON they will transfer you to DELTA. That's right. They will transfer you to someone who can do less about the problem than the TRON people could do and in the end you will just be transferred back to TRON anyway.
NEVER THREATEN TO SUE. They will give you corporate number and hangup on you.
NEVER LIE. They will find you out and call you on it.
Don't say the word fraud. When you say it they will lock your account. Only use this if you SERIOUSLY believe that there is real fraud going on.
Don't ask to retrieve emails from ex-wives/lovers for divorse court.. Emails when deleted are gone. Nobody can retrieve them. Even if you didn't delete them and they seem to have simply disappeared they still are JUST GONE. You will never see them again.
EARTHLINK SOFTWARE
Never, for any reason install Earthlink software. Don't install Total Access, don't install Protection Control Center. Don't install a thing. The only thing you should ever have to install is the driver software for the DW4000 satellite modems. That's IT. Nothing else or you may regret it.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY
These reflect DIRECTLY on the LAST person you talked to. If the last guy you talked to on the phone was nice and helpful fill it out with a good rating even if the 10 people before him were dicks because it won't reflect on those people.
CANCELLING
When you ask to cancel you will be transferred to Customer Services Saves (CS SAVES). These are the people who will try to convince you to stay with Earthlink. If you're looking to leave Earthlink because you're paying more they will offer you a better deal. If you are looking to leave because of technical issues they will try to convince you to give Technical Support another try and transfer you to TS-SAVES(Delta). Unfortunately if you still want to cancel the people in technical support need to transfer you to a brand new CS-SAVES agent. The problem is, is that this person will try to transfer you back to Technical Support(give you the run-around). That's why you should ask the Technical Support Agent to "warm transfer" you back to Saves so that the Technical Support Agent can explain the situation. |
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| Wow, this is very helpful. I have noticed this though. Only problem is, I have asked for supervisors, and all they do is screw you over :/ |
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| reply to Seta-San
Now this is a real Thanksgiving treat! Thanks for the insight; this should be beneficial to all. |
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ELNK_UCTSVIP
join:2006-10-24
Universal City, TX | This is a very good explanation of how the chain of command works. There are a few more departments that aren't listed that are higher than TRON, which is the group I am a part of. We deal with all sorts of issues, and we give you a callback in 24-48 hours depending on the severity of the problem.
I do have to say that the EarthLink software is a very good treat if used correctly. A lot of customers who can't use the software is because they haven't taken good care of their computer. Computers are like cars, they need to be maintained and well-oiled. If you aren't taking care of your system, then a lot of software won't work including EarthLink's. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Naomi |
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| Ya, except for us people who worked the phones we collectively knew anything above us as the "NOC". We didn't really know how many departments above us there are or what they were really called or did. Do you perchance work on Bad Voice Tickets? If so, do you know Francis?
On the Software side I still say the software is useless. The biggest problems come when they won't uninstall and they have to be manually deleted and you have to do a RegHack to get it out. If anything they just add another layer to take up system memory and offers another layer which something can go wrong. Also PCC is abit too militant. It pops up those warnings saying 85.25.15.186 is trying to communicate with their computer on port 80. How's grandma supposed to know what that IP address or port is? They hit block and they block themselves from the internet
said by ELNK_UCTS:There are a few more departments that aren't listed that are higher than TRON, which is the group I am a part of. We deal with all sorts of issues, and we give you a callback in 24-48 hours depending on the severity of the problem. I do have to say that the EarthLink software is a very good treat if used correctly.Naomi |
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| I have to say that the departments of support that Earthlink has outsourced is resulting in terrible customer service and costing you customers. It is a shame as I had started with Mindspring and lived through the merger with Earthlink. Back then the service was #1. |
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 tomnvikTom G
join:2000-10-26
South Elgin, IL | reply to Seta-San
I just get a little tired of having to make 4 or 5 calls to finally get someone that speaks understandable English. Fortunately my hook-up is sound and I have little need for tech support.
--
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe." -Albert Einstein |
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 dlathemPremium
join:2000-08-11
Birmingham, AL | reply to Seta-San
This was a very interesting explanation of the food chain at ELM tech support. Fortunately, I have little problems with my DSL connection. I have experienced horrific problems with the news servers and sometimes the mail servers.
My question to you and any other person who actually knows about ELM Tech Support protocol is this; Is there a minimum number "QUOTA" of complaints about the same issue required in order for the problem to even be reported to engineering?
Over the last several years I have been on the phone about an issue and the TIER one support person will come right out and tell me that the issue will not be escalated because there have not been enough complaints.
If this is true I am even more disappointed than ever! |
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1 edit | reply to Seta-San
I too find the chain of command interesting, but useless!
I have been losing sync. fairly often in the past few months. The last two weeks I have have my dsl go down every night ranging in time from 1-5 hours. I call "Tech support" and after a long wait I get "Bob" or some person. Then they ask me the same questions over and over, put me on hold, ask me the same questions, put me back on hold. You get the drill, right?
I finally get a trouble ticket number. It seems more like a pacifier than anything else. No resolution, just a ticket number. If you are lucky they give you another phone number. But it is always a wrong and useless phone number?!?! In addition it seems as if your problems never leave the call center. I call back about the same problem and the whole routine starts over again. The end point is always the same, my problem stays stuck in the call center.
I have written to Mike Lunsford at Earthlink. One time I heard back from someone. I am still waiting for a response on my last email.
I just want to get some competent service and a solution to my problem. But...
Hey, one time I did speak to a lady in San Antonio. My problem was corrected faster than a sneeze.
Is Earthlink trying to lose customers? Their customer service has been going down the crapper, unless you want to purchase another Earthlink service.
When I lose sync, I also can't sync up at the NID. My modem is a Netopia "blue". |
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1 edit | reply to dlathem
If you want to get staight to Tier2 ask to talk to CS-SAVES. When you do this tell them that unless you get to talk to DELTA(TS-SAVES) you will cancel. It's basically their job to transfer to this department anyway.
[Mod edit..Please do not post Priority Support numbers.] |
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| reply to Seta-San
>>Is Earthlink trying to lose customers? Their customer service has been going down the crapper
I read somewhere on this post. That one person decided to cancel out there ELNK DSL service altogether. |
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| reply to Seta-San
Well, this is interesting. Esp about Earthlink PCC software.
One of the main reasons I've stuck with Earthlink (vs, say Qwest)is I figured at $39.95 I was saving money because the PCC came with Earthlink's offer, but not with Qwest (and I didn't want msn with Qwest).
I have been under the impression that, overall, PCC is pretty good protection. All in one simple package. That, and I'm behind a router (the ZyXel P660R-ELNK), and I occasionally get a scan/cleaning elsewhere as well (Trend Micro's Housecalls, or Microsoft (Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner and cleaner, the free one). But no other service has ever caught anything significant after Earthlink's scans.
(BTW, Housecalls seems to NOT run on IE7.0, or even FX1.5.08 now--according to their tech support. The scan stops part-way through and the browser just closes,leaving you looking at the Desktop.) |
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ELNK_UCTSVIP
join:2006-10-24
Universal City, TX | reply to Seta-San
I do work bad voice tickets as well, and I do know Francis. |
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| reply to Seta-San
This is Earthlink's biggest mistake ever closing the Omaha Call Center not renewing the contact and putting people jobless. Omaha provided earthlink with 5 good years of service and what do they do outsource it to overseas and close us down. Master Tech= Masterchef. |
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wssddc
join:2001-08-21
Bedford, MA | reply to Seta-San
I would add one thing near the beginning of your tutorial: if you have connection problems with line-share DSL and you hear static on the voice line when you plug a phone in at the NID, call your phone company first. A flaw in the line that messes up voice is likely to mess up DSL as well. |
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| reply to Seta-San
i find it funny that TS agents [esp. outsourced] are always referred to as incompetent and have always been the scapegoat.. not everyone though.. there are a lot of good and knowledgeable agents, the workload are just too much that these agents can't cater to all our needs.. we rarely see good comments here, so we don't get to hear what those customers who were lucky enough to get help from good technicians have to say.. if you're rude, don't ever wonder why nobody's calling you back or nobody's willing to help.. just imagine these agents saying "you call him back"........ "no, YOU call him back"
for TRON, they're very dependent on the vendor.. as much as they want to say, send a tech to fix the issue, the vendor would refuse unless they have completed the line tests [some of them are really redundant].. you might be wondering why you're being asked to run the coop test again and again and again [coop test is the plug and unplug test].. these are SOP's set by the vendors and TRON "have to" comply because it's part of the contract..
dlathem
** Is there a minimum number "QUOTA" of complaints about the same issue required in order for the problem to even be reported to engineering? **
-if you have an open trouble ticket, you can do unlimited calls to TRON [unless ticket status says the vendor is still working on it] and they will assist you. if they call back and they don't get a response after certain # of attempts, they will close the ticket but will still be valid for the next 2 weeks.. if you get routed to tier 1 when you call back and you're reporting the same issue, they can xfer you directly to TRON.. otherwise, they have to do the TS all over again because the ticket template differs along with the reported issue/s |
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ELNK_UCTSVIP
join:2006-10-24
Universal City, TX | Customers are just angry that they feel they are getting the runaround and no one is explaining to them what is happening, and that's why they say mean things such as "incompetent" or "scapegoat." You also have to remember that a lot of people don't get the proper updates they need and they come here and someone is able to offer more assistance than on the phone.
TRON is very dependent on the Vendor, but they are escalation procedures that can be done to escalate customer's issues.
Just because a customer is rude is no reason not to call them back. I would rather kill a customer with kindness than give him to someone else for him to yell at the next agent. It's just doing the job correctly. |
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| reply to Seta-San
the provisions as far as escalation procedures are concerned is easier said than done.. TRON too get run-arounds from Covad.. and there's a difference between a customer ranting because he's frustrated about having to deal with the whole troubleshooting process AND being rude, attacking the agent personally saying the agent is not doing his/her best to get a resolution.. use of profanities [sometimes directly to the agent] on calls is also one reason why i think some agents doesn't have too much enthusiasm on helping out.. we could only hope that all TS agents are as nice and understanding as you are ELNK_UCTS..Ü |
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ELNK_UCTSVIP
join:2006-10-24
Universal City, TX | I do agree with you. It does make it a lot easier when a customer is not using profanities especially when they direct it at the agent. Most of the technicians are doing their best to assist each and every customer.
TRON does get the run around from the vendors, because it's the nature of the business. It happens all the time in Corporate America.
Thank you for the wonderful compliment.  |
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4 edits | reply to Seta-San
Mod Note: orphaned post from move. Post copied into new thread here: »Issue with switch to Verizon fiber from Earthlink skj |
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