techy8
join:2002-03-20
Shepherdsville, KY
| Inside Information about Charter Tech support
I have pondered writing this for quite some time, and finally decided to sit down and do it. Until recently I had been with Charter for quite some time as a Tier 2 tech support agent, or as the position has now been renamed, a high speed data representative. Basically I was the last person you would talk to about problem with you modem or Internet connectivity. I have had many disagreements with the company about the way customers are handled as well as the turmoil they put their techs through. Now that I am no longer employed by them I feel it is safe for me to divulge this to the customers it effects.
First let me provide a bit of background information so that everything makes perfect sense.
Originally I worked for a company called HSA, which I am sure most of you are familiar with. In March of this year Charter bought The Louisville Call Center from HSA because they admired the way it was run and the support that was given from that standpoint. To qualify for the Tier 2 position in HSA some computer knowledge was required anything over that was a plus. HSA's goal was to find technicians that knew how to solve problems. The Environment on the floor was a friendly, almost family, atmosphere. The goal was to do your job, and have fun too. This was a job that you could enjoy doing. Ultimately HSA did not have the customer base to keep itself from being bought out, which is basically what happened.
When charter bought the call center in March techs in the call center were told that things would remain basically the same with some minor changes. (Can't believe I bought that) Over the course of about 4 months the entire environment changed so drastically that you would never had thought the HSA environment existed. First it was deemed that the existing phone system was not adequate and that a new one would be installed. This new phone system would track the call center stats better to allow for better scheduling, at least that’s what it started out as. What it turned into was a veritable nightmare, at least for the technicians. The phone system required that you log in through software on your workstation. If you log in to that more than 5 minutes after your scheduled start time then you are considered late, which I wouldn't have so great of a problem with if logging onto a workstation did not take so long. The workstations techs use are run on windows 2k. So when you find a seat, we do not have assigned workspaces, you log on and wait. When addressed with this issue management would simply say, well you just need to come in early and log in so that you are ready by your start time. Secondly, when Charter bought the call center they decided that if you needed to go to the bathroom you should use one of the 2 15 minute breaks you have to do that. This new phone system was also set to track if people had set phones to a "wait" state so that the rule could not be broken. (I am currently going to the labor board about this because I was told by law a company cannot do this) The Third problem with this is the way the system is setup to handle calls. The old phone system would make an audible beep (not on the headset) and give you 8 seconds to pick up the call; this new system beeps variably 1/2-2 seconds on the headset before the customer is automatically put through. So if you have ever called tech support and when the music stopped heard someone coughing, drinking something, etc, that’s why.
Even after the phone was in place the job was not "unbearable" but had lost the allure it had. The introduction of another "upgrade" brought with it more frustrations and problems. This next device is called Witness. What this program does is records everything that is on the screen of your workstation during a call. Now I am going to be very blunt and honest with you all, when people are not on hold I do read message boards and surf the net when I am at work. I also do not have to put much thought into walking someone through re-installing something on their computer since I have gone through it 5 billion times. I also had co-workers constantly asking me questions over AIM (we will get to this issue later). When Witness was in place it was said that we were not to have any chat windows or web pages on our screen at any point during a call. This, even though I do not like it, I can understand from a business standpoint. The next change, I have yet to figure out.
After Witness was in place someone up the corporate ladder decided that they need to limit techs even more. So a new "upgrade" called Websense was installed. Websense was intended to BLOCK WebPages which charter deemed not suitable for a work environment. With that statement the first thing that comes to mind is Pornography right? Well Websense doesn't stop with porn it blocks everything from ABC's website to and site with a word it doesn't like. This effectively prevents anyone from being able to determine any DNS routing problems, period. If a customer calls in and has a problem with a site, techs cannot even verify the site is up because it is blocked. What this also does is keeps techs that are there late into the night from being able to stay awake by surfing the Internet. Unfortunately this story does not stop here.
The next problem happened when techs figured out that their machines would run noticeably slower when they were being monitored. So by pulling task manager up and looking at the CPU load you could tell when you were being recorded. Once management found out about this it was immediately called down to the IT department, which decided to just deny access to task manager to all techs. This lasted for about a week, which was like hell on earth. The problem with this is that we used Outlook with and exchange server for mail, and, of course, outlook would crash and lock the screen up often which would require it to be shutdown through task manager. Since it got disabled the only other option you had was to reboot the machine. I can't tell you how many customers had to wait for me to reboot my machine that week.
Next we come to techs and using chat clients. HSA used AIM as their chat client. This allows techs to converse, ask questions, and find outages. During the months After the Charter buyout some corporate person decided that AIM was a bad thing and that we needed a different program. Thus E-Pop was hastily installed. This program that was supposed to replace AIM was an internal Chat system. The problem with the system is it didn't, and still doesn't work correctly. Basically this was another unstable application that crashed frequently, was not user friendly, and was an all around pain to use. Being that Techs did not like having to reboot during calls most went back to using AIM, until management decided to make threats about using AIM. Of course that didn't stop most people anyway. So again we see how this position is made more difficult which ultimately the customer pays for with their time.
It is my opinion that Charters biggest problem with dealing with their tech support is the people making the decisions. These people look at some numbers on a piece of paper and change something without having a clue what the repercussions will be. Unfortunately that seems to also be the case when dealing with headends in local markets. I am sure many of you have dealt with the outages or the "scheduled maintenance" that you were never notified about. I remember one incident in Roswell, GA (Gwinette) where we learned that the area manager just decided he was going to upgrade something on a whim, which resulted in Roswell being down for a week. I also later learned from a source that "Charlie" was drunk when he did it.
For many months now tech support has not been able to confirm outages to customers with out consent from their local affiliates. This means that if an outage occurs at 10pm and tech support gets 100 calls inside of 5 minutes from the same location with the same problem, the tech still has to walk through all the troubleshooting with you before they can escalate a ticket for you. In my opinion this wastes the customers time as well as the company’s money. There is nothing as frustrating than having to do things with a customer on their computer when you know exactly what the problem is, and that it is not on their end. Even if the techs want to speed things up, they can't, because they’re being monitored.
Now we come to the brand new standards for hiring Tier 2 techs. Basically if you come in and have a resume your in. The last group of new techs on the floor which I spoke with, 2 of them did not own a computer, 8 of them had absolutely no training on a computer, and the rest had mixed experience. The idealology of this is that anyone can do this job and read from templates, which is wrong, wrong, wrong. These new hires get a 2 week crash course in troubleshooting, for the next two weeks they are on the phones with a Tier 2 tech as a coach for them if they have a problem they cannot solve, and then they are on the phone alone. That’s it, no more training, no follow-up to make sure they know what to do, that’s it. If you have ever called tech support and had someone like this that was on the phone with you for an hour and couldn't figure out the problem, only to call back in five minutes and have a tech, such as myself, fix the problem in less than five minutes, you have experienced the product of the one month crash course program. This is where the future of Charter's tech support is going which is why I am no longer a part of it. Please don't misunderstand, there are some very good techs that still work for charter, they are sadly becoming an endangered species soon to be extinct, but to the techs that still go through the daily battles in the Call Centers my feelings go out to you.
In closing I want all the customers that read this to know. I devoted a significant part of my life to this company and helping its customers, sacrificed my social life, most of my family time, and allot of sleep. I thought that this company was going to hold true to its word and improve the quality of its support for customers and also giving techs the tools and freedom to assist them. Because of the events that have occurred I feel that these years have been wasted and that the customers are unfortunately in a far worse place than they were previously. I truly hope this company really decides to turn things around, not just on the surface, but I fear that is a wish that will never be seen.
I hope that this post has provided you with some insight and that it helps you with your dealings with charter. I will respond to replies to the thread if you would like to ask questions or have inquiries.
--
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, Imagination encircles the world." Albert Einstien |
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Monster Rain
Premium
join:2002-08-03
USA
| said by techy8  :
I hope that this post has provided you with some insight and that it helps you with your dealings with charter. I will respond to replies to the thread if you would like to ask questions or have inquiries.
And I hope Charter Customers understand that all regions operate in slightly different fashions. It sounds like (to me) techy is obviously upset about his current situation, but I feel this would have been an issue better reported to your supervisor (and if that doesn't work...your supervisor's manager, and so on) The bottom line...techy's opinions are his own and he is entitled to them. The post, in no way, should provide present and future customers that much "insight" to the operations of Charter Communications. |
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HappyBunny
Hi. Cram It.
Premium
join:2001-06-23
Long Beach, CA
 ·Charter Pipeline
| Actually it *does* provide an insight. It turns the spotlight on what the real issues are at Charter, and its what we have long suspected: management.
As a customer, how often do we wonder why do I know more about computers than the person i am talking to? Why is it, when I start talking about something like pinging a server, do I hear nothing but the sound of crickets chirping? No *wonder* they cant get qualified techs--with working conditions like that, who would *want* to work there? Regulating bathroom breaks to 2 per 8 hour shift? Heavy monitoring of calls and computer activity? I bet there was more freedom working in the Gulags in the old USSR. How can any quality person stand to work in that environment?
EPMD, you said to discuss the situation with his supervisor--ideally, that would be the thing to do, but in that atmosphere of punishment and punitiveness? I doubt there is any honest communication between the employees and management--I doubt it would be encouraged or heard.
Techy's post was thoughtful and insightful and I am glad he had the chutzpah to post it here. I hope he makes a copy and mails it to Charter Corporate in St. Louis, along with our responses here. They would do well to listen to it all.
In the meantime, I will have more sympathy for those who toil for Charter, the next time I have to call them.
[text was edited by author 2002-10-30 12:10:21] |
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pit_viper
1 Shot, 1 Kill, No Remorse, I Decide
join:2002-07-24
Play_Hockey | Charter is by far the best company I have ever worked for and management has been great. |
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HSDinNE
Call Tech Support
join:2002-07-15
Kearney, NE
| Agree with techoncall here.
Since Charter has taken over our area we have been treated much much better than ever before. Our management team is awesome! They listen and take quick action to fix whatever issues we may have.
This truely looks like a regional issue! Bun, I think you missed that EPMD pointed out that all regions operate slightly differently. Here we have an open door policy, if I have a problem with my supervisor, I can go directly to the State Director if I feel that is needed.
This is NOT an indication of how Charter operates in all areas.
Drew
PS - Bunwhipser - I think you brain washed my wife. She has just ordered one of those IMacs with a flat screen! NOOOooooooooo!  |
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MacBagwan
join:2002-01-30
Denver, CO
| reply to HappyBunny
said by HappyBunny :
Actually it *does* provide an insight. It turns the spotlight on what the real issues are at Charter, and its what we have long suspected: management.
Not management as a whole...Upper management. Lower management has the pulse of the floor and knows what is going to work and what isn't. HSA promoted from the floor in many cases so people who'd been "in the trenches" were now making recommendations to upper management. Charter's autocracy was/is run by number crunchers who are only concerned with statistics. In their eyes if calls are piling up in queue, it's gotta be the employees shirking their responsibilities - not some external force, right?
said by HappyBunny :
No *wonder* they cant get qualified techs--with working conditions like that, who would *want* to work there? Regulating bathroom breaks to 2 per 8 hour shift? Heavy monitoring of calls and computer activity? I bet there was more freedom working in the Gulags in the old USSR. How can any quality person stand to work in that environment?
HSA Denver had people actually quitting when Charter Corporate came in and started changing things...These were good techs with families who knew full well they were giving up their severance package by quitting just a few weeks before getting laid off. They didn't have anything else lined up, just their principles. Can't say I agreed with their decisions, but you've gotta admire their conviction.
said by HappyBunny :
EPMD, you said to discuss the situation with his supervisor--ideally, that would be the thing to do, but in that atmosphere of punishment and punitiveness? I doubt there is any honest communication between the employees and management--I doubt it would be encouraged or heard.
Particularly when the people in charge are worried about rocking the boat with the mucky-mucks in St. Louis. I won't name names, but the two people in charge of Customer Care in St. Louis look like Flounder from Animal House and some sort of cross between Paul Mitchell and a bird of prey. (Think about a falcon with a beard.  ) The two of them were the biggest number crunchers of them all and I'm sure that Louisville's call center manager was far too busy looking out for herself than sticking to her guns when it came to STL's new approach that oppresses the one group of people you want to be happy - the people who directly interface with your customers.
said by HappyBunny :
Techy's post was thoughtful and insightful and I am glad he had the chutzpah to post it here. I hope he makes a copy and mails it to Charter Corporate in St. Louis, along with our responses here. They would do well to listen to it all.
Silly rabbit, it'd end up in the circular file quicker than you can say "paradigm shift."
--
Be seeing you! |
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MacBagwan
join:2002-01-30
Denver, CO
| P.S. to Techoncall and HSDinNE:
Things may be (and I cetainly hope are) different in your necks of the woods, but the Louisville KY call center upheaval was what we were talking about.
Didn't mean to cast any aspersions on your various operations, was just giving out a "hear hear!" to techy.
P.P.S. to HSD - Muwahaha! The iMacs are coming! The iMacs are coming! "All your desk are belong to us!"
P.P.S. to bunwhisper - Good work! The Master will be pleased.
[text was edited by author 2002-10-30 12:38:10] |
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InnerMe
join:2002-08-30 | Understandably change is something that can be difficult to deal with, however there is a reason HSA is gone and Pipeline is still around. |
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Monster Rain
Premium
join:2002-08-03
USA
| reply to HappyBunny
said by pit_viper :
Charter is by far the best company I have ever worked for and management has been great.
Ditto
said by HappyBunny :
Actually it *does* provide an insight. It turns the spotlight on what the real issues are at Charter, and its what we have long suspected: management.
I really must disagree...making generalizations like that (based on one former employee's post) is just an error in logic (again..my opinion). The vast majority of techs on the phone are extremely knowledgeable and love helping customers. If you run into someone on the phone, where you happen to be more educated, or know more about certain aspects of computers or networking...well sometimes it can't be avoided. I'd bet some of our customer have PHD's and MBA's and they call to report service issues just like other customers do. Again...just my POV. Not meant to be a flame. |
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Revcb
Orbis non sufficit
Premium,Mod
join:2001-07-05
Springport, MI
Host:
AT&T Broadband
Michigan
VOIP Tech Chat
| said by Monster Rain :
I really must disagree...making generalizations like that (based on one former employee's post) is just an error in logic (again..my opinion).
So you're saying all of these "upgrades" by Charter upper management did nothing to hinder the support process and/or quality of support? Come now... its not like this post is a brainless rant... its a well thought out post telling exactly why techy became disillusioned with the job and decided to leave it. Do you or have you worked in techy's call center recently? |
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HappyBunny
Hi. Cram It.
Premium
join:2001-06-23
Long Beach, CA
·Charter Pipeline
| reply to HSDinNE
said by HSDinNE :
Bun, I think you missed that EPMD pointed out that all regions operate slightly differently. Here we have an open door policy, if I have a problem with my supervisor, I can go directly to the State Director if I feel that is needed.
No, I didn't miss his point--but it sounds as if the situation was far different where he worked. In an atmosphere like he described, I certainly wouldn't want to take any issues to management. It sounded very adversarial--not cooperative.
I know Charter is different in some areas--for example in Southern CA, I have had some great help from the techs here in this forum--though I cannot say that of the ones in the LA call center. But I think there is definitely rot in the management--it shows in a lot of ways. The call centers, the service issues in *some areas* (TN, GA, etc), and the lack of focus as to what customers need and want (including the web site and the upload issues). But I am glad all you techs dont have to put up with what techy described. That sounded really awful but it is believeable because we all wonder "why do we get such bad phone support?" This just confirmed what many of us customers thought.
quote:
PS - Bunwhipser - I think you brain washed my wife. She has just ordered one of those IMacs with a flat screen! NOOOooooooooo!
She has great taste! Those are very cool--an iMac isnt expandable enough for graphic design but I want one just cause its cool!
--
If you want me to be a good little bunny just dangle some carats in front of my nose. |
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HappyBunny
Hi. Cram It.
Premium
join:2001-06-23
Long Beach, CA
·Charter Pipeline
| reply to MacBagwan
said by MacBagwan :
In their eyes if calls are piling up in queue, it's gotta be the employees shirking their responsibilities - not some external force, right?
Yeah it couldn't possibly be bazillions of customers calling because they want their service to work properly, could it?
quote:
Silly rabbit, it'd end up in the circular file quicker than you can say "paradigm shift."
I'd laugh if it weren't so sad.
--
If you want me to be a good little bunny just dangle some carats in front of my nose. |
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Monster Rain
Premium
join:2002-08-03
USA
| reply to Revcb
said by Revcb :
So you're saying all of these "upgrades" by Charter upper management did nothing to hinder the support process and/or quality of support? Come now... its not like this post is a brainless rant... its a well thought out post telling exactly why techy became disillusioned with the job and decided to leave it. Do you or have you worked in techy's call center recently?
I just see some inconsistencies in the post..like "This means that if an outage occurs at 10pm and tech support gets 100 calls inside of 5 minutes from the same location with the same problem, the tech still has to walk through all the troubleshooting with you before they can escalate a ticket for you. There is nothing as frustrating than having to do things with a customer on their computer when you know exactly what the problem is, " ...this is just 100% false from a Charter standpoint(not sure about HSA)...I also never said anything about a brainless rant. It was well thought and obvious he was frustrated. I never worked for HSA or in the call-center there, no...but generalizing Charter as whole due to this (I feel) is unfair. The quality of support since HSA is out of the picture has definitely improved. (That too is my opinion, but feel management and HSD staff would back me up) |
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dougbrockwel
join:2002-06-12
Malaga, WA
| said by Monster Rain :
...but generalizing Charter as whole due to this (I feel) is unfair.
I hate to jump into the middle of this but after reading his post I didn't come away with the feeling that he was referring to the entire corp. |
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Monster Rain
Premium
join:2002-08-03
USA
| said by dougbrockwel :
I hate to jump into the middle of this but after reading his post I didn't come away with the feeling that he was referring to the entire corp.
said by techy8 :
I truly hope this company really decides to turn things around, not just on the surface, but I fear that is a wish that will never be seen.
I do see what you mean doug...I thought he was to some extent. Peoples opinions are just that. |
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Revcb
Orbis non sufficit
Premium,Mod
join:2001-07-05
Springport, MI
Host:
AT&T Broadband
Michigan
VOIP Tech Chat
| reply to Monster Rain
said by Monster Rain :
I just see some inconsistencies in the post..like "This means that if an outage occurs at 10pm and tech support gets 100 calls inside of 5 minutes from the same location with the same problem, the tech still has to walk through all the troubleshooting with you before they can escalate a ticket for you. There is nothing as frustrating than having to do things with a customer on their computer when you know exactly what the problem is, " ...this is just 100% false from a Charter standpoint(not sure about HSA)...
100% false? We have had techs in this thread say the centers all may be run differently... And techy states that these policies all happened after Charter took over HSA.
said by EPMD:
I also never said anything about a brainless rant. It was well thought and obvious he was frustrated. I never worked for HSA or in the call-center there, no...but generalizing Charter as whole due to this (I feel) is unfair. The quality of support since HSA is out of the picture has definitely improved. (That too is my opinion, but feel management and HSD staff would back me up)
I didn't get the impression he was generalizing... I was under the impression he was referring to what happened to his call center specifically. We already have had other techs say that each center is run differently. It also seems that while some of the so-called "upgrades" were implemented with (probably) good intentions, they were either implemented badly or didn't work as intended. Others were just plain bad ideas. I gather that techy felt as if his ability to render the best service/support he could was hindered beyond his ability to justify continuing to work for the call center. Its too bad we really can't research these policies further since current employees can not really comment in depth about how things are run in their centers. |
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InnerMe
join:2002-08-30
| reply to techy8
BTW I personally think its good to have someone monitoring the phone calls. It's the only way someone can improve their customer skills, and as far as unconfirmed outages go, I'd rather have some troubleshooting tried as opposed as to being told 'we think something's going on but don't know what it is'. |
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techy8
join:2002-03-20
Shepherdsville, KY
| reply to techy8
Ok in regards to the previous post let me clear a few things up. This is the Louisville Call Center that I am speaking of which is the regional call center for the eastern side of the US, however, the Louisville Call Center is what Charter considers to be their "benchmark" for what they will be making their other Two regional Call Centers. As far as addressing these concerns with management, everything I have posted has been discussed and discussed; the only resolution from discussions is the standard response that it will be given to their superiors. Nothing is ever accomplished. To be quite pointed with this, the week before I left I made a couple proposals to management for my fellow techs on the floor. The number one thing being discussed on the floor was that nasty word called a "Union". One of my proposals sited that these talks were going on and that something had to be done about the current conditions. What I proposed was that a committee be made of techs that management would meet with before any changes were made on the floor. The reasoning for this was that techs could provide insight on what those changes would directly affect in a negative way so that a balance could be reached. I skipped a couple links in the Chain of command and put that 3 page proposal in the call center manager’s hand in a meeting I requested with him.
On to the next comments...
"I really must disagree...making generalizations like that (based on one former employee's post) is just an error in logic (again..my opinion). The vast majority of techs on the phone are extremely knowledgeable and love helping customers."
I am going to disagree with you on this. Let me explain. The Last few months of my employment I was ask numerous time to sit with individual techs and figure out why their handle time were so high. Please understand this was not one or two people but a very good number of them. Each and every time the problem went back to the basic fact that they had no formal training or understanding of computers, OS’s, or networking. While working with them I did manage to help them all get their handle times down, but they still did not meet call center goals. The point here is these people were hire with the qualification of being able to talk on the phone. If I remember right I did state that there were some people with sufficient knowledge that were hired, but they were a definite minority.
Next I will address this...
"I just see some inconsistencies in the post..like "This means that if an outage occurs at 10pm and tech support gets 100 calls inside of 5 minutes from the same location with the same problem, the tech still has to walk through all the troubleshooting with you before they can escalate a ticket for you. There is nothing as frustrating than having to do things with a customer on their computer when you know exactly what the problem is, " ...this is just 100% false from a Charter standpoint"
Actually this is 100% true for the Louisville call center and will soon be for all Charters call centers. The old protcal on this was if so many calls came in from one location and we knew what the problem was we would put the site on the outage board and call the local ROC. This does not happen anymore in Louisville. Basically now what has to happen is Resource management has to call the ROC and ask them if there having any problems, if they say no, even if we provide them with the evidence, we still must wait some time for them to confirm the problem and have their permission to have it put on the outage board. At this point it may not be the same in your call center in the central or western divisions, but over the next two years you will be in the same boat as Louisville. Charter's plan is to have three regional call centers in the nation. Each one of those will handle the Tier 1 and 2 support for the entire region. So you see, just as in the east where the smaller call centers are disappearing one by one, it is going to happen nationwide. That’s directly from the new CEO. His outlook on charter is a centralized call center structure; Louisville is just the test bed for the start of everything.
Before any of you decide "oh well he is just mad at the company" or "he's just got it out for charter" let me make one thing clear. I am not angry with Charter about anything. What I have posted have been the frustration I have tried to work through and simply could not stomach anymore. What I have written is not just my opinion, but also the opinion of a vast majority of techs in the Louisville call center. I know this because I still correspond to them frequently. For now this is isolated to the Eastern RCC.
--
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, Imagination encircles the world." Albert Einstien |
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techy8
join:2002-03-20
Shepherdsville, KY
| reply to InnerMe
This post got in while I was writing the novel in the last post.
Breadsticksam what I am talking about is when I as a tech know that there is a bandwidth issue at the gateway that is causing the gateway to have noticably high ping times at certain hours of the night, every night, and I would still be required to re-install protocals,drivers, and run through a slow speeds call with the customer. When just by getting a couple numbers and checking them I could validate what the problem was. Its things like that which I am referring |
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Monster Rain
Premium
join:2002-08-03
USA
| reply to Revcb
said by Revcb :
100% false? We have had techs in this thread say the centers all may be run differently... And techy states that these policies all happened after Charter took over HSA.
yes it is false (apparently not in Louisville I will admit)...I too am one of the techs that noted call centers throughout regions may be run differently.
said by techy8 :
Actually this is 100% true for the Louisville call center and will soon be for all Charters call centers.
I'm sorry, but no plans to make this a corporate policy are in the works or exist. (This is something I would know) Call centers are advised to esculate through their ROC's for very good reasons. (Too many to even start that discussion) You do sound like a very compitent individual and don't appear to be angry. I hope you don't feel I was flaming you in anyway. |
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