We have all felt the pain of dealing with service and support with major companies. You have called up Verizon to figure out why your internet is down… or you emailed Dell to help you figure why your new software isn’t loading… or live-chatted with your favorite online store trying to get them to straighten out last month’s bill that they screwed up. All of these are frustrating. Horrible customer service makes you want to pull your hair out! At least it does for me. Remember the 75 year old lady that got mad at Comcast and decided to go to their Manassas, VA office and wreak havoc with a hammer?!
Well, I wanted to share a recent example that I found to be typically aggravating and hilarious all at once.
Scene: I bought a new Epson printer.
Problem: I can’t get it to work.
Epson’s solution: Use their “Online Troubleshooting Guide”.
The guide is a series of questions that you must answer (multiple choice format) which will theoretically lead to Epson diagnosing the precise issue right there on the screen without having to use any paid human employees. Sounds like a good idea right? There were questions like: “What were you doing when the problem occurred?”, “What is the power light’s current state?”, and “Do you see an error message on your computer screen?”
So I went through all the questions (at least 20) and waited while the magic Troubleshooting Guide came up with a solution. About 20 seconds later, the following screen appeared before my eyes:
Okay, so they couldn’t figure it out with their cute little troubleshooting guide and they want me to email them. I actually ended up calling instead, and eventually got the problem resolved. But I love the options this wonderful little screen gave me. I could click the “Start Over” button and try again… or I could click the E-mail Support link and send a message (who puts a dash between “e” and “mail” these days?!), I could click on the Help link, I could print this screen, or I could close it out. WAIT… did I just read that right? Print?! You want me to PRINT the screen that says you can’t figure out why my printer doesn’t work!? What a cruel joke. Isn’t that a little bit like calling a tow truck company to pick up your car and they ask you to drive it to them?
Well, I wanted to share a recent example that I found to be typically aggravating and hilarious all at once.
Scene: I bought a new Epson printer.
Problem: I can’t get it to work.
Epson’s solution: Use their “Online Troubleshooting Guide”.
The guide is a series of questions that you must answer (multiple choice format) which will theoretically lead to Epson diagnosing the precise issue right there on the screen without having to use any paid human employees. Sounds like a good idea right? There were questions like: “What were you doing when the problem occurred?”, “What is the power light’s current state?”, and “Do you see an error message on your computer screen?”
So I went through all the questions (at least 20) and waited while the magic Troubleshooting Guide came up with a solution. About 20 seconds later, the following screen appeared before my eyes:
Okay, so they couldn’t figure it out with their cute little troubleshooting guide and they want me to email them. I actually ended up calling instead, and eventually got the problem resolved. But I love the options this wonderful little screen gave me. I could click the “Start Over” button and try again… or I could click the E-mail Support link and send a message (who puts a dash between “e” and “mail” these days?!), I could click on the Help link, I could print this screen, or I could close it out. WAIT… did I just read that right? Print?! You want me to PRINT the screen that says you can’t figure out why my printer doesn’t work!? What a cruel joke. Isn’t that a little bit like calling a tow truck company to pick up your car and they ask you to drive it to them?