[AusNOG] TPG NOC CONTACT

[Karl Auer]

On Mon, 2014-11-10 at 17:59 +0800, Brad Peczka wrote:
> Have you ever thought about the reasons why *every* major ISP has a script? 

Truth be told, we all have a script. Anyone technical who has ever worked
supporting others - even others in the same team, not just "customers" -
has a "script", because the simple fact is that there is rarely anything
new under the sun, and it is AMAZING how often the cables aren't plugged
in, the power isn't switched on, or the modem just needs booting.

What's the worst when you are trying to help someone? The person who
thinks they know what the problem is. The person who won't try the
things you suggest, in the order you suggest them, or who tries a bunch
of other things at the *same time*. The person who says they've done
things already... and that sinking feeling you get when you say "please
press enter" and you hear a fusillade of keystrokes over the phone.

We all have a script; the big companies just formalise theirs once they
have a good one, one that catches most of the problems that turn up.

The downside of such scripts is that they are very painful for more
sophisticated clients. They, poor souls, have to patiently step through
all the simple stuff they've already tried (or know not to be the
problem), before hearing the magic words "I'll put you through to
second-level support".

> Some are better than others at covering it with dialogue and
> discussion

And some individuals are better able to judge a customer's technical
ability and short circuit the process a bit.

There's another element in play as well, which I've long referred to
privately as "the Telstra effect", which is that out of 1000 calls to
any given support person, 999 of them will be a problem that is no fault
of the provider's or no fault at all. It must be nearly impossible for
support people, even good ones, not to start every call on the
assumption that the caller is an idiot.

I've often felt that some kind of triage should be possible: "Good
morning sir! Before we start, can you tell me what a signal to noise
ratio is? Quite right sir, and nor *should* you have to give a flying...
er, have you tried turning things off and on again? No? well let's try
that first..."

Versus "Good morning madam! Before we start, can you tell me what the
difference between a modem and a router is? Excellent, putting you
through to second level support now. Have a nice day..."

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer
http://twitter.com/kauer389

GPG fingerprint: EC67 61E2 C2F6 EB55 884B E129 072B 0AF0 72AA 9882
Old fingerprint: B862 FB15 FE96 4961 BC62 1A40 6239 1208 9865 5F9A


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer
http://twitter.com/kauer389

GPG fingerprint: EC67 61E2 C2F6 EB55 884B E129 072B 0AF0 72AA 9882
Old fingerprint: B862 FB15 FE96 4961 BC62 1A40 6239 1208 9865 5F9A