Opinions please: tech support

[Jane Withnolastname]

I sent the following message to my ISP, which provides free webspace:

I am using server-side includes on my webspace, but your server does
not recognize index.shtml as the main page. Since your server is
SSI-capable, I assume this is simply an oversight on setup and that it
can easily be configured to recognize index.shtml. Please make the
necessary corrections, or let me know why you cannot. I am currently
using a META re-direct from index.html to get my SSI page to come up
instead of the raw directory. Thank you.

I received the following today:

Thank you for writing. In regard to your inquiry, information about
creating and uploading your website can be found at: <URL deleted>
We do require more information to troubleshoot your issue. Please let
us know:
-The exact address of the website where the problem occurs
-The exact wording of the error message
-The browser name and version number you are using (for example:
Internet Explorer 5.5)
-your upload client
With this information, and any additional details that you can
provide, we can troubleshoot the issue further.

Opinions please:
Did I seriously not explain the problem well enough the first time? Or
is this just typical of tech support?
Thanks.

[Harlan Messinger]

"Jane Withnolastname" <Ja**********************@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:03********************************@4ax.com...

Opinions please:
Did I seriously not explain the problem well enough the first time? Or
is this just typical of tech support?

Don't worry, it's not you. I have sent scathing responses to customer
service operations before over this, when their initial response is a list
of questions that *clearly* indicates that they don't consider it worth
their while to look at your original complaint to see whether maybe it
already *has* all the information they need to respond to it. You might as
well never begin by sending them a detailed complaint. Just send a one-word
message reading "Complaint" and you'll get the same response from them.

[Leslie]

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 17:45:34 GMT, Jane Withnolastname
<Ja**********************@yahoo.com> wrote:

Opinions please:
Did I seriously not explain the problem well enough the first time? Or
is this just typical of tech support?
Thanks.

I think the response you got is typical of the vast majority of "tech
support" departments. The probably didn't even bother to read your
message and only had to decide whether to reply with canned response
#1, canned response #2, etc.

I've also received the same kind of canned response to messages sent
to customer service departments and it never seems to matter if my
original message is a compliment or a complaint.

As annoying as it can be I've found that the best way to receive any
kind of customer service is to call their phone #, if they have one.
"Customer service department, can you hold for an hour?"

Leslie

[Nick Kew]

In article <03********************************@4ax.com>, one of infinite monkeys
at the keyboard of Jane Withnolastname <Ja**********************@yahoo.com> wrote:

Opinions please:
Did I seriously not explain the problem well enough the first time? Or

I'd say so. What you wrote is enough for any techie, but the person who
read it doesn't know whether to pass it to a techie or to treat you as a
"help me find the on switch" type.

--
Nick Kew

In urgent need of paying work - see http://www.webthing.com/~nick/cv.html