[brandonh83]

Just seeking some advice/wisdom.

Today I was offered a customer care/tech support job. I was not told what devices I would be troubleshooting but based on what I know it's likely going to be an Apple product, probably iPhones.

I'm sure some of you have experience in this position. I'm not shy and am very well spoken, so that's not an issue, but at the same time I don't really know what to expect.

I'm going to take the interview (I've had a job at the same location but in a different division and their interviews basically go like this: hello, you're hired and you start next week) and I was just hoping for some experiences or any other kind of information.

[joelseph]

Are you looking for us to describe what you would be doing? If it is level one you will be saying "Please restart your iPhone" a lot. And browsing gaf.

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

You're going to need patience in dealing with people that think they know what's up, but are clearly misguided. Don't be afraid to be direct with them either.

Are you going to see the customers face to face or will you converse over the phone?

[brandonh83]

Are you looking for us to describe what you would be doing? If it is level one you will be saying "Please restart your iPhone" a lot. And browsing gaf.

Not necessarily describe as I don't really have a lot of information about it and I suppose that would depend entirely upon the actual office and bosses -- so I'm not exactly expecting detailed information -- so I suppose just stuff like, how hard is it, stressful, etc.

edit: I'll be taking calls, not face to face.

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

That sounds easier without the face to face portion. Since only so many things can happen to a phone, whatever is in the training manuals and your own experiences should lead you to the right answers. If that doesn't solve their issue I expect and RMA process would be initiated.

[brandonh83]

That sounds easier without the face to face portion. Since only so many things can happen to a phone, whatever is in the training manuals and your own experiences should lead you to the right answers. If that doesn't solve their issue I expect and RMA process would be initiated.

Yeah. It sounds easy enough. Do you stay on the phone literally the entire time or are there going to be periods of downtime? I guess it just depends on how many calls happen to come in so it will likely be sporadic.

But yeah, in hindsight I suppose it will just come down to, specifically, where I will be working. I guess I was just looking for horror stories but hoping that I didn't find any.

[JordanKZ]

As someone who's been running a tech support team for the last 5 years you're going to need a lot of patience. Not with your staff, but with your god damn clients.

[brandonh83]

As someone who's been running a tech support team for the last 5 years you're going to need a lot of patience. Not with your staff, but with your god damn clients.

I'm plenty patient enough and if the staff is good I probably won't mind it. I know how people can be about stuff like that and I know that every call won't be pleasant.

Where you work, are people ever laid off because they're not handling customers fast enough? That's one of my concerns. I really don't want to get there and then find out that if you don't assist x number of clients an hour on average you're going to get written up and all of that crap because I imagine that it's not exactly the tech's fault concerning how long the call lasts.

I mean, I guess it could be in some cases but how can you control how long the calls last and how many clients you're taking care of per hour?

[JordanKZ]

Where you work, are people ever laid off because they're not handling customers fast enough? That's one of my concerns. I really don't want to get there and then find out that if you don't assist x number of clients an hour on average you're going to get written up and all of that crap because I imagine that it's not exactly the tech's fault concerning how long the call lasts.

Nahh, we're a small company and we're in the UK so we don't just randomly lay people off because of performance. We do something crazy! We train them up! Well, unless they don't improve over the course of a year, then we've had to fire a couple of folk.

I guess we're not average. Your performance is on your skill and how much effort you put into each client issue, not solve x per hour or you're out.

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

Yeah. It sounds easy enough. Do you stay on the phone literally the entire time or are there going to be periods of downtime? I guess it just depends on how many calls happen to come in so it will likely be sporadic. But yeah, in hindsight I suppose it will just come down to, specifically, where I will be working. I guess I was just looking for horror stories but hoping that I didn't find any.

I do a lot of different things things in a addition to answering the support line. Maybe your company will offer you that opportunity to spread out into other stuff after time has passed. During your interview you should ask about the frequency of calls. You need to know what to expect so you aren't taken aback or feel like you're in over your head.

During downtime you'll need to find a way to keep busy. What your boss allows or how your workplace is will dictate that.

[brandonh83]

Like I said, I've had a job at the same office before just in a different section, so I suppose my worries comes from the fact that I've been there before and the prior job came with atrocious training (some foreign lady who I could not understand gave me a 2 hour crash course and turned me loose and then I was laid off 2 weeks later because I wasn't "good enough") so I'm a little nerve-wracked about that.

However, it is in a different section and I would have different trainers so maybe this will be a lot better. I'll be sure to make a list of questions before I go into the interview. Thanks :)

[UberTag]

Call center training is always atrocious. Doesn't matter what product you're supporting. You'll be learning most of the job and the tools you'll be using once you hit the floor.

Above all else, take the time to listen when a customer calls in (let them vent if they've been transferred a zillion times before reaching you), be direct and ask the right probing questions to isolate their issue, reinforce that you're a responsive voice on the other end of the line (within the limits of your support boundaries) and exercise call control to keep the call flow moving forward.

And speaking as someone on the quality end of the spectrum, please do your best to be as detailed as possible when documenting steps taken during the call so the customer doesn't have to repeat anything if they call back in.

[brandonh83]

Thanks for the insight. I mean it sounds easier than most jobs I've had. I last worked fast food. Never again. Please reset your iPhone.

[Kosmo]

Thanks for the insight. I mean it sounds easier than most jobs I've had. I last worked fast food. Never again. Please reset your iPhone.

LOL, pretty much this. In fact, this will solve 90% of all tech related issues. Well, that and the help file.

[MisterNoisy]

Be prepared to deal with an endless procession of the most imbecilic people you've never met - high patience and tolerance for the most retarded shit imaginable will serve you well.

With the number of users Apple has for those things, you're probably going to be on the phone pretty much nonstop - assuming that their call volume analysts are worth a shit, anyway.

[SpeedySwaf]

Call center training is always atrocious. Doesn't matter what product you're supporting. You'll be learning most of the job and the tools you'll be using once you hit the floor. Above all else, take the time to listen when a customer calls in (let them vent if they've been transferred a zillion times before reaching you), be direct and ask the right probing questions to isolate their issue, reinforce that you're a responsive voice on the other end of the line (within the limits of your support boundaries) and exercise call control to keep the call flow moving forward. And speaking as someone on the quality end of the spectrum, please do your best to be as detailed as possible when documenting steps taken during the call so the customer doesn't have to repeat anything if they call back in.

Couldn't have said it better myself, the part about questions and the notes in particular.

Never take a customer's word for what they did or what they're experiencing. Be sure to ask them in detail. Also be sure to keep any technical jargon to a minimum so they don't get confused/flustered.

As a tech support person myself, poor notes are a huge pain in the ass. Customers won't always remembered what was done, and there's no guarantee that a issue is 100% solved. On the chance that the issue could repeat itself, it's important to note everything you did so that future agents can see what was already done and go from there. Otherwise they might repeat the same, fruitless steps you did, wasting time.

[Kosmo]

Be prepared to deal with an endless procession of the most imbecilic people you've never met - high patience and tolerance for the most retarded shit imaginable will serve you well. With the number of users Apple has for those things, you're probably going to be on the phone pretty much nonstop - assuming that their call volume analysts are worth a shit, anyway.

On the contrary, if it's iPhone tech support, there are really very few things the consumer can do to fix things outside of some menu settings.

[brandonh83]

So basically keep your shit logged especially if it's kind of a complicated or unique case. I can see that.

[charsace]

Look into getting your A+ so that you can move out of the call center quickly.

[MisterNoisy]

On the contrary, if it's iPhone tech support, there are really very few things the consumer can do to fix things outside of some menu settings.

That was my point, actually - I'll wager that most of the time you'll either be resetting the device, setting up an exchange or the like, or (these will be the ones that make you want to shoot yourself) helping users do dumb shit like rearrange their tiles, change ringtones or 'how I maek teh googlez work?'.

[brandonh83]

Look into getting your A+ so that you can move out of the call center quickly.

Why? Are higher tier jobs that much better/easier or are they more difficult but pay more?

[iammeiam]

You will probably be judged on your call handle time, within reason. There are some people who just aren't cut out for tech support--they never get a 'feel' for how to best approach issues, so their calls take longer as they throw every possible solution to anything at the wall and see what sticks. So they use average call length as a way to gauge whether or not you're wasting time, but it shouldn't be an issue until well after training.

And, yeah, notes. I'm now in basically last-line-of-defense tech support for a very specialized type of POS software, and there are a ton of tickets that make it past the tiers of support prior to me without even a decent and/or accurate summary of the problem. This is irritating and helps nobody.

[stuminus3]

Google has made tech support 10000x easier than it used to be 10 years or so ago.

Astoundingly, I know and have worked with many technicians who still don't know this. It blows my mind, especially when the guy is too young to remember a time before Google. I used to support an AS400 environment via a massive cabinet full of manuals the size of a house. Kids today don't appreciate how easy it is now.

[UberTag]

Why? Are higher tier jobs that much better/easier or are they more difficult but pay more?

Not more difficult, but more specialized.
And they should easily be higher paying unless you're working for a site with an inbound sales/commission component (iOS likely isn't in that ballpark).

charsace's advice is sound. Even the people that are good at call centre support don't want to be stuck answering calls forever. It gets very tedious.

[The Technomancer]

Cycle the power. Always cycle the power.

[BlackGoku03]

Just seeking some advice/wisdom. Today I was offered a customer care/tech support job. I was not told what devices I would be troubleshooting but based on what I know it's likely going to be an Apple product, probably iPhones. I'm sure some of you have experience in this position. I'm not shy and am very well spoken, so that's not an issue, but at the same time I don't really know what to expect. I'm going to take the interview (I've had a job at the same location but in a different division and their interviews basically go like this: hello, you're hired and you start next week) and I was just hoping for some experiences or any other kind of information.

It's a fancy way of saying you'll be doing customer service. Gain as much experience as you can. You'll trouble shoot things and deal with impatient people that probably have no business using whatever device they have. Have fun!

Do well at everything you do there. Keep your handle time down (keep the time you take to resolve the customer's issue low), make sure you have high customer satisfaction, and be there on time. If you have high stats, it'll be easier to move up and that should really be your goal.

[aktham]

1. 90% of the problems are solved by power cycling
2. Lots of time to browse the web (depending on what's blocked) NeoGAF is never blocked on any of the jobs I had.

[R2D4]

You're going to get yelled at a lot. You're going to have to tell very obvious things to people who still won't get it. It will be very soul crushing.

[Willectro]

You're going to get yelled at a lot (for things that are out of your control). You're going to have to tell very obvious things to morons who still won't get it. It will be very soul crushing.

I have worked at places before that despite how many support calls they get about a particular issue, will never be proactive to prevent said issue in the future. And then there's the people who call about any little issue that comes up, every single day.

As long as the pay is decent, the work is generally tolerable. I don't think it's a career though, just a job between point A and B.

[brandonh83]

Good advice from everyone. Really appreciate the feedback.

As for getting yelled at a lot, I really don't mind because it's never personal and I understand how pissed off people get, and I doubt it would be much different than the last job I had which consisted of getting yelled at by both customers and some of the biggest dickhead managers I've ever had.

And yeah, not a career. In fact I might be moving in the next few months depending on how things go with my girlfriend getting accepted into pharmacy school so if that were to happen, whether or not I like the job or get laid off, either way, won't matter. But I do need to at least work over the summer because if we do move we're going to need some extra income to support the moving process.

[Pkm]

Hmm..

Im on unemployment right now and they gave me 4 grand for "re-training". Everything I wanted to learn they told me 'no, its a bad choice and we cant give you the money for it"
Electrician, HVAC, plumbing etc... they said NOPE!

I ended up taking the 4 grand and getting an A+ and Network+ cert and next week have to take the MCP cert.

I dont know what Im gona do with these certs...they were to me just a way to "beef" up my resume as well as keep unemployment off my back for the 6 months the classes ran.

Not sure what to do now tho with them :(
I dont like people or dealing with cutomers and havent worked in servicing people so to say since I was in highschool 15 years ago working at Bestbuy.

[brandonh83]

I dont like people or dealing with cutomers and havent worked in servicing people so to say since I was in highschool 15 years ago working at Bestbuy.

Sometimes customers are great, most of the time they're not, but after working in food service for a while, I can say that when you do help someone or are given the opportunity, you get acknowledged and it's good to know that feel

Really I think I would like this job if all goes well enough. I'm ready to be reduced to tears by mean people, but I enjoy helping people out and there are some people out there who are actually grateful. It's those people who really make you feel like you're worth a damn sometimes.

[mxgt]

Most of it has been covered in this thread already. If you're well spoken and have patience you'll be golden.

Dealing with difficult customers is an absolute pain and probably the worst part about the job besides a frustrating problem to solve, but on the flip side when you get an awesome customer it makes the job so much easier and more rewarding.

[MisterNoisy]

I'm ready to be reduced to tears by mean people

Whenever some asshat blows their stack and screams at you or whatever, just remember which of the the two people in that conversation is currently completely losing their shit/having an aneurysm. :) It makes those moments much more hilarious.

[Sunflower]

Man, I love upsetting people. Not innocents, mind you - but you can tell pretty quickly on the phone if someone deserves to be picked at. You pick at them through the whole call and relish the moment when the dam breaks and they act ridiculous - I love it.

On the flip side, some people know exactly how to get to me. So make sure to live your life according to this maxim:

"Don't take life too seriously!" But there's definitely some people out there that are basically just asking to get pissed. So don't worry. Help the people who need it, but there will be impossible people to deal with. Those people need some poking.

[BobTheFork]

I'm about 10 months into my first tech support job after finishing school. I wasn't really a people person and I wasn't good on the phone and I felt bad confronting people with issue or bothering people at night for important thing. 10 months doing something you aren't comfortable with every single day beat that silly shit out of me. It's beat rough. I've put in 40 horus a week and sometimes another 40 of on-call times and I work for a major company so that is ususally busy. I've learned a ton about general computer issue and a number of different system. Mostly I've leard about the main shipping software they use so I'm starting to work partly as a analyst on the shipping side. It's my ticket the hell away from the service desk. It's not a bad job but it will wear you down. If you are trying to move up then just consider it serving your time before something better.

[stuminus3]

Worth noting that there's a significant difference between "internal" and "external" tech support. Supporting a company internally is good, sometimes even great. However I'd rather shoot myself in the head than ever have to deal with random Joe Public. So there's that.

[SpeedySwaf]

Most of it has been covered in this thread already. If you're well spoken and have patience you'll be golden. Dealing with difficult customers is an absolute pain and probably the worst part about the job besides a frustrating problem to solve, but on the flip side when you get an awesome customer it makes the job so much easier and more rewarding.

You'll also have the rare customer who starts out screaming or demeaning you because of how much trouble they've had, but if you keep your cool and end up resolving the issue in a satisfactory manner, they might just apologize and sound very sorry while doing so.

[iammeiam]

Oh also: Learn to dread the phrase 'I work in IT'. If this comes up in, say, the first three minutes of the phone call it is a very bad sign. It is code for "I am only going to listen to you when I feel like it." I'll take a complete computer illiterate who's willing to follow direction over somebody who 'works in IT', as the former is less likely to fight you every step of the way.

[SpeedySwaf]

Worth noting that there's a significant difference between "internal" and "external" tech support. Supporting a company internally is good, sometimes even great. However I'd rather shoot myself in the head than ever have to deal with random Joe Public. So there's that.

A plus about internal help is that you don't have to worry so much about how long it's taking, as they're more concerned than anything about getting it done right, than getting it done quickly.

[lunarworks]

Look into getting your A+ so that you can move out of the call center quickly.

Ah, the A+ thing. Completed all the necessary stuff for it in college a few years ago, including learning about all kinds of awful pieces of technology I hadn't seen since the '90s... and never took the test. The stupid expensive test.

[Sunflower]

Oh also: Learn to dread the phrase 'I work in IT'. If this comes up in, say, the first three minutes of the phone call it is a very bad sign. It is code for "I am only going to listen to you when I feel like it." I'll take a complete computer illiterate who's willing to follow direction over somebody who 'works in IT', as the former is less likely to fight you every step of the way.

I can't agree with this more. So many blowhards that won't listen "worked in IT" - so watch out for those fuckfaces.

[BobTheFork]

Ah, the A+ thing. Completed all the necessary stuff for it in college a few years ago, including learning about all kinds of awful pieces of technology I hadn't seen since the '90s... and never took the test. The stupid expensive test.

That's odd, I had to have an A+ cert to get INTO the call center and yes it's too expensive. Luckily I nailed it in one try. Serously I didn't see a single job listed that didn't have it required or 'heavily recommended' I guess if you are just a ticket taker and don't fix anything then you don't need it but here the goal is to resolve %70 of all issue at tier one. We have good resources here so it helps. Average tenure is very long here so if we need anything there is tons of experienced people.

[captive]

what can you expect?

expect to get some of the stupidest questions imaginable.
expect to deal with impatient people
expect to deal with assholes
expect to hear "omg it wasn't working like 2 seconds ago i swear" and or "you have that aura, like the mechanic you just show up and it works." several times a day.

if you support an internal company, once you've been there for a while you can expect to barely be able to walk the halls or go to the bathroom without someone talking to you about their heldpesk ticket that they haven't put in.

Oh also: Learn to dread the phrase 'I work in IT'. If this comes up in, say, the first three minutes of the phone call it is a very bad sign. It is code for "I am only going to listen to you when I feel like it." I'll take a complete computer illiterate who's willing to follow direction over somebody who 'works in IT', as the former is less likely to fight you every step of the way.

no, its code for i've already done the stupid shit you're about to tell me so lets just move on.

[brandonh83]

Oh also: Learn to dread the phrase 'I work in IT'. If this comes up in, say, the first three minutes of the phone call it is a very bad sign. It is code for "I am only going to listen to you when I feel like it." I'll take a complete computer illiterate who's willing to follow direction over somebody who 'works in IT', as the former is less likely to fight you every step of the way.

Oh god is this like when people say "uh the movie was bad, maybe you need to take some screenwriting classes" or some pretentious bullshit along those lines?

It really throws them for a loop when I respond with "I have." As far as I'm concerned, if you're arguing with someone and they start spouting out credentials rather than arguments, there is no argument.

[BobTheFork]

My favorites are:
"No, I didn't change anything so it should still work"
-----
"I can't log into BLANK"
Me: "What error message are you getting"
"None, my computer won't turn on"
*this happen way too much
---
The best, crappiest call ever
"Well, I need this fixed NOW, I have to have this done by the dead line today"
Me: "when did it stop working"
"two days ago"

*seriously that last one pisses me off. We got a call one Saturday night from a security guard because they lot the alarms in a secure area. they had to post people there all night until the next afternoon. The guys were totally pissed they had to be there but it was a serious issue. After we investigated we found out the alarms had stopped working on Thursday night, two fucking days before they called us and they didn't even know. They seemed like nice guys but I'm sure someone lost a job there for not figuring it out. The only reason we investigated so much after the fact was because they asking why didn't we fix it sooner :p

[R2D4]

Oh also: Learn to dread the phrase 'I work in IT'. If this comes up in, say, the first three minutes of the phone call it is a very bad sign. It is code for "I am only going to listen to you when I feel like it." I'll take a complete computer illiterate who's willing to follow direction over somebody who 'works in IT', as the former is less likely to fight you every step of the way.

I can't count how many times I've heard "My (so and so) works for Microsoft and he said it was your problem".

[R2D4]

My favorites are: "No, I didn't change anything so it should still work" ----- "I can't log into BLANK" Me: "What error message are you getting" "None, my computer won't turn on" *this happen way too much --- The best, crappiest call ever "Well, I need this fixed NOW, I have to have this done by the dead line today" Me: "when did it stop working" "two days ago" *seriously that last one pisses me off. We got a call one Saturday night from a security guard because they lot the alarms in a secure area. they had to post people there all night until the next afternoon. The guys were totally pissed they had to be there but it was a serious issue. After we investigated we found out the alarms had stopped working on Thursday night, two fucking days before they called us and they didn't even know. They seemed like nice guys but I'm sure someone lost a job there for not figuring it out. The only reason we investigated so much after the fact was because they asking why didn't we fix it sooner :p

I love

"It worked fine yesterday!"

No shit it worked fine. Everything works fine the day before it breaks.

[mxgt]

The best, crappiest call ever "Well, I need this fixed NOW, I have to have this done by the dead line today" Me: "when did it stop working" "two days ago"

This one pisses me off, or variants of its

Woman came in today and her laptop DC jack was fucked as she apparently tripped over the charging lead. She asked about how long it would take and I gave rough estimates and she gave me the incredulous look and the whole "pft well I need it for tomorrow, I guess I better go somewhere else".

See if I give a fuck lady, that's not going to make it go any faster.

[brandonh83]

My favorites are:

Sounds like I will end up with a lot of hilarious stories at the very least.

Then again I guess most jobs entail hilarious stories.

When I was hosting at Cracker Barrel I had just found out one of the toilets were clogged and I was in the middle of getting hold of a manager, and some redneck walks out of the restroom, comes over to me and says "excuse me sir, but your shitter won't shit."