[BC] Poor customer support

[Thomas G. Osenkowsky]

> Once again, I hate to be "that bunch" that calls and has to be mean,
> but when you're off the air, what do you do?

There is another side to the story. I am not taking a position
on the matter, just pointing out what may be the other side.
I am sure we all agree that the ranks of experienced engineers
has diminished over the years. The typical calls Tech Support
receives are not from qualified, experienced professionals but
from end users with little technical expertise, or no experience
with the particular brand/model they are faced with repairing.

To deal with this, companies composed boiler plate "Check the
power switch" type of manuals and have hired less experienced
people to answer the phone calls. It is a Catch-22 scenario. There
is an old saying "When you hear the sound of hoofs, think horses,
not zebras." Many problems can be solved using the boiler plate
responses. Those more deeply rooted require a higher level of
competence. Whoa is that call taker who calls the higher level person
only to find it was a tripped breaker. It goes both ways.

Tom Osenkowsky, CPBE