I NEED TO BE TREATED LIKE A TECHNO IDIOT PLEASE!

When Customer Service Representatives in technical positions over the phone get their training, the first lesson they should learn is to treat the caller like an idiot. Respectfully. No, really! Hear me out. They should (respectfully) ask if the computer/TV/phone/whatever is plugged in/turned on/whatever.

Okay, my problem with my cell phone wasn’t quite so simple, but still, I went through FIVE (count them…FIVE) techs over a course of THREE days before one of them asked a very simple question that solved my problem in an instant: Is your software set up?

All I was trying to do was download software so I could sync my Outlook contacts and calendar with my phone. I downloaded it fine, my phone found it fine, but it wouldn’t sync. Every tech I talked to had a different suggestion. All the way to RESETTING MY PHONE TO FACTORY DEFAULTS. Have you ever done that? Do you know what a pain that is to reset everything to how you want it??????? HUGE pain!

THEN, the 4th tech I talked to said they were coming out with a new release of the software the very next day to fix all these problems that people were having. REALLY? Couldn’t the other people I talked to have told me that BEFORE I RESET MY PHONE?

But alas, even that didn’t fix it. So when I called back, the nice man I talked to asked what I was looking at on my computer screen. When I told him, he gently told me I hadn’t set the program up yet, which would explain why it wasn’t syncing yet.

PEOPLE…DO NOT ASSUME I KNOW AS MUCH AS YOU!!! Do not assume I even know enough to set up my software. Not one of you told me I had to do that, even after walking me through installation. TREAT ME LIKE THE IDIOT THAT I AM!!! (Just be gentle and respectful about it please!)

Yes, it works great now! Yes, if I could have reached through the telephone and given that 5th tech a big sloppy kiss, I would have! And yes, if I could fly to where ever that call center is and kick the butts of the other 4 reps, I would!

Karen

OH, THE DRAMA OF A NEW PHONE!

I am not one to get “obsessed” with technology. But I got a new phone this weekend, and have literally not stopped playing with it since I brought it home. Well, maybe “playing with it” is not the correct choice of words. Perhaps it’s more like, I don’t know, trying to figure out how to make a telephone call and send a simple text. And then moving on to the next step of trying to import my Outlook contacts into the phone, which I was ASSURED by SEVERAL salespeople that it was an extremely easy process to do. Lastly, putting my music and photos on.

So let’s start at the beginning: making a call. Okay, I exaggerated on this one. Yes, once I figured out how to bring up the dial pad, I was good there. Then texting. Nope, kept getting an error code. Well, I decided to skip that and move onto getting my contacts in there. Hmmm, didn’t see anything in the book on importing anything from Outlook. Okay, got my emails set up, but my contacts aren’t in my email accounts. Kept reading, but no, nothing there. So I decided to wait until morning and call them.

I was on the phone with Sprint for (and I am NOT making this up NOR am I exaggerating on this one) OVER 2 hours. The end result? After going up FOUR levels of technical support, I finally got my texting fixed, and I found out (now get this) that there actually is NO WAY to import anything from Microsoft Outlook. Really! The only thing I can do is export my contacts to my newly set up Google account (which you must have for these new Android phones, because Google actually designed the software) and then Google’s address book will sync with my phone.

Now truly, this is a pretty easy process, but WHY did the salespeople tell me it could be done directly from Outlook and WHY did it take 4 technical support reps to come up with this solution? One of the reps actually even conferenced in Samsung, the maker of the phone! (Which, by the way, I thought was very service-oriented of him to try to find a possible solution for me. Who would have thought that the Samsung rep would know even less about the phone than the Sprint rep?)

Okay, so I get over that hurdle, and attempt my music. Coming from the iPod world, I’m a little worried, and sure enough, I can’t figure out how to manually transfer songs from iTunes to my phone. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that all my music was also in my Microsoft Media Player. No playlists, but at least it’s all there. I’ll work on playlists later.

Lastly, I try to put photos on, but find I’ve already run out of memory. Crap! So now I have to get a larger SD card and pray that when I change cards, I don’t lose everything that’s on there already. Maybe I’ll call them to ask them to walk me through it. Any guesses on how long I’ll be on the phone?

Oh, and by the way, if you call or text me and I don’t answer, sorry. I haven’t learned my new ring tones yet!

Karen