[Courses] [Spineful Living, lesson 2: When Nice = Rude]

[Carla Schroder]

Great stories, thank you everyone! I won't clog the list by responding to 
every one, even though they're all fuel for a lot of great discussion, so 
I'll start here:

On Monday 09 April 2007 07:13, Charlotte Oliver wrote:
> Given that it had to be done and I was making no headway fast, I opened up
> a support case with Cisco.  We pay for the support contract to be able to
> do this sort of thing.  
>
> I said, "I don't have a ton of experience with VOIP.  Here's what I'm
> trying to do, here's what I've gleaned needs to be done from the
> documentation.  Here's what I've tried and here's where I'm failing to
> understand something.  Can you please help with the configuration?"
>
> I then got a lecture about how I really didn't belong in the position I was
> in, I really couldn't just maintain a system like this, I was completely
> out of my league, incompetent, needed training, etc., etc.
>
> I actually nearly burst into tears on the phone.  It was so completely out
> of line with what I had been expecting.  It was like walking into an ambush
> when all I did was ask for the support that we pay for.  As we talked, the
> fellow I was talking to eventually figured out that I did understand what
> an IP address was and understood networking.  He apologized, as he had
> presumed that I was coming from a pure PBX background.  He thought he was
> doing me a favor by trying to make me understand how impossible it was that
> I could possibly maintain this network.  (And yet, it has been working
> quite reliably for three years now under my eye!)
>
> Regardless, I refused to call Cisco for any kind of support for months
> after that, because the last thing I needed in addition to having a problem
> was to be lectured to about how incompetent I am.  The worst part is that I
> let him shake me, actually let myself believe him.

So who has some ideas how to handle situations like this? What do you say to 
an idiot tech support droid who would rather criticize and belittle you than 
do his job? Wouldn't you consider this a breach of contract, in addition to 
being personally insulting and generally a loathesome human being?

My first impulse is to not even bother with Mr. Dork, but insist on an 
escalation. Then when your situation is resolved, file a formal complaint 
with Mr Dork's boss. Does this sound like an effective tactic?

-- 
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Carla Schroder
Linux geek and random computer tamer
check out my Linux Cookbook! 
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxckbk/
best book for sysadmins and power users
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