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From: Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: For self publishing authors on AmazonKDP, Scott Adams Says
Date: Sun, 06 Oct 2024 09:20:06 -0700
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On Sat, 5 Oct 2024 14:33:44 -0400, William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Robert Woodward wrote:
>> In article <vdpbq4$anou$1@dont-email.me>,
>>   William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:
>>=20
>>> Paul S Person wrote:
>>=20
>> (snip of somebody else's Amazon publishing problem)
>>=20
>>>>
>>>> But pretty main-stream: my phone company not only has automated
>>>> screeners on both its help line and its chat sessions, both of which
>>>> are very good at not paying any attention at all to any problem they
>>>> were not programmed to recognize, but the phone system, the last =
time
>>>> I tried it, actually offered me the abilitiy to /text/ an assistor,
>>>> but not to /speak/ with one.
>>>
>>> When the phone company installed a defective modem, I spent a total =
of
>>> eleven hours over three days  on chat with various human agents.  =
They
>>> passed my case from one to another, and all tried to repeat the =
failed
>>> attempts of the previous agent.  Whatever I said.   Each night an
>>> appointment was finally made for someone to drop by and look at the
>>> modem.  Three days in  row, nobody showed up.
>>>
>>=20
>> Several years ago, my cable modem lost its connection (BTW, the outlet
>> that my TV was connected to was still working). It didn't take me that
>> long for the Cable company to promise a technician (but not the next
>> day, for the day after that).
>>=20
>>> Finally someone arrived on the fourth day, and he happened to have =
the
>>> required modem in his truck.   Fixed the problem in 20 minutes.
>>>
>>=20
>> Who showed up on time and, after a bit of investigation (maybe 30
>> minutes total), was able to isolate the problem and fixed it (I live =
in
>> a townhouse complex, my unit is in a building with 4 units - somebody
>> else in the building had activated their cable connection and the
>> installer disconnected one of my outlets, I think to get access to the
>> other unit's wiring, and didn't reconnect).
>
>There are two major TV/phone/internet companies around here.
>
>My previous company, Rogers, had excellent repair personnel who showed=20
>up when they said they would, and fixed things.  But Rogers's equipment=20
>broke down with amazing frequency,

When I was investigating -- well, I forget what, "portable hard
drives" perhaps -- I ran into a company that had, on its first screen,
a prominent button you could press if your device was being worked on
to see if and when you were likely to get it back.

This was so discouraging I gave up on the entire idea until I bought
my HP Envy desktop and found a portable 2TB USB3 drive at Office
Depot.

I don't know about anyone else, but my experience with Office Depot
has been that their prices may be higher than, say, Amazon, but they
don't sell junk. If they sell it, chances are that it will work and
work well.

Well, unless you drop it on the floor and crack the screen or
something, of course.

>I switched to Bell, whose equipment has given me no trouble since that=20
>installation, but whose repair people don't show up when they should.

Most of my appointments for service (mainly the furnace, once a year)
are "will arrive between 8 and 12" or a similar four-hour window. My
appointment for the fiber optic installation was "between 8 AM and 5
PM").=20

In the Army in the 70s, this was actually called "the military
appointment system". "Hurry up and wait" was a description of military
life, not a joke.

>I'm not big on corporate mergers, but if the resulting entity combined=20
>he best of both ... but more likely it would use Bell's technical=20
>support with Rogers' equipment.
>
>What they both have in common is that they staff their  help desks with=20
>people trained to fix the top five likely problems (i.e. "is your  box=20
>plugged in?") and nothing else.  If they face any other problem they=20
>keep reiterating the five solutions they know, as they cannot consult a=20
>superior given that they are mostly alone working from home.

I don't try for a suupervisor. I try for a a tech support person (as
opposed to the customer service type you get at first). If possible, a
transfer; if necessary, a referral.

Note that the supervisor doesn't have to be in the assistor's home for
them to transfer the call. Calls are transferred over long distances
every day.

>But I should note that once in a while I actually contacted someone who=20
>had read beyond the five problems, and could help.  I learned that I had=
=20
>to call Rogers  three times on average to get such a person, and to cut=20
>the others off rapidly because they *would* try all the things that=20
>didn't work. Eagerly, in fact.

Well, the five things /work/ most of the time. They should have
something they can do when none of them work, however.

And of course they are eager. They are doing what they are supposed to
do. And someone may be listening!
--=20
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"