Hold Times 41min & Counting!

Once again tonight I have been on HOLD trying to get thru to tech support.
41 minutes later I still am on HOLD!

WTF is going on with Compaq's tech support lines? It has been like this all
damn week long. Yesterday was the longest I held for...2 fugging
hours!...still on hold when I finally gave up.

Do they think this is acceptable behavior?

My wallet doesn't think so and the next time I buy a computer it certainly
won't be from ComCrap!

So I finally get connected with someone after an hours hold time and it's
someone who can barely speak English. I still have the problem because I
can't understand them and they can't understand me. Is this what the PC
world has come to?


"SCW" wrote in message
...
Once again tonight I have been on HOLD trying to get thru to tech support.
41 minutes later I still am on HOLD!

WTF is going on with Compaq's tech support lines? It has been like this
all
damn week long. Yesterday was the longest I held for...2 fugging
hours!...still on hold when I finally gave up.

Do they think this is acceptable behavior?

My wallet doesn't think so and the next time I buy a computer it certainly
won't be from ComCrap!

Whats your problem, I speak english.

"SCW" wrote in message
...
So I finally get connected with someone after an hours hold time and it's
someone who can barely speak English. I still have the problem because I
can't understand them and they can't understand me. Is this what the PC
world has come to?


"SCW" wrote in message
...
Once again tonight I have been on HOLD trying to get thru to tech
support.
41 minutes later I still am on HOLD!

WTF is going on with Compaq's tech support lines? It has been like this
all
damn week long. Yesterday was the longest I held for...2 fugging
hours!...still on hold when I finally gave up.

Do they think this is acceptable behavior?

My wallet doesn't think so and the next time I buy a computer it
certainly
won't be from ComCrap!

Do you work for Compaq technical support?

The problem is that some of my hardware is missing from my computer that was
sent back to me from the repair center.

Nobody can help me except for Compaq.

I will be calling Corp. Office's on Monday, hopefully someone there speaks
the English language.


"doS" wrote in message
...
Whats your problem, I speak english.

"SCW" wrote in message
...
So I finally get connected with someone after an hours hold time and
it's
someone who can barely speak English. I still have the problem because
I
can't understand them and they can't understand me. Is this what the PC
world has come to?


"SCW" wrote in message
...
Once again tonight I have been on HOLD trying to get thru to tech
support.
41 minutes later I still am on HOLD!

WTF is going on with Compaq's tech support lines? It has been like
this
all
damn week long. Yesterday was the longest I held for...2 fugging
hours!...still on hold when I finally gave up.

Do they think this is acceptable behavior?

My wallet doesn't think so and the next time I buy a computer it
certainly
won't be from ComCrap!

Mike is likely correct. Here is an interesting post to the Dell newsgroup
(yes, I own one along with several Compaqs)
"I did not start this post to start anything bad but for info for the
newsgroup readers regarding tech support.

Here is a brief overview of what 3 editors of Computer Shopper went out to
see who has the best Tech Support of Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq and Toshiba.
Located on Page 118 of the September Issue.

They had 4 questions with each question taking one call.

Question 1: I installed a utility and the driver screwed up my PC, what
should I do?

Answer: Immediate answer is to do a system restore for XP machines

Question 2: My PC is running very slow. What should I do?

Answers: Include Defrag and adding more memory and others.

Question 3: How Do I upgrade new memory on my PC?

Answer: It is system specific but it shows how each vendor trains its tech
support people in overall product knowledge.

Question 4: My hard drive is making a clattering noise? What does this
mean?

Answer: This is a non-specific problem, but they wanted to see what steps
the vendor would take them through and at what point would advise that the
drive may be in a death roll.

Each correct answer is worth 5 points, with partial credit given each case.
The vendor that had the fastest time to a live person got another 5 points,
while others got partial points. The highest score possible was 25.

Dell

Total Time To Connect: 24 minutes and 15 seconds

First call took 17 minutes, all other calls around 2 minutes

Calls received from Nashville (Longest Wait) to Bangladore, India.

They managed to answer the first question without asking it as the recording
suggested the correct fix while they were on hold. Second question, they
were directed to unload some items to speed up the system. A good start but
some items are needed to run automatically at startup. The 2 other questions
were answered correctly with helpful tips and good advice.

Sco 21 points

Lost points: Time to Connect and the second question's answer.



Gateway

Total Time To Connect: 20 seconds

Calls received from: 3 out 4 calls stayed in the US, while 1 went to India.

Gateway picked up the phone consistently within 5 seconds after the first
ring.

Tech Support Reps answered all questions correctly. They even gave them a
phone number with a direct extension for follow up questions. They used
that number for the subsequent questions. They got correct answers to
each question, as well as more information about previous queries. On the
last question, the rep immediately admitted the hard drive was probably
expiring and that they should do a back up immediately.

Sco 25 points

Lost points: None



HP/Compaq

Total Time To Connect: 3 minutes and 58 seconds

Calls received from: All calls to Chennai, in Southern India

All reps where business like, and that they were continually reminded that
their software warranty had expired and were encouraged to purchase an
extension for $59. Despite the hard sell, the tech support reps helped them
out correctly in every instance and during their first call, the tech
support supervisor joined the call (He was listening) to advise them to be
wary of third party software because it can damage the system. During the
last call, the tech advised them to backup their data and then rightly
listed numerous steps to take before he would rule out the drive defective.
He even offered to call them back at a predetermined time.

Sco 24 points

Lost points: Time to Connect



Toshiba

Total Time To Connect: 11 minutes

Calls received from: Noisy calls from Istanbul, while the quiet call was
patched to Toronto

First call had considerable amount of background noise made it difficult to
get the problem across. Once they did, the support tech explained that
Toshiba does not support third party software but, nevertheless, he showed
them how to remove the app from their system. Not perfect, but good. The
other questions were answered correctly, but overall, in three out of four
calls, the noise was substantial.

Sco 22 points

Lost points: Time to Connect and the first question's answer and noisy
calls



Overall Rankings

1. Gateway

2. HP/Compaq

3. Toshiba

4. Dell



Things learned

All Vendors have call centers overseas.

No complaining that the tech support reps were hard to understand.

All Vendors got at least 3 out of 4 right answers.

"SCW" wrote in message
...
Once again tonight I have been on HOLD trying to get thru to tech support.
41 minutes later I still am on HOLD!

WTF is going on with Compaq's tech support lines? It has been like this
all
damn week long. Yesterday was the longest I held for...2 fugging
hours!...still on hold when I finally gave up.

Do they think this is acceptable behavior?

My wallet doesn't think so and the next time I buy a computer it certainly
won't be from ComCrap!

Hmm, did the test one time. Most of the scores were subjective, based on
the caller's opinion of a right answer.

Yeah, I trust that as statistically valid.

Tom
"HH" wrote in message
...
Mike is likely correct. Here is an interesting post to the Dell newsgroup
(yes, I own one along with several Compaqs)
"I did not start this post to start anything bad but for info for the
newsgroup readers regarding tech support.

Here is a brief overview of what 3 editors of Computer Shopper went out to
see who has the best Tech Support of Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq and Toshiba.
Located on Page 118 of the September Issue.

They had 4 questions with each question taking one call.

Question 1: I installed a utility and the driver screwed up my PC, what
should I do?

Answer: Immediate answer is to do a system restore for XP machines

Question 2: My PC is running very slow. What should I do?

Answers: Include Defrag and adding more memory and others.

Question 3: How Do I upgrade new memory on my PC?

Answer: It is system specific but it shows how each vendor trains its
tech
support people in overall product knowledge.

Question 4: My hard drive is making a clattering noise? What does this
mean?

Answer: This is a non-specific problem, but they wanted to see what steps
the vendor would take them through and at what point would advise that the
drive may be in a death roll.

Each correct answer is worth 5 points, with partial credit given each
case.
The vendor that had the fastest time to a live person got another 5
points,
while others got partial points. The highest score possible was 25.

Dell

Total Time To Connect: 24 minutes and 15 seconds

First call took 17 minutes, all other calls around 2 minutes

Calls received from Nashville (Longest Wait) to Bangladore, India.

They managed to answer the first question without asking it as the
recording
suggested the correct fix while they were on hold. Second question, they
were directed to unload some items to speed up the system. A good start
but
some items are needed to run automatically at startup. The 2 other
questions
were answered correctly with helpful tips and good advice.

Sco 21 points

Lost points: Time to Connect and the second question's answer.



Gateway

Total Time To Connect: 20 seconds

Calls received from: 3 out 4 calls stayed in the US, while 1 went to
India.

Gateway picked up the phone consistently within 5 seconds after the first
ring.

Tech Support Reps answered all questions correctly. They even gave them a
phone number with a direct extension for follow up questions. They used
that number for the subsequent questions. They got correct answers to
each question, as well as more information about previous queries. On the
last question, the rep immediately admitted the hard drive was probably
expiring and that they should do a back up immediately.

Sco 25 points

Lost points: None



HP/Compaq

Total Time To Connect: 3 minutes and 58 seconds

Calls received from: All calls to Chennai, in Southern India

All reps where business like, and that they were continually reminded that
their software warranty had expired and were encouraged to purchase an
extension for $59. Despite the hard sell, the tech support reps helped
them
out correctly in every instance and during their first call, the tech
support supervisor joined the call (He was listening) to advise them to be
wary of third party software because it can damage the system. During the
last call, the tech advised them to backup their data and then rightly
listed numerous steps to take before he would rule out the drive
defective.
He even offered to call them back at a predetermined time.

Sco 24 points

Lost points: Time to Connect



Toshiba

Total Time To Connect: 11 minutes

Calls received from: Noisy calls from Istanbul, while the quiet call was
patched to Toronto

First call had considerable amount of background noise made it difficult
to
get the problem across. Once they did, the support tech explained that
Toshiba does not support third party software but, nevertheless, he showed
them how to remove the app from their system. Not perfect, but good. The
other questions were answered correctly, but overall, in three out of four
calls, the noise was substantial.

Sco 22 points

Lost points: Time to Connect and the first question's answer and noisy
calls



Overall Rankings

1. Gateway

2. HP/Compaq

3. Toshiba

4. Dell



Things learned

All Vendors have call centers overseas.

No complaining that the tech support reps were hard to understand.

All Vendors got at least 3 out of 4 right answers.

"SCW" wrote in message
...
Once again tonight I have been on HOLD trying to get thru to tech
support.
41 minutes later I still am on HOLD!

WTF is going on with Compaq's tech support lines? It has been like this
all
damn week long. Yesterday was the longest I held for...2 fugging
hours!...still on hold when I finally gave up.

Do they think this is acceptable behavior?

My wallet doesn't think so and the next time I buy a computer it
certainly
won't be from ComCrap!

I posted that post in here too, along with Dell's, HP's, Gateway's and
Toshiba's newsgroup as it had info on there respective tech support.




"HH" wrote in message
...
Mike is likely correct. Here is an interesting post to the Dell newsgroup
(yes, I own one along with several Compaqs)
"I did not start this post to start anything bad but for info for the
newsgroup readers regarding tech support.

Here is a brief overview of what 3 editors of Computer Shopper went out to
see who has the best Tech Support of Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq and Toshiba.
Located on Page 118 of the September Issue.

They had 4 questions with each question taking one call.

Question 1: I installed a utility and the driver screwed up my PC, what
should I do?

Answer: Immediate answer is to do a system restore for XP machines

Question 2: My PC is running very slow. What should I do?

Answers: Include Defrag and adding more memory and others.

Question 3: How Do I upgrade new memory on my PC?

Answer: It is system specific but it shows how each vendor trains its
tech
support people in overall product knowledge.

Question 4: My hard drive is making a clattering noise? What does this
mean?

Answer: This is a non-specific problem, but they wanted to see what steps
the vendor would take them through and at what point would advise that the
drive may be in a death roll.

Each correct answer is worth 5 points, with partial credit given each
case.
The vendor that had the fastest time to a live person got another 5
points,
while others got partial points. The highest score possible was 25.

Dell

Total Time To Connect: 24 minutes and 15 seconds

First call took 17 minutes, all other calls around 2 minutes

Calls received from Nashville (Longest Wait) to Bangladore, India.

They managed to answer the first question without asking it as the
recording
suggested the correct fix while they were on hold. Second question, they
were directed to unload some items to speed up the system. A good start
but
some items are needed to run automatically at startup. The 2 other
questions
were answered correctly with helpful tips and good advice.

Sco 21 points

Lost points: Time to Connect and the second question's answer.



Gateway

Total Time To Connect: 20 seconds

Calls received from: 3 out 4 calls stayed in the US, while 1 went to
India.

Gateway picked up the phone consistently within 5 seconds after the first
ring.

Tech Support Reps answered all questions correctly. They even gave them a
phone number with a direct extension for follow up questions. They used
that number for the subsequent questions. They got correct answers to
each question, as well as more information about previous queries. On the
last question, the rep immediately admitted the hard drive was probably
expiring and that they should do a back up immediately.

Sco 25 points

Lost points: None



HP/Compaq

Total Time To Connect: 3 minutes and 58 seconds

Calls received from: All calls to Chennai, in Southern India

All reps where business like, and that they were continually reminded that
their software warranty had expired and were encouraged to purchase an
extension for $59. Despite the hard sell, the tech support reps helped
them
out correctly in every instance and during their first call, the tech
support supervisor joined the call (He was listening) to advise them to be
wary of third party software because it can damage the system. During the
last call, the tech advised them to backup their data and then rightly
listed numerous steps to take before he would rule out the drive
defective.
He even offered to call them back at a predetermined time.

Sco 24 points

Lost points: Time to Connect



Toshiba

Total Time To Connect: 11 minutes

Calls received from: Noisy calls from Istanbul, while the quiet call was
patched to Toronto

First call had considerable amount of background noise made it difficult
to
get the problem across. Once they did, the support tech explained that
Toshiba does not support third party software but, nevertheless, he showed
them how to remove the app from their system. Not perfect, but good. The
other questions were answered correctly, but overall, in three out of four
calls, the noise was substantial.

Sco 22 points

Lost points: Time to Connect and the first question's answer and noisy
calls



Overall Rankings

1. Gateway

2. HP/Compaq

3. Toshiba

4. Dell



Things learned

All Vendors have call centers overseas.

No complaining that the tech support reps were hard to understand.

All Vendors got at least 3 out of 4 right answers.

"SCW" wrote in message
...
Once again tonight I have been on HOLD trying to get thru to tech
support.
41 minutes later I still am on HOLD!

WTF is going on with Compaq's tech support lines? It has been like this
all
damn week long. Yesterday was the longest I held for...2 fugging
hours!...still on hold when I finally gave up.

Do they think this is acceptable behavior?

My wallet doesn't think so and the next time I buy a computer it
certainly
won't be from ComCrap!

Computer Shopper did not say what all the correct answers were for each
question but I am sure they had a list of the most obvious correct answers.


"Tom Scales" wrote in message
...
Hmm, did the test one time. Most of the scores were subjective, based on
the caller's opinion of a right answer.

Yeah, I trust that as statistically valid.

Tom
"HH" wrote in message
...
Mike is likely correct. Here is an interesting post to the Dell
newsgroup
(yes, I own one along with several Compaqs)
"I did not start this post to start anything bad but for info for the
newsgroup readers regarding tech support.

Here is a brief overview of what 3 editors of Computer Shopper went out
to
see who has the best Tech Support of Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq and
Toshiba.
Located on Page 118 of the September Issue.

They had 4 questions with each question taking one call.

Question 1: I installed a utility and the driver screwed up my PC,
what
should I do?

Answer: Immediate answer is to do a system restore for XP machines

Question 2: My PC is running very slow. What should I do?

Answers: Include Defrag and adding more memory and others.

Question 3: How Do I upgrade new memory on my PC?

Answer: It is system specific but it shows how each vendor trains its
tech
support people in overall product knowledge.

Question 4: My hard drive is making a clattering noise? What does this
mean?

Answer: This is a non-specific problem, but they wanted to see what
steps
the vendor would take them through and at what point would advise that
the
drive may be in a death roll.

Each correct answer is worth 5 points, with partial credit given each
case.
The vendor that had the fastest time to a live person got another 5
points,
while others got partial points. The highest score possible was 25.

Dell

Total Time To Connect: 24 minutes and 15 seconds

First call took 17 minutes, all other calls around 2 minutes

Calls received from Nashville (Longest Wait) to Bangladore, India.

They managed to answer the first question without asking it as the
recording
suggested the correct fix while they were on hold. Second question,
they
were directed to unload some items to speed up the system. A good start
but
some items are needed to run automatically at startup. The 2 other
questions
were answered correctly with helpful tips and good advice.

Sco 21 points

Lost points: Time to Connect and the second question's answer.



Gateway

Total Time To Connect: 20 seconds

Calls received from: 3 out 4 calls stayed in the US, while 1 went to
India.

Gateway picked up the phone consistently within 5 seconds after the
first
ring.

Tech Support Reps answered all questions correctly. They even gave them
a
phone number with a direct extension for follow up questions. They used
that number for the subsequent questions. They got correct answers to
each question, as well as more information about previous queries. On
the
last question, the rep immediately admitted the hard drive was probably
expiring and that they should do a back up immediately.

Sco 25 points

Lost points: None



HP/Compaq

Total Time To Connect: 3 minutes and 58 seconds

Calls received from: All calls to Chennai, in Southern India

All reps where business like, and that they were continually reminded
that
their software warranty had expired and were encouraged to purchase an
extension for $59. Despite the hard sell, the tech support reps helped
them
out correctly in every instance and during their first call, the tech
support supervisor joined the call (He was listening) to advise them to
be
wary of third party software because it can damage the system. During
the
last call, the tech advised them to backup their data and then rightly
listed numerous steps to take before he would rule out the drive
defective.
He even offered to call them back at a predetermined time.

Sco 24 points

Lost points: Time to Connect



Toshiba

Total Time To Connect: 11 minutes

Calls received from: Noisy calls from Istanbul, while the quiet call
was
patched to Toronto

First call had considerable amount of background noise made it difficult
to
get the problem across. Once they did, the support tech explained that
Toshiba does not support third party software but, nevertheless, he
showed
them how to remove the app from their system. Not perfect, but good.
The
other questions were answered correctly, but overall, in three out of
four
calls, the noise was substantial.

Sco 22 points

Lost points: Time to Connect and the first question's answer and noisy
calls



Overall Rankings

1. Gateway

2. HP/Compaq

3. Toshiba

4. Dell



Things learned

All Vendors have call centers overseas.

No complaining that the tech support reps were hard to understand.

All Vendors got at least 3 out of 4 right answers.

"SCW" wrote in message
...
Once again tonight I have been on HOLD trying to get thru to tech
support.
41 minutes later I still am on HOLD!

WTF is going on with Compaq's tech support lines? It has been like
this
all
damn week long. Yesterday was the longest I held for...2 fugging
hours!...still on hold when I finally gave up.

Do they think this is acceptable behavior?

My wallet doesn't think so and the next time I buy a computer it
certainly
won't be from ComCrap!

Mike

I had to send in my 1525US to have the LCD replaced, which was still under
warranty. I didnt remove my 802.11b multiport. When I got the computer
back, it was missing.


"Mike Calkins" wrote in message
y.com...
Hold times for all tech support #'s have been crazy this week due to
Blaster
WORM questions (not just Compaq's).

What product did you have repaired, and what items were missing?

Mike in Houston


"SCW" wrote in message
...
Do you work for Compaq technical support?

The problem is that some of my hardware is missing from my computer that
was
sent back to me from the repair center.

Nobody can help me except for Compaq.

I will be calling Corp. Office's on Monday, hopefully someone there
speaks
the English language.


"doS" wrote in message
...
Whats your problem, I speak english.

"SCW" wrote in message
...
So I finally get connected with someone after an hours hold time and
it's
someone who can barely speak English. I still have the problem
because
I
can't understand them and they can't understand me. Is this what
the
PC
world has come to?


"SCW" wrote in message
...
Once again tonight I have been on HOLD trying to get thru to tech
support.
41 minutes later I still am on HOLD!

WTF is going on with Compaq's tech support lines? It has been
like
this
all
damn week long. Yesterday was the longest I held for...2 fugging
hours!...still on hold when I finally gave up.

Do they think this is acceptable behavior?

My wallet doesn't think so and the next time I buy a computer it
certainly
won't be from ComCrap!

Good luck getting that back, what possessed you to leave it installed?

--


----------------------------------------------------------------
"SCW" wrote in message ...
Mike

I had to send in my 1525US to have the LCD replaced, which was still under
warranty. I didnt remove my 802.11b multiport. When I got the computer
back, it was missing.