Support stories
Discussion
Lots of you folks work in IT and support don't you? When people have problems with their PCs I always look for the human element first.
Most common fault when people can't access their email is because they haven't logged in properly (on '98 machines). A couple of others were;
1. 'My PC keeps just beeping when I switch it on'
THEY HAD RESTED SOMETHING ON THE KEYBOARD AS THE PC STARTED.
2. 'When I print sheets of stickers they don't align properly'
THE SHEET OF STICKERS JUST WASN'T PUT INTO THE PRINTER SQUARE!
What is the most stupid fault you've had to sort out?
Most common fault when people can't access their email is because they haven't logged in properly (on '98 machines). A couple of others were;
1. 'My PC keeps just beeping when I switch it on'
THEY HAD RESTED SOMETHING ON THE KEYBOARD AS THE PC STARTED.
2. 'When I print sheets of stickers they don't align properly'
THE SHEET OF STICKERS JUST WASN'T PUT INTO THE PRINTER SQUARE!
What is the most stupid fault you've had to sort out?
A quite large local council (which will remain nameless) purchased a laser printer from us some years back.
They called in complaining that the toner was running out almost every day, but they were printing very few pages.
Several replacement toners were sent out initially, but the problem kept happening. The customer got shirty and started threatening legal action so we got the manufacturer involved who agreed to send an engineer onsite to take a look at the printer.
We received a call from the engineer onsite who informed us that the customer had been told by someone that "toner is bad" so they had arranged for a cleaner to come in every evening kitted out in full protective gear (face mask etc) to clean the printer. It turns out the cleaner was hoovering the printer out and disposing of the toner and putting the empty toner back in!!
The customer was very sheepish, but apologised and paid for all the toners!
They called in complaining that the toner was running out almost every day, but they were printing very few pages.
Several replacement toners were sent out initially, but the problem kept happening. The customer got shirty and started threatening legal action so we got the manufacturer involved who agreed to send an engineer onsite to take a look at the printer.
We received a call from the engineer onsite who informed us that the customer had been told by someone that "toner is bad" so they had arranged for a cleaner to come in every evening kitted out in full protective gear (face mask etc) to clean the printer. It turns out the cleaner was hoovering the printer out and disposing of the toner and putting the empty toner back in!!
The customer was very sheepish, but apologised and paid for all the toners!
I've had some that were putting the CD in the tray upside down!
Luckly we're on to web-based software now.
It's funny when they ring up to complain of the slow speed. I say it's fine my end so it must be their network. A few days pass and they ring to say that what ever it was I've done has made it run much faster. to which I say "I havn't done anything"
Luckly we're on to web-based software now.
It's funny when they ring up to complain of the slow speed. I say it's fine my end so it must be their network. A few days pass and they ring to say that what ever it was I've done has made it run much faster. to which I say "I havn't done anything"
I had one about 15 years ago when I was working in Support for a (then) small company called Sun Microsystems.
At the time, there was an option to get the OS on floppies (around 17 of them IIRC), and the customer had logged a call saying that one of the floppy disks was faulty (Which was quite likely)
When I talked to him, I got him to describe exactly what he'd done & how far he'd got, so I could work out which floppy was duff.
Conversation went something like this:
Customer: "I put the first floppy in & that seemed to work fine - it then told me to insert floppy #2 & that didn't seem to work"
Me: "OK, send me floppy #2 & I'll get you another one ASAP"
Customer: "I can't"
Me: "Why?"
Customer "I don't know how to get it out"
Me: "Just eject it. You know, the same as you did for the 1st floppy"
Customer: (Silence for a few seconds....Penny drops.....
"I've been a very silly boy haven't I"
Me: (Trying to stop p*ssing myself with laughter, putting the customer on speakerphone & waving to my colleagues to come & listen)
"Can I just confirm that you've managed to get 2 floppy disks into the same slot?"
Customer:"I'm afraid so"
Me: "I'm impressed; I didn't think that was possible"
We ended up having to replace the drive, as it wasn't possible to get the floppies out without damaging things
At the time, there was an option to get the OS on floppies (around 17 of them IIRC), and the customer had logged a call saying that one of the floppy disks was faulty (Which was quite likely)
When I talked to him, I got him to describe exactly what he'd done & how far he'd got, so I could work out which floppy was duff.
Conversation went something like this:
Customer: "I put the first floppy in & that seemed to work fine - it then told me to insert floppy #2 & that didn't seem to work"
Me: "OK, send me floppy #2 & I'll get you another one ASAP"
Customer: "I can't"
Me: "Why?"
Customer "I don't know how to get it out"
Me: "Just eject it. You know, the same as you did for the 1st floppy"
Customer: (Silence for a few seconds....Penny drops.....
"I've been a very silly boy haven't I"
Me: (Trying to stop p*ssing myself with laughter, putting the customer on speakerphone & waving to my colleagues to come & listen)
"Can I just confirm that you've managed to get 2 floppy disks into the same slot?"
Customer:"I'm afraid so"
Me: "I'm impressed; I didn't think that was possible"
We ended up having to replace the drive, as it wasn't possible to get the floppies out without damaging things
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