Saturday, January 13, 2007
Just be honest!
Today, I've listened to quite a few people call in, tell me that they need to setup their connection on their computer, only to find that they'd already tried creating an account. Now, I can understand that sentiment: you know you didn't do it correctly, so you call us to have us help you get the connection setup correctly.
However, there isn't that much to setting up a dialup connection. If you know how to start the Windows wizard, then it's almost completely self-explanatory. And most of the people calling in who're in this situation today have things almost completely right. In fact, all but one of them have had only one thing wrong: their login information.
I realize that this type of thinking doesn't come naturally to everyone, but I wish people would realize that if you're getting to the point where your connection says "dialing... establishing connection... verifying username and password", then obviously you're getting through. When it says that your username or password is wrong, then it doesn't make sense to check your modem settings, or the dialup number, or your Internet Explorer settings, or anything other than your username and password.
The thing is, some people are determined to get us to run them through the setup, despite the fact that all it'll do is waste everyone's time. It's much faster to just say "I tried setting up my connection, but it's not connecting. Can we take a look at the settings?" Odds are that you've already done the important legwork, and a detail or two just needs to be adjusted.
Just be honest about it. You'll save yourself time in the end.
However, there isn't that much to setting up a dialup connection. If you know how to start the Windows wizard, then it's almost completely self-explanatory. And most of the people calling in who're in this situation today have things almost completely right. In fact, all but one of them have had only one thing wrong: their login information.
I realize that this type of thinking doesn't come naturally to everyone, but I wish people would realize that if you're getting to the point where your connection says "dialing... establishing connection... verifying username and password", then obviously you're getting through. When it says that your username or password is wrong, then it doesn't make sense to check your modem settings, or the dialup number, or your Internet Explorer settings, or anything other than your username and password.
The thing is, some people are determined to get us to run them through the setup, despite the fact that all it'll do is waste everyone's time. It's much faster to just say "I tried setting up my connection, but it's not connecting. Can we take a look at the settings?" Odds are that you've already done the important legwork, and a detail or two just needs to be adjusted.
Just be honest about it. You'll save yourself time in the end.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Sisyphian decisions
When you have an account with OurCompany, it's assumed that you and your household are going to be the only ones using it. That's not always the case, and we don't really worry about it too much, but we do ensure that your account can only be logged in from one computer at a time; ergo if you're trying to log in while your sister/friend/boss is already logged in as you, you're not going to be able to.
I just talked to a customer whose last few calls have all been about the fact that she can't log in, and each time the reason is that someone else is already logged in with her account information. In fact, looking at the logs, I'm surprised she hasn't called in the last two weeks, because there are numerous connections being made from two distinct phone numbers, split roughly 50-50. The numbers are in two different cities, too. Obviously, someone has her username and password. The most likely reason for this, based on my experience, is that she's given it to them.
If she wants to log in, the best option is to change the password on the account. That way, it's only her and whoever she gives the password to who can access her account. However, she said she didn't want to do that. "I'm going to try logging in again and see what happens."
O... K... but if you try logging in again, while that other person is still logged in, you're going to get exactly the same result as before.
"That's ok. I'm going to try again anyway."
I wonder what that actually indicates: did she give out the info and expect that the other person could log in whenever he/she wanted to? Or does she actually think that things might change if she tries logging in again, despite the fact that the situation is still exactly the same?
The feeling I get is similar to all those times where someone calls in with a problem relating to their username and password, and when I check the logs, I see that they've tried connecting multiple times (sometimes more than 40 attempts are made) and each time the password line is blank. I mean... the error tells you exactly what the problem is! If you know your password (and many times, when I explain the problem, they do), why not just try typing it into the box that says "Password"? The futility of it all boggles the mind. Well, my mind, anyway.
UPDATE: For whatever it's worth, the lady I'd started this post about eventually changed her login information.
I just talked to a customer whose last few calls have all been about the fact that she can't log in, and each time the reason is that someone else is already logged in with her account information. In fact, looking at the logs, I'm surprised she hasn't called in the last two weeks, because there are numerous connections being made from two distinct phone numbers, split roughly 50-50. The numbers are in two different cities, too. Obviously, someone has her username and password. The most likely reason for this, based on my experience, is that she's given it to them.
If she wants to log in, the best option is to change the password on the account. That way, it's only her and whoever she gives the password to who can access her account. However, she said she didn't want to do that. "I'm going to try logging in again and see what happens."
O... K... but if you try logging in again, while that other person is still logged in, you're going to get exactly the same result as before.
"That's ok. I'm going to try again anyway."
I wonder what that actually indicates: did she give out the info and expect that the other person could log in whenever he/she wanted to? Or does she actually think that things might change if she tries logging in again, despite the fact that the situation is still exactly the same?
The feeling I get is similar to all those times where someone calls in with a problem relating to their username and password, and when I check the logs, I see that they've tried connecting multiple times (sometimes more than 40 attempts are made) and each time the password line is blank. I mean... the error tells you exactly what the problem is! If you know your password (and many times, when I explain the problem, they do), why not just try typing it into the box that says "Password"? The futility of it all boggles the mind. Well, my mind, anyway.
UPDATE: For whatever it's worth, the lady I'd started this post about eventually changed her login information.
Labels: futility, login, sisyphus
