sirghost
citywide
join:2005-07-23
Phoenix, AZ
 ·Cox HSI
| [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!
Why the hell when I call for help when there stuff is down do I get the run around when I use my MAC or use windows vista? They ALWAYS blame the computer when I say the OS is anything other than windows xp. Why the hell is that? Turns out the issue was a down router in the neighborhood like I told the idiot on the phone and it took them 3 hours to get it back up for me. Anyone else encounter this discrimination when calling support? |
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CoxTech1
VIP
join:2002-04-25
Chesapeake, VA
| Short of there being a declared outage, the telephone representative are required to troubleshoot and eliminate any possible PC issues prior to escallating. If you suspect something else to be the case feel free to PM me your cable modem MAC address and I'll be more than happy to check things from our end. |
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sirghost
citywide
join:2005-07-23
Phoenix, AZ
·Cox HSI
| It is already resolved and was a down router or device in the neighborhood. My issue is that the techs ALWAYS jump on the operating system has being the issue when it is ANYTHING other than windows xp. I understand troubleshooting but to show outright discrimination of anything that is not windows xp is not good for a tech to do. Thanks for the offer of help though and I am glad the techs up here are not like the phone techs are when it comes to this. |
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stanley_qaz
Premium
join:2003-03-17
Gilbert, AZ
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
| I feel a bit sorry for the first level phone guys as they HAVE to follow the script they are given, they get off it and they are going to catch grief from their supervisor.
If you want to help them (and yourself) out boot up a copy of XP, plug the computer directly into your modem and reboot both of them before you call. That gets you a simpler script to go through before you get bumped up the food chain a bit.
Even if it is a neighborhood outage the first line tech is gonna schedule a tech visit to look at your wires... They can't do anything else until a few more folks in your area call in with a problem and give Cox a clue it isn't just you.
For me this is really frustrating. I don't do Windows. I can see the single piece of coax from where it leaves my modem to where it goes underground and the ground over it all the way to the Cox box out by the street. But I have to deal with what the first level guy can do, no sense beating up on them. |
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CoxTOC1
join:2007-05-15
Newport News, VA | reply to sirghost
MAC OS X (10.2 and up) and Vista (All versions I believe) are fully supported by our tier 1 and Tier 2 support. |
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AZwldcats
Ummm That's Right
join:2001-02-20
Tucson, AZ
clubs:
| reply to sirghost
You also need to remember that proabably 99% of the callers know nothing about PC's, Most probably infected with spyware/viruses, and call in for everything.
And I bet the script works A LOT of the time.
THe vast majority of people that know about PC's don't call in.
Also, remember your tone when you talk to them. As soon as you begin on a rant most are going to tune you out and not be willing to help as much.
Especially when you start ranting a router in the neighborhood is down, There are no routers in the neighborhood...... |
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bbeesley
VIP
join:2003-08-07
Henderson, NV
| said by AZwldcats  :And I bet the script works A LOT of the time. Yep....our folks run through those steps because the majority of the time they are able to identify and resolve the issue more quickly.
At any rate, the best troubleshooting is done methodically, step by step, eliminating the obvious until you are left with the only possible solution....this is why they are trained as they are.
said by AZwldcats :Also, remember your tone when you talk to them. As soon as you begin on a rant most are going to tune you out and not be willing to help as much. I used to have supervisor way back in the day that continually reminded me that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
I know it is sometimes hard to be patient while the technician runs through the troubleshooting steps - nobody likes to be without service, myself included - but I too call our call center when I notice an outage and even though I could 'bypass' the steps, I always let them run through their process because letting the run through their checks really is the fastest way to get it resolved.
Just keep in mind that the person on the other end of the line genuinely wants to help and fix the issue....give 'em a chance, you just might be surprised. |
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dg2
Premium
join:2004-01-22
Lowell, AR
·Cox HSI
edit:
June 25th, @04:37PM
| reply to sirghost
It's not necessarily a bias against anything other than XP. I've called in with plant issues, and been told I needed to reinstall XP. Needless to say I didn't, but waited three days and my problem mysteriously cleared itself away - about the time the Cox truck left that pole-mounted box down the street (right next to the utility construction site).
I realize they're fighting something of an uphill battle, but it might be helpful if the support folks were able to have a little more flexibility. Scripting (or allowing) them to declare that all problems require an OS re-install isn't really fair to them or to the customer. Occasionally you run across an end user that knows what he's doing, hidden amongst the ID10Ts.  |
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robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL
 ·Cox VOIP
·Cox HSI
| your tier 1 support needs to be better trained. not all problems are operating system related.
but at the same time, a lot of people are stupid.. very stupid when it comes to how to run an operating system.
and answers like "reinstall xp" are totally unacceptable.
i've spoken to some tier 1 people who sounded like they know what they are doing and went beyond the usual because they saw the packet loss on my modem.
and at the same time, having stuff like the cox automated troubleshooter is very stupid indeed and wastes time.
even the customer service reps told me it's a waste of time.
DUMP IT
-Rob
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irc(dot)dishnuts(dot)net #skyscanner active prime time (US central time) (please be civil & polite)- interact with radio hosts 7 nights a week - websites at »www.dishnuts.net & »www.cband.info |
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sirghost
citywide
join:2005-07-23
Phoenix, AZ
·Cox HSI
| Guys, it was not the issue with the script reading. all was fine and well. It is the comments of "you would not have these issues if you would just use windows xp instead of mac or vista.". Comments like that are completely useless imo. I also loved how that comment was from a level 2 guy. No, the first level guy I can fully understand him not wanting or knwing how to have me fiddle around in the mac os to check settings or what not. It was the tier 2 guys comments that piss me off and make me feel like because I choose not to use windows xp that I am somehow inferior and not worthy of real help.
That was my complaint here. The fact that it only took 3 hours to fix an issue on the company side of things in my neighborhood was outstanding service. |
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joako
Premium
join:2000-09-07
Gainesville, FL
| reply to sirghost
Yep...
ANy time I call cox they tell me "your signal level is fine, its green" and "i am sending you a signal, that should fix it"
And then they suggest if I keep having issues to go to the office (20 mile trip) to swap the equipment. No thanks. Done it before and its not the equipment, its the service.
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09:F9:11:02:9D:74:E3:5B:D8:41:56:C5:63:56:88:C0 |
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BinRoanoke
join:2008-06-19
Roanoke, VA
| reply to AZwldcats
said by AZwldcats :THe vast majority of people that know about PC's don't call in.
No, I use chat. Even then it depends on what time of day you try to get to someone in chat support as to the level of quality you're going to get. As I pointed out in some other thread (I think my thread about my issue), that person could not for the life of them understand that I did not want them to troubleshoot anything, that I only wanted them to tell me what the log file said. Since I have a WebSTAR, I'm prevented from viewing the log page. All I can get is a summary of my power levels and my firmware version.
You may be right, that perhaps *right now* a lot of people are unfamiliar with technology, but as time goes on, more people will become more tech saavy. There are still large numbers of older people (60+) who did not grow up with the technology that we have today. I had a chuckle with what my Mom was saying to a friend of hers, that when she tried to go to a web page it said that it was not available and perhaps it meant that it wasn't available from this area. I figure someone gave the wrong URL to her, and all that needs to be done is to go out to Google and search for the organization. The people that are technologically impaired won't be adaptive enough to know to do that unless they're shown several times (typically).
Another example was my Dad. The other night he beckoned me to help him get this message off the screen. It was a box that said that a reboot was needed and it had an OK button. He knows how to run an offset press, but that OK button just confused him something awful.
Anyway, the "warm body and a script" approach will not be acceptable for too much longer. To contrast against something, would you accept this type of conversation:
CSR: "Mega-Electric Company, how may I help you?"
You: "My power is out."
CSR: "Do you have a circuit breaker or a fuse box?"
You: "I have a circuit breaker."
CSR: "Have you checked for tripped circuits?"
You: "The power is out in the whole house."
CSR: "Please check to see if there are tripped circuits. You can identify a tripped circuit by some red showing up beside the switch or the switch indented in towards off."
You: "It is very unlikely that all circuits would trip at once."
CSR: "Please check for tripped circuits."
You: "I've switched the main off and back on and it made no change."
CSR: "That is because you may have tripped circuits."
You: "Look, I've already checked for that, and besides, all circuits tripping at one time is highly unlikely."
CSR: "Please check for tripped circuits and when you have done so, please contact us again. Thank you."
That is essentially what happened to me two times when I contacted Cox via chat support, where "checking for tripped circuits" equates to "disconnect your router and go straight from the modem and reboot". The two reps here on this forum, one person from chat support, and the field technician did not ask me to disconnect the router and go straight from the modem. The field tech replaced the line from the pole/tap to the grounding block, changed out the grounding block, replaced my modem, and referred the issue on to plant maintenance just to be sure. Things are much better, but I'm still giving it a few more days to declare the problem solved, but in all of that, I have never hooked my computer up directly to the modem. It wasn't a router issue, and that's where this person is right, that dealing with script readers who *ALSO* don't understand about computers / routers / modems is *VERY* frustrating when you run into them and you know the problem is not something your can control...that they need to do something, but they refuse to go beyond the script...
So, why not just follow the script? Time is money. I might do something once, but if I have to do it over and over and over, I get itchy, and rightfully so, IMO...
Anyway, support does need to be better. There are some good folks, but quite a few inexperienced reps as well... |
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sirghost
citywide
join:2005-07-23
Phoenix, AZ | reply to sirghost
i would have used chat, but alas, my cox connection could not get out past the neighborhood gateway to access the internet. |
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stanley_qaz
Premium
join:2003-03-17
Gilbert, AZ
·HughesNet Satellit..
| Lucky you... We couldn't even call our last issue in since we have Cox phone service. Had to burn cell minutes to contact them.
Wife has assured me next time they tell us our phone will be out for three days until they can get us a truck our phone will be working just fine the next day with Quest. She has one of their fliers stuck on the fridge. |
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robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL | the chat i avoid because if they reset your modem, your done.
-rob |
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lambition
join:2004-08-26
Centreville, VA
edit:
June 25th, @09:19PM
| reply to sirghost
Took me 2 weeks for me.
I told them I was using Linux, and the reply was COX do not support Linux. LOL
Got the problem solved through this forum instead of phone/chat support.
Many technical support ref. does not know much about technical stuffs other than what is written on their book.
Usually chat support is better. I use my EvDO connection to chat when internet is not working  |
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lambition
join:2004-08-26
Centreville, VA
| reply to BinRoanoke
You can access log on Webstar modem.
Goto
»192.168.100.1/_aslvl.asp
and change access level to "Access Level 2" and enter "W2402" for password.
Return to main page, then goto the log. (the modem automatically changes back to Level 1 in about 5 min. so you will have to do it every time.) |
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magicjimmy
join:2006-03-23
Tucson, AZ
·Cox HSI
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| said by lambition :You can access log on Webstar modem. Goto » 192.168.100.1/_aslvl.aspand change access level to "Access Level 2" and enter "W2402" for password. Return to main page, then goto the log. (the modem automatically changes back to Level 1 in about 5 min. so you will have to do it every time.) SWEET!!! About time somebody busted out the goodies for us Webstar users!!!
Thanks lambition!!!
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...I'll go back in my cave now... |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| reply to sirghost
Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!
said by sirghost :It is already resolved and was a down router or device in the neighborhood. My issue is that the techs ALWAYS jump on the operating system has being the issue when it is ANYTHING other than windows xp. I understand troubleshooting but to show outright discrimination of anything that is not windows xp is not good for a tech to do. Thanks for the offer of help though and I am glad the techs up here are not like the phone techs are when it comes to this. The script cards haven't had vista added to them yet.
if you KNOW its not you, tell them you have xp.
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When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee |
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