Help is Not Always at the Help Desk

Serenity Now!

Wow. I recently received an email concerning an account creation for a particular company I have never had to call. In the email, the technician gave me a temporary account, email address, but no password, but gave me a number to call to have a helpdesk technician “reset” my password so I could use it for the first time. I called the number, gave the person my ticket number and the craziness began. First, my ticket was closed. This was the first and only time I ever called about it. Second, they kept talking about ID and account names that I had no familiarity with…”well, do you need this?”. I told them I just needed an user name/password for their account. I was clear to tell them what it was for, and that I would then also need instructions on how to access what I needed. I gave my email address to the technician and he told me he would send me instructions.

I was told that password resets were handled by another department, so I called the other department. The other department, when I explained my issue, was not surprised that the previous department forwarded them to me – apparently it was wrong and it happened quite a bit. I then called the original helpdesk again hoping to get my account in order. I started off my explaining what happened before – and just my luck – I was talking to the same person. He asked me if I had received the email he sent and I told him no. I spelled my last name for the 5th time and he soon realized he did not have the correct spelling. I told him I would forward him the original email with the account information so he would have it as proof I was who I said I was.

I asked him for my email address. Let me re-phrase that. I asked a HELPDESK technician for his email address. “Hmm, can you open Outlook and find me?” I said no, I am not using Outlook – nor do I have your address book. “Hmm…I do not know my email address, I have never used it outside of our network”. At this point I literally asked him to look to his right and ask the person next to him what his email address was. At this point he also got my email and so I asked him if he could just email me with the account information I needed instead of listen to his breathing on the other end. He said “well, you did not get my first email”. I said “You got the email from me, right?. “Yes” he said. I waited for the obvious, but when it did not come, I said – “well, reply to it”.

Wow. Time for a real Coca-Cola.

7 thoughts on “Help is Not Always at the Help Desk”

  1. Doug Blatti

    Apparently the other 500 times I have explained this to you is has not sunk in. Maybe some CAPS will help.

    NOT EVERYONE CAN BE AS GOOD AS YOU AT EVERYTHING. STOP PUSHING YOUR HIGH STANDARDS ON US. YOUR ELITISM HAS BECOME A PERSISTENT PROBLEM. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD SEEK MEDICAL HELP.

  2. Doug Blatti

    I bet you are thinking to yourself “Doug can’t even leave a comment without making a typo”, aren’t you. You need help. Perhaps an intervention, some church, and a class at NPU.

  3. jenz

    Ha! Yeah, I do expect a lot…like some basic computer or familiarity with “internet terminology”. Perhaps if I would expect the bare minimum I would be much better off. Just answering the phone would be great!

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