WBS iBurst Helpdesk

[Ravilj]

Ok its now time to get something done about this helpdesk.

Check out:
http://www.systemshock.co.za/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=95&t=554&st=0#entry5553

If you have any similar experiences or ones of your own please post them here or on Systemshock. Wanting to get a good couple complaints and forward the info to ITWeb and drop a copy of at Shuan.

 

[regardtv]

WBS management are WELL aware of the state of their helpdesk ... it's simple ... it's not a priority....

Mushroom treatment requires exactly this type of service....

 

[kingrob]

Hey - it's just a 'job'?

Yep, unfortunately that's the state South Africa is in now:

1) Top management all wear expensive suits, drive fancy cars, get ENORMOUS salaries, but couldn't give a faak about running the company, because they don't know how to!

2) Employees see their CAREER as 'just a job', there is no pride in what they do.

I was in the fortunate position to work in London, England for almost five years and - I'll give that to the Poms - for the first time in my life I knew what it felt like to work in a (almost) perfect & dynamic work environment. I couldn't wait to get up in the morning to go to work, but I've never had that feeling since my return to South Africa.

Very sad, indeed.

But hey, at least I can say I know what it SHOULD be like - and I'll always treasure that.

 

[slimothy]

maybe they're not aware of it, I mean theres not much we can presume from the outside looking in

 

[Ravilj]

maybe they're not aware of it, I mean theres not much we can presume from the outside looking in

Hence why I have decided to take a proactive approach towards this and the reason for the thread.

So could you guys post your experiences and rants and complaints against the helpdesk please.

 

[slimothy]

ok let me post my problems with the helpdesk in point form

* If you call in the day it will take in the region of 20 minutes (maybe more) to get your call answed

* If you call at night the call is answered faster but nobody does anything, the night shift guy (I think there is only one) basically just pretends he will follow it up.

* Either have music or have some guy shouting the same 5 points in my ear every 5 seconds but please don't try do both.

* Once you get through in the day there seems to be 2 levels, the first is the normal helpdesk idiot... no matter what your problem is he will mention spyware/adware and MTU, if you get past that and he tells you to hold you get a higher level helpdesk person... that in my experience is the only one that will help with a problem that isn't MTU or spyware.

* Don't say you'll call me back if you won't

* Don't give me some bogus reference number if I'll never need to use it.

* Answer email or something. Look for an ISP, and INTERNET provider to not let me use the internet to ask a simple question is a huge watse of my time and adds to my frustration (and phone bill). My data center is amazing, i can email them, log on their site and have a web chat session with a help person from a specific department, use normal IRC or file a trouble ticket... WBS needs only to implement one of these to make their service 100% better.

The problem to me seems to be that WBS management don't want the helpdesk persons speaking in official capacity, I think thats why a web chat/irc system wouldn't work for them and thats also why no emails get answered. BUT THAT MEANS THE TORUBLE TICKET SYSTEM IS PERFECT, I file a ticket on the site and when they resolve it they close the ticket, theres readily available software both free and cheap they could use.. and it would solve my next gripe with the helpdesk....

* Nothing seems to be done, if I call the helpdesk now with a big problem, they'll ask about spyware etc, I'll say 'no spyware' then they'll 'err' and 'um' and pretend like they are going to write it down and show someone important and get them to help and then I hang up. Now I'm not stupid, I know they don't show anybody anything.. are you kidding, they go straight to the next call and do it all over again. If a resolution is made I really don't know about it.. theres no feed back. I think this is what their new reference number aims to solve but its horrible, just do ticket support like other companies and be done with it.

* They only seem to fix problems if it affects alot of people and if alot of people phone in about it.

* Theres never an ETA, the E in ETA stands for estimation I'm not looking for and exact time, so just take a wild guess... it would make me feel better.

* Ultimately if I want something solved I need to try get another persons phone number, someone not at the helpdesk... and that sums it up.

 

[Raithlin]

Here's an anti-example for you. I phoned the helpdesk the other night, and got through within a minute of holding. I forget the gentleman's name (Didn't take it down, but it was an african name) that took my call. I explained the situation (Midrand tower was giving k*k - leds were down to 1-3 from usual 4-5), and asked for resolution. He took my number, checked a few things quickly, then asked if he could phone back. I agreed, albeit with a snicker.

So anyhow, 5 minutes later my phone rings. He phoned back! Not just that, but he had feedback from the technicians - although they had nothing to report, and would check it. True as bob, 10 minutes later my leds popped up to normal strength again, and speed shot back up from 1.8kB/s to 30kB/sec (normal for me).

It gladdens my heart to see that some people still aim high when it comes to customer service, despite what management may or may not think.

 

[slimothy]

i think he pretended to phone someone because he knew that iburst is up and down all the time and it would probably come back soonish

 

[Raithlin]

lol@slimothy. I love your optimism.

 

[ic]

...
The problem to me seems to be that WBS management don't want the helpdesk persons speaking in official capacity, I think thats why a web chat/irc system wouldn't work for them and thats also why no emails get answered. BUT THAT MEANS THE TORUBLE TICKET SYSTEM IS PERFECT, I file a ticket on the site and when they resolve it they close the ticket, theres readily available software both free and cheap they could use.. and it would solve my next gripe with the helpdesk....
...

I agree with you slim, but there has been something on helpdesk.wbs.co.za about submitting a problem report or whatever, I tried using it once, never got a response - I was not surprised...

Somehow I don't see WBS doing anything about putting a trouble ticket system in place, perhaps we should implement a broadband trouble ticketting system ourselves [no wait I am serious here], if there is some way to avoid disclosure of personal details [i.e. privacy guarantees] then we could DNS a subdomain like:
http://problems.mybroadband.co.za/
where forumites can independently report problems experienced with iBurst, MyWireless, 3G, ADSL, etc [WiMax]...and then relay it to the relevant service provider, as well as store it in a MySQL database for trend analysis...

If this sounds like a crazy idea then let me know why you think so .

 

[Raithlin]

If this sounds like a crazy idea then let me know why you think so .

Because it's not our job to do what they get paid to do?
Because it would be unfair on rpm and the other mods to have to pick up the slack just because companies that we pay couldn't be bothered...

My 2c.

 

[ic]

I'm thinking of a totally automated system, that more than anything else would allow for a bigger picture view of network problems - this would not be for any old problem - just network problems, and then you could have a comparative view of each of the broadband services, with some drill-down capabilities, whilst not being able to see the text of actual submissions to the system [for privacy reasons]...

 

[sihen]

Hello All,

I havent posted anything in a while so I thought I would just drop in, Well this seems like this is my old department so I thought this would be the right topic to say a few things.
Personally I think the call centre has improved 10 fold, I went to visit the other day and saw that there is about 10 agents per shift now, you guys not seeing an improvement?

 

[Ravilj]

Did you read my 1st thread?

 

[sihen]

Yes I did, but one person may be different to another.

 

[fairlady]

Sihen,

Indeed the waiting time has decreased dramatically - I get answered within max 5 min these days ... however the quality of the help provided has not improved a bit: last time I called it struck me that for a problem of non-authentication they asked me to check my MTU, check the device manager, restart the laptop, take out and put in the card - a rather generic approach to all problems - me sees lack of knowledge management and training of the helpdesk staff.

If I wasn't paying extra for the 'pleasure' of speaking to the helpdesk, I'd be amused by situations like this:

Q by helpdesk person: Is your iB icon crossed with a red line?
A by me: Well, I just told you that my signal strength is 100% - so it should not be crossed, right?
*silence on other end*
me says: No, it is not crossed.
helpdesk person: okay, now go to My Computer ....

 

[jmn]

Had a similar experience with auth probs, eventually put down the phone when I realised I'm gonna swear at the ksedpleh nosrep

 

[sihen]

Ok, now I see where you coming from

 

[Ravilj]

Ditto Fairlady. Sihen to be honest with you I would rather have 1 knowledgable techi sitting answering calls and having to wait 30min to get threw and know that I will be helped rather than getting threw quicker but talking to someone who has less technical knowledge than my grandmother. Frustration is...

 

[Gatecrasher]

Indeed the waiting time has decreased dramatically - I get answered within max 5 min these days ... however the quality of the help provided has not improved a bit: last time I called it struck me that for a problem of non-authentication they asked me to check my MTU, check the device manager, restart the laptop, take out and put in the card - a rather generic approach to all problems - me sees lack of knowledge management and training of the helpdesk staff.

Just to be the Devil's Advocate for a moment. While in your case and for more tech-savy users this basic checklist does not apply, it may well apply to the majority of service calls that the helpdesk receive. As long as a system exists to elevate support to the next level, having a basic checklist that might encompass 70%-80% of support calls is a sensible approach. For advanced users its an irritation certainly, but a support manager has to gear his system to pleasing most of the people most of the time.