On Wed, Feb 09, 2005 at 11:56:20AM -0800, Hal Pomeranz wrote:
> Has anybody ever succeeded in getting past Comcast's first tier customer
> support people and actually talked to somebody there who understands
> networking?
I've usually managed to get past tier one support, simply because I can
leave tier one with their heads spinning. It is very much an example of
practical and legal applications of social engineering.
Rule of thumb: If it's not in their database, they have to punt. If you
clearly know more about it than they do, in their mind, then they know you
will catch them if they try to come up with a solution they know isn't
going to work. At this point they can only move your call to tier two.
I find that clearly speaking and enounciating my words, using a collegiate
vocabulary, and simply stating the exact nature of the problem without
explaining it or putting it in terms they can understand will do the
trick. Compare, if say I'm talking to the people at nero.net and have a
connection with them:
"One of your gateways is acting up."
"So you're saying you can't connect?"
"Well, yeah."
(Okay, I know this one..) "Have you tried rebooting windows?"
"Your second Eugene core gateway shows 100% packet loss."
"So, what, you mean you can't connect?" <-- not totally stupid
"No, I have a working connection. However, your Eugene core two
gateway is unresponsive."
Guaranteed, the tier one database doesn't list a remedy, and provided that
you don't let the flunky shoehorn the problem into such a category, there
is nothing the poor person can do. Typically they'll take a couple of
shots in the dark, but they're at a loss and they know it. You may have
to drop a hint or two indirectly about who you want to talk to. If the
kid actually starts to try to indicate that he doesn't understand, a well
placed comment about their network operations people knowing exactly what
you're talking about will usually convince the kid to suggest upgrading
the issue to level two.
I do not know if Comcast has a level three. The people I tended to get at
level two were usually mostly clueless but able to fix the problem if
coaxed. I'd expect better from the network administrators. Probably
then, those people are level three, and they have given strict orders not
to be forwarded calls from customers unless absolutely necessary.
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