To speak with a representative or not?

Have you ever called a technical support line to speak with a person to assist you with a certain problem? I have plenty of times. Yet, I have also ran into the problem of the customer service person not knowing how to fix my problem. My roommates and I recently switched out Internet, cable, and phone line and the gentleman installing the service ran into a bit of a problem. He called the technical support department to try and resolve the problem, but he was told that there was no way of fixing the problem. In turn, he hung up the phone and called back. This time, he managed to speak with a different representative. He, then, explained the problem again and was given a quick-fix tip that solved his, and our, problem. After he ended the conversation on the phone, he proceeded to tell my roommates and I that if we ever run into a problem with the customer support department telling us that there is no way to fix a problem, we should politely hang-up and dial the number again to speak with a different person because there is always a solution to a problem.

Another story that I have with a technical support department deals with my cell phone. About 4 years ago, before WiFi and 3G had came into existence, I had a question about checking to see how much Internet I had used so far on my phone. I called my cell phone provider to see if the representative could deliver some insight into my question. She told me the information I needed and we ended the conversation. Some months later, I wanted to recheck the status of my Internet and had forgotten how to check it. Therefore, I proceeded to call my cell phone provider again for the representative to repeat the steps to me. I ended up speaking with a representative who told me there was no way to check this and ended the conversation. I eventually figured it out, but I was furious at the fact that the representative told me that there was no way to do this, knowing there was because I had already been told the steps to do so before.

Therefore, you may be faced with the decision to call a techincal support, or customer support, center for help with a problem you have. You can either choose to call them, choose to fix the problem yourself, or find someone locally who can possibly fix the problem for you. If your only choice is to call the support center and you receive an answer that you are not completely happy with, just remember the advice given. Politely hang-up and dial the number again to receive a different representative to speak with!