Longest Computer Support call with India

I think I may have set a world-wide record, but I'm wondering if anyone can beat the time I spent with HP Tech Support in India and Microsoft also in India.

After retiring (sort of) my wife had to return her HP laptop computer and port replicator to her employer. She had been using the laptop with two additional external monitors.

So...I thought it'd be easier to purchase the identical computer and identical port replicator and simply hook-it up for ease of conversion restoring her data later.

Yesterday, I spent 10 hours (yes...10 continuous hours) with HP Tech Support and they could not get the monitors working properly. Finally, they told me I had to call Microsoft to remove & reinstall Windows 7 Home Premium. They said the graphics must be corrupt. Then I spent 3 hours with Microsoft. They reinstall Windows, but then I learned I couldn't access the internet without some additonal driver software. Of course, I wasn't provided any disks with the new computer. So, it was back to HP and they are going to ship me the necessary driver disks and I'll have to start all over again.

I bet 13 hours on the telephone is a record, huh?

HP

Congrats! At least, the HP Indians use their real first names. I spoke to Anwar and Reha and a few others. Had two different bad disk warnings and they got me a new hard drive but it turned out to be the solid state drive.

That's about 12 1/2 more hours than I can take. My favorite Indian credit card customer service rep was a Mr. jack Daniels.

What a wonderful husband. Such patience. Bet you loved the challenge.

I hope you used a speaker phone. If not you better book your appointment with the chiropractor.

JudyH said:

What a wonderful husband. Such patience. Bet you loved the challenge.

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Patience is not one of my strong points (if I have any). I was going "crazy" the whole time. I couldn't believe they kept asking me the same questions over & over, and there were constant 5-10 minute intervals while they "let me put you on hold for moment". I guess there looking for the next page in the catalog of what do do next.

artringwald said:

I hope you used a speaker phone. If not you better book your appointment with the chiropractor.

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I used a speaker phone most of the time, but I use hearing aids and my word recognition is only about 80% (I just had that tested at the VA last week) So, I had to use the regular phone much of the time. I don't know if it's just me, but the folks in India seem to talk a mile a minute and combing that with the accent makes it very difficult to understand them.

It's hard to get angry with Techs in India because they're so darn polite and nice, just very slow to solutions (if you get one)

That is totally insane. After hour #2, I'd say, "No reward is worth this!" (Han Solo)

But I did once spend 2.5 hours mostly on hold with Delta starting at 1AM.
Maybe they only had 1-CSR for the whole East Coast working at that hour.
I put him on speaker and watched a movie on TV.
.

Talent312 said:

That is totally insane. After hour #2, I'd say, "No reward is worth this!" (Han Solo)

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+1

I would never spend anywhere close to that amount of time on a personal computer issue. However, I once had a call with Microsoft and another vendor that last about as long (and I had staff onsite for three straight days, including nights). We had a call with Microsoft that went through three of their support centers...each time one closed we were passed to another...I I think we started in Asia, then Europe, and then Toronto. Not something I'd be willing to do again unless absolutely necessary.


Sent from my iPad

I once spent multiple hours over many days over multiple weeks with Indian tech support for Norton, trying to figure out why my automatic cloud backup wasn't automatically backing up. *sigh* Weeks of my work life that I will never get back....all over a storage size issue.

Wonka said:

I guess there looking for the next page in the catalog of what do do next.

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Its called a "fault logic diagram". You follow the "yes/no" steps until you find the problem.
Ex. "Did you do this?"
yes. did it work? yes. problem solved
no. go here and try. did it work?....
repeat with each step.

Wonka said:

I used a speaker phone most of the time, but I use hearing aids and my word recognition is only about 80% (I just had that tested at the VA last week) So, I had to use the regular phone much of the time. I don't know if it's just me, but the folks in India seem to talk a mile a minute and combing that with the accent makes it very difficult to understand them.

It's hard to get angry with Techs in India because they're so darn polite and nice, just very slow to solutions (if you get one)

Click to expand...

I also wear hearing aids and I can't understand one word that they are saying. Thank God for my lovely Commander-In-Chief.

Yep, you beat me. It took seven hours for them to successfully install a copy of Quick Books onto my computer.

I'd never have the patience

I once changed cell phone carriers because their tech support was also based in India and they couldn't get my new phone (which I didn't ask for but which the carrier sent as an upgrade) to work after a few hours.

My longest customer support call was with the IRS several years ago - about 5 hours. They had mixed up my husband and my social security numbers somehow and claimed we hadn't paid taxes...

At my former residence I remember making a call to my satellite TV service provider, and ending up getting tech support at a call center in Mumbai. It was mid winter here, which they were aware of, but when the tech person asked if there was 'snow dancing on my dish' I knew she had never seen snow and going through her check list of exploratory problem solving questions, was never going to be of help. I eventually restored service by rebooting my modem. It was winter, but the issue wasn't snow on my dish. I now have fiber from the street to the house, and it can snow all it wants.

Don said:

Its called a "fault logic diagram". You follow the "yes/no" steps until you find the problem.
Ex. "Did you do this?"
yes. did it work? yes. problem solved
no. go here and try. did it work?....
repeat with each step.

Click to expand...

That makes sense. I can see the diagram now, it would resemble a giant spider web of yes/no decisions and one wrong answer would most likely route to "it must be the operating system".

As an update, I got the drivers today. So, I need to start over again Monday. I need a couple of days break before I can subject myself to this task again.

Don said:

Its called a "fault logic diagram." You follow the "yes/no" steps until you find the problem.
Ex. "Did you do this?"... Yes. Did it work? Yes = Problem Solved.
No.... Go here and try.... Did it work?.... Repeat with each step.

Click to expand...

It's always the end of the road that bring either a bitter taste or eternal bliss
... Like finding your keys in the last place you look.

Once, when I couldn't get an old 'puter to boot, Dell gave me a list of 14 steps.
Each step required that I remove something, power up and see if it booted.
Then power down, replace it... remove something else, power up & try again.
It wasn't until step #12 that the modem-card, powered up, and all was right with the world.

OK...I give up! Took to computer repair shop

HP sent a Windows 7 System restore disk and driver CD.

I had another 3 hours phone call. First, HP had me install the driver CD to allow the computer to connect to the Internet. That didn't work. They said the driver disk didn't contain the necessary Intel driver. Next, they had me install the Windows restore disk and said that would contain the driver, that didn't work. But, somehow it locked up my password so it would no longer work.

Finally, they won. I gave up. I could have flown to India in the time I spent on the telephone.

It just isn't worth the frustration I took it to a computer repair shop. They're going to pull the hard drive to get the password working get the right driver installed and come to my home Monday to see if we can get the port replicator working correctly. $200 or so is better than the added stress of contacting HP again.

I purchased the computer on ebay, Monday will be one day past the two week return policy.