Customer Support as in....

sup·port [s? páwrt]
to give assistance or comfort to somebody in difficulty or distress *

It's a nightmare whichever way you look at it. Being the techie supporting the impolite, impatient client or being the knowledgeable client asking for support from an obviously incompetent, ignorant tech support rep.

I endured the popular nightmare of having to take my laptop in for service yesterday at CompUSA as per I bought the Technology Assurance Program Package when I got it from there. To be fair, it is one of their busiest offices, right in downtown Manhattan, but it took me 45 minutes to get my laptop dropped off eventually for technical service and then I was told to come back in two weeks. "TWO WEEKS!" . It could be worse. No really.

As you who may or may not read this blog may know, I am a web developer. I consequently engage the use of shared hosting services commercially available on the web. There is no perfect host, and that is a compromise that you'll have to accept. Also, there are fussy client considerations to deal with But I've been trying to upload a client's website now for the past three weeks. Why would it take so long? I've gone through 3 webhosts in the process. Plus there were DNS issues. Client wanted to keep DNS at Network Solutions and only redirect IP to new webhost.

Well, web host A gave me a nice hosting space, and a nice IP Address to go with it. - Client wanted a cheaper solution without having to pay extra for a secure certificate . It made things easier though, because you got your own IP.

Web host B gave me a nice hosting package, secure certificate included in the package, no ip address. I had to change my client's DNS servers to new host, and then redirect the DNS settings for mail back to Network Solutions. Nightmare.
Incompetent host B initally tells me they'll modify DNS, couple of hours. Nightmare turns into a couple of days at the end of which they tell me the DNS settings I requested which by the way I copied directly from Network Solutions are invalid. Client loses access to e-mail for 24 Hours despite some good old yelling. Clients gets frustrated. We move.

Web Host C - Network Solutions. Web Host C charges client for three years of hosting and another couple hundred dollars for SSL certificate. It takes them 1 week to setup and install the certificate. 1 WEEK. Next, they set it up and they get it wrong. Now they have to go back and re-issue the certificate.

I left out all the delightful conversations I've had with tech support, who kept bouncing me from one department to the other because they didn't know what they were doing.

All I can say is ARRRRGH!!!

*Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.