very poor communication and support practices

dimensional

Why is it that EVERY SINGLE TIME I submit a support ticket, the responding person always pastes some cookie cutter response that completely and utterly proves that they didn't even READ my ticket? This exact scenario has happened to me 3 or 4 times already, and it happens without fail. PLEASE train your support employees better than this, it is infuriating and just shows that our problems and concerns really aren't that big of a deal to you guys.

ZOS_Bill

@dimensional

Depending on what your issue is and what you've detailed in your ticket, our support team may reply back with troubleshooting steps that may seem cookie cutter to you. Some specific issues have certain troubleshooting that can often resolve those issues, which is why we respond with those steps first. If you've already done the troubleshooting we list in our help articles, make sure to let us know in your ticket. This will help our support team avoid sending your steps you've already done.

VaranisArano

I usually have better luck by responding to that initial email with something like:

Thank you, but that didn't address my problem. My problem is X, Y, and Z. Please address my problem. Thanks!

This gets my problem passed farther along the chain. Eventually, someone either addresses it properly, or someone admits that Support has no clue.

dimensional

ZOS_BillE wrote: »

@dimensional

Depending on what your issue is and what you've detailed in your ticket, our support team may reply back with troubleshooting steps that may seem cookie cutter to you. Some specific issues have certain troubleshooting that can often resolve those issues, which is why we respond with those steps first. If you've already done the troubleshooting we list in our help articles, make sure to let us know in your ticket. This will help our support team avoid sending your steps you've already done.

@ZOS_BillE Are you even reading what I said? In my ticket, I explicitly stated that I have tried ALL of the generic advice that was previously given to me months ago. And yet the person responded with the same exact advice, PROVING that he did not even read my ticket and was just brushing me aside as if my problems didn't matter. This has been the modus operandi for all ZOS tech support that I have interacted with. You guys don't even care.

qbit

Just reboot your router. Disable NAT on your firewall and forward those ports to your pc. Defrag your SSD. These things may seem cookie cutter to you, but I think zos has assured you that they are useful at delaying the ticket for the next shift to have to deal with.

dimensional

qbit wrote: »

Just reboot your router. Disable NAT on your firewall and forward those ports to your pc. Defrag your SSD. These things may seem cookie cutter to you, but I think zos has assured you that they are useful at delaying the ticket for the next shift to have to deal with.

I don't have a router or a firewall, and I told them as much. And yet the response I was given was what you just said, which is undeniable proof that they didn't even read the damn ticket or they wouldn't have suggested that stuff.

qbit

dimensional wrote: »

qbit wrote: »

Just reboot your router. Disable NAT on your firewall and forward those ports to your pc. Defrag your SSD. These things may seem cookie cutter to you, but I think zos has assured you that they are useful at delaying the ticket for the next shift to have to deal with.

I don't have a router or a firewall, and I told them as much. And yet the response I was given was what you just said, which is undeniable proof that they didn't even read the damn ticket or they wouldn't have suggested that stuff.

My comment was sarcasm directed at your official reply from ZOS posted in this thread.

dimensional

Yes I know

qbit

So I’ve always wondered about this “open ports on your firewall” thing they always write. How are people attempting to do this? There are a lot of ways this can be interpreted and applied to a network infrastructure. All with varying degrees of what will be affected and how. All with varying degrees of making the issue much worse or breaking the network functionality entirely.

Last I checked, my ESO client wasn’t running a server listening on a specific port...

dimensional

It just sucks receiving messages that all but confirm their complete lack of regard for any of our problems. I could understand if I was just saying "help I have a problem what do I do?" but when my original ticket explicitly states I have done literally everything in their "generic" advice, or that it wouldn't even apply to me... I still get the same damn message? It's just disrespectful and really weakens my confidence in ZOS.

qbit

Totally get it. And most, rather than call them out for it, want to tell you to be polite and keep responding with please and thank you and wait a week between replies.

Because hey, while our responses may seem cookie cutter to you, trust us. We are the experts. We are looking into it and hope to have a fix in a future patch.

VaranisArano

dimensional wrote: »

It just sucks receiving messages that all but confirm their complete lack of regard for any of our problems. I could understand if I was just saying "help I have a problem what do I do?" but when my original ticket explicitly states I have done literally everything in their "generic" advice, or that it wouldn't even apply to me... I still get the same damn message? It's just disrespectful and really weakens my confidence in ZOS.

They have to ask anyway.

It doesnt matter that you said you did it, they have to ask anyway. Its like calling a Service rep for a TV or computer. 9 times out of 10, they'll ask you to turn it off and turn it on again, even if you swear yourself blue in the face that you already tried that.

dimensional

No, they do not have to ask if I tell them up front in the first message that I did it all and none of it applies. That is just pure laziness and callousness and lack of regard for real customer issues. What they *SHOULD* have done was read my message and not copy/paste an auto-response to show that they actually give a damn.

Loralai_907

Obviously I don't know their actual process. But, if they have an automated reply system, which it appears that they do, I assume that real humans do not look at them at the initial submission. You hear a lot about getting answers that have nothing to do with what the problem is. It isn't because someone read it and didn't understand what you were saying, its because it wasn't read and you got an auto reply. Until you get a reply that has an actual signature with a persons name, keep replying back and letting them know that did not solve your problem.

dimensional

Except I did get a person's name and it wasn't an auto-reply because they referenced my previous ticket but chose to be lazy and uncaring anyway...

Tandor

How many support tickets have you had to submit over what sort of period in order to refer to "EVERY SINGLE TIME"? I've often found the number of tickets people submit is a good indication of how they're going to assess the quality of support they receive.

The first reply is usually automated, be sure to reply to it and you will get a human response - but don't submit duplicate new tickets or you'll go to the back of the queue. Give them time to deal with the original ticket, you may consider your problem to be the most pressing but it isn't necessarily so. No matter how wound up you feel over the issue and the nature of any reply you've received, be sure to remain politely sympathetic in your dealings with Support if you want them to be politely sympathetic in their dealings with you.

dimensional

Around 5 or 6 over the span of 6 months, never spamming, not sending duplicated.
Also, I laugh at your notion of sympathy. What am I to be sympathetic towards, the fact that they are getting paid to (not) do their job? Maybe they should be sympathetic towards the problems of a paying customer. I haven't disrespected anyone AT ALL yet I have been brushed aside as if my problems don't matter, so don't come to me with that BS please because it simply does not apply to my situation in the slightest.

Loralai_907

Are you able to vaguebook what the issue is that you are trying to get resolved? Just trying to get an idea of what sort of thing they aren't helping you with.

Secondly, have you considered that perhaps the agents in the customer support department are doing exactly what they are told to do, in the exact way they are told to do it? They just work there, don't give them a hard time, they aren't the ones making the rules. So yes, be sympathetic, and be kind. I understand that you are frustrated, but being hostile here or to the workers isn't solving anything.

Tandor

dimensional wrote: »

Around 5 or 6 over the span of 6 months, never spamming, not sending duplicated.
Also, I laugh at your notion of sympathy. What am I to be sympathetic towards, the fact that they are getting paid to (not) do their job? Maybe they should be sympathetic towards the problems of a paying customer. I haven't disrespected anyone AT ALL yet I have been brushed aside as if my problems don't matter, so don't come to me with that BS please because it simply does not apply to my situation in the slightest.

Thanks for making my point for me.

Taleof2Cities

I suggest you read up in the wiki on what a 'slippery slope' fallacy means, @dimensional ... and how it applies to your thread title and comments in the thread (including the one below).

Maybe your issue is solved ... maybe it isn't. But the service you received on your ticket isn't the same across all support tickets.

dimensional wrote: »

It just sucks receiving messages that all but confirm their complete lack of regard for any of our problems.