Questions

Obviously there is a market for “my computer crashed… help!” and “come clean up this malware” and that sort of thing support, going to people’s computers or having them bring the machines to you.

Is there much of a market for phone, e-mail or web support for usage of Windows or applications, be it because there is no support, the support isn’t all it could be, the official support is overkill or overpriced or supports setup and problems but not usage, the support is too compartmentalized, or whatever other reason?

Have you ever wanted someone to “speak geek” or even just “do the dirty work” of speaking with support at companies like Dell on your behalf?  Enough that you could see anyone paying for it?

Just poking and prodding at some thoughts I had a while back.

1. OH yah Jay. ABSOLUTELY, Talking to Dell is a NIGHTMARE-200%

   But i guess if the price is right i’d pay someone to do it, other than that i’d take the aggravation and save myself $50 or whatever it’d cost. But definatly a service like that b/c they charge you through the nose never mind dealing with the foreigners that cant speak english and get mad at you when you ask WHAT??? Repeat that?

   Posted by  on  10/18  at  07:38 AM  from  mass

2. I’m not sure how that would work out. Since I’m the kind of person somebody might ask to deal with that kind of situation the temptation is to say yes, but the reason people with any tech savvy at all hate dealing with Dell, Hp, etc is because they gear their calling centers towards people who are completely non-technical.

   When I call Dell for one of our workstations the people on the phone automatically assume I have some knowledge. It’s a very different experience than calling in for a home system.

   The problem would be in getting the customer to give you the info you need… which is the same problem all those calling desks face every day. Find a way to streamline THAT and they’ll beat paths to your door from both sides of the issue.

   Posted by John  on  10/18  at  09:33 AM  from 

3. Indeed.  The go-between thing is something you couldn’t really charge enough to do, and I’d thought of exactly the problem of information flow through you between user and support.  It would almost be better for the customer to be on the phone with you listening in and piping up to translate or streamline if needed.  I figured it’d be interesting to see what people said about it, but you could rapidly spend “just buy a new computer” levels of money on an intermediary.  (Not that there aren’t sometimes reasons to spend a lot even if you could buy a new computer, but still, it’s disconcerting.)

   Posted by Jay  on  10/18  at  10:34 AM  from 

4. Being honest here, and as much as I agree with Trace (Calling Dell is just an awful experience) I don’t see myself paying someone else to deal with the bullshit.  BUT, that’s me...I can see it as a marektable service, IF you find a way to streamline the info between user-you-support.  Conference calling may be the only optimal way to do this.

   Posted by Sharon  on  10/18  at  12:24 PM  from  Middleboro, MA
Page 1 of 1 pages

<< Back to main