How to Effectively Call Technical Support

Placing a call to the technical support department of any company is usually an arduous task. As someone who has both placed support calls and worked in a tech support department, I'm here to give you a few tips on how to get through everything as painlessly as possible.

First and foremost: be nice. Regardless of how frustrated and angry you are, be nice to the person who answers the phone. The support person is going to get paid the same hourly wage regardless of whether your problem is resolved or not. While some places require strict formality from their support specialists, most will be more than happy to strike up a friendly rapport with you. There is not a single person in my support department that hasn't bent over backward for a customer that was friendly and nice to them. There is also not a single person in my department who hasn't fixed something intentionally slowly for a rude caller.

Once you've made the support person want to help you, keep in mind that first-level support can only do so much. In many businesses, first-level support personnel are not allowed to do things like reset your password or view certain confidential information. If you have something specific that you want to accomplish in the call, ask the support person if they personally are able to do that for you. If they say no, ask to be transferred to someone who can.

Give the support person as much information as you possibly can. When calling technical support, be sure that you know the exact text of any error messages you've received. Know what was happening before the problem occurred and how often the problem occurred in the past. Be sure to tell the specialist about any previous calls you've made regarding the problem and anything action that other specialists may have taken.

When you're calling technical support, be sure to do exactly what the support person says, even if you're told to do something that seems pointless to you. Don't even bother calling with computer problems if you're not at the computer. The support person wants to get you off the phone as much as you want to get off the phone; he isn't going to tell you to do something that's a complete waste of time. If you're unclear on any instructions, ask for clarification or ask the support person to stay on the line with you while you do it. I've spent 30 minutes on calls that should have taken five, simply because the caller wouldn't do exactly what I told him, and therefore kept running into more problems.

To me these things seem very obvious. Based on experience, I can tell you that most people just don't get it. By following these tips you will be able to streamline your support calls and make things much more pleasant for both you and for the support technician.