Hot Line

[Gretchen Helms]

Scott_Klosterman writes:
>    After I receive a call back at my office phone (usually the next
>    morning as described previously for us East Coast persons) I try
>    the little tidbit which the Support person wants me to try which
>    will verify the problem. This usually involves shutdown of the 
>    machine so I tell Support I will call him/her back right away, hang
>    up the phone, walk to the machine, and call the Hotline back within
>    thirty seconds. Now instead of getting an operator, During busy periods
>    (afternoon our time) I get about five minutes of music, by the time
>    some-one picks up and forwards my call, the Support Engineer has given
>    up on me, and called another person or had another call come in. So I 
>    leave a message and write down the results of the previous test and walk
>    back to my office and wait for his call. This may happen again if the SE
>    has found something else to try.

Unfortunately, due to the quantity of
calls coming in to the support line, *each*
support engineer is dealing with an average
of 50 to 60 calls, and is constantly taking
new ones.  If the engineer has the time and
few enough customers, they will wait that 
minute or so to see what will happen.  However,
when an engineer is dealing with 60 calls or
more, they will take the opportunity to give
someone else a quick call to see if the solution
they have provided has worked.  Many times
customers who have solutions forget to call
back in to let us know that a fix worked
and require no further assistance, and we have
to call them instead to confirm that the 
solution worked and the call can be closed.

Support engineers are also called back with
"critical calls" demanding immediate assistance,
and this may sometimes require that we place
our primary customer on hold while we deal
with our "hot" second line.  We ask for your 
understanding and patience if we should suddenly
interrupt you and ask if you would mind being
put on hold...this usually means our second line
demands attention.

>    A lot of my time could be saved if I was given the direct call
>    number of the SE to call him back. Instead all the SE are given
>    instructions that all calls should go through the hotline even if
>    a call has already been logged.

The reason this is done is that the support engineers
are *continually* on their phone dealing with customers
and other engineers alike.  If our direct lines are 
given out, a number of things happen.  1)  The call is
no longer a 1-800 toll free number.  2)  The possibility
that you will get through unassisted on the direct line
is very low.  3)  The engineer may not be there, and then
there is no record of your call.  However, if you call in 
on the 1-800 line, there are *always* call coordinators 
there to handle your call.  If the engineer is sick and 
your call is critical, they can handle the problem in an 
appropriate fashion.  If the engineer is on the phone, 
they log the time of your call and flag the calls in our 
queues so we can see that someone has called while we were 
working on another call.  If the engineer is not there, 
they will also flag the call so we can get back to you when 
we return.

G. "Murdock" Helms					As free as the wind,
Silicon Graphics					And hopefully learning
Product Support Engineer				Why the sea on the tide
ghelms at sgi.sgi.com					Has no way of turning.