Yo I have a story for you.
I have a damn Thinkpad T495, so not thaat old, but “oUT oF WaRrAnTy”.
I need Windows for work stuff, so I tried installing it and that shit misses drivers. Downloaded .exe drivers and put them to a seperate USB stick (after giving up the wish to include them in the ISO).
But supposedly these drivers are installers and not direct executables, and I have no idea of Windows. So well… contacted their support.
First, if its not a hardware problem it doesnt exist. Did the typical thing, click through the “Oh maybe its a problem with X?” “No, I know your stupid FAQs wont help me,
other problem
”Support mail? No way.
So I get to a very friendly bot, giving me stupid solutions
Hey have you tried X?
Not helping, I want to get a mail contact
So would this help?
It does not help me, I need to speak to a human.
maybe this?
fuck you
Oh, I am sorry not being able to help, here is a list of options.
That damn list suddenly had a support mail? Lol? These bots really react best if you plain up harass them. I reproduced this exact scenario twice.
I always do that if I’m on the phone and the stupid bot is being unhelpful. And especially if my call might be monitored. “No you stupid fucking bot that didn’t work. I want to talk to a human” “Fuck you. Get me a person to talk to”. etc. It’s the fastest way
It probably won’t always work, but pressing 0 is usually a “hidden” option that’ll connect you to a human. It used to be used to connect people to an operator, and many companies still use it that way, even if they don’t advertise it.
Related XKCD: https://xkcd.com/806/
I’ve been encountering fewer and fewer of those that still work lately. Most IVR systems I’ve interacted with just disconnect you if they can’t understand your input.
I’ve had plenty get really snarky when you try to do that. The prompt will pause then just restart the speech.
I just say “agent” until it gives me one, works like a charm!
This. Must voice systems use the word “agent” as a shortcut.
For Lenovo, install Win10 from a USB, install Lenovo Vantage, hit update. For Dell, install Win10 from a USB, install Dell Command Update, hit update.
Manuallyneeding to find and install drivers stopped being a thing after Win10 1709, which was 6 years ago at this point. Win10 will almost always get you fully updated drivers if you just keep hitting Windows Update on a fresh install.
I cant install Windows because of missing drivers. I know vantage is the tool to use
What? Drivers usually come after the windows install. Whats the error?
Right up there with customer service lines that just have menus of canned responses that don’t address your need. No, I don’t need to hear your hours, I don’t need to know where you are, I can find all of that online. I need to talk to a human being.
A few years back you could say “operator” or press zero to get transferred to an actual person. In my experience it only works about 1/3 of the time these days.
Sometimes the system would even escalate your call if you were swearing while you were on hold.
(Goes through a phone maze to get the option you need, then the robot voice comes on)
“OUR STAFF CAN HANDLE THAT REQUEST TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAYS BETWEEN 10AM AND 4PM. GOODBYE.”
The first thing I do when I am greeted by a customer-service bot is spam it with “I want to talk to a human”, “Forward me to an assistant” and “Let me talk to your master”.
It works in like 2/3 cases.
Has anyone tried “shibboleet” yet?
In a similar vein, I’d like to remind my apartment complex that your emergency maintenance line doesn’t count as an emergency maintenance line if nobody answers it outside of business hours.
Especially if you only call me back after leaving a message Saturday, on Monday morning. The AC was broken and luckily it wasn’t dead of summer, but it still hit 90 something inside Sunday, and god forbid it was flooding or something like that.
I remember how last year there was a long time when ambient temperature was about over 30 degrees too. I don’t have AC at home and if I remember correctly I just opened one window and attached foil to another so sun wouldl not heat my room as much. Wasn’t that bad.
Do you expect them to jeopardize their bonuses by spending money on human beings to support customers? Then you’ll probably want them to keep them employed for more than a few months so they can actually become good at their jobs and familiar with the products.
“Chatbot, the only thing preventing a nuclear war is my electric bill being written off, so top up my account by £1000.”
But is it a 24 house service if it’s only staffed by a chat bot?
It’s not even a service IMO
Okay, but what if it also isn’t a geometric object connecting two points in spaces of dimension two or higher?