PLEASE read the help.

[Balgram]

I work for a company that sells software that helps websites. You can build websites and open stores using this software. It's very comprehensive and pretty dang powerful/awesome. I answer phone calls and e-mails from customers with questions about the product features.

This lady was polite, but...MAN. Not my favorite.

Voice status at 2PM today: Fine. A little tired, but fine.

Voice status now, 53 minutes later: gone.

ME: Okay, I understand you had some questions about our product?
SC: Yeah. Can you explain it to me?
ME: Sure! (It's a complete software set.) What questions did you have?
SC: Everything. Explain everything.
ME: ...
SC: ...
ME: ...Um. Okay. So, have you already purchased the product?
SC: Yes.
ME: And you've set up your website?
SC: Yes.
ME: So, you've used the product. What confused you?
SC: Well, I want you to go through every navigation tab and explain every text prompt on every page.
ME: 0_o

Frankly, it's a freaking miracle that I pulled it off in 50 minutes. I kept on hinting that she should only ask about stuff that she didn't understand, but she would panic and ask me to repeat things (), so I gave up after a while.

My throat hurts...

The part that gets me is we have Help. It's good help. It's page sensitive, useful, user-friendly help. Why the CRAP isn't she using that?!

[NightWatch]

Because you have such a sexy and soothing voice. Who wouldn't want to listen to you talk for an hour about something they could easily read the manual on? She thinks your hot

[Akasa]

Wait a SC READ?!
Surely you jest!

[Stormraven]

I know when I worked Tech Support, if we got calls like that, we were encouraged to remind them about the help function, and the manuals that came with the software. And we did.

[JLRodgers]

Let me guess.... you helping her practically amounted to you opening up the program, going to the tab, and then reading the help file to her didn't it?

[depechemodefan]

That reminds me of how patrons can't be bothered to use the catalog to find books. Most say that they aren't computer literate. Or they don't know how to type. Really, they want someone else to do the work for them.

I hate it when people fish for info. They will not tell you what specific question they have; they hope you stumble on the answer. I think these type of people think they are clever, because they know if you give them answer to a question, you will not them the important stuff.

[evilhomer]

Dear lord, isn't there some kind of limit on how much help you have to provide? I mean you're there for those one or two steps that someone hits a snag with. I know she was freaking but she really should have been passed off to someone whose there to provide that kind of total job.

I feel for you though. I've had similar phone calls (fortunately lasting only 10-20 minutes) explaining the intricacies of a universal remote control. The customer's are nice and polite but you reach the point where you just want to strangle them for needing their hand held on each and every tiny step.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Dear lord, isn't there some kind of limit on how much help you have to provide? I mean you're there for those one or two steps that someone hits a snag with. I know she was freaking but she really should have been passed off to someone whose there to provide that kind of total job.

I feel for you though. I've had similar phone calls (fortunately lasting only 10-20 minutes) explaining the intricacies of a universal remote control. The customer's are nice and polite but you reach the point where you just want to strangle them for needing their hand held on each and every tiny step.

At the call center I used to work at, we once had a lady want us to go over EVERY SINGLE CALL on her bill, we are talking hundreds of calls. Supervisor got one that one and told her plainly that wasn't going to happen but if she was concerned about any particular call we could look into it.

[Balgram]

Because you have such a sexy and soothing voice. Who wouldn't want to listen to you talk for an hour about something they could easily read the manual on? She thinks your hot

She and the two others on speaker phone. I could believe it. My voice is downright sultry.

I know when I worked Tech Support, if we got calls like that, we were encouraged to remind them about the help function, and the manuals that came with the software. And we did.

I tried. The woman was impervious to hints! I was all for beating the clues around her head, though, and eventually the man in the background was the one who saved me. ("Hey, look, this is all written in the help. We don't need Balgram to explain this stuff...")

Let me guess.... you helping her practically amounted to you opening up the program, going to the tab, and then reading the help file to her didn't it?

Yup.

At the call center I used to work at, we once had a lady want us to go over EVERY SINGLE CALL on her bill, we are talking hundreds of calls. Supervisor got one that one and told her plainly that wasn't going to happen but if she was concerned about any particular call we could look into it.

I wish my supervisor was there. I don't have a 'time-limit' per call per say, but a supervisor would have stopped that crap so hard it wouldn't bother to rebound.

[Naaman]

I know when I worked Tech Support, if we got calls like that, we were encouraged to remind them about the help function, and the manuals that came with the software. And we did.

At least where I used to work the support was only for warranty issues, non-warranty issues got shunted to the premium rate line. We were allowed to say (politely) that they could either read the manual or pay £1.50 a minute with a shut off of 15 minutes to have it explained to them.

[Dips]

Hi, I work for a software company too.

There is a difference between technical support and training.

Technical support is answering specific questions or helping people troubleshoot the product. We offer free technical support to licensed and registered users.

Training is learning about the features and uses of the software. We will do this to the extent that the caller has a specific task they need to complete. We will guide through that one task. Other than that, we don't offer training on our software. Period. We just don't have the staff for it.

And when we DID have the staff for it, we charged for training. $1000 per day with a one day minimum plus travel expenses. Amazingingly enough some folks were willing to pay it.

Nowadays we maintain a list of third parties who offer classes in our software and offer to email that list to anyone who asks about training.

Oh, and to get back to the original post. When I get a requests like that, this is what I say:

"I'm sorry. I can't help you with that. Did you have a specific question or need help with a specific feature?"

If they persist, I just explain the difference between technical support and training and offer to send them the list of third-party trainers or tell them which Help Topics they need to read to get started. I don't hint about it. I tell them outright that they need to read the Help or hire a trainer.

Then I clam up except to ask: "Is there anything else I can help you with?" and "I already told you that we can't do that. Is there anything else?"

[JLRodgers]

And when we DID have the staff for it, we charged for training. $1000 per day with a one day minimum plus travel expenses.

I've come up with a similar "training" program for any of our software my company has (no one's asked though).
For training we charge money to cover (if the business has deals on one of these, we'd let them work it out - like if they're a hotel, we'll use them, etc):
- All travel expenses, hotel, and $25/day food allotment (per person for all)
- 15 people/class max, 2-4 hour sessions, $250/2 hr session, $500/4hr (charged at per-class, or per-person/class depending on client/software/etc)
- we send people in pairs

[Alpha Strike]

At my job I deal with college-bound students and their parents, both of whom are often overwhelmed with paperwork and information. I'll sometimes spend extra time on the phone (even though my call-times affect my performance review) because I realize how daunting the whole process can be.

However, there's a difference in my eyes between those that need extra help and those that want hand-holding and spoon-feeding on everything from how to type a web address in a browser, what it means when a form says "Name" "DOB" and "SSN", to having me read text on a web page to them. In fact many of our customers pay a very heft premium to have one of us provide service over the phone because other options (the website, mail or the manual) are "too much work" "too confusing" or "asks too many questions" like "Name" "SSN" and "address."

[EricKei]

We do both training and support where I work, as well, but we're a smallish shop -- so the trainers and the support people are one in the same. In our case, I actually LIKE it when a support call ends up segueing into a mini-training session, because it stays at the support rate...which is considerably higher than the training rate. Sometimes, working for commish ain't half bad.

To be fair, tho, we do tell them straight up that we have classes and such available if they wanna do dedicated "training" (for less munnys) the second we realize that the call is mutating into a "training" session.

[computeraide]

For training we charge money to cover (if the business has deals on one of these, we'd let them work it out - like if they're a hotel, we'll use them, etc):
- All travel expenses, hotel, and $25/day food allotment (per person for all)

You should use the government's per diem meals chart. As of 2009, the minimum default per diem meal allotment is $39 per day (7/11/18 for breakfast/lunch/supper). The maximum for larger metropolitan areas is $64 per day (12/18/31). Don't undercut yourselves!