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This guy was in IT, which means he should have known better:
SC: I have five licenses on five computers. They've been activated for a year and now they all say I need to activate.
Me: OK. Can I get the license or serial number for the first one?
SC: <sigh!> It's [xxxxx].
Me: Let me see. Ah. Have you made any changes to your computers? Such as updating the operating system or the BIOS?
SC: Huh?
Me: [taking another tack] When you open [program] are there any error codes on the splash screen that start with [yyyyyy]?
SC: No! It just says I need to activate!
Me: [puzzled, there's usually an error in the scenario he described, but pushing on] Right. So let's try clicking Activate and see if we can activate it over the internet.
SC: I already tried that! It didn't work!
Me: Did you get an error code after trying to activate?
SC: I don't know.
Me: Let's try it again so we can find out if there's an error code.
SC: I can't. The computer is someplace else.
Me: In that case I can give you some general things you can try out...
SC: [Interrupting] For crying out loud! This isn't working. I GUESS I'm going to HAVE TO call you back from in front of the computer! [slams the phone down].
Me: [to the phone after hanging up] No shit, Sherlock.
When he called back we were busy and he got rolled to voice mail five time and hung up (we have caller ID now, so we know when a button monkey attacks). After checking and clearing all 5 voice mails, Mark picked up on his sixth call.
Guess what? They had updated the BIOS on all five machine which can cause a certain error, which can be fixed very easily if I know that is the cause. But he never answered that question when I asked, so I didn't know.
Also, an error code was clearly displayed on the splash screen and he received another error code when he tried to activate. Both error codes would also have indicated that a BIOS update caused the same easily fixed error and I could have told him the fix. But he never wrote them down to give them to me.
At least he was polite to Mark. Maybe he had a major brain burp earlier and realized he made the rookie mistake of calling for tech support when he was nowhere near the computer and hadn't written down any error codes?
SC: I have five licenses on five computers. They've been activated for a year and now they all say I need to activate.
Me: OK. Can I get the license or serial number for the first one?
SC: <sigh!> It's [xxxxx].
Me: Let me see. Ah. Have you made any changes to your computers? Such as updating the operating system or the BIOS?
SC: Huh?
Me: [taking another tack] When you open [program] are there any error codes on the splash screen that start with [yyyyyy]?
SC: No! It just says I need to activate!
Me: [puzzled, there's usually an error in the scenario he described, but pushing on] Right. So let's try clicking Activate and see if we can activate it over the internet.
SC: I already tried that! It didn't work!
Me: Did you get an error code after trying to activate?
SC: I don't know.
Me: Let's try it again so we can find out if there's an error code.
SC: I can't. The computer is someplace else.
Me: In that case I can give you some general things you can try out...
SC: [Interrupting] For crying out loud! This isn't working. I GUESS I'm going to HAVE TO call you back from in front of the computer! [slams the phone down].
Me: [to the phone after hanging up] No shit, Sherlock.
When he called back we were busy and he got rolled to voice mail five time and hung up (we have caller ID now, so we know when a button monkey attacks). After checking and clearing all 5 voice mails, Mark picked up on his sixth call.
Guess what? They had updated the BIOS on all five machine which can cause a certain error, which can be fixed very easily if I know that is the cause. But he never answered that question when I asked, so I didn't know.
Also, an error code was clearly displayed on the splash screen and he received another error code when he tried to activate. Both error codes would also have indicated that a BIOS update caused the same easily fixed error and I could have told him the fix. But he never wrote them down to give them to me.
At least he was polite to Mark. Maybe he had a major brain burp earlier and realized he made the rookie mistake of calling for tech support when he was nowhere near the computer and hadn't written down any error codes?
I AM the evil bastard!
How can somebody say they're in IT and they call tech support for something they should know and they're not in front of the freaking computer! How stupid is that?!!
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