Why tech support is (intentionally) unbearable

Figure: Daniel Stolle

You can consider yourself a balanced person. Calm, calm when others lose their patience. But this sensation flies into the pipe, if you call technical support. First come annoyance. Then the face turns red. In the end, you will begin to shout into the phone such words, from which your mother will be terrified.

This is called technical support anger syndrome.
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You are not alone. If you get into the loop - waiting on the line, interacting with automated systems, talking to a person who reads a useless script from the manual, waiting on the line again - then this particular type of psychological effect can provoke rage even among the most seasoned. person

Worse: exactly as you suspected, companies are quite aware of the torture that customers are subjected to.

According to a survey conducted last year by the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), 92% of customer service managers believe that their employees could work more efficiently, and 74% of managers believe that the procedures established in the company interfere with technical support service operators to ensure a satisfactory result.

Moreover, 73% of those surveyed said that the complexity of requests from customers is increasing, because people are better at understanding technical issues and can solve simple problems on their own.

Many organizations have implemented a cost-per-contact accounting system. It limits the time that an agent can spend on a conversation with you, hence the agony of switching between specialists and the constant call hold ("please wait on the line"), explains Justin Robbins, who used to work as a technical support operator himself, and now occupies one of the senior positions in the ICMI.

“Do not even think that companies have not studied the question of how far they can go in providing the lowest possible level of service. - says Robbins. - Some organizations even monetized calls. They deliberately make it so that you have to wait at least an hour to talk with someone from technical support, and while waiting you hear messages like “If you want to activate the priority support service, dial this number, and for a certain amount you will be connected to a specialist immediately "".

The most notorious offenders - companies like cable providers, cellular operators and Internet providers - in those sectors where there is less competition and whose subscribers are contracted or experience significant inconvenience in case of termination of the contract. Not surprisingly, cable providers and mobile operators have traditionally been among the leaders of the list of companies with the worst user support .

AT & T, Comcast and Verizon Communications did not respond to our requests for comment.

It is especially frustrating when a conversation with technical support is similar to one-way communication, because they do not understand you - either you are trying to communicate with the robot, or with a person who was trained to speak like a robot. This is done for the sake of perceived quality control, or because he knows English so poorly that he is afraid to move away from the printed script.


“It’s absolutely crazy because the point of the conversation is that when I tell you something, I guess I’ll have an effect on the conversation,” explains Art Markman, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin and co-author podcast " Two guys in your head ." “And when you answer with something that does not make sense, it becomes clear that all the words I said had no effect whatsoever on what was happening.”

When events lose their meaning and an impression of loss of control over what is happening, according to mental health experts, a person instinctively feels threatened. Although you want to think that you can act rationally in such a situation, in fact, each of us is just a collection of nerve impulses and primary reactions. In a state of threat, instincts push for decisive action, but you cannot do anything because you are stuck on the phone, it provokes anger.

Of course, those companies that really have high-quality technical support often sell goods or services at a higher price or may charge a separate fee for improved technical support, so the cost of assistance there is included, as in AppleCare and Amazon Prime subscription services.

You can also find great technical support in highly competitive markets, like among domain name registrars, where operators like Hover and GoDaddy get high ratings. Also good are the “hungry newbies” who are trying to break through to markets where large national companies traditionally dominate. Take, for example, regional Internet service providers and telecom operators, such as Logix and WOW , they occupy places at the top of the ratings according to user ratings.

Experienced technical support specialists and psychologists say that there are other ways to get better support, or at least make it more tolerable. First, it should be by all means keep yourself in hand. Take a deep breath. Count to ten. Blowing steam on the technical support operator is not a way to speed up the solution of the problem. Quite the contrary.

“Definitely, I remember how [while working in support] I discovered in myself character traits that I didn’t suspect when I came to an irritated state and used passive-aggressive behavior,” says John Ralenter, a video producer, He worked as a technical support operator at an Internet provider from 2007 to 2012 to earn post-graduate studies. About this, he shot an absurdist film for his thesis work at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Valenti, like some other support service employees who have published admissions on the Internet, reports cases of rudeness when the operator puts the customer on hold for a long time or “accidentally” disconnects it. It also happens that the operator helps to "fix" the momentary manifestation of the problem, but not its cause. Therefore, the next time a person will have to call again on the same issue.

Also do not bother to call the boss. You will simply be switched to another operator who will be warned in advance that the client is upset, says Justin Robbins. And keep in mind that your words are recorded, and later can be printed on posters that tech support staff hang on the walls to set the mood.

“I saw in companies making T-shirts with cruel, horrible words that people say,” said Robbins. He added that such T-shirts can be an incentive to improve technical support, because they demonstrate how people can be brought to, "but they [T-shirts] can also simply show that some people really came out of a madhouse."

User support experts recommend using social media, including Twitter and Facebook, to connect with the company rather than make phone calls. Through social networks, you can get an answer even faster, not only because fewer people use such a communication channel, but also because your use of social networks indicates the fact that you know a way to convey your displeasure to a wide audience if your needs will not be met, or convey my praise in case of good service.

To get better service by phone, it is recommended to dial the sales service number, then you will almost always be switched to a local employee, while technical support is usually located abroad with corresponding language problems and communication difficulties [Indian technical support is typical for many American companies - approx. trans.].

You can search for help information on sites like DialAHuman.com and GetHuman.com about which phone numbers and which numbers to click to quickly bypass the automatic system and switch to a person.

If this fails, there are mobile apps like Lucy Phone and Fast Customer , which hang on your line instead of you and give a signal when a real person picks up the phone. There is no need to build up anger while listening to an annoying melody on hold .

Addition : From the point of view of the company, it is quite reasonable to keep the client on the line for a while before connecting with the operator. This is a matter of proper balance. If you answer too quickly and too well, the user will not learn, but will start calling at the slightest occasion, even about the same problem that arises repeatedly.