Tech Support From A Distant Sub-Continent

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

Three years ago I bought a Dell laptop. .....As a novice at the time I was very grateful for all the help from their Irish support team to what now, quite frankly, seem rather embarrassing questions. .....Then, all of a sudden - with all due respect - calls were put through to you know where and the whole thing fell apart. .....Fortunately, I was sufficiently "advanced" to survive. .....I heard someone on the TV last week mention Dell might be/are reversing this process (?).

At the same time, for the same reasons, I made a number of e-mail support enquiries to Norton/Symantec and was very impressed with the responses. .....Then the same thing happened. I got answers to completely different questions and finally gave up.

During this time I have exclusively used AOL as my ISP. .....For all the flak they take, I have little to complain about. .....Their Tech. Support has been rapid, accurate and FREE (phone-wise/0800). .....Today, on being unable to resolve what must be a very simple problem for such a support unit, I find myself for the first time communicating with India and being asked to do things to my computer bearing no resemblance to the problem and to no avail when tried in exasperation (!). Two hours of this was enough to send me off for a stiff drink.

To think, some people are doing this with other companies on premium rate phone lines!!!

I resumed the assault tonight, courtesy of the just discovered AOL "Live Help" (chat). .....I've got a feeling (but am not sure) that I was back where I started, geographically. .....After nearly an hour getting nowhere, I was requested to ring the 'phone number I first started with this morning!

Is it me??? .....Have all those banks, insurance companies, etc., who are about to embark on this similar route got any idea of the effect on their business? .....I have been within an inch of cancelling AOL today; and that from a satisfied customer of three years, until yesterday.

Anyway..................................................can anyone help me with the problem?

AOL 7/XP Pro. .....Auto-suggestion facility (from address book) when addressing e-mail, has stopped working (i.e.: Type first letter and all surnames beginning with that letter are listed for selection) even though it IS selected via Customise > Preferences > Mail.

[amanoffewwords]

Have you tried de-selecting the feature - save the change - come out of AOL - go back in and re-set it to auto-suggest = ON - Apply changes?

And yep, can't help thinking that for monetary reasons some companies are shooting themselves in the proverbials by switching to India et al. One major problem with this setup is that the guys and girls in India usually can't make any decisions - they're just there to 'process' the call - if something unusual happens they're stuck down a dead-end alley.

Going back to the original problem - have you considered getting a Mac, ahem, I mean upgrading to AOL 8/0 or even 9.0 BETA ( :} )? That might overwrite any rogue, un-cooperative setting you may have acquired along the way.

amofw

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

amanoffewwords.....

Yes, thanks; tried your first suggestion, to no avail.

Installed AOL 8, re. your last paragraph, several months ago and rapidly retreated to 7, due graphics/kiddies colouring book style. .....You would think in this day and age we could select a 'grown up' look, particularly when you think of the variety of themes available in something like Windows OS.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

BLUE SKY THINKER,

You would think in this day and age we could select a 'grown up' look

AOL targets the computer illiterate. If you know how to surf the net and check email, dump them and get a real ISP. You will be much happier.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. You do not want to know what a mess AOL makes of your OS. (It is one of the biggest headaches I get, machines with AOL in them.)

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

Richard.....

Yes, I know what you mean, even though have been relatively happy to date. .....Plan to co-ordinate new ISP on moving to Broadband in the not too distant future.

Re. your "PS", what is one to do though, when your newly purchased PC comes with AOL fully installed, as with a friends recently. .....Even after uninstalling, a quick "Search" on AOL brought up numerous files; and what's to say eliminating those will cure the problem. .....Your point I suppose.

While I'm at it, why does AOL disable the XP Internet Connection Firewall? .....Not that I rely on it.

BST

[Memetic]

While I'm at it, why does AOL disable the XP Internet Connection Firewall?

Probably because you are supposed to trust them to know what is best for you, like their filter system and not ask difficult questions. :eek:

Not that i'd advocate relianace the XP firewall either!

[amanoffewwords]

kiddies colouring book style

What, like the toolbars in Office XP? :yuk:

Why or why do they have to change things when the old version suited most(*)? :mad:




(*) averages Joes like me..

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

I have resolved the minor AOL snag that initiated this thread, courtesy of "System Restore" in XP. .....A bit late and obvious you may say, but daft as it sounds, I always associate this facility, wrongly I know, exclusively with 'Windows'.

A pity the more global (apt) problem highlighted can't be so easily remedied!

Thanks for time and suggestions.

[mcdhu]

Funny ol' thing, the same happened to me when I recently got a new Dell system! The DVD drive was shot and on 3 occasions, the promised next day home visit did not materialise. Eventually I agreed that if they sent me the new one, I would attempt to fit it myself. They sent a Rw drive instead!! 2 weeks later all is now well on that front!!

However, AOL is my Isp and the new machine came with it already installed. I copied the 'organize' file across and my list of Favourites is a complete shambles! No matter how many times I delete the duplicated ones, they reappear when I restart the machine; they 'fall out' of their folders and on we go. The 'overseas' helpline has only served to lead me to duplicate the list and therefore the problem - and on we go!!

I guess the only way is to reinstall AOL 8 from a disc and build the list up from scratch or does anyone know how to delete all the fav places so that I can start again. The delete button does not delete them permanently. Keep it simple please!

Cheers,
mcdhu