All the sudden it's a bad idea now that you can have people talk to a chat bot for 15 minutes.
HP trialed mandatory 15-minute support call wait times (2025)
191–200 of 249 posts
Re: HP trialed mandatory 15-minute support call wait times (2025)
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
> made someone look bad That, or that it DoS-ed the database.
And making each click trigger a 20 second DB query doesn’t? How much you want to bet that’s why it was 20 seconds?
If you prefetch all those options in the background, I bet the DB would be unhappy.
Re: HP trialed mandatory 15-minute support call wait times (2025)
#193I would imagine that most people who call are doing so because the "online help" can't help them. People want their problem fixed as quickly as possible, no-one wants to call a call centre.
> I would imagine that most people who call are doing so because the "online help" can't help them.
Based on the anecdata I have, this is very false.
My brother used to work tech support for X-Box Live. He said 80% of his calls were for password resets, something anybody could self-service in less time than it takes to find the customer support phone number.
Sure, there were cases where they no longer had access to the original e-mail address on the account, or cases where he was sure someone was trying to social engineer their way into someone else's account by claiming a forgotten password, but generally, he'd just trigger the password reset e-mail and the customer was able to reset their password.
At one point, he tried going off-script to tell people to select the "Forgot Password" option and walk them through the self-service, but he got in trouble for it.
Re: HP trialed mandatory 15-minute support call wait times (2025)
#194I have a Ford EV and a local Ford dealer refused to do warranty work on it because I didn't buy it there.
Re: HP trialed mandatory 15-minute support call wait times (2025)
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
One time, I needed this. I lost my phone with a physical SIM card and needed a replacement that day. Now I'm trying to remember the eSIM transfer flow to know if this is still an issue. But also, which MVNO should you go to? Carriers supposedly prioritize their own customers, so it feels a bit like running on spot instances.
Mint (T-Mobile MVNO) has been great for me, $20/month/line and my one experience with international travel was good ($20 for 10 days). I used to be on Verizon and the quality of service doesn’t seem any worse while the price is dramatically lower.
Mint works well until it doesn't. I travel a lot and use voice over ip(VoIP). One day I called and got an automated message that my account needed funds. It didn't, my annual payment was months away.
My call to tech support was the generic worst. He insisted there was trouble with my current cell tower and I should reboot my phone. (ignoring the fact that I was able to get automated message). I explained I was using voice over ip, but the tech support didn't seem to understand that technology. Perhaps it wasn't in the script. I was on the call for about 30 minutes and eventually gave up. Phone started working about eight hours later.
Previous issue was with their roaming in foreign countries, however with VoIP that hasn't been an issue for years. So, a couple problems in about eight years. I rank them as one of the best among the terrible options.
Re: HP trialed mandatory 15-minute support call wait times (2025)
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, wrong decade and wrong split - the test & measurement equipment and scientific equipment was long gone from HP at the time of the HP -> HP inc + HPE split. It ended up in Agilent (1999) and from there Keysight. HP semiconductors went HP -> Agilent -> Avago, now broadcom.
Interesting, had no idea they used to make proper lab equipment
I've got two garages full of 80's and 90's HP lab equipment, and most of it even works. In that era, HP had the best hardware design/production capability in the world.
Unfortunately, in the same era, their software was almost always complete crap. I think the same rigid processes and controls that allowed them to make great hardware were the reason their software was awful. Their rigid processes made changing the software difficult, so it was harder for the devs to improve (and they usually didn't bother).
Re: HP trialed mandatory 15-minute support call wait times (2025)
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
>my AHT flagged me Is that "American Hairless Terrier" or "Aldershot Railway Station"?
Acronym use here to single being part of an in-group. It is one of the most annoying shift in tech language over the past decade. I partly blame it on all the certification testing that has popped up over that time frame. It isn't like there hasn't always been tech acronyms but they are so causally communicated these days without regard for audience.
If you're not part of their industry, just look up the acronyms instead of getting mad. "Audience" is laughable, they are not posting solely for your entertainment.
And my guess is "average hold time." If you use your brain, you can figure most of them out, unless they are adversarially confusing acronyms.
Re: HP trialed mandatory 15-minute support call wait times (2025)
#198It is technically possible for mandatory 15 minute support call wait times to increase total user happiness by lowering average wait time in the queue.
Re: HP trialed mandatory 15-minute support call wait times (2025)
#199It is technically possible for mandatory 15 minute support call wait times to increase total user happiness by lowering average wait time in the queue.
Not if un-happiness compounds over time spent in a hold queue, and instant responses produce asymptotically incalculable happiness.
Re: HP trialed mandatory 15-minute support call wait times (2025)
#200I worked HP CS in Highschool and during my time there I created a HTML/JS replacement for a unbearably slow tree system that made a 10+ second network call every single question(often 20+ questions and a tree copy was required for notes). Mine was instant. They fired me for it because my AHT flagged me and it made someone look bad. At that point (this is at Windows Vista launch) the minimum hold was 25 minutes all da…
I've seen this in many groups. Every time I laugh thinking about private enterprise efficacy. Then I shed a tear. Distribution problem.