Sooner or later, you may need to call technical support to repair something. Maybe one morning you get the blue screen of death or you get one of these frightening error messages on your screen. Or maybe you try to transform your computer and … nothing. This may not be your computer at all, but your website is completely low and you need to use your call to your web designer or web hosting business.
I was on both sides of this panicked call and there are 7 things you can do to help call this technical call a little less stressful:
1. Do not panic, this is easier to say that you have done when you are a computer on the flashing and you look at the barrel of a deadline. But things will be less stressful if you do not fear. Chances are the problem is not as bad (or expensive) as you think.
2. Check the obvious before calling – one of the first things your technology will make you do is check the obvious causes of problems. As your computer is connected? Or is the overvoltage protector that your connected computer is activated? Are all cables out of your tight connected computer? Or do you correctly enter your password? Or do you have the “Caps Lock” key while you enter your password? They ran through this exercise because several times the simple problem is the problem. So, browse some of the obvious causes of problems before taking the phone.
3. Prepare – if you have guarantees or service contracts gather all these materials before calling. This will save you a little while in case your technology requires this information. You may also need the serial number of your computer. These are usually located on a sticker placed on the back, bottom or side of your computer or are located in the recording documents of your computer.
4. Be as accurate as possible – just say “the computer does not work” is not so useful. The technical support already assumes that your computer does not work because you would not simply call to say hello. What they need to know is “how your computer does not work?”. You must be as specific as possible. Will your computer start at all? Is the problem you can turn off the computer, but it will not switch the start screen? Maybe you can exceed the startup screen, but you can not open a particular program? Describe your problem from start to finish; What you did when you met your problem, what is your computer, and if there are particular situations that seem to coincide with the problem.
5. Write error messages – usually when something is wrong, you will get some kind of error message that tries to tell you what is the problem. If you can not make heads or queues from the message, take the time to write it. This can mean something to the technology you are talking about and this could help them diagnose the problem a little faster.
6. Note recent changes or incidents – sometimes the cause of your IT problem is something that has changed on your computer or incident that has occurred recently as:
Adding new material (printer, scanner, hard disk, memory, etc.)
Adding or removing the software
Power disturbance or power overvoltage
Adding deletion of a service
Software upgrades or security patches
Sometimes changes like this can cause unforeseen problems with other things that may or may not seem to be related to your problem. When you talk to your technology, make them aware of any changes or additions you have made before you start having problems. They will be able to tell you if these changes are linked to your problems.
7. Keep notes – a lot of times a support service call means you spend a lot of time on the phone sent from one person to another.
