This guy should get FIRED!! - $1500 Gaming PC Secret Shopper pt3

[Ivan M]

We fake a rather simple technical issue and observe how effectively each System Integrator's tech support can resolve it.

 

 

Alienware R7: http://geni.us/d5Jj
HP Omen: http://geni.us/Af4t
iBuyPower i5 Configurator: http://geni.us/0BgZ
Origin PC Chronos: http://geni.us/1pEFO
Maingear Vybe: http://geni.us/qI9q4

[mxk]

this is why you build it yourself

[SkyHound0202]

[Hiya!]

Linus is at it again!  

[AngryBeaver]

I bet you get better support from the Walmart OP machine over the Ibuypower crap.

[Quadriplegic]

Holy moly, when was the last time Linus got so mad? 


P.S. That poor HP support guy was all like 

[ZestyJalapeno]

It's the norm with ITaaS companies, if Dell and HP's service desk have 15 minute service response times then they'll answer not a second before.

 

That ibuypower guy tho, RIP. Worst time to get sacked

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[lewdicrous]

I've never been so pissed off about an LTT vid before... WTF....

[Terryv]

40 minutes ago, LMG Ivan said:

We fake a rather simple technical issue and observe how effectively each System Integrator's tech support can resolve it.

 

 

Alienware R7: http://geni.us/d5Jj
HP Omen: http://geni.us/Af4t
iBuyPower  don't bother
Origin PC Chronos: http://geni.us/1pEFO
Maingear Vybe: http://geni.us/qI9q4

You should really remove that ibuypower link.

 

They don't deserve to have that there.

 

Edit: can we have a video with a response from the SI's?

[manikyath]

defenately sounds like HP support to me..

 

at the office we usually have our "HP Support care pack" of standardized replies ready, to bat their stupid questions right in their face, you get used to their trained stupidity at some point...

 

here's the few things you need to deal with HP support:

- product name

- product number

- serial number

- the skill to reinstall it

- the correct tagwords for every kind of noise (a rattle is not a rumble)

- the patience of a buddhist monk

- more IT skill than them (this is the easiest one on the list...)

- an E-mail adres

- a phone number

- some food to snack up while on hold, you'll be there for a while.

- the self control to not fall over laughing if they say stupid shit.

 

Just now, Terryv said:

You should really remove that ibuypower link.

 

They don't deserve to have that there.

because it's suddenly fitting again:

iBuyPoop.

[Tristerin]

I googled - Who Owns iBUYPOWER...and the return search was tons of complaints about their CS.  Didn't know it was that bad lol

[BJOHEI]

I feel bad for Janice. I would have lost my sh!t a long time ago if I was her

[samcool55]

I'm honestly surprised HP didn't ask to update the BIOS.

One of the previous places i worked had a bunch of laptops from them and EVERY SINGLE TIME "is the bios updated?"

Like, it became a running joke and then just a big annoyance because it was such a stupid thing and it never solved a single issue.

[stlbeastmode]

I've been fixing computers for the past 14 years... 3 years ago I wanted an iBuyPower PC...  I can't believe the response given by CS.  I've had bad days but I never take it out on someone that has nothing to do with my day... 

 

I'm glad they are evaluating their CS performance... But why now?  I deliberately steer away from companies that I know I would eventually have to call CS because I know it would be a pain... Unfortunately this is a bad look for the company. 

[NeuesTestament]

19 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

I'm honestly surprised HP didn't ask to update the BIOS.

One of the previous places i worked had a bunch of laptops from them and EVERY SINGLE TIME "is the bios updated?"

Like, it became a running joke and then just a big annoyance because it was such a stupid thing and it never solved a single issue.

Have you tried turning the RAM off and on again?

[NeuesTestament]

Dell and HP while solving the issue took far to long in my opinion. At least to me that is not acceptable.

 I also am allergic to automated systems because they are basically more useless than a drunk Indian that got abducted and is forced to answer calls over things he has no clue about at gun point. 

And well there’s iBuy power. 

[fingersb]

Full disclosure i own 2x Alienware desktops (bought in 2018 at pretty steep discounts, i got a much better deal than Janice), an HP laptop, and two custom builts from the i7 920 era.  I worked for Satan (geeksquad) for 6 years (2006-2012).

Either this was shot out of order or the bias is less conspicuous than the "Lambo" in a funeral procession.  Dell is NOT great, barely average i'd say, but there were a few cracks at its expense suggesting you may have some bias:

"it couldn't get worse" when the ibuy guy was a douche just prior (in the video order)

and the cheap shot about understanding india tech support's obvious language barrier, considering tech jargon may as well be a foreign language and all of the CS reps were definitely not primary english speakers. 

I find this series entertaining, however, a major glaring issue would be: what percentage of computer sales are done over the phone vs online with cs robots/personnel and same qualifier for online chat tech support?  Every time I've had to deal with tech support in the last decade i have opted for online over phone call every time.

[minibois]

27 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

I'm honestly surprised HP didn't ask to update the BIOS.

One of the previous places i worked had a bunch of laptops from them and EVERY SINGLE TIME "is the bios updated?"

Like, it became a running joke and then just a big annoyance because it was such a stupid thing and it never solved a single issue.

I'm gonna have to remember this if you ever make a thread asking for technical help on here  

 

It would be really preferable if every system integrator had a form you can fill in on their website, where you can describe your issue and schedule a callback, so someone can read this, transfer it to the right department (or it can be transferred automagically through some good keyword filters, dropdown menus and radio buttons) and you just get a callback at a certain point (which you can choose preferably).

Would save so much time for the consumer.

 

Also, props to the phone techs who successfully (and sometimes even quickly!) found the issue and had a clear explanation on how to fix it.

[visitor2015]

Kudos to Dell: Once I had to call the Dell support about a problem with my Dell Latitude D830 which was just 1.5 years old and I have ordered with 36 months NBD onsite serivce. In end of 2009 I had to call the business support here in Germany because the main board died on a Saturday afternoon.

The phone lines were already closed at that Saturday afternoon, but I called on Monday and arranged an appointment for Thursday morning after I got put through after max. 10 minutes to an operator. The service technician appeared at my parents home while I was still at work and replaced the entire motherboard of that machine without any questions asked. This machine which I bought in February 2008 is still working today and never had any problems again with this machine.

My machine at work (Latitude E7450) needed twice NBD support during it's 36 months period. Both cases were perfeclty addressed by very competent technicans direclty in my workplace.

So why is anyone still buying that consumer crap these days when you can really get very charming and competent and well working support for your business grade machines?

[samcool55]

Just now, Minibois said:

I'm gonna have to remember this if you ever make a thread asking for technical help on here  

 

It would be really preferable if every system integrator had a form you can fill in on their website, where you can describe your issue and schedule a callback, so someone can read this, transfer it to the right department (or it can be transferred automagically through some good keyword filters, dropdown menus and radio buttons) and you just get a callback at a certain point (which you can choose preferably).

Would save so much time for the consumer.

 

Also, props to the phone techs who successfully (and sometimes even quickly!) found the issue and had a clear explanation on how to fix it.

Oh please forget that, i really don't want to be reminded of their awful support (or anything about the place i worked at that time)

 

While the form might be a good idea, the guys at origin PC and maingear show that just picking up the phone and going through the whole troubleshooting magic with the customer can work very well. 15-20 minutes to solve a problem is REALLY good.

if you need to fill in a form and wait for a response wouldn't make me feel important for the company, but that's probably just me.

[scottyseng]

Oh boy, best episode so far. I quite like this series (Even though I'm sure it was expensive to do...having to buy the PCs and time wasted)

 

I still hope there's another episode where the PCs get compared (Benchmarks, price to performance, etc)

 

Not going to lie, I was expecting at least one of them to request the PC be sent back?

[minibois]

Just now, samcool55 said:

Oh please forget that, i really don't want to be reminded of their awful support (or anything about the place i worked at that time)

 

While the form might be a good idea, the guys at origin PC and maingear show that just picking up the phone and going through the whole troubleshooting magic with the customer can work very well. 15-20 minutes to solve a problem is REALLY good.

if you need to fill in a form and wait for a response wouldn't make me feel important for the company, but that's probably just me.

You're right... At some point if you can't just pick up the phone and call support, it's just not the same anymore. 

This is maybe a solution for the big boy companies, but not the option for someone like Maingear. As we saw with Dell, you have to be transferred a billion times to get to technical support for Alienware, or with HP where you have to yell out your model series (Pavilion, Envy, etc.) it just seems more convenient to just fill this stuff in online and get to the right person the first time you get a call.

 

Also, 10-15 min is quite swift in my opinion too, because you have to go over the basics (what's your name, order number, etc.) and afterwards you have to hear the problem and go ask the basic troubleshooting steps and such... 10-15 minutes is honestly really not bad.

 

But I thought something similar in ep.1 too, where they gave one of the companies a minus score for "taking 27 minutes to sell a PC". I think that's totally a reasonable time to take to sell a PC to someone who doesn't know a ton about PC's. You have to walk through what games are gonna be played, but also at the end if peripherals are needed and if not, if the current peripherals work. 

I have been on the 'selling side' of gaming PC's and very often people would say they don't need a monitor because they have one.. But it turns out it only has VGA. If I didn't ask such a question they would go home with a PC and get mad at me because it doesn't go with their monitor.

8 minutes ago, James Evens said:

Why the is everybody trying to guide the costumer to fix it on there own? Is it no longer common to ask the customer to just ship it back and they will take care of everything?

That seems hella expensive for something that, as shown in this video, a customer can fix on their own 

Also, not sure about other places in the world.. But where I live you have the legal right to return something you bought on the phone or internet within 14 days for whatever reason. In theory a customer could find out the issue and not even phone support, just send it back and buy a new PC.

[samcool55]

6 minutes ago, Minibois said:

You're right... At some point if you can't just pick up the phone and call support, it's just not the same anymore. 

This is maybe a solution for the big boy companies, but not the option for someone like Maingear. As we saw with Dell, you have to be transferred a billion times to get to technical support for Alienware, or with HP where you have to yell out your model series (Pavilion, Envy, etc.) it just seems more convenient to just fill this stuff in online and get to the right person the first time you get a call.

 

Also, 10-15 min is quite swift in my opinion too, because you have to go over the basics (what's your name, order number, etc.) and afterwards you have to hear the problem and go ask the basic troubleshooting steps and such... 10-15 minutes is honestly really not bad.

 

But I thought something similar in ep.1 too, where they gave one of the companies a minus score for "taking 27 minutes to sell a PC". I think that's totally a reasonable time to take to sell a PC to someone who doesn't know a ton about PC's. You have to walk through what games are gonna be played, but also at the end if peripherals are needed and if not, if the current peripherals work. 

I have been on the 'selling side' of gaming PC's and very often people would say they don't need a monitor because they have one.. But it turns out it only has VGA. If I didn't ask such a question they would go home with a PC and get mad at me because it doesn't go with their monitor.

I also think 27 minutes to sell a pc is perfectly fine.

I would say max 1 hour, if it takes longer than that there should be a damn good reason why it takes so long.

 

The form would indeed be better for guys like HP and Dell, but then again if they have all those departments, why not throw in a big paper in the box that says "if you have technical problems, call X" and the number is specifically for the support department for that type of device (so omen devices have number X, probooks Y, pavilions Z, or whatever, something like that) or something else that makes sure you call straight to the right department instead of calling a generic number and going through a bunch of hoops/transfers.

[3 Lions]

Did anyone else think of Techmoan with that reel to reel tape machine being in shot? cause I did

[poochyena]

maingear blew away the competition in every way.