Are the advanced tech support people trained?

[Chuckie Lightfoot]

I have a 721 and each time I call Dish Network with a problem, I'm transfered to 'advanced support'. With each person I've talked to in advanced support I been given a different answer. I'm starting to wonder how many of the agents get adequate training.
It's been so bad that I think I'm ready to just get rid of their service. Not only is the 721 full of bugs, the support people don't know any of the bugs exist.
The customer service is worse than my local cable company. You've gotta try really hard to be worse than the cable company.

[gcutler]

Tech support training no matter where you go is usually just below what is needed. Either due to them not investing in decent salaries and thus turnover is high, or them not wanting to take people out of the loop (and away from the helpdesk) for training. Sadly keeping costs down usually means lower expenditure on training.

The issue with the Cable company is that they typically don't offer something as sophisiticated as the 721. I'm sure if they did, you cable company would suprise you in there ability to not surprise you at their incompetence.

I've found that either going here or www.dbsforums.com for questions about the 721 will probably give you more insight than tech support. So at least your only need to talk to tech support will be when something out and out breaks and you need to RMA it.

[Chuckie Lightfoot]

Tech support told me they would have to send someone out to check the install before they would RMA anything. When I called to change the day they said that "Sorry, the appointment was cancelled". They never bothered to call and let me know.
I had an problem with the well known "false conflict" and got into an argument with an advanced tech who kept telling me "There is no such bug" on the 721. She then told me that she has an updated bug list and the 721 does not have issues. My 721 must be bad. Dish Network support is really bad.

[Nightmare]

I had a problem one night were the 721 was recording the same thing on both tuners and when I tried to setup another timer there was a conflict. After a reboot it hasn't done it again. I found the Advanced Tech very helpfull, one of the guys around when I called was "beta" testing software on the 721. Maybe you called on a bad day? I find that service people are rarely well trained in most businesses so I don't expect much :)

[Scott Greczkowski]

Chuckie Welcome :hi: and hang in there!

There are many factors which can be causing the problems you are having. The new version of the software will correct the timer issues you are seeing.

Hopefully I should have my software soon and can report on if this is true (After talking to numerous people at Dish I am fairly confident that they will be fixed)

Don't RMA unit and don't anyone come to your house. Again hang in there and I am sure you will like what L1.05 does to your unit. :)

[Bob Haller]

The E virginia call center appears to have better techs and does over half of all tech calls. Having seen both the best and worst of tech support I suggest TSR roulette.

Lately they have been better, but its sad it isnt better...

[TomCat]

My experiences with them have been very positive, even if they don't have all of the answers. And, on cutting edge products like PVR's that's to be expected.

I just spent an entire week rubbing elbows with THE top diagnostic guy from the premiere professional video recorder platform in the broadcasting industry, and while he is as bright and knowledgeable as anyone about such matters, even he is constantly presented by a number of issues that he finds puzzling. Computers, software, and operating systems have reached the point where no single person can have all of the answers.

My guess is that the training for the "advanced" E* group is about as extensive as can be reasonably expected, yet a single person's understanding and ability to apply this to tech support varies about as much as the level of understanding among all Calculus 101 students. Some get it, some don't. Some understand things a particular way, some understand it another way, with both ways non-exclusive of the other's understanding, and still very valid. Chalk it up to the level of complexity.

[Jacob S]

It depends on when you call and who you talk to. I do not think they are all qualified enough to handle the more difficult technical issues, or there are certain things they have not been trained on or does not happen as regularly and then when it does happen, they do not know what to do.

They have just been told what to do with training but do not always have the experience in which is the best training of all to handle the situation. I can help people out more than what they can sometimes just with all of the situations I have had to deal with if the problem had happened enough times.

[Bob Haller]

I had to comment E tech support is like everyone else. Hit or miss. Me and Jren have spent maybe 15 hours on tech issues setting up our Linksis router. Its FINALLY working. Where one tech tries some stuff and says call the computer maker another dug in and fixed the last troubles.

This is true of AOL, Linksis, E and likely everywhere else...

Just like someone else says depends on who you talk too...

[gcutler]

Originally posted by Bob Haller
I had to comment E tech support is like everyone else. Hit or miss. Me and Jren have spent maybe 15 hours on tech issues setting up our Linksis router. Its FINALLY working. Where one tech tries some stuff and says call the computer maker another dug in and fixed the last troubles.

Bob, Congrats on getting the Linksys Router working. One other thing to consider (expecially compared to satellite tech support) is that the stuff involved in a linksys can be very involved and without the customer having some previous knowledge of TCPIP that can be a incredibly hard job, where as with Satellite, there are some differences but anyone who can connect up a VCR can be an easy cutomer to deal with by DBS tech support. It is trully a testament to the LinkSys techs who "Dug In" and got it working for you.

Did the problem turn out to be the Router talking to the modem or the PCs talking to the router (or did you go wireless, making it even harder) :D

[Bill D]

I found (by accident) a great way to get right to advanced tech. When the first tech answers tell them you got transfered to advanced tech on a previous call and was disconnected. I actually did have this happen to me and when I called back I was immediately transferred to advanced tech. I have found most of them to be pretty good..

[kore]

I just start the call with "can you transfer me to advanced tech?" They *sometimes* ask why. I tell them, "you'll just end up transfering me there anyway" at which point they always transfer me without any other questions.

[gcutler]

Althought that can be a pain for the Level 2 Tech support people. Having been Level 2 or Level 3 PC tech support for most of the past 10 years I know how problematic that can be. There are less Level 2 people then level 1 so your time can be strained if tooo many calls are passed to you without going thru Level 1. The proper thing is for the company to get the quality of Level 1 up to speed. But it seems lately even at companies with nice cash flow, that they want level 1 to be little more than trained monkeys. At my last job, 3-4 of the Level 1 people I worked with were totally capable of being level 2 support quality but management made it sooo difficult. there must have been some article in Chief Information Officer magazine that it was good to keep Level 1 as untrained as possible because it is spreading like a virus to sooo many companies, E*, the company I used to work for, etc. :(

[Chuckie Lightfoot]

The best luck I've had is with the Colorado Call Center. I was told that if I wanted to reach Colorado I should call very late night or very early morning (like 11pm to 3am PST).