{"id":7524,"date":"2020-06-01T13:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcn.tidbits.com\/?p=7833"},"modified":"2020-06-01T17:46:15","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T22:46:15","slug":"how-to-ask-for-tech-support-so-you-get-good-answers-quickly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/how-to-ask-for-tech-support-so-you-get-good-answers-quickly\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Ask for Tech Support So You Get Good Answers Quickly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Need help with something? On occasion, we all need tech support. Speaking as the people who are sometimes on the other end of those requests for help, we have some suggestions on how to get the support you need as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

For instance, think about what we have to do if we receive an email message along the lines of \u201cI keep getting a note that my backups aren\u2019t working.\u201d All we can tell from that message is that something may be wrong with the user\u2019s backups. But without knowing what app they\u2019re using and what the specific error is, we can\u2019t even begin to recommend a solution. We\u2019ll have to go back and forth to figure out what we need to learn to address the problem. By the end of the (possibly lengthy) process, the user and we may be quite frustrated.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s a simple set of steps you can use to get to the heart of a troubleshooting problem whenever you\u2019re communicating with tech support.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Describe your setup as it relates to the problem. Whenever possible, be specific about what apps you\u2019re using and include screenshots or videos. In our example above, this might involve saying, \u201cI back up with Time Machine to an external hard drive. It has been working fine, but now I\u2019m getting this error.\u201d (Obviously, if you\u2019re talking on the phone, it might not be possible to share a screenshot, but you can read it to the support rep.)
    \n\"\"<\/li>\n
  2. Next, explain how you\u2019ve tried to resolve the problem so tech support doesn\u2019t automatically tell you to repeat the same actions. (They may anyway, just to confirm that you did everything properly, but it\u2019s still a help.) You might say, \u201cI clicked OK and let Time Machine try again, but I got the error on the next backup too. Then I launched Disk Utility, selected my Time Machine drive, and clicked First Aid.\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. Finally, explain what happened (or failed to happen) when you took the actions in the previous step. For instance, \u201cFirst Aid also reported an error.\u201d
    \n\"\"<\/li>\n
  4. At this point, you may need to repeat Step 2 and 3 for each thing you tried, but you\u2019ve given the support person enough for them to start recommending other courses of action. (In this case, we\u2019d have you erase the drive using Disk Utility and see if that eliminated the error. Even if it did, we\u2019d recommend that you get a new backup drive since you don\u2019t want to depend on a potentially flaky drive for important backup data.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The steps are a little different if you\u2019re trying and failing to figure out how to accomplish some task. Try this script:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. I want to _____.<\/b> State what you\u2019re trying to achieve, and as before, make sure to say what apps you\u2019re using. For instance, \u201cI\u2019m using Preview to read a PDF, and I want to print it with four pages per sheet of paper to avoid wasting hundreds of pieces of paper.\u201d<\/li>\n
    2. I tried ____.<\/b> As before, explain what you\u2019ve already attempted, as in: \u201cIn Preview\u2019s Print dialog, I tried choosing 4 from the Copies Per Page menu.\u201d
      \n\"\"<\/li>\n
    3. What happened was _____.<\/b> Finally, explain what happened after what you tried, and why it was wrong. \u201cThat caused me to get four copies of the same page in the preview, rather than four different pages.\u201d<\/li>\n
    4. Again, you may need to repeat Steps 2 and 3 for everything you tried, but in this case, we have all we need to explain that you need to click the Preview menu in the middle of the Print dialog, choose Layout, and then choose 4 from the Pages Per Sheet menu.
      \n\"\"<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      One last thing. It\u2019s always important to explain your overall goal, rather than just ask a specific question. In the example above, for instance, saying that your goal was to reduce paper usage was helpful because we could then suggest that you select the Two-Sided checkbox near the top to print on both sides of the paper, cutting your paper usage in half.<\/p>\n

      So next time you need to contact tech support, make sure to use these tips, and you\u2019ll likely get better support and a faster resolution to your problem.<\/p>\n

      (Featured image by Christina Morillo<\/a> from Pexels<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Do you have frustrating interactions with tech support? Follow our advice on how to talk to a support rep to get better support and a faster resolution to your problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,186,25,112,32],"tags":[118,86,3110,122,3111,85,3112],"class_list":["post-7524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-apple-consulting-ct","category-backup","category-mac","category-mac-support-ct","category-time-machine","tag-apple","tag-appleconsultants","tag-applesupport","tag-mac","tag-macconsultants","tag-macsupport","tag-techsupport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7524"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7534,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7524\/revisions\/7534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}