Tech from Site 38

I'm a Compaq technician; not really I work for Sykes Corp., which contracts to Compaq. Most customers don't understand why they get the support they get. Most techs want to help out but the restrictions that Compaq imposes stops us from helping.

    One restriction that Compaq imposes is a time limit. You may call and ask if we have a time limit and we'll answer "no, we don't have a time limit", as we are required to say. When I first started out, we had twelve to fifteen minutes to solve your problem, which can be done if it's a simple question. (I.e. how much RAM can I put in the machine) Then about four months later the time length moved again to ten through twelve minutes to solve and if you had to rebooted the system three times then your times up. Well, guess what... the time limits have moved again. Currently the limit is from six to ten minutes to solve your problem. Currently the only way to get complex machine corrected is to QR the machine whether it needs it or not. Wait... Hold on a bit... I know what you're going to say and I AGREE WITH YOU. A lot of problems can be fixed without doing the QR..... Here's the catch 22 for us the techs.... If we don't get you off the phone in the current time limit when we will be written up or later fired if it keeps happening (PERIOD). For an incentive, we the techs get paid more money if we get you off the phones faster. Yes this is the first time that I've gone to work for a company to deceive people about Compaq's problems.

    Another restriction that Compaq imposes takes place in giving support to the customer. According to Compaq, we are under no condition to tell people about the major problems with different systems. If you read the tech's (from site 58) information when you could see what I'm talking about. Also if you get a computer that will not work and it's out of the box or about every component has been replaced, we can not tell you to take it back even if we thinks it's a Lemon. If we tell you the customer to take it back to the store and Compaq is monitoring the call they will call Sykes and tell Sykes to remove that tech from their employment. So what do you think Sykes will do... fire an honest tech or jeopardize losing the contract? So what do we have to say is that we (Compaq) will get the computer fixed. Now for the fun part is that out of box monitor or printer not working we can replace it...But what we can't tell you is that it will be replaced with a refurbished component...Yes someone old rebuild piece of equipment in exchange for your new monitor or printer. I have finally got it all figured out. We are not here for customer support but for customer management... Do you remember during the Gulf war when all the American people in Iraq were forced to stay at military site so that we wouldn't bomb those sites? Well Compaq must have thought it was a great idea because they're using the same tactics. And we the techs are there to protect from any customer from getting to them but instead of oil or weapons we're protecting Compaq's money. We the tech are the human wall set up by Compaq.

    Not only do we have to deal with Compaq but we have to deal with Sykes too. Some of the internal operations disable us from help you. After our initial training, we start receiving less and less training. All of the software that comes with the computer old and new, we have had no training unless we have the program a home or check it out after hours. Many techs have requested formal training on a program that people uses a lot but all requests for training have been rejected. And any more requests will resolve in being written up. That also includes any new computer that Compaq releases. When the 5200 series computers were released, you had more info on the system then we did. We couldn't even tell you what size processor or hard drive it came with. And after 2 months, we still don't have all the info on the systems. Compaq still hasn't released that info yet. We have to go on the Internet to find out that info. The only training that was software related was Windows 98 training. You may think that good until you find out how long the training was. My friend works for Microsoft and he received five weeks training for the windows 98 operating system while Compaq techs received 4 hours. The training was short so that we could get back on the phones and say that we had windows 98 training. You may say "well, he gets paid more money so he should be able work it out " The starting wage not salary but wage is $7.00 an hour with the max of $8.50 an hour...McDonalds in the same area starts out at $6.50 an hour... Would like fries with that Defrag? Also the common tech is not certified with either a MSCE or an A+ certification. With coming months, more and more resources are not available to use due to cost cuts to save money. And day in and day out the system that we work with crashes. It like having a mechanic work on your car and the boss with only let the mechanic use a pocketknife and a hammer to save money. And god forbid that any tech uses the word UNION. At the first day of employment, a supervisor comes in and says that anyone tries to start a union you will automatically be FIRED...NO IFS AND OR BUTS ABOUT IT (period).

    So as you can see, we the tech are just messengers of Compaq's Legal webs of Deceit. Also, the info in People in Site 58 the site in Manhattan is also owned by Sykes.