Ah, the dreaded phone support frenzy. You call in and are greeted by the warming tones of a recorded answering service, you wait on hold, you speak to someone who emits barely audible and faintly distinguishable English, and then you are back on hold again. When technical calamities and installation queries force you into contacting phone-based tech support, you are often thrown into a lengthy and often futile conversation with an alleged computer technician. But wait; there is a light at the end of the tunnel; a fair bit of salvation: online forums and online support services.
The quickly evolving online community is a growing outlet to the hassles of phone support lines. While the benefits of phone based tech support often include solid and accurate responses to your technical troubles, variously online communities accommodate your requests in a timely manner without the auxiliary interfacing with automated phone services, extended periods of waiting on hold, and being passed around from tech to tech re-explaining your problem without persistent answers. There are definitely pros and cons to both online support communities, like the PC Mechanic forums, and direct technical service phone lines. Progressively, however, it is becoming easier and easier to find assistance through the many active and well moderated online support sites. Such truth was presented thoroughly to me just a few days ago.
At work this week, a customer brought in a seasoned Kenwood graphic EQ that supposedly was working previously, but no longer will turn on. Both my boss and my associate, in addition to myself, were dumbfounded by the apparatus: it wasn’t like any of today’s EQ devices and it certainly wasn’t labeled well enough for us to determine whether there was simply an issue with how it was wired into his vehicle. I searched online for more distinctive wiring guides while my associate called the Kenwood support line. Within a few minutes, I found definitive and helpful information that suggested the device wasn’t wired correctly into his vehicle. Sufficient evidence existed on online communities to solve our customer’s issue and finding it didn’t even require setting up an account on the forums and making a new thread. Meanwhile, my associate was still being passed around from technician to technician. Fortunately, after about 25 minutes, he was able to talk to someone who relayed the same conclusion that I found on the Internet; he, however, wasn’t able to provide an accurate wiring diagram via the telephone. In this case, not only was time and money saved, but the same conclusion was reached through the use of online communities.
Later this week, the regional technical specialist for Pioneer came into our store to show us the brand new Mobile Electronics Live (MEL) community that Pioneer has launched. This service not only hosts forums that are exclusive to authorized Pioneer dealers, but it also hosts a variety of official installation guides and technical videos. The resources of MEL parallel those available through Pioneer’s phone service, but offer the ability for installers to communicate and share installation information with each other — something that the technical phone service doesn’t. MEL also permits stores to show off the custom work they do with Pioneer products. The immediate popularity of MEL demonstrates the growing popularity of online communities and the steady progression away from phone based support lines: the forums and features available through Pioneer’s MEL permit a greater level of information sharing that isn’t possible via telephone.
In My Opinion
As online communities continue to grow and manufactures, like Pioneer, begin to host more dynamic forums and online services, people’s reliance upon phone-based support will continue to diminish. While both mediums may vary well lead to the same conclusion, experience dictates that online searches and forum posts yield accurate responses in a more time efficient manner. Additionally, the ability to use the Internet to display installation videos and images alleviates the need to contact tech support with individual queries regarding how to install a unit.
My predictions indicate that manufactures will more frequently promote online support services rather than phone based support. Not only will the technicians be able to respond to posts on forums (instead of phone requests), they can actually post videos and images to help their customers. The evolving online community is steadily growing in popular in comparison to phone based support lines. If you’re looking for specific information regarding electronic units, I would highly suggest looking on the Internet before calling the manufacturer. Chances are you’ll find what your looking for somewhere on the ‘net before you’ll be successful in getting a hold of an actual human on the company’s tech support line.
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