Getting tired.

[Greyson]

Re: Getting tired.

Years ago when I was a service Manager, I had a tech that " knew " everything. He went to a customers office to install print drivers, our contract said " on PC's only". The customer INSISTED the drivers be installed on the server so " Joey" ( not his real name) complied.
He did something and WIPED all the info from the server. The customer was a well known and large accounting firm in the Raleigh, NC area.
It not only cost us the account, but also cost the Boss $15,000 in data recovery and the tech his job.

UNLESS you are a certified network IT person, my suggestion... RUN FOREST RUN!

I am with you on this. Run

[guitar9199]

Re: Getting tired.

Been there... Done that... Got the T-Shirt!!

The last company I worked for, we offered a "One Time Freebie" for fixing scan folder/scan to email issues (which we would note on the service call), then inform them that Networking was NOT included in the maintenance contract. "We DO however offer a network support contract for an additional $XX per computer, billed yearly".

....The downside to THAT is, quite a few people took us up on it....LOL!

We currently have a customer that after we installed and set up their SMB folders on 3 PC's, 2 days later their off-site "IT Guy" remoted into all the computers and deleted the USER ID that was created for the copier to use. Of course it broke the folders... now we can't get the guy to return our calls to get him to re-add the user for the scan folders to work again.

These days, if I can't "Phone-Fix" it, then I get to tell them it's billable.

>sigh<

[blackcat4866]

Re: Getting tired.

I have the same problem ....and a lot of "while you where here" problems.If i can solve it in less than an half hour, then i try to help our customers.But often they think the machine is the problem, they say only "MFP doesn't scan anymore ".....nothing else, of course they didn't change or touched nothing( they say)...
But if i have a look on the computers i found that they did an update from Windows 7 to windows10.......but of course the machine is faulty.....
in my company we make the first installation of 3 computers for free, and after that .....payment!!!

This customer is always telling me that their new machine is not as good at the old $50 Brother (if there is such a thing). The last call was to fix an Airprint issue. The iPad they hand me has a shattered screen, and it takes dozens of attempts to get the button you want to select. If you are able to select the button, it does print though. I suppose that I'm supposed to fix their iPad screen too?

Does your $50 Brother Airprint? I don't think so. =^..^=

[CompyTech]

Re: Getting tired.

I had to install a bizhub c287 the other day to print on a customers computer that was Windows XP, so after downloading a universal driver from 2014 and "telling the driver" that the mfp is a c360 it works. Then the customer says he has a box on his screen when he searched for pictures, thinking to my self wtf does that have to do with the copier? Turned out he clicked on an AD in his Chrome and got a scareware page on his screen at also changed his homepage.

[NeoMatrix]

Re: Getting tired.

Alas it's the nature of the business. We've been held responsible for the carpet under the copier, the wall behind the copier, the AC wall power, the fax phone line, and the network. Sometimes all you can do is wait then out. "Hmmm. That VOIP line still doesn't seem to be working very well. It's just too bad that you don't have an analog phone line. They work a lot better." =^..^=

Re. The wondrous modern digital technology verses natural analogue technology.
hooo hum. A good example of modern technology going backwards is digital TV.
The old analogue TV signal(some rare ghosting) never gave a pixelated screen, popping noisy voice track ,with out-of-sync lip movement of people. It's like watching a voice over cartoon. I said to the missus those news broadcasts on TV could be saying anything. What are we suppose to believe when their voice track is out of sync with their facial video track?

I wonder if the next generation of children will say, "Back in our day we had rubbish digital signals. Not like the modern technology of today, its all natural analogue, the way nature intended it to be. Gee our grand parents generation must have been dumb with their outdated digital technology."...

[peter42]

[ApeosMan]

Re: Getting tired.

I think part of the problem is the customer doesn't really know or care about who's responsible for what. They see their mfp is not scanning to email it must be a mfp problem, not understanding it's a network issue most likely. We also can get into a tug of war of sorts with customers IT when trying to solve a network problem. When IT departments get lazy and don't want to deal with mfp connectivity problems they will use an out and say "its the machine".

Yup, had a customer's external I.T. blame the MFP for dropping off the network constantly. I went out and proved it was on their end. I then charged the customer and they refused to pay and wanted me to charge their I.T directly, but alas it doesn't work that way.....

The mentality of some people is frustrating. I've had my ISP visit me on a couple of occasions over the years to look into some cabling issues and agreed to charges 100% if it were my problem and I think it's reasonable to pay up if the issue isn't caused by the service provider.

[nmfaxman]

Re: Getting tired.

Had an account earlier this week where their network is an IT guy's nightmare.

3 routers all connected through a switch and everyone was wireless.
All three routers on the same frequency. Signals bounced like a super-ball on meth.
Copier was hardwired into old router 9 months ago.

The office manager told me it was the copier, "It cant be our network".
I asked if anyone could print and she said a few can and a few can't.
I told her it can't be the printer if some could print.
She said and I quote "You don't know what you are doing".

I told her fine, if I plug my laptop into the copier and print and scan, the bill would be double.

Deer in the headlights look and yelled for the owner.
Told him that his network was a nightmare, he said he knew and can I make it work.

Told him minimum 3 hours @ $100 an hour, because it was such a mess.
He gave me a funny look and said OK.

Next day I had stress test on my heart and failed. Told him if I stepped into his office before I get a pacemaker it could kill me due to the stress.
His response was "So how am I going to get my copier fixed?".

Had to hang up on him...................don't need the stress.

DUMBASS!

[ApeosMan]

Re: Getting tired.

Years ago when I was a service Manager, I had a tech that " knew " everything. He went to a customers office to install print drivers, our contract said " on PC's only". The customer INSISTED the drivers be installed on the server so " Joey" ( not his real name) complied.
He did something and WIPED all the info from the server. The customer was a well known and large accounting firm in the Raleigh, NC area.
It not only cost us the account, but also cost the Boss $15,000 in data recovery and the tech his job.

UNLESS you are a certified network IT person, my suggestion... RUN FOREST RUN!

I wonder if the tech actually did anything wrong, but got blamed for another persons mistake. I heard a story once where a customer's data backup system wasn't working and they wanted $20,000 out of the copier company because the copier tech was the last one to touch the server. Fortunately the copier company had an external I.T. expert investigate the claims and the investigation found the customer's I.T. was the blame, they proved this trough the event viewer on the server. So keep this in mind if you ever get blamed, something like event viewer could save you.

I once installed a print queue onto a customer's server and a couple of weeks later my company received a bill for 8 hours worth of I.T. work to resolve a problem I apparently created. Their shit I.T. person somehow linked the fact that by me loading print drivers onto their server and sharing them out screwed up their VLAN configurations. I remember reading the e-mail they sent and it just didn't make any sense at all. We ended up paying the bill to keep the customer happy, but I confronted the I.T. person with my manager and the I.T. person was on the defensive and found it hard to back-up his claims and my manager said he noticed the guy wasn't being honest.

Fortunately I didn't get into any trouble, but I was told never to touch customer servers again and to guide the customer through what needs to be done.

[ApeosMan]

Re: Getting tired.

Had an account earlier this week where their network is an IT guy's nightmare.

3 routers all connected through a switch and everyone was wireless.
All three routers on the same frequency. Signals bounced like a super-ball on meth.
Copier was hardwired into old router 9 months ago.

The office manager told me it was the copier, "It cant be our network".
I asked if anyone could print and she said a few can and a few can't.
I told her it can't be the printer if some could print.
She said and I quote "You don't know what you are doing".

I told her fine, if I plug my laptop into the copier and print and scan, the bill would be double.

Deer in the headlights look and yelled for the owner.
Told him that his network was a nightmare, he said he knew and can I make it work.

Told him minimum 3 hours @ $100 an hour, because it was such a mess.
He gave me a funny look and said OK.

Next day I had stress test on my heart and failed. Told him if I stepped into his office before I get a pacemaker it could kill me due to the stress.
His response was "So how am I going to get my copier fixed?".

Had to hang up on him...................don't need the stress.

DUMBASS!

I would advise the ignoramuses to get an I.T. contractor. People who run a small business and don't bother having an I.T. person for support are foolish as they just don't see the value it's going to bring to their business having someone who can provide support and advice them on the appropriate technologies their business can utilize to grown into the future and gain further revenue.

[copiertec]

Re: Getting tired.

I always beat myself up on this one. I will get a call for not scanning or printing sometimes it takes me 5 minutes to resolve the issue other times it takes me over an hour, I charge for the ones that take a long time. I also get customers who add new users and need scan and print set up, I charge accordingly. Another example, everybody wants their hand held devices set up, print, scan and email... I charge per device. I have a few clients who have user codes set up and every time a new employee is added to the equation, I get the call to set up their computers. I often get the question, from the employee, could I set up their hand held device as well? Realtors are notorious for this one. I will, but for an additional charge and ask them if it has been approved by their employer because I don't see it on the ticket... most of the time they decide to try and set it up themselves after finding out they will be charged.
I always ask the customer if they have an IT dept., if they do I schedule accordingly; if not, I do refer IT professionals I work with for set ups. It's a fine line between IT and box related repairs because every-time the copier is not scanning or printing they call my company, I try to walk them through a few things, first, if that doesn't work, I refer them to the IT company. The company I work for clearly states that connectivity to the network is not our responsibility and will be charged accordingly and also some legal jargon about no responsibility for any networking issues arising from basic driver installs and configurations if they choose our company to set up their networking.
It's a tough one because every time a customer changes a password, gets a new device, their laptop will not connect, their IT dept. makes changes to the servers, etc. we get the call because they can't print or scan we get the call, first. Also, we have to deal with the lazy IT personal who pass the buck or occasionally get the newbie IT guy who wants to keep you on the phone while they try to resolve the connectivity issue.
I hate to keep on going on about this issue, but just recently my company sold a brand new copier about a moth ago... brand new, the latest and the greatest. We got a call because the copier has lines when they print, when I arrived, I was verbally assaulted by the owner about "what a piece of shit this new copier is" because its putting lines in all of his prints... turns out it's an adobe issue and windows 10, I switched to a postscript driver..... issue resolved. That particular instant is an example of me catching crap because of IT related issues. Once I resolved the issue, I looked the customer straight in the eyes and told them, " you just have to be smarter that the stuff you are using," .... I must confess, though.... I really felt like grabbing them and shaking the ignorance out of them before I left. Did I mention, I wish I could charge double or triple for ignorance.

[qbert69]

Re: Getting tired.

I always beat myself up on this one. I will get a call for not scanning or printing sometimes it takes me 5 minutes to resolve the issue other times it takes me over an hour, I charge for the ones that take a long time. I also get customers who add new users and need scan and print set up, I charge accordingly. Another example, everybody wants their hand held devices set up, print, scan and email... I charge per device. I have a few clients who have user codes set up, every time a new employee is added to the equation, I get the call to set up their computers. When, I am asked to set up customers hand held devices, I let the customers know there will be a charge and ask if they are going to pay me or the company they are working for is going to pay me... most of the time they decide to try and set it up themselves after finding out they will be charged.
I always ask the customer if they have an IT dept., if they do I schedule accordingly; if not, I do refer IT professionals I work with for set ups. It's a fine line between IT and box related repairs because every-time the copier is not scanning or printing they call my company, I try to walk them through a few things, first, if that doesn't work, I refer them to the IT company. The company I work clearly states that connectivity to the network is not out responsibility and will be charged accordingly and also some legal jargon about no responsibility for any networking issues arising from basic driver installs.
It's a tough one because every time a customer changes a password, gets a new device, their laptop will not connect, their IT dept. makes changes to the servers, etc. we get the call because they can't print or scan we get the call, first. Also, we have to deal with the lazy IT personal who pass the buck or occasionally get the newbie IT guy who wants to keep you on the phone while they try to resolve the connectivity issue.
I hate to keep on going on about this issue, but just recently my company sold a brand new copier about a moth ago... brand new, the latest and the greatest. We got a call because the copier has lines when they print, when I arrived, I was verbally assaulted by the owner about "what a piece of shit this new copier is" because its putting lines in all of his prints... turns out it's an adobe issue and windows 10, I switched to a postscript driver..... issue resolved. That particular instant is an example of me catching crap because of IT related issues. Once I resolved the issue, I looked the customer straight in the eyes and told them, " you just have to be smarter that the stuff you are using," .... I must confess, though.... I really felt like grabbing them and shaking out the ignorance out of them before I left. Did I mention, I wish I could charge double for ignorance.

I think we need to compile a "checklist" shared to the community here which describes issues for IT to check for BEFORE a copier tech intervenes!...we can start a "list" that is a running total of things to check for!