SHORT: how we might be misunderstanding customer support

After a weekend of attempting to get some relevant info from Squarespace or ebay, I’ve come to the very simple realisation that even online businesses are completely misunderstanding customer support.

I am a power user who’s quite able to search for very basic information when I need help. I can browse FAQs and forum threads easily and try suggested solutions on the spot. I know how to multi task with devices and am able to implement quite complicated instructions. If I ever contact customer support it’s because everything else has failed.

It seems to me, however, that what we have in customer support is a huge bunch of people who are just there to parrot what the forums or searches already tell anyone who’s not a complete internet moron. Calling, for this generation, is the last resort. Why would I call to get the exact info I found going online? I only call because I need someone with real, deep knowledge of specific situational errors who can truly identify my problem and solve it.

To have a call center and populate it with people who read from your FAQs and forum threads is downright bad business.