Client refuses to listen and puts ticket in perpetual limbo

Posted by AnEldritchWriter@reddit | talesfromtechsupport | View on Reddit | 105 comments

I work for the state doing IT work for other state gov offices, specifically my team handles phone support (Teams phones, VoIP phones, occasionally headsets) Usually it’s pretty bland stuff, but yesterday afternoon I got a ticket that this one office needs updates to their call tree (basically, for those who don’t know, it’s where you call a number and you get the option to press 1 for x 2 for y, it can get a little more complicated because you can press 1 for x and then it can prompt you to press 1-5 for abcde)

This ticket, tragically, was not a simple update some names and numbers to account for new/leaving employees. It was a full blown overhaul. Great. Wonderful. Perfect. I did the parts I am able to do (update names, remove/add blind transfers etc) but there were three sections I can’t do where the gal wanted specific blind transfer lines rebuilt into miniature call trees. That is done by High Point. No problem, I put a ticket in for HP, and they responded that they will need main menu recordings from this office for those three new call tree branches before they can proceed.

I go on the OG ticket and explain this to the gal, that HP is working on the remaining sections as that is handled by them and not our office, what they need, and that she can email the recordings to me and I will send them to the HP tech we’re working with. Simple, right? God no.

I’m pretty sure she just straight up ignored what I said, as she instead began demanding a “list” of what their call flow looks like because I gave them one before (the whole reason I sent her a screenshot of the call tree on her last ticket was bc she wanted a section that did not exist on the call tree to be updated and was flipping out about me making things difficult, when in reality she gave me the wrong call tree to be updated) but I conceded. I told her that the call tree end result won’t look any different from the template she attached for what she wants done, and explicitly told her that this is not complete, that sections xyz are being handled by HighPoint and they are waiting for the main menu recordings from her. That was end of day yesterday.

I log in today, hoping that things will be better. What a fool I am for that.

She’s sent me multiple emails before I even got to my desk complaining about how the call tree isn’t finished, how she needs sections xyz updated to look like so and so, why am I sending her this if it’s not complete, blah blah, blah. She was complaining about everything I told her is being handled by HP. So I reiterate to her, for the fourth damn time, that I can’t make any changes to those sections, there is a ticket in with HP to update those in accordance to the template you sent us, but they will not proceed until you send in the new main menu recordings. We are literally in limbo on this ticket because we’re waiting on her.

There’s been no resolution yet since she hasn’t gotten back to me (or answered my calls) but this is just going to be a long circus dealing with her.

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GelatinousSalsa@reddit

At that point I would just email her manager and asked if they still need this work done or if it can be cancelled

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warpedspockclone@reddit

Email her manager and ask if they still need this employee

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NewUserWhoDisAgain@reddit

Yeah at this point it would be a CC to their manager and yours that the ticket isn't finished and the reason why it isnt finished is because we're waiting for YOU(the client) to finish your job.

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z0phi3l@reddit

That was my first though too, email and CC ALL the managers, otherwise dingdong will provide any info.

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Elevated_Misanthropy@reddit

\^This is de way.

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Bubbly-Confidence724@reddit

High Point, NC?

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Shadaez@reddit

some people do not read and make huge assumptions instead. its very strange

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anubisviech@reddit

I was wondering for a solid minute what "main menu recordings" meant.

I guess that's the voice that says "press X for Y"? I was under the assumption those get generated from text.

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Palmovnik@reddit

As stated in my previous emails,
ADD THE FUCKING RECORDINGS IN AN ATTACHMENT AND LEARN TO READ.

What we all wish to write.

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bassman314@reddit

I write that out, and then delete it.

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nowildstuff_192@reddit

I'm paranoid about that. I'm terrified I'll accidentally send it or it'll sit in my drafts and get discovered at some point. If I have to get something nasty off my chest, I go to notepad lol.

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mrPythonMonty@reddit

The fun begins when you hit send instead of delete 🤷😜

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bassman314@reddit

Truthfully, that email usually gets written in Notepad++, and not Salesforce….

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anomalous_cowherd@reddit

When I do this I always ALWAYS start by entering non-existent user 'dontsendyet' in the To: field, so I am guaranteed to get a last chance to spot it if I send by mistake. It survives into drafts too.

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mrPythonMonty@reddit

You click reply, then remove the recipients and put your nonexistent recipient? Quite a lot of work 😜

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anomalous_cowherd@reddit

No, you just add that one as well as all the others. It tells you it can't find it before sending it to any of them. I use it while I'm selecting a long list of To and CC and BCCs as well.

Test that with your system before relying on it!

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mrPythonMonty@reddit

Well, that would work with internal company emails, but not for external, you might get a undeliverable reply but many have removed this too for security…

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anomalous_cowherd@reddit

As soon as I press send it tells me I have an unknown recipient to sort out. Nothing is sent out at all.

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mrPythonMonty@reddit

Kay, got you know, not an email just a string that does not represent a recognizable email! 👍

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anomalous_cowherd@reddit

That's the one. I just use "dontsendyet" so I can tell myself why I need to look again, that name turns up in the popup message.

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z0phi3l@reddit

Start the email with: As per our last conversation, and email, we need..

And CC both managers

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saxon237@reddit

As a local government it employee, I so agree

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Centimane@reddit

I'd guess this is a miscommunication because there's too much info in the email and the user is skimming.

Users and Microsoft support are like mushrooms. You keep them in the dark and feed them shit.

Your email could be as short as:

hello user, the ticket is blocked until I recieve recording XYZ from you. Kind regards, AnEldritchWriter

Don't include any extra info in the email. Don't tell them about HP or the old templates or the new templates or anything else.

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neomatrixj2@reddit

My boss is like this and it's infuriating, I got the I'm not reading all that tell it to me later all the time.

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commentsrnice2@reddit

My own father would do that to me and I’m like it’s not a technical manual. It’s an email with literally three or less sentences. It will take you longer to ask me to describe it and I’m literally just going to read it verbatim IF you force my hand

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MindlessMage777@reddit

I would add something like "as previously stated" or "per my prior emails".

Otherwise the user WILL get mad and say you never said you needed it. But definitely keep it to maybe one line, under 20-30 words.

Interestingly, double spacing lines if you need to send more info helps with skimmers, especially if the critical actions are their own line.

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StormBeyondTime@reddit

I've taken to putting the actionable stuff in tiny easy to digest bites first, then all the other necessary-but-not-this-minute info in slightly longer and chewier sections.

Cuts down on the annoying questions I've already answer. But sometimes I swear they're using an optical reader to scan for keywords instead of even glancing with eyeballs.

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Centimane@reddit

At this point the user is going to be mad until the end of the exchange no matter what you do. Best thing to do is get it over with quickly. If they want to make a stink after the fact you can bring up all the emails and demonstrate how it all went down.

But I also think OP probably needs to hone their skills talking to users.

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anomalous_cowherd@reddit

At this stage I am writing it all down very clearly so that it's very obvious to all the managers THEY will try to involve where the issue lies.

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Kamikaze_Wombat@reddit

Yeah I've noticed both sales people and tier 1 vendor support tend to only read the first question then stop reading after that.

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Palmovnik@reddit

The hardest thing for me to still learn is not to ask users more than 1 question in an email...

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Centimane@reddit

You could, but theres definitely a limit and you would very much need to keep it brief and be ready to resend the unanswered questions.

hello user

I have a couple questions regarding the new meeting room:

How many chairs are needed?

Do you need a projector?

Regards

Centimane

If they send back "5", then you have to send a new email only asking if they need a TV. But that is kinda relying on the fact the answers are different types. If they were both numeric questions it may not work.

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RandomITtech@reddit

Bullet points for questions are strictly mandatory if asking more than a single question.

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DantesDame@reddit

I use numbers. That way it is more obvious that there are 3 questions, not just random dots on the page.

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Rathmun@reddit

I resend all the questions every time.

As per my previous email, I require answers to all eleven questions to proceed. * Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
* etc...

Because if I don't, they will have changed their mind about question 7 by the time I've asked 1-6 and 11 five more times, and get angry I didn't just know that the answer to 7 is different now. Demanding all eleven answers in the same email either annoys them until they go away, or gives me a single requirements document I can roll up and smack their metaphorical nose with later.

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Sofa_King_We_Todd@reddit

I would respond to the number with 5 of the item that you really never need 5 of like so we will have 5 projectors available for you, will that be all?

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Adium@reddit

That's when you reply back asking if they plan on putting down a deposit for the 5 projectors.

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lesethx@reddit

Had that with a boss. More than 1 question would just have a reply of "Yes." Yes to which question, Mike?!

The most successful way to get questions answered was to email him and then either call him or find him to go over the email together in person. But the email was still necessary to go back to later (only mildly as CYA)

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K1yco@reddit

This works for me until I get the one person every so often that wants me to ask all the questions I'm going to ask in one email or don't email them back at all.

Now, some questions I have to ask will depend on the answer I get from them, because I'm not psychic and asking them question for every permeation is not feasible. I'll maliciously comply though because "every question I need to ask" is just the one, so I reply with just the one question I do need. This usually sends them in a blind rage and they tell me to never reply to them again.

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AnEldritchWriter@reddit (OP)

Which I fine funny tbh because I thought the original was pretty to the point.

”Sections 2-5 have been completed. However Sections 1, 6-8 require a full reconstruction; I have put in a ticket to High Point to have that completed.” followed by >> ”A HP technician has reached out: they will be unable to proceed with building the call tree until given the pre-recorded main menu messages for Sections 1, 6-8. You can record them on your computer and email it as an attachment to me and I will add them to the HP ticket.”

I’m just using “section” as placeholders for the call tree groups actual names for anonymity. The gal knows what the menu messages are, so it’s not as if she’s tripped up wondering what that is.

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BoredComputerGuy@reddit

I would consider a more active voice vs passive voice in the response.
ie. I need the voice recordings in order to finish your request. vs A HP technician has reached out: they will be unable to proceed with building the call tree until given the pre-recorded main menu messages

You could also ask, "who will provide the voice recordings?"

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TinyNiceWolf@reddit

Or "We are waiting for you to provide the three voice recordings listed previously. You must provide them before this work can be completed."

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SpecificWorldliness@reddit

Sometimes you gotta dumb it down even more and only state what you need from them with nothing more. Leave it at: "To complete the requested work, Sections 1, 6-8 will require new pre-recorded main menu messages. Please provide these at your soonest availability" and give them no other info until they've sent what you need.

Telling them that this part is done but this other part is not and now it's with someone else to be completed all before you even get to what you need from the user is just going to distract and confuse.

What you sent was definitely short and to the point, but every bit of extra information provided just acts as another tripping point for the end user. Even if you're only sending a couple sentences, assume they will not read to the end of your message. If you don't point a giant neon sign at the action items needed right at the start, they won't even see that they're there.

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Ladymistery@reddit

Too much 'blah blah blah'

Dear user,

this cannot be completed until main menu message is recorded to reflect changes and submitted.

AnEldritchWriter

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Ich_mag_Kartoffeln@reddit

It's not OP's job to simplify a basic email for idiots like this. If they can't be bothered/don't have the skills to read and comprehend an email, then the idiot's manager needs to know this.

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Centimane@reddit

It sounds like communicating with users is a part of OPs job.

The reality is its a skill to effectively communicate with non-technical users.

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LeomundsTinyButt_@reddit

It's great for technical users too. I'm a developer for CAE software, and handle support on occasion (all devs take turns doing it). The users are all technical, most of them know more about the application domain than I do. And they're pretty good at troubleshooting the simple stuff, most of our tickets are stuff that's really hard to figure out without diving into the bowels of the implementation.

I still keep answers clear and concise, separate my questions into bullet points, and don't give them more information than they need. Users are busy, I am busy, and when they miss the point it wastes time for both of us. On occasion, I'll get a reply saying "can you explain further so I'll be able to fix it myself in the future?", and for those I'll happily write a guide with details, equations and examples. But most people are happy to just fix the problem and move on, so that's what I aim for.

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Ich_mag_Kartoffeln@reddit

If OP has given them all the information required in clear English, then it's the lusers problem if they can't comprehend it. Sure, if they reply asking for clarification about something, then OP needs to explain it further.

But when they're just not reading what is written in front of them, it's time to let the manglers (OP's and the luser's) fight it out.

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JoshuaPearce@reddit

At some point it's not a conversation. It's barely an explanation. It's just a statement which exists as an atom of information.

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Centimane@reddit

User's will get an explanation only once they demonstrate they can handle them

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robstrosity@reddit

Yes unfortunately there are a lot of users who just ignore stuff they don't understand. This sounds like a perfect example. She doesn't know or care who HP are, she just wants her updates.

All you can do is keep communication simple so that she can't get distracted by shiny things

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NDaveT@reddit

Yes unfortunately there are a lot of users who just ignore stuff they don't understand.

And feel perfectly justified in doing so.

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sexytokeburgerz@reddit

99% sure OP types too much

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LadyA052@reddit

I'd suggest you list every time you have requested the information. Every email. CC whoever is above her.

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Centimane@reddit

Extra information will distract the user. Thats really the premise of the problem.

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KelemvorSparkyfox@reddit

I don't get this. I've never got this.

If I get a response from someone who's helping me, I read it. If I don't see what I think is the answer to my question, I swear under my breath, get a drink, and reads it again. Usually, that time away helps me to pick up whaet I missed the first time around.

If I miss it again, I start composing a reply line-by-line within the body of their message. This either finally shows me what I need to do, or highlights that they've missed the point.

Every time this comes up, I'm more and more convinced that I have some form of neural spiciness. And that neurotypicals should not be allowed unsupervised access to communications technology.

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Specialist_Current98@reddit

I work IT for a private business that mainly deals with the medical industry (GP’s, small scale practices). I feel this pain on an immense level, for how intelligent doctors are, some of them are just plain stupid. Had a ticket yesterday where a specific app was freezing up on their server. No problems, just gotta log in and remotely close all the instances of this app and they’ll be good to go. This one doctor just wouldn’t listen, kept launching the app while I was trying get the situation sort and then complaining it’s not fixed, despite being told directly about 5 times to be patient for 5 minutes while I can fix the issue. It was then my fault for not doing my job properly even though when I finally listened I was able to fix the issue quickly.

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Sofa_King_We_Todd@reddit

I tend to be petty in situations like this, if the doctor is putting up that much of a fuss, ask a nurse or orderly what to do about a mental patient that is dressed like a doctor complaining about something I told him was being fixed and isn't currently working.

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RayEd29@reddit

You know, the system would run so much smoother if it weren't for the users....

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bhambrewer@reddit

This is not an IT issue, this is a personnel issue. Refer it to management.

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Fallen_Jalter@reddit

does your company have a policy where to close (and prevent reopen) on nonense tickets or uncooperative stuff like that?

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AnEldritchWriter@reddit (OP)

There is, but since this is a legitimate ticket I can’t just close it bc she’s being difficult. At best on this one, if she ghosts all forms of communication for so many days I can close it.

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_Mayhem_@reddit

Ah the old "NILM x3" loophole. I loved those. Until they called back in and bitched about it not being resolved.

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tofuroll@reddit

Null Interpretation of Life's Meaning?

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Sceptically@reddit

Never Interfere with Lunatics' Mistakes.

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jason_55904@reddit

Negative for Intraepithelial Lesion or Malignancy?

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Stryker_One@reddit

NILM? Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring?

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runamok@reddit

At this point any reason not to record the new sections yourself or with a voice generator? Basically IMO never insert the user into the productive flow if possible.

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AnEldritchWriter@reddit (OP)

Short answer: we’re not supposed to.

Long answer: these offices tend to add specifics to their recordings (“under y circumstance please dial x kind of thing) that requires a knowledge about that specific office that we just do not have, and creating a basic bare-bones placeholder recording just creates new problems and new tickets from angry agencies who want their recordings changed because we “didn’t do it right”

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WeezarDK@reddit

Getting it (the prompts) in writing and then using ai/voice gen. not allowed either? Having been in exact same boat on private sector this was the resolution.

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Specialist_Current98@reddit

Yeah this is what we do where I work.

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NotYetReadyToRetire@reddit

If only you were federal instead of state government - the shutdown would help you get the days needed to close the ticket!

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AlexisFR@reddit

It's weird that you guys are handling what should be a project in IT support, that's not your job.

Can't escalate a call tree overall to your network/phone engineers ?

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ShinzonFluff@reddit

Either close the ticket or include their manager in it

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Geminii27@reddit

Put it in your boss's queue. This has gone beyond an IT issue to an HR issue.

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FitChildhood2212@reddit

I sometimes find it useful to send though a draft text. Many people engage with picking holes in drafts.

The team at HP can't proceed without the recordings. I am happy to make the recordings if you can agree the text to be read out. Here are some drafts for you to amend or approve:

**Section 2: ** "Press one to make a complaint, press two to speak to a person."

Etc

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ThunderDwn@reddit

Close the ticket with a note "User ignored requests for required information. Ticket closed due to inability to complete without required information".

Then make her wait a week or so when she re-opens it and screams.

Fuck users who can't read/won't comply with requests

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Sofa_King_We_Todd@reddit

You can just respond with, since you don't wish to provide the necessary information that was asked for, we will be closing the ticket on our end, and CC your supervisor.

Your job is not to drag things out of the client. You have already tried your best with the client already. The ticket can be reopened if they stop being an idiot and provide you with what is needed.

If asked about it, you can just forward all communication that was already provided.

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BrentNewland@reddit

They obviously aren't reading your emails properly, pick up the phone and call them.

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paulcaar@reddit

I like the irony of not reading properly. They did call them, but didn't reach them.

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SCPaddlePirate@reddit

I worked IT for a university. We would often get tickets that needed additional information. We had an unofficial policy that we would reach out to the user with a question. Two days of no response would get a second notice. Two more days would be the third notice. It would then be closed. As expected, many would then respond complaining that we closed their ticket without resolving the issue. Once they were given timestamps of the THREE times they were asked for additional information and there was no response, they would finally provide the info without acknowledging that they dropped the ball.

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bv915@reddit

"Closing ticket due to lack of details provided by customer."

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fencepost_ajm@reddit

"THIS TICKET IS ON HOLD AWAITING INFORMATION/RECORDINGS FROM $USER"

As long as she receives updates for ticket status changes, if you're system will allow it change the status to "Hold-customer action" with something eye catching (as above) that will ideally show on an email subject or 2-line message preview.

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CeruLucifus@reddit

Can you annotate your call tree report to indicate the sections that are being worked on? Something like "High Point ticket #xxxx; needs recordings from client".

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tmstksbk@reddit

Oh, first day in government work, huh?

They aren't sending their best people.

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AnEldritchWriter@reddit (OP)

Five years actually lol; usually the people I work with aren’t so hardheaded.

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tmstksbk@reddit

Just joking. I worked in gov IT also. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's......exhausting.

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ExtremeFamous7699@reddit

I would chase with her line manager directly, requesting the information that you have requested a few time before and that if this is not sent you would consider the request is no longer necessary and close down the ticket along with the one for HP. As it’s my previous experience that the open tickets on the report are not an issue for the requesting party but something that the teams handling the ticket will get flack about when they pass a set amount of time

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KelemvorSparkyfox@reddit

This absolutely needs escalating upwards.

You've told her, four or five times, what is required of her in order to complete her request. If she is unable or unwilling to read and comprehend your messages, that is not your problem. At this point, I would be assigning the ticket to my manager, and adding her manager as a contact.

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turtle_mekb@reddit

TIL there's a name for a call tree

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kagato87@reddit

"I'd be happy to take care of those as soon as you send over the recordings needed!"

Hold fast on that line, reply like that every time. If you write your user responses as verbose as you wrote this post, I promise they aren't reading them. (Maybe 1 or 2 out of a hundred, if you're lucky, will read a longer message).

"Sure, just as soon as you send us the recordings!"

No extra talk. No extra words. No explanations. No unneeded details (the fact that it's going to HP is even more detail than you need to bother with). She's not reading your e-mails.

"Did you send the new recordings? I don't see them, can you re-send them?"

Every single time she shouts and screams, ask her where the recordings are. That's it. Don't give her anything else. When she finally asks why she needs to send them (because she probably will), then you can reiterate that they're for the new branches in the tree, and even provide her with a handy list.

"Can you re-send the new recordings?"

Also bring this ticket up to your manager. Protect yourself. They'll talk to her manager and she'll get slapped around properly. Don't just go over her head as has been suggested, that's risky. Go through your boss, because they can also be objective about how she's behaving, while you can't because you're on the receiving end.

"Where can I find the recordings for the new branches in the call tree?"

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NaoPb@reddit

Sounds extremely frustrated. I'm already annoyed when people only read half of my e-mail or only answer the first question, and not the other 4.

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HerfDog58@reddit

"I'm sorry we haven't been able to complete your request due to your failure to provide the required recordings I've requested four times. Hopefully you'll do better on your next reply."

I've worked public sector for government and education AND done user support in both - Zero F***s left to give.

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opschief0299@reddit

In my old military days, there were some short hand signals that we could send back to a remote location that specifically said "please place competent operator on this switch". Magical.

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RandomITtech@reddit

My favorites are Pebkac, and "Layer-8 issue"

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RandomITtech@reddit

When we need a voice recording for call trees, but they wont send it, we just find the most condescending sounding british text to voice generator, and use that.

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dog2k@reddit

"fourth damn time" "There’s been no resolution yet since she hasn’t gotten back to me (or answered my calls) but this is just going to be a long circus dealing with her."

'nuff said.

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AnEldritchWriter@reddit (OP)

It was poorly worded I realize and sorry bout that 😅 but I meant she hadn’t gotten back to me after I tried explaining the fourth time what was up.

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