Relevant Questions for CUSTOMERS !

Questions to ask the Customer:
1. When did the Problem Begin?
2. What Operating System and Service Packs are installed?
3. Does it work in Safe Mode or DOS?
4. Does the problem only occur in a specific program?
5. Has the problem occurred before?
6. Is the system attached to a network? What Type?
7. If Win9x or Win2k how do affected devices look in device manager?
8. Has any Hardware or Software been added to the system?
9. What BIOS revision are you running? (have you checked BIOS settings, Flashed BIOS)
10. Have we eliminated CRU’s - (Reseat, Swap, Clean contacts on memory/drives)
11. Have the Diagnostics been run (specific like 3com, HDD90/90 or Dell Diags)
12. How long has the system been running? (could the problem be heat related)
13. Can the problem be reproduced? (Try to reproduce the problem)
These questions are commonly used to narrow the scope of the problem. All 13 are not necessarily applicable in every scenario. Using them relevantly will enhance call control and customer experience by: not making the customer repeat questions up front then have to re-answer them when the decision tree asks again in the detailed troubleshooting and keep the customer’s confidence that you are in control. Some questions are irrelevant depending on the particular problem the customer is having. The following examples show times in which particular questions are totally irrelevant:

· “Does it work in Safe Mode or DOS?” Would not be a relevant question if the problem that the customer is experiencing is a no power issue.
· “Does the problem occur in a specific program?” Is not a relevant question if the system is not booting to the Operating System.
· “What BIOS rev are you running?” Would be irrelevant if the system is experiencing no video on any output.
· “What Operating System and Service Packs are installed?” Would be irrelevant if the customer’s problem is the system won’t boot to the CD-Rom drive.
· “Is the system attached to a network?” Isn’t relevant when the customer issue is getting memory errors just after POST.
· “Does the problem occur in a specific program?” Would be irrelevant if the customer is calling for assistance in installing the OS.
· “How long has the system been running?” Is not a relevant question if the customer is experiencing a No POST?

Be aware to carry these steps into DSN so that you don’t ask repetitive questions once inside a DT that you have already established through earlier investigation. Such as:

“Is the system attached to a network?” and the answer is no. Then once you have gotten into a detailed DT it may ask to remove the system from a network. Through your earlier questions this would not be unnecessary and asking the customer to do this will cause the customers experience to be negatively affected, and could also lose the customer confidence in you.

These are only a few examples of situations where all 13 questions may not be relevant there maybe many more instances in which you will need to determine which question may or may not be relevant. In doing this you will be able to keep the call time to a minimum, get better details on the specifics of the customer’s problem, and provide a better customer experience.