HP tech support/sales representative = YOU GOTTA BE F*cking kidding me

Okay, I went to Staples one day, and on the laptop section where there were bunch of laptops, there was this one woman from HP and she claimed that HP sent her as tech support/sales representative. Curious of how much she would actually know about HP laptops, I asked her couple of questions. (pretending I don't know anything about computers)

1. What's the performance and battery life difference between AMD Athlon X2 (TK-55) and Core 2 Duo (T7100) Santa Rosa?

Answer= No difference what so ever. (O___O) AMD is very equal in terms of performance to Santa Rosa. Now I don't know anything about what it will do to the battery life, but I assume it will be similar also.

2. What's the difference between nVidia 7150M and Intel X3100?

Answer= What I would check and see is how much memory it has, like for this one this has 511MB of memory that you can use, and for this one this one only has 383MB of memory

3. Difference between Matte and Glossy Screens? Any disadvantages or advantages over one another?

Answer= Glossy is newer, and better screen. Image quality is more crisp, and if you are doing any photos, gaming, or watching movies, the experience would be much more enjoyable (okay, I would at least give her part credit on this one)

4. What's the weight difference between 14 inch (2500t) and 15 inch? (C700)

Answer= Very Similar. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if 15 inch is lighter than 14 inch screen cause it is newer model. As technology improves we figure out ways to make weight lighter... blah blah blah...

5. What's this? (HDMI)

Answer= I think that is (looks) an HDMI port. It's like another USB but you can also send the signal to your TV, camcorder, and many other electronics appliances. It's a very useful port.


Okay guys, this is word to word, NO Exaggeration what-so-ever. They sent this ignorant *****, as a tech support/sales representative from HP. HP's, when you call tech support, Your phone will be answered by THese guys. Damn, give high school freshmen girls that job HP. they'll surely do better.

 

if u have such problems then dont buy from them!

 

no, you don't get it

 

Since when does HP send out sales reps to chain stores? I admit I don't get out much but I kinda doubt she was really sent out by HP, more likely she was a Staples employee that took a 1 hour 'puter class a couple years ago. Really there is no way to know at this point, nor is it worth arguing about on an online forum. I spent some time looking around at laptops before I bought my HP online and just about every sales rep that approached me knew jack squat about computers, but they tried to act like they knew what they were talking about...its just human nature. Most of these employees are paid minimum wage with very little education so its no surprise that you wouldn't get answers that made a lot of sense.

 

Yea, I had an experience similar to a Dell rep at a kiosk. I just went and asked him a bunch of questions that I knew the answers to just to see what he knows.

The best parts was when I was asking about Conroe (Intel Core 2 code name) and he started telling me they don't plan to open up any other kiosks in Utah. I was thinking, wow, this guy thinks Conroe is a city in Utah, lol.

Also, I give her no credit for the screen answer as both screens have their pros and cons, and obviously, she neglected to mention the cons of the glossy screen, not to mention pro or cons of the matte. Very sad indeed.

 

I want to know the pros & cons of both!

Please tell!

 

who cares? no one listens to them anyway

 

Well, she either does not know a lot about computers or she is brilliant. I work tech support and if I had someone that told me or I thought didn't know a lot about laptops, I would treat them the same way. you are always suppose to dumb down your knowledge to the person you are talking to.

For instance, when you asked her about the HDMI port she related it to a USB port, something everyone knows about and she obviously knew what its function was, no?

 

I have a feeling she was there for eye candy. Usually they're there to sell stuff and the product they represent which "looks" better with them. It's like the models on a car show. Ask them one thing about the car and they just smile.

 

....wow.....

 

I really don't see much wrong with any of those answers. That exactly the type of answer I would give to anyone in a store who probably doesn't know much about computers. Posting here and making fun of it is just childish, because you clearly don't understand the real world. I would certainly not expect any sales person to get into an in-depth debate about the pros/cons of a glossy screen vs matte screen, or any of those other topics.

Everyone has the same capacity to learn, and some people choose to learn different things. While you have been inside reading computer web sites all day, someone else has been working on cars, learning to play a musical instrument, learning to cook a nice meal, or learning how to get a date.

The attitude that anyone who doesn't know a lot about computers is stupid is plain wrong, and it's this type of post and bashing that gives everyone in the computer industry a bad name. Grow up, go outside, and become part of the rest of the world.

 

*Sigh, an HP lover I suppose?
Come on, EVEN For the stupidest blonds who can't even spell computers, HP sales/TECH SUPPORT rep have to at least tell you these 1. they can at least tell you C2D is newer and has better performance/ battery life directly compared to AMD athlon X2 2. WHAT THE ****? can't they say this is an integrated graphics or something like that? 3. She didn't know a thing about matte screen. 4. HDMI and USB doesn't go together, sorry

I am not making fun of it at all. This is dead serious. I was intending to tell you the reality of how unknowledgeable and misguiding these guys are who call themselves sales/tech support rep. And if I am giving the industry or a company a bad name, so they deserve it.

well I am not talking about anyone is it? =D

I make 22 bucks an hour as a assistant computer designer and I can't even legally smoke yet. I think I am a mature person who is already part of the world, and perhaps a better part then someone who just bashes by post with illogical arguments because they are personally offended because their favorite brand got trashed for their uneducated tech support rep embarrassing themselves in front of consumers for their low knowledge on the computers they sell and support. Now, that's childish and immature

P.S

I disagree =)

 

Capacity & Impetus are two entirely separate things.

 

Why bother torturing someone trying to earn a living when you really don't need to. Sounds simply like a case of a superiority complex.

 

Nice straw man. Completely irrelevant, but no, I'm just someone who thinks extremism and superiority complexes are a bad thing. And so is making fun of people for no reason.

WHAT? OH MY GOD?!!? Some sales person is not completely fluent in the voltage and internal CPU differences between computer chips? You mean they don't know that the power/performance optimization done in the Centrino chipset is clearly superior to the power/performance optimization done for AMD chips? Not to mention that Centrino is a complete chipset, while AMD must use another vendor's chipset for support on the motherboard? And the fact that even seasoned professionals are so confused by intel's naming scheme over the past few years that they had to change their naming scheme. STOP THE PRESSES!!

If someone knew stuff like that, they would not be a sales person.

In the retail channel you have no choice. If you want specific parts, you should go to the site and build your own. Sales in the retail channel would not need to know about that. For the consumer that doesn't know, it doesn't matter, and for the consumer that does know, they don't need the sales person. And matte screens are not available on any of these laptops, so there's no reason to know about it either.

Yes, you are. You ran into someone who you think is inferior to you because you know all of the ins and outs of a computer system and they don't. Then you posted to an online forum to publicly make fun of them.

Whoever this person is might be an really good singer, or a painter, or loves to read classic mystery novels -- who just chose to spend their time doing something other than learning about computers for 12 hours a day. Maybe if you got into a discussion about the experiences of raising a child or fixing a car (or something you know nothing about), you would have felt totally pwned by them, and they'd be posting to another web site about some idiot they met while at work who didn't know anything about XYZ.

You are. You're making a judgement about anyone who is trying to make a living, probably not doing something they like, but just trying to pay the rent.

If you can't legally smoke yet, then no, you are not mature. It may feel that way, but once you get older (and if you're paying attention), you will notice that you will always have something to learn in the next stage of life. No matter how mature you thought you were when you were younger, you'll realize that you weren't. That will be your own self-assessment.

And then back to the straw man, because I'm not talking about HP at all. I'm talking about your attitude toward people who have chosen to educate themselves, or not, in something other than what you have chosen.

That's not a point of opinion. You're free to disagree with whatever you want, even if you're wrong.

 

Very well said.
My grain of salt would be that in life you learn at any age how to acquire education and good manners without illegally smoking crack or anything else.

 

On the other hand she might have been smarter than you. Have you ever thought that she might have played you and acted dumb? Some women are cunning when they feel that someone is testing them and it's a way of getting rid of an unwanted pest. It's like "oh no, not another one"!

 

I know what HP should do!!!

They should fire her sorry $10 per hour *** and hire a salaried technician who has a degree and has passed all the required certifications for $50,000 a year. Then they should raise the prices on all their laptops to compensate, and have you, the consumer, pay more for good service. Then you'll complain about the high cost of laptops, so they'll start outsourcing tech support, and fire the technician, and go back to the $10 per hour girl. Rinse and repeat.

 

Lithus always brings up the best points when it come to this stuff.

 

=D Lithus, you are right =D

Regarding to Orev, *Sigh sorry for bad trash there, I was just really pissed yesterday in general... =P Although I don't understand what Zukiki was saying... But I'll make myself clear, once again. I wasn't trying to make fun of HP. I was serious. But perhaps now I realized that level of knowledge in computers are different for everybody, and perhaps I shouldn't have expected a high level answer from sales/tech rep.

 

Ok, here’s the scoop (sorry for my bad English, by the way)

I work in a Staples (Bureau En Gros) store in Quebec, CANADA. When an HP representative comes to our store, it’s usually to give/inform us about Hp product promotions [don’t know why, but it’s usually printers [lolll]]. Also, these representatives usually don't even stay for more then 20-30mins in the store. All they do is come in the store; give out the goodies, inform the Staples (Bureau En Gros) staff about these promotions and leave to another Staples store nearby to hand out more goodies.

FWI: If your job was to sell products to people who don’t even know how a UBS KEY works; you have to dumb-down your conversation in order to facilitate the “selling of a product”. All of her replies were indeed acceptable and comprehensive enough so that the dumbest buyer actually understood the function of the product.

Conventional buyers usually DON’T CARE about the difference between Glossy/Mate, CPU, GPU, etc. They come to find products in their price range and that are msn messenger and internet explorer ready.
…and as for HDMI, she is right from a potential buyer point of view. If someone doesn’t know the concept of HDMI but know’s the concept of USB, well its logical to associate one with the other, since they both have to be PLUGED and she even tells you the right input-anwser “send the signal to your TV, camcorder, and many other electronics appliances.” So at least we know that she is specifying to what the “HDMI” is connecting to, it’s not as if she said it was connected to a printer [lolll].

When you sell these products to them, you have to realize that you might loose your customer, thus risking the product Not being Sold. That’s why in general, the best way to sell a product is to just Keep It Simple and Easy to Understand. I’ve never went in-depth after 1 year of selling laptops/desktops with any customer (unless the client REALLY wanted to know), because they just don’t care about technological differences as long as it can play their 9.99$ games, chat on Msn messenger (live messenger, whatever….), run Office & properly/smoothly run Vista (since it launched).
Again, sorry for my bad English… tried my best to make this as comprehensive as possible.

 

Yes you got it. Ordinary people are only concerned if the laptop can do what they have to do. Bottom line is sales. People who talk technical essentially is wasting time by challenging the salespersons knowledge and at the end won't buy. Once I overheard a customer asking the difference between two laptops with different chips and after a brief "education" from the salesman (which was correct BTW), she looked confused and asked the basic question.. Can it do what I have to do? The salesman actually saved her money and recommended the lower priced laptop.

 

Yeah, I often try to find the right product and not just sell a laptop/desktop/printer/router/(whatever… because its bells & whistles are better for something they don’t really need.