support Archives - Ask Leo!

Why Don’t Companies Answer My Email?

I got an email the other day from someone who was frustrated that in a couple of cases where he’d sent emails to particular sites informing them of issues he was having, he never got a response.

Now, to speak for myself, I can’t reply to every email, I just don’t have time. (Though I did answer this one.) And, to be brutally honest, email’s not the best way to contact me with a question – the ask a question page is.

But I know it’s a common problem – you need help, want to report an issue with a site or service, you send email and …

Nothing.

Let’s examine some of the reasons that might result in your receiving no response.

When Does Support End for Other Versions of Windows?

Leo, we know that support ends for Windows XP in a couple of weeks. What do we know about other versions of Windows?

We know quite a bit. In fact, Microsoft maintains a very public list of their end-of-support dates. Let’s go over them and what they mean – because “end-of-support” can mean different things.

Technical Support is Hard

It’s fashionable to criticize the technical support offered by many companies.

And it’s not without good reason. I’ve run into too many instances myself of completely incompetent, incomprehensible, or seemingly robotic technical support.

And yet, after doing Ask Leo! for over a decade, I’ve also developed a lot of sympathy for the folks who are trying to do it right. Ask Leo! affords me a small window onto their world.

There are days where (to put it bluntly) it ain’t pretty.