Despite e-mailing Compaq tech support numerous times, Payne is still waiting for a solution to a problem with his Presario. The first was a solution that didn't work, and the others were requests to resend the original message. Ask the companies, and they'll say that their customers are demanding it. Already more than 80 percent of our customers rely on the Web site for support, and the average customer finds a solution to their problem in less than 3 clicks or 5 minutes. But the shift toward online support isn't purely altruistic.
Cost plays a major role.
It's cheaper for companies to receive tech support questions online than it is to pay an army of tech support professionals to field calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Automating the collection of basic information about your system saves you and the support person time and makes it easier to maintain a central database of problems and their solutions. And finally, responding via e-mail is usually quicker for the tech than talking a customer through a fix. Chances are, if you have a question, someone else has already asked it. Most companies probably won't eliminate telephone support any time soon.