Getting Better Customer Service

by DanB

It’s frustrating. You try to get customer service so you open the chat window and wait while you use the clunky process of chat to communicate your issue. Once I was using chat and suspected it was an answer robot on the end. Even asked if I was speaking with human or a robot. He called me shortly after. We resolved the issue.

Sometimes you call in and sit on hold for ever.

Maybe you email and hope they understand your question or issue.

I have run into all of these in the past. Enter a super useful free product called Jing. You can find Jing here:

http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html

It is free. I was going to make a video for you but the Jing folks have already done that for you. Just check at the link above.

So when I have an issue – like a website misbehaving. I use Jing to create a video of the issue as it happens. Jing automatically uploads the video then puts a link to it on my clipboard. I open an email to tech support and include the link to the video. If the answer from tech support doesn’t address the issue I simply send the original email and say “obviously you didn’t watch the video I sent so please watch that first and answer the actual question.” It rarely takes more than two tries.

The use I have for Jing is when friend, family, or clients write and ask me how to do some task on their computer. I will usually just record myself doing it and send them the link to the video.

Overall Jing is easy to use and I find lots of uses for it. TechSmith, the makers of Jing, have some more powerful tools for making screen captures and movies. These products, Snagit and Camtasia, are very powerful and I use them too. Anytime you see a picture of a computer screen or a video here on TNPC you can sure I have used those tools to make those.

This article is an example of a short movie I generated on using screen rulers:

http://www.tnpcnewsletter.com/blog/2012/06/07/cool-tool-screen-rulers/

This article has a screenshot I annotated with Snagit:

http://www.tnpcnewsletter.com/blog/2013/04/12/fixing-google-cant-be-reached-errors/

So give Jing a try and see if it helps you. If you have used Jing or another screen capture software tell us about it below.

Dan

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Fixing Google Can’t Be Reached Errors

by DanB

So you are using Google Chrome and it won’t let you load anything from Google. The errors that show range from “webpage may be down” to “app is unavailable” to “Error 15 (net::ERR_SOCKET_NOT_CONNECTED): Unknown error.” If you are seeing any of these here is a fix that worked for me.

First open a new tab in Chrome then do the following:

  1. In URL field type: chrome://net-internals/#sockets
  2. If the Sockets tab didn’t open click Sockets on the left
  3. Click the Flush Socket Pools button.

That should fix it. If you are still having problems try clicking the Close idle sockets button.

Here is what this looks like on my screen:

Flush Sockets in Chrome

Let me know if that helps and if you have run into the problem yourself.

Dan

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About Those Links

by DanB

Several people write asking about the links in my emails. The email shows one thing but the actual link points to “clicks.aweber”. What is that about? This is nothing to worry about and quite normal.

Aweber is my email service provider. They take care of sending the emails, bounces, and all sorts of other things. They also count the number of times the links in the emails are clicked. I do not get a list of who clicked what just a total number of clicks on each link. That is it.

If your click being counted is troubling to you all you need to do is copy the visible link and paste it into your web browser.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. To visit the blog and read the quick tips we sent out this week you can go here:

http://www.TNPCnewsletter.com/blog/

If you hold your mouse over the link it should popup and show you the link underneath which is a “clicks.aweber” link. Clicking the link will take you to “clicks.aweber”, count your click, then send you on to the blog. Pretty simple really.

I have used Aweber for more than 10 years and knew the people who started it for years before that. If you need to send email to a group, or updates I can recommend the service without reservation:

Aweber Email Services

If you want to read more about how to know if a link is harmful or not read this:

http://www.tnpcnewsletter.com/blog/2007/06/21/i-almost-fell-for-it…/

Hope that explains what we are doing a bit. Share your opinion in the comments below.

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Some More Quick Tips

by DanB

It’s wacky. All the end of the world talk and the date is still in the future. Thankfully it isn’t as hyped as Y2K was. Nevertheless I posted this at 12:12 on 12/12/12. I’m sure I’m not the only one but this is most likely the last chance I will have to do something with all the times/dates in synch.

The last 2 little tricks were well received. If you read the comments you will see I had a disagreement with one use over the use of “@example.com”. I still think you should only use “@example.com” when entering a random address. You never know who you may have to deal with the email otherwise.

Click here if you missed those tips

Here are a couple of more quick tips for getting information under control.

When I sign up for automated email lists I never use my real name. My current favorite is Sponge Bob. When I see mail addressed to Sponge I know it isn’t personal and can wait till later to read it or just hit delete. It amuses my children too. I used to use Jed Clampitt until a customer of mine was really named Jed Clampitt! I thought the emails from him were tests I had sent.

Having said that please keep your real name with me. As you know I do answer personally and do remember conversations with you over time. I appreciate it.

Here is another idea. When you are fill in a form that requires an address put this in the second address line:

do *not* send unsolicited mail

Any mail the company sends you will have that line in the address. Even if the company sells your address the line is usually still there and you can easily sort the mail. Any mail I receive with that in the address gets immediately trashed.

If the form wants your phone number I always try BR549. That rarely works but amuses me. Failing that I use a free Google Voice number that is set to go directly to Voicemail. The exception to this is when ordering something. Then I use the Google Voice number in case the company has a question.

If you wonder why BR549 then count yourself younger than me!

Using some of these easy techniques can really help you cut into the information overload and give you back control of your time and attention.

Leave a comment below and let me know if you use these or have another idea.

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2 Simple Email Tricks

December 6, 2012

It’s frustrating. You find a website with some information you really want but they want your email address first. You already receive lots of email and do not really know. A client asked me about this recently. Here are a few ideas I shared. First, when a web site asks for your email don’t just [...]

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Helpful Microsoft Office Tool

November 1, 2012

It’s frustrating. Microsoft went and changed to the Ribbon and I still can not find all the commands I want to use. Turns out the one I was looking for, Auto Summarize, is not there at all. Very frustrating. Usually I just typed “Word 2010 xxxx” where xxxx was the command I was after. Then [...]

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