[nfbcs] How not to do tech support

[Greg Kearney]

I keep wondering whose brother-in-law is making all that money on those devices.
This problem would be simply saw by making the bills shorter as the denomination decreases so the shortest go would be one and the longest bill 100s.
I experimented with this by taking a set of bills from 20s down to the ones and cutting each denomination down by 1 cm.
It turns out that change machines are not dependent upon the length of the bill and so I cut five will work just as well as one that’s the regular length. By having the bills different ones you can make a simple plastic pill reader that would cost less than a penny to make and woodwork every time.

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 2, 2019, at 1:56 PM, Kevin via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Yes you will get that sort of rif raf.  I don't do that.  When someone comes to me with a problem I work towards a goal.  Maybe this guy got paid to keep you on the phone.  Maybe he just didn't want to work.  Welcome to the real world my friend.  It's horrible isn't it?
> 
> 
>> On 5/2/2019 11:01 AM, Jack Heim via nfbcs wrote:
>> I just had the worst tech support experience in my entire life.  My bill identifier gadget from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing stopped working. First, the guy at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing tech support kept telling me we had to follow a protocol. He spent way more time reminding me that there was a protocol than asking me tech support questions. I didn't actually say anything but I wanted to shout, "Would you please stop telling me there is a protocol and just follow the dam protocol!"
>> 
>> But as we talked, it became ever more apparent that there is no protocol. If the guy was following a protocol, it is the most bizarre, random protocol ever. He must have asked me 5 times if I dropped the thing. Clearly, he was making it up as he went.
>> 
>> And then, to top it all off, he tried to convince me that the reason the gadget was not working was that I put the wrong brand of batteries in it. I went to the store, bought some random brand of batteries. They turned out being Ray-O-Vac alkaline. Not good enough, apparently. They have to be Duracell or Eveready. When I called back after getting sighted assistance to find out the brand of batteries, the guy is like, "So you didn't read the instructions."
>> 
>>  I am not about to argue with this bozo but
>> I would have loved to say, "Are you telling me that  when a court ordered the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to give blind people a way to tell bills apart, you gave them a device that does not work with Ray-O-Vac batteries? Nobody said, "You know, we might have a problem because blind people are probably going to put Ray-O-Vac batteries in this thing."  That did not occur to anybody at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing?
>> 
>> Of course, the whole thing is BS. It's not the battery. The device is defective. It needs to be replaced.  Well, the guy eventually did get there. They are sending me a new one.
>> 
>> PS: Yes, I know I am insane for insisting on using this gadget. I know there are smart phone apps. Please do not respond by telling me these things.
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