September, 2010: New York, N.Y. Recently I worked with some of the greatest names in technology. Between my family, my friends and even a few  frenemies that needed a bit of audio-video-computer home networking advice, I had to deal with Panasonic, Linksys, Sony, Nintendo, Brother, Kodak, Epson, LG, Schlage Lock Co., HP, Sharp, Verizon, Cablevision and several other manufacturers or service providers whose products had to be installed or were acting up and required technical support.

I dealt with two of the oldest names in the business, two companies that were consistently ranked in the top five for decades: Brother’s printer division and Epson’s printer division. My experience now, with both, was horrible horrible horrible! Brother’s online support for their printers whether I was calling about  a Mac or a PC was so bad that they actually asked you to download the wrong drivers, making a Brother multifunction printer non functioning.  Epson’s live human support scared me as a robotic sounding voice from a country I couldn’t figure out  was so inept that they didn’t have their own directions for installing a late model printer. And, of course, after asking me for 1,000 serial numbers and my mother’s maiden name and my phone number…never called me back when they said they were researching the issue. But I will admit that Epson’s printer (when it does work) delivers very good quality. Sadly, I have nothing good to say about Brother.

Conversely, my experience with Kodak, a relatively new name in the printing business, was amazing. The printer’s built-in diagnostics on the product itself, nearly did the trick. But, when I required live support when I changed PCs and misplaced my directions, Kodak answered on the first ring and was fixing the unit while asking me the requisite serial number, and other questions. (Other companies please note: real, helpful customer support is actually possible!)

Now for some more fun and games….

If anyone wondered why Sony has lost its mojo in both quality and coolness to Nintendo, LG, Vizio, Sharp and Panasonic, look no further than its tech support. A recent upgrade to its Play Station 3 gaming system screwed up what was its best component, the built-in Blue Ray Player. Three tries to its tech support group resulted in long waits for a technician and then a curt “Yes we are aware of the problem, but we’re not sure how to fix it, you can send the unit back to us for $154 and please go online with the unit and there might be a patch ready to take care of problem.” That last suggestion was the stupidest since the problem was getting online in the first place.

And since some of Sony’s new TVs are tied into the Play Station and also have their own online content you would think their tech support would be better…but, no, that division is also suffering from layoffs, laziness or just plain incompetence.

In contrast, Sharp’s new TVs have sophisticated settings, online content and seemingly impossible to learn features…But the new and improved Sharp television support system and their self install directions and printed guides are superb, in some cases not requiring any phone calls at all.

My experience with WI-FI adapters and routers and WI-FI enabled devices went from the sublime to the ridiculous. My new Cisco Valet wireless router billed as the fastest, easiest to install and easiest to maintain, and having the widest range, actually lived up to those claims EXCEPT IT TOOK THREE DAYS TO REACH THAT point.  Two days of waiting for tech support to answer and another day working out the bugs listed in its quick install guide.

Now for something completely different!

I have several Logitech devices in my house from video and audio sharing to web cams and security cams. Of course these rely on my wireless routers and service provider. But when something does go wrong Logitech’s tech support is so efficient (located in Nova Scotia) that they provide assistance with other products and even your own service provider issues because they are so well trained in integrating the connected home.

For example, while helping me change a setting on my Logitech Squeezebox music player, they realized that I might have too many devices sharing the bandwidth space, so while changing Squeezebox settings they also told me how to alter my TiVo, PS-3 and netbook settings.

I also have an Internet enabled Schlage lock, which, while offering less than acceptable written directions, had terrific online support and even more effective phone support. My beef with Schlage was that their telephone support should be open for more hours on weekends when people usually purchase and try to install devices like these.

Speaking of staying open longer, lately Cablevision has been rising from the ashes of the worst customer experience in North America, with their regional TV, phone and Internet tech support. They have eclipsed AT@T and Verizon with domestic U.S. support centers. AT@T and Verizon’s TV and Internet support are not 24/7 and when you get first level support you are likely to end up with someone in the Philippines, who may be a decent tech support person, but is very hard to understand.

Cablevision, while still screwing their customers with pricing and bait and switch tactics, is at least taking care of tech support and related problems.

While millions of mobile phone customers have ditched Samsung and LG no matter what carrier they have and have switched back to Motorola or moved to new hot kid on the block, HTC, I wonder whether those two Korean giants just got too complacent with their traditional mobile phones and spent too much time trying to compete with IPhones and Droid based phones. Lately people have written in about how sparse the selection is of standard, not smart, LG and Samsung phones at AT@T and Verizon Mobile stores. Even worse is that both LG and Samsung are having unusually high rate of returns with their existing one and two year old phones for decreasing battery life and poor workmanship. HTC, on the other hand, has become the “reliable” brand.