Surge in Zoom support requests was 'unexpected', says tool team as it turns taps down

Video conferencing darling of the hour, Zoom, has tightened up support rules in order to "better serve" users. Word came to Vulture Central from Register reader Michael, who had had a couple of support tickets abruptly closed without action. He received only a terse statement from the company that some users would need to roll …

[Henry Wertz 1]

Ticket closed.

"The Register contacted Zoom for comment, but while the company acknowledged our query, we have yet to receive an official response."

Response: Your ticket is closed.

Hah but seriously, I don't blame Zoom for this. I've seen way to many people with a barely functional virus-ridden piece of shit of a computer, and they suddenly decided it's that companies tech support's job to clean up their computer; or even worse, the viruses finally win and the computer dies, they blame the last piece of software they installed and not the piles of viruses and spyware they installed just before that. (Thank goodness for Linux, I don't have to deal with all that!)

[Lost in Cyberspace]

Not surprised

I've been bombarded with lots of calls about microphone issues.

Most are sorted by changing the mic source in the settings (which only seem accessible during a meeting).

The other few have been sorted by installing the latest audio drivers from the manufacturer's support page / searching for an update in Device Manager.

[G.Y.]

bug Re: Not surprised

that "which only seem accessible during a meeting" is a bug+-

[Muscleguy]

Re: bug Not surprised

I do private science tutoring which means online only during the lockdown. Despite changing the sound input settings from line In to onboard in the Settings (Mac) the tutoring site's online classroom software defaults to line In and instantly puts you into a test of your system making changing it back difficult, unless you just click 'Yes it works' on the test and then fix it . . .

The system works fine without a headset and it looks much better. Also my el cheapo headset's microphone doesn't work (got a refund told to keep it, put off other el cheapo versions).

[Blane Bramble]

Re: Not surprised

Settings -> Audio -> Microphone

Works for me without being in a meeting.

[Anonymous Coward]

Modify your audio settings when not in a meeting...

Click on Settings - Audio. Select the mic and speaker you want to use. This has been in there since the first time I used zoom (about two years now).

Coincidentally the same way -most- conference tools work... even Skype. Hell, MOST software that has voice or sound works the same way. I get the idea you're not really trying....

[Phones Sheridan]

Re: Modify your audio settings when not in a meeting...

Up on the top right, click on the little grey cog, then "Audio" then you can select your microphone.

If you say "click on settings" when dealing with non-technical types, 99.9% of the time the person you are trying to help, is looking for the word "settings".

[quartzz]

half related, but there's a popular online review site (either 'trust'pilot or sitejabber, can't remember which, both sites definitely have their integrated dodgyness - and I'm not talking about fake reviews). when you contact them, "if" you get a reply, the email subject says:

"your ticket has been solved/closed"

at the end of the message, it says "please reply if you have questions".

*why* do some people find the internet confusing? no idea...

[riverrock83]

I'm a stand-alone pro user, so am also the account administrator. I've also had the message on a support call raised 30th March:

Unfortunately, we are unable to respond to your open tickets at this time.

So I suspect they've just said this to all non corporate, even paying users.

[Cave-Homme]

Why the fascination with Zoom when there’s Skype, WhatsApp, Farcetime, Webex, GoToMeeting...most are free as well.

I’ve used them all, and more, in the past few months. Zoom is nice, but the others are more than adequate, and Webex has piles of functionality too, and currently free.

[robidy]

It's the user experience...you can have and see 50+ people in one call...we use it for the virtual pub and quizes...you can't do it on the othets with webcams.

Not to mention you can set your baxk ground to anything as opposed to the MS chosen ones...it may seem minor but a hundred million people love it.

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems that user's find it easy to use - we've done some in depth trials with Webex and Gotomeeting over the last few years and virtually everybody said they're too difficult to use. They seem to "get" Zoom without too many problems. Whether this is because they now don't have the option of calling a physical meeting so are being forced into actually putting some effort in to working it out I'm not so sure on.

[Darth65]

Shame on Zoom - Spread the word

We pay 500€ each month for the pro account. Tech support does not exist, nobody will reply... they keep tickets opened for a while and then they close them without replying. The app works very well, but the service is horrible. Don't apply