They’re such a waste of time for anyone who is technically proficient, because you have to make it past a series of inane questions/directions like, “Is there a router connected to the cable modem? Is the TV hooked up to a surge protector? Please check to make sure there are no loose connections. Please connect the TV to a different power outlet.” Generally, people pay me to troubleshoot things, If I’m contacting tech support it’s because I’ve researched the issue, went through the trouble of troubleshooting it, and what I need now is to talk to someone who can fix the problem or replace my device.

I understand that these things have to cater to the lowest denominator, intelligence-wise, but I think there should be an option to skip all of that if you’re a technical user. Just give me a checklist and ask if I’ve already done everything on the list, then let’s skip to fixing the problem, pretty please?