Technical Support at Its Finest



I love technical support. It’s always so helpful, and they tend to really listen to what you are saying to them, assume that you have an ounce of a clue as to what you are talking about, and resolve your issues quickly. Prime example… here is a transcript of my recent chat with online support for Neat Receipts. The issue? I needed to know the location of the driver files, because when Windows would auto-detect the scanner, it could not find any drivers to install. Easy peasy, right?

info: You are now chatting with ‘Han’
Han: Hello, How may I assist you?
Sommer Cronck: I have a scanner NR-030108 that Vista Home Premium can’t install. It finds no drivers on the CD that came with my Neat Receipts or anywhere else. There are also no drivers listed in Support > Downloads on your web site.
Han: Are you getting an error message when running the program?
Sommer Cronck: Drivers not found
Sommer Cronck: one sec
Sommer Cronck: The software itself works intermittently. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it says that the database is not loaded.
Sommer Cronck: I have installed and reinstalled the software twice.
Han: Right click the NeatWorks Icon and choose properties.
Han: In the Compatibility tab, make sure that only Run as Administrator is checked.
Sommer Cronck: Yes
Sommer Cronck: I did that all ready.
Han: How much RAM is on this computer?
Sommer Cronck: 2 GB
Sommer Cronck: My primary issue right now, however, is me not having any drivers to install…
Han: Is the scanner not working?  Why are you trying to reinstall the drivers?
Sommer Cronck: Read my first message, please. I never have installed it. It just won’t install the scanner. It can’t find any drivers, and your site offers no drivers. This thing is brand new and I got as far as installing the software and plugging in the scanner. it detects it, but can find no drivers on the CD that came with it or anywhere else to install it, so I can’t use it.
Han: Why do you think it didn’t install the scanner?  It should never ask you to install the driver.  So this suggests that you are doing something that is not supported.
Han: I did read your first message.
Han: So read my question.
Han: Why are you trying to reinstall the drivers?
Han: The installation installs drivers automatically
Han: So you having to find them is unnecessary unless you are getting an error.
Sommer Cronck: I AM NOT REINSTALLING THE DRIVERS! They never installed in the first place! When I connected the scanner as instructed in the easy set up, it said to insert the CD to install the 600dpi scanner drivers and then said there were no drivers on the CD and didn’t install.
Sommer Cronck: Windows recognizes the scanner and says it’s going to install the drivers, and then it can’t because there are no drivers on the CD that came with the scanner (so it tells me) and there are no drivers anywhere on my computer.
Sommer Cronck: I will plug the scanner in for you and type out message by message that it gives me. Perhaps that will help you.
Sommer Cronck: (plugged in scanner)
Sommer Cronck: Windows says: FOUND NEW HARDWARE and gives me choices (1) Locate and install driver software (2) Ask me again later (3) Don’t show this message again for this device
Sommer Cronck: I had been choosing (1) — would you like me to choose something else?
Han: Choose, don’t ask again.  But now that you clicked on that, we now have to manually check if the drivers are correct.
Sommer Cronck: Fine. I told it not to ask again. Now what would you like me to do?
Han: Go to Start and then Right Click Computer and choose Manage.
Han: Then choose Device Manager.
Sommer Cronck: Done.
Han: Under Imaging devices, does the Neat Mobile Scanner appear?
Sommer Cronck: No. I do, however, have the recognized, but not installed “600 dpi USB Scanner”
Han: Right click that and choose Update Driver Software.  In the following screens, choose the last option until you see the Have Disk button.
Sommer Cronck: This is what I have been trying to tell you. It has not and will not install the drivers.
Sommer Cronck: Ok
Sommer Cronck: I can only search automatically for updated drivers (which finds nothing) or browse my computer for driver software — where would you like me to browse to?
Sommer Cronck: Just the cd drive?
Han: Does it let you pick from a list?
Sommer Cronck: and select allsubfolders?
Sommer Cronck: Ah, yes. one moment.
Han: Browsing will find nothing.  You need to manually pick the driver.
Sommer Cronck: Now I am to select the device type from the list.
Han: Choose Imaging device.
Sommer Cronck: Done and now I can click Have Disk.
Han: Click that and then click Browse.
Sommer Cronck: Done.
Han: Go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\NeatReceipts\Drivers\Neat Mobile Scanner 2008\driver\74PU
Sommer Cronck: THIS is all I wanted to know — where to find the drivers!


8 Replies to “Technical Support at Its Finest”

  1. OMG…I work in tech support/customer service and all our calls are recorded…if I for one minute SAID something like he typed (I read your message..now read mine) I would have been fired on the spot! Holy Cow!!! I would not have been as calm as you were even though I could tell you were totally ticked!! Way to keep him on his toes!

  2. Where can i download software for my NEAT 600dpi usb portable scanner?Ive lost all my software and need it up and running asap!Can you help???????

  3. Hans, I followed those exact instructions and am getting this: “Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it”
    Any ideas? I am using Vista Premium

    Thanks my friend

  4. I’m actually from Philly to answer Leah’s question and Shea is probably right that I should have been fired. I make a lot of mistakes and I still do and I’m stilling learning. In any case, there’s so much anger and hatred in the world and I’m sorry that I added to it that day. I hope your scanner is working well.

  5. so my father inlaw gave me his neat portable scanner model # nr-030108 serial # 574P88172490 that he does not use anymore. he doesnt have the cd that came with it, so im gathering that even thought the product was bought and paid for i will basically have to pay for it again to be able to use it? kind of pointless to keep it then…

  6. You and Han are having a language barrier problem. I taught school in China for a year. And that is how things go between people who speak very different languages. Each understands only about half of what the other one is saying.

    I don’t know what country Han lives in. But his native language is not English!

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