I love to watch other people work. I often sit on my porch and offer encouragement and advice to the guy who cuts the grass. I can tell he appreciates it, although he's too shy to thank me.

So, no thanks are required today as I turn over the column to my readers. I'll let them talk, and I'll do the typing.

Not long ago I wrote a column complaining (complaining is another thing I enjoy very much) about the trend toward customer support by e-mail. Many companies offer no other option. At best, getting help by e-mail takes longer than a telephone call. At worst, it's a easy way for companies to ignore you.

Reader response to that column has been enormous, and most of it in agreement. But some of you tell about companies that are doing a good job of helping customers. Today, we'll hear from both camps.

Jeff Whatley of Peachtree City has bought four computers from Dell. From the tone of his e-mail, I'm not sure Dell should count on selling him computer No. 5. He loves the computers but hates the tech support by e-mail.

"I spent two months swapping e-mail with Dell tech support," he said. "Almost every e-mail was a canned response which totally disregarded the text of my e-mail describing my troubleshooting to that point."

Automated answers that don't take the details of earlier e-mails into account are one of my big beefs, too. You probably will eventually get a solution to your problem but --- as Jeff discovered --- it can take months. One of my correspondents called this technique "molasses customer support." If the company makes the process slow and tedious, many folks just give up and go away.

The slow service was just the start of Jeff's problems. When he finally talked to Dell on the phone, "I was told that since my warranty had expired I would have to pay $35 to talk to a tech, even though I had been promised a call by their techs under their lifetime e-mail support."

Frank Wingate will nod as he reads this. He's been there.

"I just wasted almost a full day trying to get a McAfee [the anti-virus software company] problem resolved," he said. "Dell, Philips, Packet8 VoIP and Amazon support are just as worthless. The shift of support to India and beyond has only compounded the problem. One practically has to scream into the phone to get to Level 2 support and beyond."

But Wingate also suggested a possible solution, what he calls "my nuclear weapon: The fax ... the power of your written letter, with the immediacy of e-mail. Can't promise it will work every time, but it got me my new laptop in time for a critical business trip and solved a couple of billing problems."

E-mails came from far and wide, but one was from the building next door.

"I'm the guy next door who passes by on the sidewalk," wrote John Haeger. "I'm composing this while waiting for EarthLink 'live chat' ... r-i-g-h-t."

Most of the e-mails had the same level of pessimism expressed by Haeger.

But I was even more impressed by e-mails from people who have had good customer support experiences. Several readers said they believe companies finally know bad customer support can cost them money.

Margaret Jordan said she's "had every bad experience in the book." But Jordan praised the help she's received from Epson: "Quick to answer, courteous and, most of all, helpful to the extent of solving the problems. Would be nice to think there may be a new trend."

Many readers had good suggestions. In my original column, I offered some ways to find telephone numbers for companies that avoid listing them on the Web site.

"If you have paid by credit card, you can always get a phone number from your card company," said Derk Allison. "Just call the customer support number for the credit card, explain that you need to contact the company concerning a charge on your bill and they will give you the number in their computer system."

Vicki Mannes offered help in the form of another Web site --- www.vault.com --- that offers telephone numbers of companies, along with the names of executives and their assistants. Armed with that, she is able to telephone one of the assistants to the chief executive or chief operating officer. Sensibly enough, she said it's a lot easier to actually get through to an assistant, rather than trying to talk to the CEO.

"I guarantee that my problems have been solved almost immediately."

Now that we've given customer support such a hard time, it may be time for a few kind words. Who better for that than the Rev. James E. Curran of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Stone Mountain. He's seen a big improvement in things at America Online.

"I've been with AOL since 1996, long enough to remember when its technical support was a disgrace. In the last few years, I've had only good to say about AOL's customer services."

To be fair, there were those who e-mailed with a different view of AOL. But I suspect Curran would rather I end leaving a single candle of hope burning. So I will.

tecbud@ajc.com