Contacting ServiceLine – some hints and tips

To help us help you as quickly and efficiently as possible when you are contacting the Serviceline by email or leaving a voicemail message, follow the hints and tips below:-

  • State who you are. Please give us your username and where possible a telephone number so that we can return your call.
  • State where you are. ServiceLine answers queries from public workstations throughout all university campuses, from departmental offices and from users at home. We often need to know the location of the problem in order to resolve it.
  • State what system you are using. Workstations can look very much the same on the outside, but they are sometimes very different underneath. You need to tell us about the workstation in order for us to understand the whole problem. If you are reporting a fault with a public workstation, please give us the exact location of the machine. Each machine is labelled with the building and room number as well as an individual number. For example a PC in the Murray Building Room 1045 will be labelled B58-R1045-WXX where X is the number of the individual PC.
  • Do not be intimidated by the technology and terminology. Do not feel that you have to use terminology that you are not comfortable with and ask if we respond with terminology that you do not understand. If you describe clearly and precisely the symptoms and the system you are using we should be able to help you.
  • Provide as much information as possible. For example, is your problem specific to one particular program or file; have you tried using another computer? The precise wording of error messages can also be very helpful in diagnosing problems.
  • Don't expect instant understanding of your problem. It is easy to take the details of the problem for granted if you have spent a long time grappling with it. Describe the problem and its symptom first then mention your ideas about the cause of the problem. All complex problems will be logged in a problem management system for referral to a specialist.
  • Please be patient. If,when phoning the ServiceLine during working hours, you get a voicemail message, please be patient as this means all our lines are busy. Leave a message and we will deal with your query as soon as possible.