Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
There’s something about humans and technology that makes them a perfect combo for a disaster waiting to happen. And even though we live in 2020, where tech has become a quintessential part of our daily lives, it doesn’t mean it’s as easy as pie. Don’t believe me?
Ask the tech support workers who have been witness to such monstrosities, it makes you wonder what on earth their clients were thinking. A client upgrading his phone and keeping his old screen protector ‘cause why not? Check. A mouse covered in hand grease up to the point that it’s just a lump of sheer nastiness? Check. Rice inside the iPhone? Sure. Cables tangled so badly, they resemble a wasp nest? Of course.
Thanks (do we really wanna thank them for dis?) to the Reddit community that goes by the all-telling name r/techsupportgore, we now have pure nightmare material for tech support workers or any other person who is no stranger to common sense. Psst! More painfully funny and cringe-worthy tech and gadget disasters waiting in part 1.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
4 Hrs Later...
RELATED:
#2
I Said "Put It In Rice." Not "Put Rice In It."
#3
Apparently Someone Got Tired Of It Ringing, So The Put It In The Oven
The r/techsupportgore subreddit was created on February 29, 8 years ago, and has since grown into a solid community of 467k members. According to the group’s description, it will make you “cringe to the brink of passing out after a few minutes looking at this subreddit.”
Some time ago, Bored Panda contacted Coffeechipmunk, the moderator of the r/techsupportgore subreddit, who said that the most popular posts in the community are usually the ones that show a device a moment away from exploding.
“It’s both dangerous and cool,” explained the mod. “They probably get so big because people post the pics and you think, 'Wow, that's just a bomb at that point.'"Whoever is wondering why the subreddit got so popular, it all comes down to the fact that “Honestly... it's very fun," Coffeechipmunk said.
#4
This Key After 10 Years Of Entering Orders At My Grandmothers Shop
#5
Just Set It On Fire
#6
Broken Clip? No Problem!
“In a time where most of the internet can be incredibly serious and most times saddening or angering, r/techsupportgore is fun because you go on it and you can laugh (and/or cringe) at the crazy posts. Where else can you see a post like, 'Wow, these cables really are messy' to 'A lizard fried my motherboard' back to back?”
Essentially, it attracts a bunch of people that enjoy tech and the very worst of it. Also, it’s especially relevant to the current generations Y and Z who basically grew up with tech around them. For these kids and young adults, seeing the picture of someone trying to charge their new laptop without taking it out of the box is essentially priceless.
#7
One Of My Clients Upgraded His Phone But Kept His Old Screen “Protector”
#8
German T-Mobile Found 3 Snakes Inside Their Network Unit
Kari Panda 4 years ago
Ah, the irony. The German word for snake is also a term for someone who‘s deceitful. Seeing as our lovely Deutsche Telekom dastardly 'renewed' the contract I had with them (thus making me pay for my phone/internet TWICE for 1,5 years), I vote for this to become their official representation photo.
#9
Customer Brought In This Imac For Not Powering On... This Is How He Apparently Uses It
#10
The Nastiest Mouse I Have Ever Seen In The Field. Make No Mistake, That Is Not Dust. That Is...uh...hand-Grease
#11
Shipping Thousands Of Dollars Worth Of Computers With No Packaging Material
Philly Bob Squires 4 years ago (edited)
Amazon did this to me... I ordered 3 6 TB hard drives and they shipped them in a bubble mailer that looked like a truck ran over it. All of the HD boxes were crushed. The drives weren't damaged but I sent them back anyway along with a really stern phone call. They replaced them (actually sent me 4 instead of 3.) Ordered some lavender soap bars for the wife and they packed them in paper and bubble wrap and in an oversized box that was so secure you could have shipped nitroglycerin in. Go figure.
#12
Do You Think It Got Too Hot?
#13
"You Can Fix Your Sisters Phone Right? It Gets Hot Sometimes And Turns Itself Off A Lot". "What's That Smell?" Battery Acid. Literally Battery Acid
I'm a makeup addict 4 years ago
why do you still have that phone?! THROW IT INTO A VOLCANO!!!!!
#14
“There’s Something Wrong With The Printer In The Lab...”
#15
User Calls About Disc Being Stuck In Another Computer, Mentions Off Hand About This Laptop. They Had Been Using And Charging It Like This For Weeks...
#16
Brother Wanted A Wireless Mouse, Kid Wanted To Help
#17
After Two Days Of Troubleshooting, The Solution Was To Simply Flip It Upside Down. Of Course
#18
"My PC Won't Turn On"
Philly Bob Squires 4 years ago
What the hell? Did they run 220v power to a 110v supply? That's a first for me!
#19
Just One Of Our Printers Doing Its Duty
#20
Someone At Work Secured This Power-Board
#21
People That Use PC Cables To Rest Their Feet
#22
How Not To Transport A Laptop
#23
My Parents New WiFi Mount
#24
Came To A Restaurant With My Dad To Fix Their Internet Issues
#25
"I Forgot That I Left My Laptop On The Top Of My Truck. It Flew Off When I Was On The Highway. Can You Fix It?"
#26
Spaghetti Baguette. "I Was On A School Trip. 6 Electric Sockets For 70 People"
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
I saw a set-up like this once. I was using a fire extinguisher on it...
#27
Drilled Right Into The Battery
#28
Psu Thermal Throttling
#29
“My Tablet Is Not Charging” - Is This A Battery Or A Pillow?
#30
Customer Tried To Change The Mainboard
#31
This Beauty Came In For Repair Today
Dave In MD 4 years ago
Ahh, the Motorola/Symbol RF scan gun. Use one everyday. Fairly well constructed, I have dropped a few. That one looks like it was run over by a truck.
Renee Nunya 4 years ago (edited)
That is a order-machine gun/scanner. I used them to order product when I worked in a grocery store. They were always highly sought after between managers as there were never enough and/or lost because we left them in random places. Looks like this one most likely got ran over by a forklift or truck while in receiving. download-5...5f327c.jpg 
Amazon QT 3 years ago
When I worked at O’Reilly Distribution Center we used these. There were times that people dropped them on the cardboard conveyer belt that went to the compactor and they didn’t get them out in time and they got crushed.
Load More Replies...
Eglė Bukauskaitė 3 years ago
Oh that's a regular one in warehouses. Some companies assign 1 RF (radio fequence) terminal per worker and if anything happens -they have to pay and others give it as a work tool. Guess which ones get run over with forklifts more often?
Eglė Bukauskaitė 3 years ago
Speaking of, one of our clients, a warehouse, had a forklift where wheel fell off the forklift. User didn't bother slowing down at a bump
Load More Replies...
Lynn Morello 4 years ago
Try as I might, I can't figure this one out. Looks like something the dog might have spat out
Claire Armstrong 4 years ago
Ohhhh-kay, what exactly is this, *ahem* "beauty"? Answers on a postcard perhaps 🤔 lol
Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago
That beauty can go straight into a bin... those HHTs are NOT cheap (around £2K per unit new) and well-made so I wonder what on earth the user did to this. (Thinking it might have been crushed in a trash compactor or some-such).
#32
My Girlfriend's Xbox 360 Hard Drive Was Rattling... Can I Recover The Data?
#33
Some Beautiful Patchwork
#34
Dispatched About A Computer That Wouldn't Boot, It Was Epoxied To The Desk. They Had To Cut It Out For Us
#35
Hey Boss, The UPS Had Some Crazy European Connector, But I Fixed It!
#36
He Paid Extra For The Expert Installation
4 years ago (edited)
Not too technical savy but it looks like a liquid cooling system that's been badly setup. Hence the whole "paid extra for the EXPERT installation" bit
#37
Teacher Was "Multitasking" And Set Laptop On Hot Stove... It Still Works Other Than A Few Lines On The Screen
#38
Customer Attempted Their Own Hdmi Repair With A Blowtorch
#39
I Tried To Use My Old Case As A Chair
![Dj, Spin That [crap]!](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/5fc601188e6fe_boiuqgqnbvc51__700.jpg "Dj, Spin That [crap]!")
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Martha Meyer 4 years ago
You really have to wonder about those people who drilled holes in their electrical appliances...
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago
Best. Advice. Ever! Just leave it to the experts if you’re out one yourself. You can turn an inexpensive repair into a total loss and have to spend way more to replace your device.
Load More Replies...
DKS 001 4 years ago
After seeing how people are throughout 2020, I now understand how these things can happen.
KombatBunni 4 years ago
Some people should not be allowed anywhere near technology unless it can be proven they know what to do with it..
Falcon 4 years ago
I've seen some crazy servers in my 10+ years as a fiber technician. We've had server racks above toilets and above a sink in the janitors closet. Also horrendous cable management, that would have taken 2 minutes to fix before they plugged it in a switch, but was impossible now without disconnects.
Astrid Nineor 4 years ago
I did printer tech support (via phone), here are some of the things I and my colleagues have heard of: "Printer doesn't work". *plenty of troubleshooting, before asking the dumb question : "Is the power cord in?" "Eeeeeh, no" ..... Keys dropped inside the unit that staples/ stacks the documents. ... But my favorite: Kindergarten: Documents got a smudge when doing copies. Turned out it was poop!
Banjo Peppers 4 years ago
I assume they were all taken care of before they exploded or combusted, but I feel you. I think newer batteries aren’t supposed to have whatever it is that makes them swell like that, but it’s still pretty... YIKES anyway
Load More Replies...
jk nbt 4 years ago
I serviced a computer control system on a refinery. The customer complained that the plant kept tripping out because of the control system... I found that rats liked the taste of the field signal cables they brought into the bottom of the racks. Nothing wrong with the equipment we sold them. The customer figured out how to block the holes the rats were using. They changed to cables that did not taste so good.
Gary Katz 4 years ago
IT person here...had a client tell me that their printer wasn't working. Saw this when I arrived... forked-5fc...3590e2.jpg 
I'm a makeup addict 4 years ago
I facepalmed a hole into my head reading some of these...XDXDXD
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago (edited)
Imagine having to replace 200 desktops. Imagine sending a mail to every user to check if they removed all USB-sticks and Cd's from their desktops. Imagine replacing all desktops and getting flooded the next day with abusive mails of people who lost their Cd's, memory-cards and USB-sticks. That's when you send all replaced pc's to the scrapyard and mail a "Sorry for your loss" message to everyone involved.
Flame Phoenix 4 years ago
Sorry about that, but seriously I worry about many of these people
Load More Replies... 
Smitten Kitten 4 years ago
Every time I load a page. Really BoredPanda? 2020-12-03...7a-png.jpg 
Martha Meyer 4 years ago
You really have to wonder about those people who drilled holes in their electrical appliances...
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago
Best. Advice. Ever! Just leave it to the experts if you’re out one yourself. You can turn an inexpensive repair into a total loss and have to spend way more to replace your device.
Load More Replies... DKS 001 4 years ago
After seeing how people are throughout 2020, I now understand how these things can happen.
KombatBunni 4 years ago
Some people should not be allowed anywhere near technology unless it can be proven they know what to do with it..
Falcon 4 years ago
I've seen some crazy servers in my 10+ years as a fiber technician. We've had server racks above toilets and above a sink in the janitors closet. Also horrendous cable management, that would have taken 2 minutes to fix before they plugged it in a switch, but was impossible now without disconnects.
Astrid Nineor 4 years ago
I did printer tech support (via phone), here are some of the things I and my colleagues have heard of: "Printer doesn't work". *plenty of troubleshooting, before asking the dumb question : "Is the power cord in?" "Eeeeeh, no" ..... Keys dropped inside the unit that staples/ stacks the documents. ... But my favorite: Kindergarten: Documents got a smudge when doing copies. Turned out it was poop!
Banjo Peppers 4 years ago
I assume they were all taken care of before they exploded or combusted, but I feel you. I think newer batteries aren’t supposed to have whatever it is that makes them swell like that, but it’s still pretty... YIKES anyway
Load More Replies... jk nbt 4 years ago
I serviced a computer control system on a refinery. The customer complained that the plant kept tripping out because of the control system... I found that rats liked the taste of the field signal cables they brought into the bottom of the racks. Nothing wrong with the equipment we sold them. The customer figured out how to block the holes the rats were using. They changed to cables that did not taste so good.
Gary Katz 4 years ago
IT person here...had a client tell me that their printer wasn't working. Saw this when I arrived... forked-5fc...3590e2.jpg
I'm a makeup addict 4 years ago
I facepalmed a hole into my head reading some of these...XDXDXD
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago (edited)
Imagine having to replace 200 desktops. Imagine sending a mail to every user to check if they removed all USB-sticks and Cd's from their desktops. Imagine replacing all desktops and getting flooded the next day with abusive mails of people who lost their Cd's, memory-cards and USB-sticks. That's when you send all replaced pc's to the scrapyard and mail a "Sorry for your loss" message to everyone involved.
Flame Phoenix 4 years ago
Sorry about that, but seriously I worry about many of these people
Load More Replies... Smitten Kitten 4 years ago
Every time I load a page. Really BoredPanda? 2020-12-03...7a-png.jpg
Related on Bored Panda
