I once worked with a "director of support" who was incompetent but nice. I was a lead developer. The problem was the director of support tried to treat me like level 2 support, they wouldn't do any problem solving, they wouldn't get clear explanation of problems from customers, they wouldn't collect the information we needed. (It was a small startup and "director of support" was a 1 person department with an outsourced assistant.)
But, this person was very, very nice to everyone. It made it harder to see the problem.
How I solved this: I sat down with the person and "explained common sense." I pointed out that, when they were on the phone with the customer, the customer wanted them to solve our problem. They needed to be an expert in our product so that they could do their best to solve the customer's problem on the phone without 4-6 back and forth. I also pointed out that it was very embarrassing for us to ask for "obvious" information after the initial support contact, when they knew that I would ask for "obvious" information. (Like a clear explanation of the problem, or just very basic clarifying questions.)
I then pointed out a very clear example where the director of support really dropped the ball. The customer was trying to share something and was typing in the wrong email address. I simply shouldn't have been involved, because the kind of troubleshooting I was doing was something that the "director of support" should be knowledgeable enough to diagnose, understand, and figure out.
But, this person was very, very nice to everyone. It made it harder to see the problem.
How I solved this: I sat down with the person and "explained common sense." I pointed out that, when they were on the phone with the customer, the customer wanted them to solve our problem. They needed to be an expert in our product so that they could do their best to solve the customer's problem on the phone without 4-6 back and forth. I also pointed out that it was very embarrassing for us to ask for "obvious" information after the initial support contact, when they knew that I would ask for "obvious" information. (Like a clear explanation of the problem, or just very basic clarifying questions.)
I then pointed out a very clear example where the director of support really dropped the ball. The customer was trying to share something and was typing in the wrong email address. I simply shouldn't have been involved, because the kind of troubleshooting I was doing was something that the "director of support" should be knowledgeable enough to diagnose, understand, and figure out.
They quit the next day.