Here’s one of the many things that irk me: when a company screws up and makes you fix their problem. (I’m writing this as I’m on hold awaiting the second level of technical assistance.)
I had Internet service through a large international company whom we’ll call BT&T. I’m not going to identify them because of possible legal matters. Their service was fine for years. The price was reasonable. Then a few weeks ago, I canceled my landline phone service through BT&T, but kept Internet service. A week after that, they mistakenly canceled my Internet service.
This is where it gets irritating. I spent 1 hour and 9 minutes on a technical support phone call (on my day off) while a young man walked me through a zillion steps to re-register my computer because of their mistaken. We then tested the modem: fine. We tested the wireless connection: fine. We tested a few Web pages to make sure they’d load: fine. I thanked him for his patience and hung up. I restarted my computer and couldn’t connect to the Internet.
Let me tell you something about myself: I am not by nature a patient man. Patience, while a virtue, is a struggle for me. I need lots of controlled breathing and to focus on the short- and long-term objectives so my natural inclination to explode is overridden. Therefore, being on hold for waiting in the queue for the second level of technical support is not something I willingly or pleasantly do. I do it only because I need working Internet service. However, a cauldron of righteous indignation and barely controlled rage, martyrdom and resentment burbles underneath.
It’s not uncommon of me to leave doctor’s appointment if the physician is more than 30 minuets late. I don’t care if I’m bleeding profusely. My time is just as valuable as his. If he’s not startin,’ I’m departin.’ After once waiting 60 minutes past my scheduled appointment time and still never seeing the doctor, I left – angrily – and sent him a bill for 60 minutes of my time. He didn’t pay.
But back to being on hold.
The third technician of the morning was doing his level best to test the system. Nothing worked. Then my cell phone died. No wonder. I’d been on the phone with BT&T tech support continuously for three hours. 180 minutes of my life that a.) I’ll never get back and (more importantly) b.) NEVER FIXED THE PROBLEM. My tech ticket is now the property of the maintenance division. Who knows when they’ll be able to do anything about it? Probably Thursday sometime between 8 a.m. at 5:30 p.m. Could I please make myself available during that time?
I don’t care tech support is in Bangalore, India, or Bangor, Maine. They broke it, they need to fix it. Quickly. Permanently. On their dime. And yes, I would like to talk with a supervisor.
1 Comment
January 20, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Did they fix it?