rainless
08-09-09, 10:00 AM
Anti-Disclaimer: I sat here for a minute saying: "Vendor/Internet, Networking, Security?.... Vendor.... Internet, Networking, Security..." For no particular reason I went with the latter. (Although now I'm thinking "Vendor") So if you feel it should be moved, go ahead and flag it and have it moved. I just didn't want you to think I hadn't thought about it... thoroughly.
I woke up this morning... Sunday morning... and discovered my internet connection wasn't working. So I called
tech support. I was told there was a problem with the bill. Not a problem. I knew I'd paid and I'd written
down the confirmation number. They'll just look it up and see that I've paid and reconnect everything right?
Well NO. Because the office responsible for suspending my internet connection, Sunday Morning, isn't open on
Sunday. Ok... But I've got this confirmation number. Surely you can just type that in and it will say the
account is clear right?
Well no... They don't have access to any such information.
So then I got to TOUR THE WORLD of AT&T's Global Call Centers. I got the Phillipinnes, I got India, I think there was a little Pakistan thrown in.
Eight agents and two supervisors... one of whom either hung up on me or we were disconnected and he never called me back.
All this until I reached the Philippines AGAIN, and a helpful guy named "Mike" said that he was simply going to transfer me to tier 2 technical support. Next thing you know I'm speaking with an actual American in California. (I know there are a lot of younger users here, but I actually remember being able to talk to a real, American, person... any time, day or night, just by picking up a phone and pressing "0". )
Tier 2 asked for my confirmation number that I paid my bill and they had me up and running in about ten seconds.
Those new to this site might assume that the story ends there.
Those that are familiar with the expression TEAM RAINLESS... would know better.
It took me three hours to get all the above accomplished. And I was simply dumbfounded that they would disconnect your account, for any reason, on a day when practically no one could resolve the issue.
What if... as in my case... they'd made a mistake? What if they cleared someone's account but forgot that they had scheduled it for disconnection? What if... hell... ANYTHING?!?!
At the 3 hour mark, in any given situation, Team Rainless starts looking for BLOOD. Somebody's either got to get fired or the company, as a whole, needs to be publicly embarrassed.
So I asked for the number of their PR department and I called up my contact at the Chicago Sun-Times where I work, occasionally, as a freelance journalist.
There's a wonderful "Helping the little guy" sort of daily article there called "The Fixer" where they go through and try to help regular people when their water has been cut off, even though they've paid the bill, or they were charged $10,000 to their credit card (with the $2000 limit...) for purchases they never made.
I like to throw in my two cents for them whenever anything is technology-related. So I'm waiting to hear if they'll be interested in my technology editorial about the current state of broadband in America along with a 500 word side bar detailing my experience above with AT&T.
"Getting even" is part of my birth right... it comes with my name. Getting PAID to get even, on the biggest possible stage you can find, is part of my "Tier 2 Vengeance" Program.
I woke up this morning... Sunday morning... and discovered my internet connection wasn't working. So I called
tech support. I was told there was a problem with the bill. Not a problem. I knew I'd paid and I'd written
down the confirmation number. They'll just look it up and see that I've paid and reconnect everything right?
Well NO. Because the office responsible for suspending my internet connection, Sunday Morning, isn't open on
Sunday. Ok... But I've got this confirmation number. Surely you can just type that in and it will say the
account is clear right?
Well no... They don't have access to any such information.
So then I got to TOUR THE WORLD of AT&T's Global Call Centers. I got the Phillipinnes, I got India, I think there was a little Pakistan thrown in.
Eight agents and two supervisors... one of whom either hung up on me or we were disconnected and he never called me back.
All this until I reached the Philippines AGAIN, and a helpful guy named "Mike" said that he was simply going to transfer me to tier 2 technical support. Next thing you know I'm speaking with an actual American in California. (I know there are a lot of younger users here, but I actually remember being able to talk to a real, American, person... any time, day or night, just by picking up a phone and pressing "0". )
Tier 2 asked for my confirmation number that I paid my bill and they had me up and running in about ten seconds.
Those new to this site might assume that the story ends there.
Those that are familiar with the expression TEAM RAINLESS... would know better.
It took me three hours to get all the above accomplished. And I was simply dumbfounded that they would disconnect your account, for any reason, on a day when practically no one could resolve the issue.
What if... as in my case... they'd made a mistake? What if they cleared someone's account but forgot that they had scheduled it for disconnection? What if... hell... ANYTHING?!?!
At the 3 hour mark, in any given situation, Team Rainless starts looking for BLOOD. Somebody's either got to get fired or the company, as a whole, needs to be publicly embarrassed.
So I asked for the number of their PR department and I called up my contact at the Chicago Sun-Times where I work, occasionally, as a freelance journalist.
There's a wonderful "Helping the little guy" sort of daily article there called "The Fixer" where they go through and try to help regular people when their water has been cut off, even though they've paid the bill, or they were charged $10,000 to their credit card (with the $2000 limit...) for purchases they never made.
I like to throw in my two cents for them whenever anything is technology-related. So I'm waiting to hear if they'll be interested in my technology editorial about the current state of broadband in America along with a 500 word side bar detailing my experience above with AT&T.
"Getting even" is part of my birth right... it comes with my name. Getting PAID to get even, on the biggest possible stage you can find, is part of my "Tier 2 Vengeance" Program.