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December 28, 2005
I'm A Deadbeat
At least according to SBC.
I get home last night, and as is my normal routine once I'm done with my workout, I sit down to check my email. Except, this time, my DSL connection won't go through, telling me that my login and/or password are invalid. Huh?
I figure it's just network problems, so I go in the other room and spend an hour on a painting, then come back, and it still won't connect. Argh.
So, I call tech support, and they tell me right off that they aren't experiencing any outages and that I have a zero balance (meaning I'm paid up, for the mouth-breathers in the audience), and they say they're transferring me to the appropriate department. I think this next department is in an Asian country, but I'm just assuming. As soon as I tell this new department my problem, they tell me that I was transferred to the wrong place, so I get sent to another department. I think this new one was India, but again, I could be wrong. I'm feeling like that dotted red line that goes over a map in the Indiana Jones movies at this point.
The guy I get on the phone, while struggling with English, is extremely helpful. Very courteous, very sympathetic, just what you want in a customer service department. He tells me that my connection was disabled because of non-payment. I'm getting frustrated at the whole situation by now, and in my scary voice (if you don't know about my scary voice, feel lucky) I tell him that the first person that talked to me told me I had a zero balance, and that my check to SBC had been deposited at their bank on the 19th. The rep apologizes very quickly, and tells me that rather than transferring me to the accounting department, that he'll put me on hold and take care of the matter himself, so that I don't get cut off.
Now that's service. He breaks up the hold every now and then, telling me the progress of the talks, sometimes sounding flustered himself at the absurdity of the situation. Then, I hear myself getting transferred, and I'm talking to another rep now, who's there to make sure that I can connect again, which I am. I thank her very graciously, then go and drink a beer after my 45 minute phone call, which I would say only about five minutes of I'd actually spent talking to someone.
So, I got great service from the actual rep's I was dealing with, but some dumb ass clerk somewhere didn't bother to read the right screen or something. Corporate America, I love you and your snake-eating-its-own-tail ways.
Posted by Schamberger at December 28, 2005 01:22 PM