Saturday, July 29, 2006

Your Call Will Be Answered in the Order It Was Received...

I've not posted much of late, mostly for personal reasons. Life isn't about me lately, it's about friends who are having hard times and need a hand...but I'm trying not to completely sublimate my being to their pain. Basically, I'm not letting their experiences invade my private spaces, which are few and far between, but this being one of them.

On Wednesday night, though, I had a great post in mind after another woman and I debated the Great Lingerie Question. I returned to the keyboard prepared to launch this debate for you to weigh in on, but alas....no internet service! However, it was midnight, so I went to bed.

Thursday morning...no service. Thursday night - still fritzing when I got home.
I restart the computer...
Nothing.
I unplug the modem...
Nothing.
I disconnect everything from the wall...
Nothing.
I start browsing the modem settings...
Everything's fine.
Friday morning, more of the same. So I figure I'll send an email when I get to work. After all, my service provider has a great online section for troubleshooting and chat with an agent.

I logged in from work, and the customer service pages were down. I clicked on "Troublehooting" and the page was broken. I clicked on "Having a Problem?" and the link was broken. After chuckling in that irony, I tried the eChat, and it too was down.

This morning, I got up, and, frustrated with my lack of connectivity, and called the help line. For 20 minutes I listened to constant recordings, a canned, inhuman voice saying, "We apologize for the delay. please continue t ohold, we anticipate your call will be answered in less than one minute." So I waited. And quietly thanked the Lord for the person who decided tp put speaker phones on cordless handsets!

Finally, a customer support tech comes on the line. I explain the problem and he says, "Have you tried resetting the modem?"

"Well, actually, I've tried it numerous times, but if you need me to do it now to check it off your troubleshooting list, there's no harm in doing it again."

"Please do," he says.

So I'm unplugging the modem, thinking that this guy doesn't realize that he's dealing with someone who has some inkling of what's going on, even if I'm not TOTALLY technosavvy. He askes me two questions, then says, "Okay reconnect the modem."

I did.

THE DAMN THING WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Stupid" does not BEGIN to encapsulate the feeling I had!

"Thanks, have a good day" I said...then slunk off to get my morning coffee.

8 comments:

Yoda said...

Wait a minute ... how do you know that it was only the 'resetting' that worked? The guy on the phone might've just touched a magic button?!?!?

Ultra Toast Mosha God said...

Ha!

This sort of thing is always hideously embarrassing.

My bike 'broke down' once.

The patrol man turned up to help, checked everything, and the last thing he did was check the fuel tank.

Empty.

How stupid did I feel?

Flash said...

I think he hit some switch on the other end of the line. I'm convinced that customer service people get a little giddy when they make people feel stupid.

The Flash is back.

Scott said...

My wife told me the printer didn't work once. I came home and plugged it in. Far be it from me to give her a hard time about it. I store these up and pull them out as Get Out Of Jail Free cards when I do something stupid myself.

Tony Gasbarro said...

Claire, why feel stupid? You had already tried what he told you to do, and it didn't work. Did he have you do something differently than you had done it before? Not your fault, my dear. Don't own something that isn't yours in the first place!

Thank you.
Farrago, card-carrying member of the Not-Me Generation.

mr. schprock said...

I read a transcript of a tech helpline call where, after some 10 minutes of troubleshooting talk, the service professional finally discovers that the person having computer problems couldn't carry out a certain action because of darkness. The reason for the darkness: there was a blackout was going on!

Duh!

Kay Vee said...

long time no post!
posts awaited..
:)

Flash said...

Yes, Been too long. We missyou!! Come back soon!