Tuesday's Update Remnants and Earthlink
Tuesday’s Update Remnants and Earthlink
I got stuck with a batch of Microsoft updates on Tuesday. I held off on doing the required restart until I went to bed. The machine could handle the start by itself. I figured that I could log on when I got home from work.
Crud, I was so wrong.
My Internet Service Provider is Earthlink.net and I have been a more than patient customer for more than ten years now. I know I would have to power cycle [turn it on and off] my modem and reboot my laptop before the Earthlink software will function properly.
I did that when I got home.
No freaking luck.
I got an error message that said my log on name and password were not recognized by the server. Had I not exercised extreme restraint, I would have ripped my laptop out of its docking station and tossed it through the window. I have only been using the same log on name and password for over ten years now.
My frustration level with Earthlink has reached a new high today.
I am writing this portion of the blog while I sit here, waiting for technical support in the form of Bambi from Bangalore to come on the telephone. I know from past experience that she will be incapable of handling my trouble and have absolutely no clue as to understanding my problem.
So far, the clock is at 25 minutes of the cheesiest music on hold and the annoying, continuing, crummy commercials for products that I am now never ever likely to buy from this company.
I think even AOL would look good to me by now but I am not that desperate, yet.
I have made up my mind. I will convert my Earthlink service to their cheap dial up service and sign up for broadband service from the local phone company. I will save money and be able to continue to use the Earthlink email address until I get all of the users and people I exchange emails with converted over to the phone company email address.
35 minutes on hold and Alex is on the phone.
Alex told me that the problem is with my local phone company Verizon. How convenient. He told me that the call center is getting many calls from customers in Southern California who have Verizon for a local phone company.
He said everyone has the same error message; how comforting to know that. I have lots of company in the lifeboat I guess.
Alex wanted to escalate my call to a senior technician and he put me back on hold, again with the same crummy music.
I went along with his charade because he seemed like a nice guy.
How escalating my complaint is going to fix things is far from me. It seems like Earthlink is aware of the nature of the problem and ought to be working to fix or resolve the problem.
45 minutes of total hold time so far now.
Alex transferred me to a senior level technician where the wait is less than ten minutes.
My Friend Sharon
My friend Sharon called while I was on hold with Earthlink. She wanted to talk to me about a job application. She wanted to know if she could use me as a reference and I said certainly
I had to cut the call short because Tim the senior level technician came on the phone.
Tuesday’s Update Remnants Part II
I got transferred and then the senior level technician, Tim, could not pick up my phone call. I could hear him but he could not hear me.
I had to hang up after Tim hung up on me.
Babe of the Moment Photos
I phoned Doug this morning for a suggestion on where to go to find photos of the Babe of the Moment. As you will recall, I was grumbling about not being able to find some photos for my contemplated Babe of the Moment.
Doug, being the blog savvy guy that he is, suggested that I go to Google Images and search there for a photo or two.
Perfect suggestion, if I could get online.
Tuesday’s Update Remnants Part III
I dialed back and was place on hold where the waiting time is less than ten minutes.
Oh freaking joy.
55 minutes of total hold time so far now.
The new technician, Sam answered the phone and I told him my story, again. I asked that he transfer me and my trouble ticket to a senior level technician. Sam repeated everything I had told him and then said, “Let me transfer to a senior level technician.”
I was tempted to say something really sarcastic and caustic but I decided that I shouldn’t do that since Sam had nothing to do with the earlier troubles and he was trying to help me.
I did utilize my extensive time on hold to periodically check back in and see if the server problem had been fixed
The music on hold, when you are waiting for a senior level technician, is ever so marginally better, a modest improvement.
70 minutes of total hold time so far now.
One of the nice things, if I can say, about the hold for a senior level technician is there are no annoying sales messages. I suppose that is a modest victory for those who only sit and wait for their call to be answered.
At the 80 minute mark, Lisa the senior technician came on the phone. I gave Lisa my story again. I am getting very good at telling the story by now as you could expect and I was extremely pleasant and not hostile at all.
She put me on hold, of course, to check account and my trouble ticket.
Lisa came back to me and said the problem was that I was on a frame relay circuit and the Earthlink was no longer supporting frame relay and was now supporting the ATM circuit.
I had to ask what ATM stood for. Lisa had to put me on hold while she found out that ATM stands for Asynchronous Transfer Mode.
80 minutes of total hold time so far now; total time with Earthlink, 95 minutes.
All of Lisa’s comments got me to thinking about what a poor job Earthlink did about notifying customers about a change in service and then once they got an unhappy customer on the phone what a piss-poor job they did of handling his complaint.
Lisa said I could call back anytime within the next two weeks and use my trouble ticket if I had any more connection troubles.
This was simply not what I wanted to hear at all. In a very calm and even voice I told Lisa that if I had to call again about connections it would be to cancel my service.
Dead, silent, pause.
Then, Lisa mumbled some standard form of apology to me and expressed a hope that I would not cancel my service. I said that my continuing as a customer depended on how well and how quickly my trouble was resolved.
Lisa put me back on hold and transferred me off to the Installation people who would work to shift my service over to the ATM circuit.
At least the music on hold while waiting for the Installation people is fairly soft so I can’t hear it very well. This is one of the very few times in my life where my hearing loss from the Navy has been beneficial to me
110 minutes of total hold time so far now; total time with Earthlink, 125 minutes.
The Installation Department bimbo Sam came on the phone and told me that it would take up to 14 days to process my order to change my service.
I told her that I hadn’t changed my account at all. I said some things about being on hold for close to two hours and still not being able to resolve my trouble.
Sam said that I could use the dial up function to access the Internet. Then, she transferred me to Dial Up Installation and the hold.
I was on hold for another twenty minutes until Joe came on the line.
Making a long and painful story short, Joe was able to get me online in a dial up mode. It took all of two hours and forty minutes including a twenty minute call back to me from India so I could get my dial up connection set up.
That was part of my day gentle readers, a very long part of my day.
Be well and stay happy.
I got stuck with a batch of Microsoft updates on Tuesday. I held off on doing the required restart until I went to bed. The machine could handle the start by itself. I figured that I could log on when I got home from work.
Crud, I was so wrong.
My Internet Service Provider is Earthlink.net and I have been a more than patient customer for more than ten years now. I know I would have to power cycle [turn it on and off] my modem and reboot my laptop before the Earthlink software will function properly.
I did that when I got home.
No freaking luck.
I got an error message that said my log on name and password were not recognized by the server. Had I not exercised extreme restraint, I would have ripped my laptop out of its docking station and tossed it through the window. I have only been using the same log on name and password for over ten years now.
My frustration level with Earthlink has reached a new high today.
I am writing this portion of the blog while I sit here, waiting for technical support in the form of Bambi from Bangalore to come on the telephone. I know from past experience that she will be incapable of handling my trouble and have absolutely no clue as to understanding my problem.
So far, the clock is at 25 minutes of the cheesiest music on hold and the annoying, continuing, crummy commercials for products that I am now never ever likely to buy from this company.
I think even AOL would look good to me by now but I am not that desperate, yet.
I have made up my mind. I will convert my Earthlink service to their cheap dial up service and sign up for broadband service from the local phone company. I will save money and be able to continue to use the Earthlink email address until I get all of the users and people I exchange emails with converted over to the phone company email address.
35 minutes on hold and Alex is on the phone.
Alex told me that the problem is with my local phone company Verizon. How convenient. He told me that the call center is getting many calls from customers in Southern California who have Verizon for a local phone company.
He said everyone has the same error message; how comforting to know that. I have lots of company in the lifeboat I guess.
Alex wanted to escalate my call to a senior technician and he put me back on hold, again with the same crummy music.
I went along with his charade because he seemed like a nice guy.
How escalating my complaint is going to fix things is far from me. It seems like Earthlink is aware of the nature of the problem and ought to be working to fix or resolve the problem.
45 minutes of total hold time so far now.
Alex transferred me to a senior level technician where the wait is less than ten minutes.
My Friend Sharon
My friend Sharon called while I was on hold with Earthlink. She wanted to talk to me about a job application. She wanted to know if she could use me as a reference and I said certainly
I had to cut the call short because Tim the senior level technician came on the phone.
Tuesday’s Update Remnants Part II
I got transferred and then the senior level technician, Tim, could not pick up my phone call. I could hear him but he could not hear me.
I had to hang up after Tim hung up on me.
Babe of the Moment Photos
I phoned Doug this morning for a suggestion on where to go to find photos of the Babe of the Moment. As you will recall, I was grumbling about not being able to find some photos for my contemplated Babe of the Moment.
Doug, being the blog savvy guy that he is, suggested that I go to Google Images and search there for a photo or two.
Perfect suggestion, if I could get online.
Tuesday’s Update Remnants Part III
I dialed back and was place on hold where the waiting time is less than ten minutes.
Oh freaking joy.
55 minutes of total hold time so far now.
The new technician, Sam answered the phone and I told him my story, again. I asked that he transfer me and my trouble ticket to a senior level technician. Sam repeated everything I had told him and then said, “Let me transfer to a senior level technician.”
I was tempted to say something really sarcastic and caustic but I decided that I shouldn’t do that since Sam had nothing to do with the earlier troubles and he was trying to help me.
I did utilize my extensive time on hold to periodically check back in and see if the server problem had been fixed
The music on hold, when you are waiting for a senior level technician, is ever so marginally better, a modest improvement.
70 minutes of total hold time so far now.
One of the nice things, if I can say, about the hold for a senior level technician is there are no annoying sales messages. I suppose that is a modest victory for those who only sit and wait for their call to be answered.
At the 80 minute mark, Lisa the senior technician came on the phone. I gave Lisa my story again. I am getting very good at telling the story by now as you could expect and I was extremely pleasant and not hostile at all.
She put me on hold, of course, to check account and my trouble ticket.
Lisa came back to me and said the problem was that I was on a frame relay circuit and the Earthlink was no longer supporting frame relay and was now supporting the ATM circuit.
I had to ask what ATM stood for. Lisa had to put me on hold while she found out that ATM stands for Asynchronous Transfer Mode.
80 minutes of total hold time so far now; total time with Earthlink, 95 minutes.
All of Lisa’s comments got me to thinking about what a poor job Earthlink did about notifying customers about a change in service and then once they got an unhappy customer on the phone what a piss-poor job they did of handling his complaint.
Lisa said I could call back anytime within the next two weeks and use my trouble ticket if I had any more connection troubles.
This was simply not what I wanted to hear at all. In a very calm and even voice I told Lisa that if I had to call again about connections it would be to cancel my service.
Dead, silent, pause.
Then, Lisa mumbled some standard form of apology to me and expressed a hope that I would not cancel my service. I said that my continuing as a customer depended on how well and how quickly my trouble was resolved.
Lisa put me back on hold and transferred me off to the Installation people who would work to shift my service over to the ATM circuit.
At least the music on hold while waiting for the Installation people is fairly soft so I can’t hear it very well. This is one of the very few times in my life where my hearing loss from the Navy has been beneficial to me
110 minutes of total hold time so far now; total time with Earthlink, 125 minutes.
The Installation Department bimbo Sam came on the phone and told me that it would take up to 14 days to process my order to change my service.
I told her that I hadn’t changed my account at all. I said some things about being on hold for close to two hours and still not being able to resolve my trouble.
Sam said that I could use the dial up function to access the Internet. Then, she transferred me to Dial Up Installation and the hold.
I was on hold for another twenty minutes until Joe came on the line.
Making a long and painful story short, Joe was able to get me online in a dial up mode. It took all of two hours and forty minutes including a twenty minute call back to me from India so I could get my dial up connection set up.
That was part of my day gentle readers, a very long part of my day.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 7:57 PM
1 Comments:
earthlink is really good at passing the buck along.
when i called and explained that i couldn't connect after numerous attempts, they said it was a problem with my computer.
so i had to take the whole thing and the apple people said nothing was wrong with the computer. it was a me problem cause i never installed the earthlink software and i had to install it.
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