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ALOHA FRIDAY
October 21
It's Aloha Friday.
"Hello, Can I Help You?"
I made an error the other day. An error for which I was severely punished.
I had been having trouble getting onto Firefox on my iMac. Having done this before a couple of times I clicked onto Network Preferences and then onto Diagnostics and for some inexplicable reason, I typed in the wrong password.
You might think this was no big deal. But it was. Suddenly I was shut out from any Internet connections. No Safari. No Firefox. No nothing.
Digging out my latest bill from A.T. & T. (my service provider) I got on the phone. I stayed on the phone for hours and hours. The wait was interminable. The most intriguing part of my wait being the recorded message that I heard over and over as I waited for my call to be answered: "Visit A.T. & T. dot com for many answers to your questions". I wondered how I was supposed to do this when my computer would not connect to the Internet.
Finally my phone, if not my prayers, was answered. By someone whose accent made it nearly impossible to understand. Our conversation was so hilarious I should have recorded it and included it in a comedy movie.
I was shunted from agent to agent and each time I was transferred I had to give the same information again; phone number, problem, account number, etc. Several times I gave the A.T.&T. agent my information only to be asked, "What state are you in?" and then to be told, "Sorry, this is Florida, you need to speak with a California agent. Please hold while I transfer you."
Now I do want to say that the A.T.&T. agents were very polite. All except the one who suddenly cut out on me leaving me holding onto a phone with no dial tone, no sound, nothing. I gave up on that one after seven minutes of waiting.
Finally I did get a California agent who knew what she was talking about. With some effort she got me reconnected to Safari. But then she determined that my real problem lay with my Airport Express connection, and A.T.&T. doesn't do Airport Express. Along the way to reconnecting with Safari the agent and I both learned that A.T.&T. has my birth-date listed incorrectly and that I had no security questions/answers listed with them. Now I do. A.T.&T. also said that I entered the wrong last four digits of my Social Security number. When I asked the agent about that she told me that they didn't even have my Social Security number. (so why as a part of their security procedures did they ask for it?)
I closed out for the day knowing that at least I could go onto Safari and collect my email, though all my bookmarks were left behind on Firefox.
My head still reeling, I came downstairs the next day and using Safari connected with Apple Support. After paying forty-nine dollars for a thirty-day support contract, I linked up with an Apple Support techie who was wonderful. He led me through the steps necessary to re-configure my Airport Express and got me up and running in only thirty minutes or so. When I finally got Firefox up and running, and when I saw my wonderful bookmarks lined up along the side of the page, I cried tears of joy. And the money I spent for the contract was well worth it.
I have vowed never to type in the wrong password again. I know all too well now the pain of not being able to connect to the world through - - - -
Connection Terminated. Short-Term Contact Payment Denied by Bank. Contact Apple.com/Service for further information.
Much aloha.
Check out Michael's website at http://www.michaelherr.com/ buy all six books for only $18
"Eat -- Sleep -- Golf -- Travel
Write More Books !! But Take it All One Day At A Time!!!" (Michael Herr)
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this blog site do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Publisher of Dakinetalk the blog, but they could? ;D)Write More Books !! But Take it All One Day At A Time!!!" (Michael Herr)
5 comments:
via Facebook;"Another reason to demand that they stop outsourcing American jobs, especially where telephone communication is important for people who don't speak any Indian dialects."
Amen to dat, Senator Dunn...
via Facebook;"James "kimo" Rosen, Cheryl Eayrs Olstad, Douglas Dunn and Debbie Eayrs like this..
I loved this post because it's all too real. I personally have very few tech problems, probably because I do the same things all the time with my tech things. but when I do use CS, I love to hear these accents-ask them where they are and chit chat as we proceed along solving my problem.
This chit chat may help speed along the process as the techi relates to you and trys harder to 'be the one', after all-AT&T sacks employees who have poor CS.
I'm glad your problem was solved and that you had the ready cash to dish out (for their profit motive), I say that, becuae you know, these out sourced jobs are out sourced just because they are so much like cheap slave labor-the techi get nearly $0 for long hours and don't forget, they are up all night to deal with us Americans...life sure has changed.
over and out,
Diana
via facebook;"As i wrote above, Michael's experience sounds like a nightmare!"
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