I am absolutely, completely, totally and wholly fed-up with people who can't do what they are supposed to do. (Do I sound like I'm 80 years old?). First Comcast got the ball rolling. I called them in mid-December to sign up for the "Triple Play" package where you get cable tv, high-speed internet, and digital telephone service for one price. I was trying to save a little money by dumping Verizon (with whom I have not been happy) and consolidate some costs. So, I called my friendly Comcast customer service rep and placed the order. I was told that a technician would arrive at my house between 8am and 10am on Monday the following week. Sure enough, that is exactly what happened! The technician arrived at exactly 8am! How about that!
Since we already had Comcast cable and internet, all the tech had to do was install my digital phone modem and swap one of our cable boxes. At the time, we had an extra digital video recorder (dvr) that we wanted to swap for a standard cable box, once again, to save a little cash. The tech asked me to retrieve the dvr for him, which I did, and when I asked for the standard box in replacement, he said bluntly, "That's not on the order." I assured him that I was clear with the csr and I ordered a replacement - or else we wouldn't be able to watch tv without a box. Doesn't that make sense to you? I thought so.
The tech informed me that he was unaware that we would be swapping a box, so he didn't have one on his truck. Would he go get one for me, I asked? "No," he said, "but you can go downtown to the office and pick one up." Well...OK, I guess that's not the end of the world. I'm on Christmas vacation, I didn't have much else to do with my time. Finally, I asked about the phone and he said, "Oh, right." He went back to the truck and returned with two small, white cardboard boxes. He thrust them into my hands and said, "You know how to do this, don't you?" I assured him I had no idea what he was talking about and he demonstrated that the phone modem was nearly identical to the high-speed internet modem - "should be a snap for you," he said. "I'm late for my next appointment and gotta run. If you have any questions, call our 1-800 tech support line, they can walk you through it." And with that, he left.
There I was, standing in the middle of my living room still holding these two boxes, feeling highly resentful that I just got the brush-off from a 23-year-old kid who was late for his 9am appointment. Knowing that I would be paying these clowns $100 a month to satisfy my need for communication and entertainment wasn't making me feel any better about the situation.
Later that afternoon, I figured I would head downtown to retrieve my standard cable box. I should have been prepared for the crowd assembled at the office due to the fact that this was the week after Christmas and there were lots and lots of new wide-screen tv's acquired in the last week. Nevertheless, I had nothing to do and I was in a really good mood since I was on vacation. I stood in line patiently for 45 minutes while the folks in front of me worked out their own particular issues with the customer service reps, of which there were exactly two to service all of these customers. Two late-middle-aged women who looked like they wanted to run away screaming. And why wouldn't they? Most of the people in the office that day were rude, annoyed, ignorant, and quite frankly, ugly. And I mean that in a visual sense. Why were all of these people so damned ugly and what did that say that I was standing amongst them? Do field technicians only help pretty people? Were all of the good-looking people skiing in Vermont that week? I dunno. Weird, though.
As I approached the counter, I tried my best to smile and be pleasant to the obviously over-worked and harried csr behind the counter. I said, "I have an easy request. I just need a standard cable box. That's it and I'll be on my way!"
You know where this is going, don't you? I mean, you know there's no way in hell I left that office with a cable box, don't you?
You would be right. The csr asked for my name and account information. After a few obligatory click-click-clicks on her keyboard, a screwed up look on her face, and a pencil tap or two on the counter for good measure, she informed me that I had an open work order and that my account was "frozen" for 48 hours. Since the technician had been to my house, he never "closed" the work order, or was unable to close it, or wouldn't close it...I'm not sure which. However, she was adamant that I could NOT have a box that day due to the open status of my work order. When I gave her my open-mouthed "You-have-got-to-be-kidding-me" face, she turned to her cohort and asked if they couldn't do anything.
The other woman working next to my customer service rep had the officious look of a state employee working overtime at the Registry of Motor Vehicles - the kind of person who looks like someone placed a small malodorous turd right under their nose. She said something that approximately resembled this: "Ya werkorda ain't pratfall redmeat dogface through the banana patch." Huh? I asked her to repeat herself, as I didn't catch what she was trying to say. Through gritted, annoyed teeth, she turned her head away from her customer and slowly rotated her seat so that she was facing directly at me and growled, "Ya waka ainna digbotch inna beefore yo lollimop toiletbucket."
Oh, ok - I'll remember that for future reference.
The original csr who was helping me shrugged her shoulders and said, "Sorry, we can't do anything for 48 hours until your work order clears." At that point, I lost it. I started yelling about how I was paying over $100 a month for this?!? To get treated like a piece of dirt? I turned to the 25 or so people lined up behind me and said to all of them, "I'm sorry folks, it's been a very bad day and I've had it with these arrogant, idiotic nitwits and their little freak show. I'm pissed off and at my wit's end. If my wife and kids didn't watch the tv, I'd yank it right out of the fucking wall - and you should too!"
And with that, I stomped out of the office.
After a very nasty call to the Comcast main office, I got my cable box hand-delivered the next day. My phone still wasn't installed, but that's an even longer story and one for another day.
Recently, I took my van to the dealership to have a few small adjustments made to the headlamps and fog lamps. After working on my van for a while, the mechanic came into the waiting area and asked, "Are you the owner of the green van?" I informed him I was and he continued, "You know your Anti-Lock Breaks had a warning light on your dash right? Well," he said nonchalantly, "the reason the light was on was due to an unplugged wire. I plugged it back in for you."
That may seem like good news to you, but I almost blew my top. Why? Because I sometimes have my van serviced at a garage located near my house and the owner of that garage told me that he would have to pull the entire wheel bearing assembly to get at this particular wire. Total estimated cost? $350. Three-hundred and fifty smackaroonies. For fixing a warning light on the dashboard. You can understand why I've been driving around with that light on for over a year now. But now - NOW some new guy tells me that all it needed was to be "plugged in"?? I was beyond livid. I wanted to drive straight over to my other mechanic and strangle him with my bare hands. Except he also plows my driveway when it snows. So...I changed my mind and decided to pick up a prescription that I had at CVS.
When I got to CVS, I was told that the bill for my prescription was $150. Normally, I pay about $35, so this was quite a change. Apparently this was because insurance wouldn't cover it any longer. I said, "It has been covered in the past, and I have a prescription for 8 refills, what's going on?" only to be told that I had to call the insurance company and work it out with them, CVS doesn’t know anything. So I called and was told that I could only have 3 refills at a local pharmacy and had to go through "Medco" mail-order prescriptions for the rest. Thanks for telling me. So, Medco faxed my doctor to ask for permission to refill my prescription and after a week, they emailed me and said the doctor never responded to them, so sorry, no pills for me. I called the doctor's office and was told in a very stern and agitated voice that indeed they faxed back the prescription the same day they got the request from Medco. I called Medco back and they claimed they never got it, so…I had to call the doctor back and ask them to resend it. With a huge amount of irritation in his voice, the guy on the phone (not the doctor) agreed to re-fax it. After a few days, when I heard nothing from Medco, I called Medco back and they said too much time had passed since the original request and they had to re-issue a new request because they can only be open for like 3 days or something. Medco resent the request and the doctor faxed Medco ONE MORE TIME.
I finally got a confirmation email today that they will mail my prescription to me "sometime NEXT WEEK." Jesus, I'm glad it's not heart medication.
Now I'm dealing with AT&T regarding a cell phone battery on a relatively new phone that won't hold its charge. I have made 3 calls so far and each person keeps sending me back to the other one who then sends me back to the first one. This is a warranty repair, but you can't just walk into the AT&T store to exchange them, you have to do it through the mail, but they won't just send a new battery, they have to send an entirely new phone, where they send you a new phone and then you send your old one back to them. The problem is one AT&T person tells me I have to have the phone with me when I call, and then when I called from home, another AT&T person said the warranty office closes at noon. NOON?!?!? WTF is with THAT?? So, anyway, I spoke to someone for about 45 minutes last night and gave her all the info and she said "Call the warranty repair office back tomorrow before noon and they can just see all my notes and you should be all set." So I called the warranty office this morning and was told that they were open 'til MIDNIGHT last night, not noon, and that the idiot yesterday doesn't understand the difference between am and pm and I could have resolved all of this last night. However, today's warranty person said that she can't just read the notes, she needs me to have the phone in my hands for some reason, so she couldn't help me, but told me to call back when I get home (like I did last night).
Aaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhh! Can't ANYONE do ANYTHING right??
I swear to God, movies and tv shows about this kind of stuff used to be funny because it was the exception. Now it seems to be the rule.
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