And by “expedited” I mean “pulling field technicians off jobs they have already reported to so they can work on something that’s more important, and by “more important” I mean “Jack Bauer Millions of people will DIE” levels of important?”
And do any Dopers know what it is (and will you please share it with me)?
Our phone and internet connections are down, and they’re telling me that tomorrow is the earliest that they can have someone out to fix it. Even playing the blind-bedridden-wife-whom-leaving-isolated-is-not-safe card didn’t improve their willingness to drop everything and deal with our problem.
Looking for an Order 66-type command that will be followed without question or delay.
A single residence isn’t going to get that number. Our datacenter pays multi-tens of thousands a month for reliability and we barely get to use that number.
I don’t want a special phone number. I want a code phrase that the people at the regular number will recognize as meaning they need to get on the stick.
If you knew it, everyone would know it, and it wouldn’t mean anything anymore.
The Federal government might have the ability to issue Flash Override orders like that, but ever since the Strategic Air Command got out of the telemarketing game I don’t know how often they’d use it.
You’re actually getting pretty fast service in my experience. When I’ve had internet outages, it’s taken anywhere from 2 to 5 days to get someone out to fix it.
Call the customer service number and choose the option for ‘Cancel Service’. That takes you right to the retention department.
THEY can get stuff done. Just complain politely and ask what they can do to fix/improve your service so you don’t have to find another provider.
I do that annually to keep my cable/internet costs the same as new customers - I call and ask if I am getting the benefit of all promotion discounts - just knocked 34% off my bill . (I was told to take this approach by a ‘retention specialist’ with my provider)
I have that for our local telecoms, but neither are AT&T. But that is for use at work, a 9-1-1 center. In fact we have direct numbers to the technicians and they will get right on it if we call, but we are very judicious when making that call.
But the technicians need us to also wade through the same customer service hell that every other customer has to deal with so they can generate a ticket number. The technician needs that ticket number to justify his overtime. Unfortunately the customer service reps rarely know how to set up a ticket for the kinds of reports we get. (It’s a phone wire down due to a car crash knocking over a pole. NO, we have no idea which phone number is affected or if service has even been disrupted. Just give me a damn ticket number, please.)
So given the level of skill from the CSR’s I am doubtful they would recognize any code phrase to expedite a service call.
What, you think I can’t be trusted to keep it under my hat?
Anyway, it’s a moot point at the moment. I had spoken with a supervisor (on my cell phone) several hours ago, and she said she would generate a trouble ticket and text me the number. She never did send me a text, but about ten minutes ago, I decided to plug my cellphone in near kaylasmom’s bed so she could call her friend on my phone.
While I was plugging the charger in, I glanced at the display screen on her cordless phone. Instead of displaying “CHECK TEL LINE,” it displayed “BATT CHARGE COMPLETE.”
The connection appeared to have restored itself. To confirm, I said “Hello” to the Echo on the nightstand, and the top ring glowed blue instead of red.
I’m keeping the trouble ticket open (at least until tomorrow) anyway, in case the restoration has something to do with the fact that the sun has gone down, and it’s a bit cooler. Also I want to see if they can tell me how the problem was resolved.
I work nights (and I’m scheduled to work tonight). My wife is blind, diabetic, has CHF, and (if you MUST know) is beginning to experience signs of dementia. Her legs are quite weak, and her balance is questionable. Combined with the fact that our floor is covered with a hard stone-like tile, neither one of us is comfortable with the prospect of her being alone and isolated for the night.
That strikes me as being a precarious enough set of conditions to justify needing same-day service.
I was a BellSouth (now AT&T) service technician for ten years. I was never pulled off a job for an emergency type repair. However, i was called in a couple of evenings to restore service for a customer who’s line was deemed medically necessary.
Also, for holidays we generally only worked a skeleton crew. Generally we went on service calls that were deemed service critical. Usual medical necessities, generally older people. I know of no code that was used. But since I was a technician I didn’t take customer calls nor was I responsible for deciding which service calls were to be made.