You know…if the normal state of the phone is “not ringing,” any call would, by definition, represent a “larger than normal call volume.”
Just sayin’.
I signed up for their Triple Play a few years ago (TV/Internet/Phone). We’ve since unplugged the phone, since we all have cell phones and the only people who called were asked for money for Barack Obama. I’m still working up the courage to call them to cancel it. I haven’t had the two hours nor blood pressure to spare in recent weeks.
I live in Minneapolis, and the whole city is now wi-fi enabled. Last night, we called the stupid ISP to sign up for long-term home wireless service, after several months of just buying a month’s worth of access at a time.
We go through the account set up rigamarole and are told that yay! We now have internet access! So we hang up.
And try to log on… nothing. Wait about an hour. Try again. Nothing.
I call them back, and am told now (which they didn’t mention in the first conversation) that we have to agree to the terms and conditions.
Me: “Ok. How do I do that?”
ISP: “We sent you an email. Just click on the link in the email and your service will start.”
Me: “So… I have to pick up an email to access the internet?”
ISP: “Yes.”
Me (laughing out loud): “In order to get on the internet, I have to… get on the internet, is what you’re saying.”
ISP (nervous laugh): “Um. Yes.”
Me: “Ok then!”
Had to wait until I got into work this morning so I could pick up the email and get my home service. Ridiculous.
ETA – we signed up for wireless service in order to dump Comcast, which was far worse.
I do tech support for a non-microsoft computer company.
True, we have some laughably bad techs. They’ll hang up on you if they don’t know how to fix your problem, blind transfer you to another agent, or do whatever they need to do to get you off their phone.
Then there are people like me. I do a lot of things I’m technically not supposed to do.
But then, we get a lot of stupid calls too, where people expect us to support third party products just because it’s connected to our computer, or because we’re the only support they know how to call. Mostly printers. Hey, I can help you with the computer end of things, but at a certain point, I have to push you back toward the manufacturer - even if their support is non-existent, because A> We didn’t make that printer and don’t support it, and B> I don’t know jack about how to install that printer because I’m not trained on every unit ever made.
I got drubbed the other day because a guy wanted the battery on his five year old notebook computer to be replaced and I said no. He complained. Well Fuck You, Sir, because I can’t replace a battery (an expendable unit) on a computer that is four years outside it’s warranty. And no, Xxxxx doesn’t support it’s computers to the end of time, any more than any other company does. Unfortunately, our company is too stupid to notice the vast chasm between a customer complaining about not having something replaced when he’s not entitled to it, and what we’re allowed to do. All they saw was that someone I serviced was complaining.
But then, my company is entirely focused on customer service results, unlike Comcast and Microsoft, who appear to only provide customer support because they’re required to.
I must be living in a parallel universe, but every time I’ve had to call Comcast with a problem they have fixed it within minutes. And I don’t have to wait on hold for long periods to talk to a rep - if the hold will be more than a minute or so they will ask for my number so that they can call back when there is an available rep. This usually occurs within ten minutes.
And their reps all have good ole American accents so that they can be understood without any difficulty. All in all they have been excellent service providers.
Off subject a little: In ancient times I had Viacom for my TV connection, and they had an awful reputation. As in the above case, however, my experience with them was very satisfactory. One time, after calling, getting right thru to a rep, and getting the problem solved in minutes, I asked the guy how come they had such a bad reputation while my experiences with them were universally good. This unleashed the foodgates. I proceeded to listen to him for at least ten full minutes as he unloaded about all the idiot customers he had had to deal with. I wish that I had been able to record that conversation as a lot of the examples he regaled me with were hilarious. I got the definite impression that I was the only caller he had that had ever given him a kind word, or treated him like a human being.
Floodgates, dammit, not foodgates!!! I’m the world’s worst proofreader.
Your service provider is useless? Have you checked whether they’re plugged in?
Comcast is famous for crappy service and slow and bad response. Why, because they can. They have little or no competition. They are practically a monopoly in many areas. I have had a lot of trouble with them in the past. I will use any other service provider i can find.
I have Cox, and I have to say, I’ve had great service from them. I’m consistently a bit shocked by this, because I’ve had rotten experiences with Verizon and with other cable companies. Cox’s computerized tech support is generally quite useful for simple problems, and I’ve had usually had good luck on the occasions when I’ve had to escalate (downgrade?) to a human being.
While it’s certainly true that most of the cube drones employed by ISPs are as dumb as a bag of hammers, it’s not entirely the fault of the ISP. Idiot customers are also part of the problem. Dopers (on the whole) know what a modem is and can easily locate the “any” key. The other 99% of the population isn’t so lucky. It probably isn’t worth employing a tech with 10 years experience to try and explain why the internet is broken during a power outage.
We use Time Warner at home and when we get a problem we can usually diagnose the problem pretty quickly with no help. If it seems to be something beyond our control, we just call TW and have have a fairly standard speech along the lines of “Hi, we seem to having high ping times to our router - we had this problem four months ago and we were transferred to a level 2 tech. Could you transfer us please?” “Transfer to level 2” seems to be a magic phrase.
A Google search provides better and faster support than just about any tech support drone I’ve ever spoken to. Unless it’s for an obscure product from a small company, then you can sometimes call or write them and you’re actually talking to the people that created the product.
Actually, as a tech drone, I use google extensively to find the answer to problems I don’t know how to handle immediately. The only problem I have with that is wading through all the various discussion board threads where there are either no solutions to the problem, or bogus solutions (which I can spot immediately).
And well, the Stupid Customer meme strikes again, as I got a complaint about me from a guy who I spent a while with yesterday trying to set up a printer that wasn’t ours. I ultimately had to point him back to the manufacturer. I did have one other potential solution, but he “had to go”. Then the fucker complains that I couldn’t get his (NOT OURS) printer set up. :smack: :mad::mad::mad:
Yeah I won’t say I haven’t spoken to knowledgeable tech support reps, but most just follow the painfully tedious script. It really seems the larger companies just try to keep you tied up with busywork until you give up or figure it out yourself.
I can vouch for them, too. I used to be a customer, and I had two friends in high school who worked front-line support for them for a while. Both smart guys, and good with people. One of my friends still works for them, though he’s now in a software development role.