Doofes II: The Telecom Empire Strikes Back
Doofes. Rhymes with "roofies" and "Goofy's".
We had the 8 a.m.-to-noon "morning window" with Sympatico. This required me to set my alarm for 8 a.m., which is much earlier than I tend to wake up these days. (Yeah, I know, whine whine. Regardless, I'm sleep-deprived and on lots of medication.) The Sympatico doofes arrived at 8:35, which was quite reasonable under the circumstances.
There were a pair of them, one senior and one junior. (The senior reminded me disconcertingly of a younger radargrrl.) I explained the situation to them in some detail, and the senior said, "We'll start with getting the internet working." That phrase "start with" seemed encouraging. I showed them the bundle of wires available in the basement, and the bunch of wires in the bedroom that they could use. They got to work. I gathered that this was partly a training exercise for the junior, since I overheard a couple of comments along the lines of "let me show you a trick for that kind of thing".
At around 9:15, they came downstairs, and told me that the internet was working and that they were about ready to go after a bit of clean-up. I asked them about the phones, and senior told me that that was something that Rogers would have to fix, since Rogers techs had specialized tools that he didn't have. I closed my eyes and said tightly that I was extremely tired of one company getting things to work by cutting off the other's service, as their guy yesterday had done. "All of the phone jacks worked just fine until your guy disconnected them." There was a pause, they looked at each other, and senior said that they'd go and have a look; probably the guy had just unplugged something.
At around 9:30, they were back: "Everything's working now, so we'll be going." Senior said that he'd go out to the truck and do the paperwork while junior cleaned up. I went back upstairs and found that most of the lights on the modem were out - hence no internet working - and none of the phone jacks worked. I called them back in. Inside voice: "Don't you think you should have at least looked at things before declaring that they worked?"
At around 9:38, they were back: "It's all working now." Except that I found that the phone in my office still wasn't working. There was more poking at wiring.
At around 9:45, everything seemed to be working. Then, they could do their paperwork and cleanup.
But after they left, I found that the phone jack in the second bedroom had been just pushed back into the wall, rather than being reconnected to the cables. None of the phone jacks upstairs except for the one in the office were working. I phoned junior at the number he'd left and told him what still needed to be done. Junior: "The phone jack in the bedroom was never connected!" Me: "It was connected until yesterday, when your guy disconnected it." Junior: "Oh. Um. Well, I've just finished a job, so I'll come back over there shortly."
About twenty minutes later, he called me back. There was an emergency that had just come up, and he had to take care of it. He'd come back after that.
Mid-afternoon, I called him again. He told me that for the last half hour, he'd been trying to start his car. "You know those plastic Chrysler keys? With the RFID chips?" "Not really, but I get the idea." "Anyway, mine seems to be busted. I've got someone coming over with a car to pick me up. I get off work at 5, so if I can't get to your place before then, I'll swing by after work."
He never came, of course. Okay, car troubles, maybe he couldn't. But if so, he should have called me.
I don't expect to hear from him over the weekend, of course. But I'll be calling him on Monday.
I'm not holding my breath on this; I think it's likely that I'll have to complain to Sympatico and have either them or Rogers back.
If all he'd left screwed up was the disconnected phone jack in the bedroom, I'd have taken care of it myself instead of dealing with the hassle of getting him back. But there are several phone jacks not working upstairs, and that's stuff that is much easier to trace with the equipment that he's got and I don't have.
At least we do have internet back, and the phone jacks we use most often are working.
Bless me, what do they teach them at these schools?
We had the 8 a.m.-to-noon "morning window" with Sympatico. This required me to set my alarm for 8 a.m., which is much earlier than I tend to wake up these days. (Yeah, I know, whine whine. Regardless, I'm sleep-deprived and on lots of medication.) The Sympatico doofes arrived at 8:35, which was quite reasonable under the circumstances.
There were a pair of them, one senior and one junior. (The senior reminded me disconcertingly of a younger radargrrl.) I explained the situation to them in some detail, and the senior said, "We'll start with getting the internet working." That phrase "start with" seemed encouraging. I showed them the bundle of wires available in the basement, and the bunch of wires in the bedroom that they could use. They got to work. I gathered that this was partly a training exercise for the junior, since I overheard a couple of comments along the lines of "let me show you a trick for that kind of thing".
At around 9:15, they came downstairs, and told me that the internet was working and that they were about ready to go after a bit of clean-up. I asked them about the phones, and senior told me that that was something that Rogers would have to fix, since Rogers techs had specialized tools that he didn't have. I closed my eyes and said tightly that I was extremely tired of one company getting things to work by cutting off the other's service, as their guy yesterday had done. "All of the phone jacks worked just fine until your guy disconnected them." There was a pause, they looked at each other, and senior said that they'd go and have a look; probably the guy had just unplugged something.
At around 9:30, they were back: "Everything's working now, so we'll be going." Senior said that he'd go out to the truck and do the paperwork while junior cleaned up. I went back upstairs and found that most of the lights on the modem were out - hence no internet working - and none of the phone jacks worked. I called them back in. Inside voice: "Don't you think you should have at least looked at things before declaring that they worked?"
At around 9:38, they were back: "It's all working now." Except that I found that the phone in my office still wasn't working. There was more poking at wiring.
At around 9:45, everything seemed to be working. Then, they could do their paperwork and cleanup.
But after they left, I found that the phone jack in the second bedroom had been just pushed back into the wall, rather than being reconnected to the cables. None of the phone jacks upstairs except for the one in the office were working. I phoned junior at the number he'd left and told him what still needed to be done. Junior: "The phone jack in the bedroom was never connected!" Me: "It was connected until yesterday, when your guy disconnected it." Junior: "Oh. Um. Well, I've just finished a job, so I'll come back over there shortly."
About twenty minutes later, he called me back. There was an emergency that had just come up, and he had to take care of it. He'd come back after that.
Mid-afternoon, I called him again. He told me that for the last half hour, he'd been trying to start his car. "You know those plastic Chrysler keys? With the RFID chips?" "Not really, but I get the idea." "Anyway, mine seems to be busted. I've got someone coming over with a car to pick me up. I get off work at 5, so if I can't get to your place before then, I'll swing by after work."
He never came, of course. Okay, car troubles, maybe he couldn't. But if so, he should have called me.
I don't expect to hear from him over the weekend, of course. But I'll be calling him on Monday.
I'm not holding my breath on this; I think it's likely that I'll have to complain to Sympatico and have either them or Rogers back.
If all he'd left screwed up was the disconnected phone jack in the bedroom, I'd have taken care of it myself instead of dealing with the hassle of getting him back. But there are several phone jacks not working upstairs, and that's stuff that is much easier to trace with the equipment that he's got and I don't have.
At least we do have internet back, and the phone jacks we use most often are working.
Bless me, what do they teach them at these schools?