(no subject)
I got a new phone ("THE" new phone, actually) from the man for Christmas. The 'cook my dinner' function seemed not to be working, so I called Sprint.
I've been with them now for just shy of 5 years. I get pretty stellar customer service in their phone stores, but calling them for anything blows - BAD! Thankfully, I've only had to do it a handful of times. Last night was one of them.
I went to see my sons 5th grade band concert last night, so on the 20 minute return ferry ride home, I called to see what was up with my phone. (It wasn't the dinner function, actually. When surfing the web on the little teensy screen, I had no graphics.. only a little "X" where the picture should be.)
Firstly... Sprints phone-in customer service has the voice recognition welcome and prompts. The "lady"kept saying she couldn't understand what I was saying, but there was no button to push instead of saying "technical support". I finally got through, after my "anticipated wait time of 3 minutes or less" - chatted with a chap named Matthew a bit, but not before giving him every piece of personal identifying information on earth, then was told I needed to talk to technical support... and he could transfer me. Ooohhh hKkkaaayyy.... (which department was he in? I thought I CALLED tech support?).. Anyway - he sent me on... I got a guy named Chriselle (or something close to it? That's how I wrote it down, anyway.) I had to give HIM all my personal information again (a real craw scratcher of mine- especially if I'm talking to someone in the same company... didn't the other fella tell you who you were talking to?). C-man couldn't help me either - I could only visualise him standing there scratching his ass with a dumb look on his face saying, "IDunno". So... he gave me the number for Palm (phone brand)... are they open this late, I asked? Oh yes- 24 hours, ma'am, says he.
Call Palm - not on hold long, but had to push a lot of buttons to get where I needed to go. ("PC or MAC?" WTF? It's a CELL PHONE!) anyway.. .I get IreneAgentNUmber321654987 (number made up, I only wrote down her name)... and as soon as 3 words have left her mouth, I knew I wasn't talking to (*ahem*) someone in the US. I had to have her repeat each question a few times. I explained my problem, WHERE the problem was, what I was doing when it happened, yes, I'd reset all 3 ways the manual instructed, yes, I'd downloaded and synched all the software, no, I hadn't called in yet/before and rattled off about 10 webpages I'd tried to go to that it happened on. I LOL'd at the one where she needed my phone serial number. I asked if she was kidding, I'd have to turn the phone off and take out the battery, look, write it down and call her back! She said very seriously that she wasn't kidding (yeesh. no sense of humor.) and I could get it by pushing button, tapping this, moving here... etc.. took me a bit, but I found what she needed. So... the ferry is docking now (20 minutes has already passed.) and IreneAgentNumber321654987 tells me she needs to verify something, and please hold.. she'll be back in a moment. OK. 10-4. Roger that.
I drive off the ferry, and because I hate talking and driving, and IreneAgentNumber321654987 may need me to do something requiring both hands to my phone, I pull over in a parking spot right away and wait. We're now about 8 or so minutes into this phone call... so it shouldn't be long, right?
Right?
Hmm. I watch the minutes tick by, and no IreneAgentNumber321654987 comes back to the line. I know I'm still connected- I can hear the scratchy crappy hold music still... I give it until I've been on hold for 15 minutes then hit the road. If I-dog comes back on the line and needs me to do something, I'll pull over or she can damn well wait. Doo do Dooo...
I pull into my driveway at 28 minutes hold time now... I'm getting SERIOUSLY pissed that she hadn't even come back on the line to tell me she's still looking, or fixing, or am I still there, or ??
I get in the house and show my man... it's now a 30+ minute phone call. This is getting absolutely rediculous. I call Palm and Irene from my mans phone to see if maybe she forgot about me, could she not fix it, could I please hang up my phone, or ?? I have to go through the same button punching sequence (MAC or PC again? Huh?).. and this time I get E.J.AgentNumber789456123. *sigh*. I explained to E.J. that I've been on hold for Irene for 35 minutes now- wondering if my problem isn't fixable, did Irene hang up and the call not disconnect, or ?? (By this point, I've taken a picture of my own cell phone screen to prove I'd been on the useless call for 35 minutes and still counting.) E.J. asks me for my technical service number for the call.
E.J., punkin'... LISTEN TO ME! No, I don't have a TECHNICAL SERVICE NUMBER... IRENE NEVER CAME BACK ON THE LINE. THIS IS WHY I AM ON THE PHONE WITH YOU. Oh, she says... what is your call about, maybe I can help you? I WANT TO KNOW IF I CAN HANG UP MY 38 MINUTE PHONE CALL. (Yes, I'm yelling... I'm so mad now, I want to punch Irene AND E.J.) Oh yes, she says, hang up that call, I can help you.
Poor E.J. ... this call was less than 10 minutes, total, but what was it? My cool new phone had some 'fast download' option on the web that I'd activated, and within the options was a check box that said "DO NOT DOWNLOAD PICTURES". I just had to take the check off of it. I didn't find it myself, originally, because there are file/option tabs that are not visible unless you tap the top of the screen with the stylus. I had no idea to 'tap' anywhere- nothing in my manual said to do that. So.... after discovering that joy with E.J. and fiixing what I needed fixed, I went merrily clicking about my Palm finding OTHER pages I didn't know I had, simply by clicking at the top of others. Well no shit! NOW it's a cool phone!
I'm still pretty pissed that "Irene" didn't have the courtesy to come back on the line... I'm going to buzz sprint today (probably going back into the store... I doubt I'll CALL them.) and see about a refund for that wasted call. Those are MY minutes, and that was Sprint and Palms mess up, not mine.
Bah... anyway... finals today - 2 this morning and one tonight, then I'm all done. I won't know my grades until the 20th, but I'm pretty sure I will do OK.
I gotta go for now... time to get the man ready for work. Later, all.
I've been with them now for just shy of 5 years. I get pretty stellar customer service in their phone stores, but calling them for anything blows - BAD! Thankfully, I've only had to do it a handful of times. Last night was one of them.
I went to see my sons 5th grade band concert last night, so on the 20 minute return ferry ride home, I called to see what was up with my phone. (It wasn't the dinner function, actually. When surfing the web on the little teensy screen, I had no graphics.. only a little "X" where the picture should be.)
Firstly... Sprints phone-in customer service has the voice recognition welcome and prompts. The "lady"kept saying she couldn't understand what I was saying, but there was no button to push instead of saying "technical support". I finally got through, after my "anticipated wait time of 3 minutes or less" - chatted with a chap named Matthew a bit, but not before giving him every piece of personal identifying information on earth, then was told I needed to talk to technical support... and he could transfer me. Ooohhh hKkkaaayyy.... (which department was he in? I thought I CALLED tech support?).. Anyway - he sent me on... I got a guy named Chriselle (or something close to it? That's how I wrote it down, anyway.) I had to give HIM all my personal information again (a real craw scratcher of mine- especially if I'm talking to someone in the same company... didn't the other fella tell you who you were talking to?). C-man couldn't help me either - I could only visualise him standing there scratching his ass with a dumb look on his face saying, "IDunno". So... he gave me the number for Palm (phone brand)... are they open this late, I asked? Oh yes- 24 hours, ma'am, says he.
Call Palm - not on hold long, but had to push a lot of buttons to get where I needed to go. ("PC or MAC?" WTF? It's a CELL PHONE!) anyway.. .I get IreneAgentNUmber321654987 (number made up, I only wrote down her name)... and as soon as 3 words have left her mouth, I knew I wasn't talking to (*ahem*) someone in the US. I had to have her repeat each question a few times. I explained my problem, WHERE the problem was, what I was doing when it happened, yes, I'd reset all 3 ways the manual instructed, yes, I'd downloaded and synched all the software, no, I hadn't called in yet/before and rattled off about 10 webpages I'd tried to go to that it happened on. I LOL'd at the one where she needed my phone serial number. I asked if she was kidding, I'd have to turn the phone off and take out the battery, look, write it down and call her back! She said very seriously that she wasn't kidding (yeesh. no sense of humor.) and I could get it by pushing button, tapping this, moving here... etc.. took me a bit, but I found what she needed. So... the ferry is docking now (20 minutes has already passed.) and IreneAgentNumber321654987 tells me she needs to verify something, and please hold.. she'll be back in a moment. OK. 10-4. Roger that.
I drive off the ferry, and because I hate talking and driving, and IreneAgentNumber321654987 may need me to do something requiring both hands to my phone, I pull over in a parking spot right away and wait. We're now about 8 or so minutes into this phone call... so it shouldn't be long, right?
Right?
Hmm. I watch the minutes tick by, and no IreneAgentNumber321654987 comes back to the line. I know I'm still connected- I can hear the scratchy crappy hold music still... I give it until I've been on hold for 15 minutes then hit the road. If I-dog comes back on the line and needs me to do something, I'll pull over or she can damn well wait. Doo do Dooo...
I pull into my driveway at 28 minutes hold time now... I'm getting SERIOUSLY pissed that she hadn't even come back on the line to tell me she's still looking, or fixing, or am I still there, or ??
I get in the house and show my man... it's now a 30+ minute phone call. This is getting absolutely rediculous. I call Palm and Irene from my mans phone to see if maybe she forgot about me, could she not fix it, could I please hang up my phone, or ?? I have to go through the same button punching sequence (MAC or PC again? Huh?).. and this time I get E.J.AgentNumber789456123. *sigh*. I explained to E.J. that I've been on hold for Irene for 35 minutes now- wondering if my problem isn't fixable, did Irene hang up and the call not disconnect, or ?? (By this point, I've taken a picture of my own cell phone screen to prove I'd been on the useless call for 35 minutes and still counting.) E.J. asks me for my technical service number for the call.
E.J., punkin'... LISTEN TO ME! No, I don't have a TECHNICAL SERVICE NUMBER... IRENE NEVER CAME BACK ON THE LINE. THIS IS WHY I AM ON THE PHONE WITH YOU. Oh, she says... what is your call about, maybe I can help you? I WANT TO KNOW IF I CAN HANG UP MY 38 MINUTE PHONE CALL. (Yes, I'm yelling... I'm so mad now, I want to punch Irene AND E.J.) Oh yes, she says, hang up that call, I can help you.
Poor E.J. ... this call was less than 10 minutes, total, but what was it? My cool new phone had some 'fast download' option on the web that I'd activated, and within the options was a check box that said "DO NOT DOWNLOAD PICTURES". I just had to take the check off of it. I didn't find it myself, originally, because there are file/option tabs that are not visible unless you tap the top of the screen with the stylus. I had no idea to 'tap' anywhere- nothing in my manual said to do that. So.... after discovering that joy with E.J. and fiixing what I needed fixed, I went merrily clicking about my Palm finding OTHER pages I didn't know I had, simply by clicking at the top of others. Well no shit! NOW it's a cool phone!
I'm still pretty pissed that "Irene" didn't have the courtesy to come back on the line... I'm going to buzz sprint today (probably going back into the store... I doubt I'll CALL them.) and see about a refund for that wasted call. Those are MY minutes, and that was Sprint and Palms mess up, not mine.
Bah... anyway... finals today - 2 this morning and one tonight, then I'm all done. I won't know my grades until the 20th, but I'm pretty sure I will do OK.
I gotta go for now... time to get the man ready for work. Later, all.