Holding my tongue HURT
So yesterday our DVR up and died. Just all of the sudden it went toes up. Which was omg so frustrating because all of our premiere week shows were recorded and I hadn't been able to see most of them due to the need to wake up early most of this week. After attempting to fix it myself, I called AT&T Uverse tech support to have someone sent out ASAP to replace it. After dealing with Scooter (*see below), he told me that he'd set us up for getting a replacement or to have a technician come out to replace it. I asked, "doesn't the need to replace the box require a technician?" He explained that they now try and have the owner send the box in by UPS and a replacement will come back the same way. I literally said, "oh HEEEELLLLL no." After the tech didn't call us and just punked out on us last weekend**, there was NO WAY that I'd wait almost a week to send in my box and get a new one in the mail. Especially because I wouldn't be able to send it in until the next morning - Saturday - and it would take at least another couple of days to get processed and have another shipped out. I said, "You WILL schedule a technician to come out TOMORROW." And then I clarified that I meant Saturday the 24th, since I figured it was already Saturday where he was. "Joseph" said that a tech would be here between 8 and noon and that he would put in the notes that the tech should call before he arrived and should not leave our house until he got an answer on the phone from one of us.
The tech showed up about 9. Which was fine, except Mom was asleep and thus was cranky at having to wake up and dress after only a few hours of sleep. The tech was actually one that had come out before, the last time the DVR died. He went up into the attic to replace the splitters (which didn't need to be done) and checked the connections on the outside of the house (which was fine, but not technically necessary) before bringing in the replacement box. As he installed it, however, Mom and I sat down to watch and make small talk with him. Monsieur was curious and sniffed at his shoes and tried to get in the open box. The guy snapped in his face and shoved him out of the way. That was his first strike. I jokingly said that he should take the hard drive with all of our recordings out of the bad box and put it in the new one. He proceeded to give us a ten minute lecture about how that was totally illegal and walked us through EXACTLY why it was. Like we really cared. Strike two. He talked about how he was a dog person and how he didn't like cats because cats didn't like him. DUH. It was quite obvious considering how he was with Monsieur. He then gave us a speech about how he didn't like declawing cats, but didn't think it necessary to spay/neuter indoor cats because they didn't need it. UH HUH. Right. Okay. Mom and I were both like, it needs to be done because if you have both male and female cats in the house, you'll end up with kittens if they're not fixed. He then said, "That's what the humane society is for." We said that we thought about that, but even the humane society will put down animals if they don't like their personality. So NO. (Strike three.) Finally, he talked about how he figured that because you have to spay and neuter animals since they can't control their impulse to mate, you could make the argument that people with Down's Syndrome should be fixed because they can't control their instincts either. Right, because eugenics is okay, but fixing your animals so they don't mate is just fine. HOLY SHIT. By that point, Mom and I were both trying REALLY HARD not to just kick him out of the house. Mom was doing her thing where the anger is simmering just under the surface and it causes her to literally vibrate. I was literally biting my knuckle to keep from talking. After he made sure that it was working I said, "Okay! So that's it, huh? Alrighty, then! Thanks so much!" and I walked up and shook his hand, forcing him to get his shit together and leave. As soon as I closed the door, I said, "oh holy SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK?!?" Sis came downstairs and asked how it went. We proceeded to tell her all that he had said. She just stood there with a "what the fuck?" look on her face. Needless to say, he's getting quite a scathing review when the email survey comes later. Basically it ends up like this: Dude, keep your bullshit batshit crazy theories and feelings to yourself because OMG you are ridiculous.
*
**Last Saturday night, we started having problems with the signal to our tvs breaking up, and freezing. A little while later, the DVR just stopped working and lost signal completely. We called and scheduled a technician to come out. He was supposed to be there on Sunday between noon and 4pm. He was supposed to call Mom or me when he arrived because the doorbell is hard to hear in our rooms. As Mom left the house at 2, she found a door hanger that said the guy had come at 12:40 but there was no answer. Neither Mom nor I had gotten a call before he left. We were pissed. After she left, I called tech support to get another tech out to fix things. Instead I got Doug. He was obviously an American, for which I am eternally grateful. He walked me through all of the steps to try to figure out what was wrong. He knew tricks that I'd never known before (even though I've been dealing with this system for three years and know most of the tricks). After working with him for a while, we discovered that the network cables that should be plugged into the "gateway box," which is kind of a modem that brings in the signal from our DSL connection, weren't plugged in. That's why the DVR and the box in Mom's room weren't getting a signal while the TVs in my room and Sis's were just fine. As we made sure things were all copacetic again, we discussed Doctor Who of all things. He was friendly, incredibly knowledgeable, and never put me on hold. I was absolutely amazed. When we got the email survey asking how his service was, I praised him so highly. I literally wrote, "Doug is my hero." I wish that I could always just call him directly. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Bummer. BUT, I now know more ways to fix things on my own prior to calling tech support, which is awesome. Actually, when I called last night, Scooter said, "Well, since you've done most of these steps, I'll just skip them." That was awesome.
The tech showed up about 9. Which was fine, except Mom was asleep and thus was cranky at having to wake up and dress after only a few hours of sleep. The tech was actually one that had come out before, the last time the DVR died. He went up into the attic to replace the splitters (which didn't need to be done) and checked the connections on the outside of the house (which was fine, but not technically necessary) before bringing in the replacement box. As he installed it, however, Mom and I sat down to watch and make small talk with him. Monsieur was curious and sniffed at his shoes and tried to get in the open box. The guy snapped in his face and shoved him out of the way. That was his first strike. I jokingly said that he should take the hard drive with all of our recordings out of the bad box and put it in the new one. He proceeded to give us a ten minute lecture about how that was totally illegal and walked us through EXACTLY why it was. Like we really cared. Strike two. He talked about how he was a dog person and how he didn't like cats because cats didn't like him. DUH. It was quite obvious considering how he was with Monsieur. He then gave us a speech about how he didn't like declawing cats, but didn't think it necessary to spay/neuter indoor cats because they didn't need it. UH HUH. Right. Okay. Mom and I were both like, it needs to be done because if you have both male and female cats in the house, you'll end up with kittens if they're not fixed. He then said, "That's what the humane society is for." We said that we thought about that, but even the humane society will put down animals if they don't like their personality. So NO. (Strike three.) Finally, he talked about how he figured that because you have to spay and neuter animals since they can't control their impulse to mate, you could make the argument that people with Down's Syndrome should be fixed because they can't control their instincts either. Right, because eugenics is okay, but fixing your animals so they don't mate is just fine. HOLY SHIT. By that point, Mom and I were both trying REALLY HARD not to just kick him out of the house. Mom was doing her thing where the anger is simmering just under the surface and it causes her to literally vibrate. I was literally biting my knuckle to keep from talking. After he made sure that it was working I said, "Okay! So that's it, huh? Alrighty, then! Thanks so much!" and I walked up and shook his hand, forcing him to get his shit together and leave. As soon as I closed the door, I said, "oh holy SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK?!?" Sis came downstairs and asked how it went. We proceeded to tell her all that he had said. She just stood there with a "what the fuck?" look on her face. Needless to say, he's getting quite a scathing review when the email survey comes later. Basically it ends up like this: Dude, keep your bullshit batshit crazy theories and feelings to yourself because OMG you are ridiculous.
*
Click to view**Last Saturday night, we started having problems with the signal to our tvs breaking up, and freezing. A little while later, the DVR just stopped working and lost signal completely. We called and scheduled a technician to come out. He was supposed to be there on Sunday between noon and 4pm. He was supposed to call Mom or me when he arrived because the doorbell is hard to hear in our rooms. As Mom left the house at 2, she found a door hanger that said the guy had come at 12:40 but there was no answer. Neither Mom nor I had gotten a call before he left. We were pissed. After she left, I called tech support to get another tech out to fix things. Instead I got Doug. He was obviously an American, for which I am eternally grateful. He walked me through all of the steps to try to figure out what was wrong. He knew tricks that I'd never known before (even though I've been dealing with this system for three years and know most of the tricks). After working with him for a while, we discovered that the network cables that should be plugged into the "gateway box," which is kind of a modem that brings in the signal from our DSL connection, weren't plugged in. That's why the DVR and the box in Mom's room weren't getting a signal while the TVs in my room and Sis's were just fine. As we made sure things were all copacetic again, we discussed Doctor Who of all things. He was friendly, incredibly knowledgeable, and never put me on hold. I was absolutely amazed. When we got the email survey asking how his service was, I praised him so highly. I literally wrote, "Doug is my hero." I wish that I could always just call him directly. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Bummer. BUT, I now know more ways to fix things on my own prior to calling tech support, which is awesome. Actually, when I called last night, Scooter said, "Well, since you've done most of these steps, I'll just skip them." That was awesome.