Customer Service: YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!
Apparently, the $30 that I and thousands of others throw at Bellsouth every month is not enough for them to afford repairmen. When my parents tried to call me Sunday, they got a busy signal - for several hours. Finally they called my cell, which was just as well because I had run out shopping. I figured it was a temporary glitch, was out of town Monday and Tuesday, and came back to find it was still out. Filled out online form last night, got email response about 4 p.m. today:
"We have performed a preliminary test on your line that indicates your trouble may be caused by a telephone set or piece of equipment on your line. Following are suggestions that may help you to clear your trouble." Followed by instructions on how to find the gray Network Interface Box outside, pry it open with a screwdriver, and plug a phone directly into it. If there is a dial tone there, then it's all my fault and I should spend a lot of time testing every phone jack in the house with two different phones, one that requires an outlet and one that doesn't. And if those don't get a dial tone, maybe both my phones suck and I should try it again with another one.
This annoyed me to say the least, but I snarled and dutifully grabbed a screwdriver and trooped out to the end of the building. The one thing marked "Bellsouth" is a green thing (not gray) that looks like it would seriously resist prying and may be the sort of thing that one gets hauled into court for tampering with. While investigating another possible box (turned out to be cable) I got stabbed quite a lot by bushes, and that without even getting close to the box. After that I said buggre alle this for a larke! No way am I traipsing over to the two other buildings and battling stabbity bushes to try to find this thing which isn't my responsibility anyway. I'll do the self-check grocery thing because I'm antisocial more efficient than most cashiers, but repairing my own phone lines? Please!
Have performed silly phone tests and still nothing. Am going to send a reply email in which I tell BS exactly what I think of their customer service. Now I am, more than ever, questioning why I still have a land line. If I hadn't already paid this month's bill, I would be calling to cancel instead of just to yell. In fact, I may do just that anyway and get my money back, since I am obviously getting neither the service promised nor any progress towards getting that service restored. I just hope this isn't a new "efficiency" brought on by the AT&T merger, or I may be asked to dismantle my mobile if something goes wrong with their cell towers.
"We have performed a preliminary test on your line that indicates your trouble may be caused by a telephone set or piece of equipment on your line. Following are suggestions that may help you to clear your trouble." Followed by instructions on how to find the gray Network Interface Box outside, pry it open with a screwdriver, and plug a phone directly into it. If there is a dial tone there, then it's all my fault and I should spend a lot of time testing every phone jack in the house with two different phones, one that requires an outlet and one that doesn't. And if those don't get a dial tone, maybe both my phones suck and I should try it again with another one.
This annoyed me to say the least, but I snarled and dutifully grabbed a screwdriver and trooped out to the end of the building. The one thing marked "Bellsouth" is a green thing (not gray) that looks like it would seriously resist prying and may be the sort of thing that one gets hauled into court for tampering with. While investigating another possible box (turned out to be cable) I got stabbed quite a lot by bushes, and that without even getting close to the box. After that I said buggre alle this for a larke! No way am I traipsing over to the two other buildings and battling stabbity bushes to try to find this thing which isn't my responsibility anyway. I'll do the self-check grocery thing because I'm antisocial more efficient than most cashiers, but repairing my own phone lines? Please!
Have performed silly phone tests and still nothing. Am going to send a reply email in which I tell BS exactly what I think of their customer service. Now I am, more than ever, questioning why I still have a land line. If I hadn't already paid this month's bill, I would be calling to cancel instead of just to yell. In fact, I may do just that anyway and get my money back, since I am obviously getting neither the service promised nor any progress towards getting that service restored. I just hope this isn't a new "efficiency" brought on by the AT&T merger, or I may be asked to dismantle my mobile if something goes wrong with their cell towers.