Reader Vince says:

I was attempting to contact Verizon FiOS about their recent TV channel lineup change (Verizon did not report the change to outside providers so both of my $400 TiVo HDs are basically rendered useless because they have the wrong channel lineup data) when I noticed the disclaimer at the top of the email “support” page.

What's the matter, Vince? Don't you like talking to robots?

Verizon Central

After his bill kept increasing mysteriously each month Adam and his wife decided that they'd better downgrade their package and get rid of Comcast's digital phone service. It only took 3 days and 9 phone calls before Adam's wife gave up and just went to Comcast's office. And, naturally, when she got home with her new modem the internet didn't work. And when they fixed the internet the cable stopped working. So far, Adam and Crystal are up to 13 calls to Comcast...

- Monday, I got on the phone and called at 9:30pm to find that their offices were closed at 9pm.

- Wednesday, I called at 8:15pm, got the run around and had to hang up to take care of other obligations. I promised I would call back the following night to discuss the matter further.

- Thursday, I started calling at 8pm...

Call #1-2: The first two calls I was put on hold for ten minutes before getting a tier 1 representative. Tier 1 reps can talk about what is on your bill and why it is there, but can not change anything. When the tier 1 rep put me on hold for a tier 2 rep who could change my account (see above: account specialist) I was disconnected both times.

Call #3: My third call landed me a tier 1 rep again who sent me to hold for a tier 2. When what I thought was a tier 2 rep picked up it turned out to be a tier 1 again. I Expressed my frustration to this rep and was assured that I would be put in touch with a specialist this time. I held for 5 minutes and was disconnected.

Call #4: Call #4 had me back on the line with a tier 1 and begging to talk to someone who could actually help as it was 8:52pm and I knew they closed at nine. I was put on hold for a tier 2 and finally someone from sales picked up. The guy from sales said he could not help me, but would transfer me to a account specialist who could. I told him the department closed at 9pm and that I wanted to make sure I got someone on the line. He assured me that the department was open 24 hours a day even after I told him about the prerecorded message I had heard Monday. At 8:56pm I was transferred and got the message about the department closing at 9pm.

Call #5: While on hold for call #4 I asked Crystal to call as well in an attempt to double our chances. The tier 1 rep transferred her to the tier 2 department at 8:55pm and she got the closed message.

Call #6: Crystal's final call of the night was made at 8:57pm where upon she got to a tier 1 rep who told her that the account specialist office was closed at 9pm. My loving wife pointed out the simple fact that it was 8:57pm and wondered to the rep if every account specialist left early that night. The rep repeated herself again (in her best monotone put out robot voice) and tried to end the call. Crystal asked to speak to a manager and the rep told her that a manager would tell her the same thing and could not make account changes. The rep then wished Crystal good night and hung up.

- Friday came and Crystal had the day off. She called mid day and went from a tier 1 to a tier 2 the first try. She decided to downgrade our package and drop the digital phone. When the phone call was nearly complete the line disconnected. Having had enough phone calls to Comcast in one lifetime she decided to drive up to the Richmond office. When she arrived she got in line exchanged the combo internet/phone modem for just and internet one and got an estimate for what our monthly bill would be ($125 by the way).

When she arrived home she hooked up the new modem and the internet did not work anymore. She called Comcast repair and was told she had two options.

1. Remove the plan downgrade, get a chance to fix the internet and be transferred to a tier 2 rep who could reapply the downgrade.

2. Wait till August 5th (4 days without internet) for the plan downgrade to go through their system and then get a chance to fix the internet.

Frustrated she choose door number two in the hopes that I could fix it when I got home from work. When I did arrive home I made sure everything was hooked up properly (it was) and called the same repair department she had earlier. I actually got a competent person on the phone and had the internet fixed in 20 minutes, without any mention of downgrades.

The cable TV in our office stopped working later that night and has not worked all weekend. Crystal called and they assured her that the only way to fix it was by sending out some one to repair it. I am going to call tonight and roll the dice (more like Russian roulette) that I get someone smart on the phone. That or yell at a twenty something who makes $10 an hour.

The icing on this crap cake... Verizon sent us a postcard in the mail starting a two month count down for Fios in our area. You bet your sweet ass I am switching!

UPDATE: Comcast Frank sent us the following statement:

We already reached out to Adam on his blog and we are reviewing this experience with our leaders in Richmond. This was unacceptable and we will make sure we learn from it and work to make sure it is avoided in the future. We have apologized to Adam and we will also make sure he is cared for based on the trouble we created.

Comcast is an Asshole [A2W]
(Photo: Spidra Webster )

Note: There's been some confusion over company names, and Johnny Chan with eBoost Consulting wants you to know that his company is not involved in this story.

If a company promises to increase your Google PageRank, run! Rogier fell for eBoost Media's sweet words—they promised an increase in Google popularity "within about a week, at least for people entering specific search terms such as 'Maine photographer' and the like." But after three and a half weeks of no results, Rogier decided to cancel the service, which is when eBoost Media's dark side emerged.

I informed [my sales rep] Ashley that I wanted my money back and the agreement canceled. She put me in touch with a customer service rep named Denette.

When Denette finally got back to me, the news was not positive. She refused to say whether she would issue a refund. When I insisted (and sure, I wasn't particularly friendly, but I didn't use profanity or even raise my voice by more than a hair), she hung up on me.

I then canceled the credit card I'd given eBoost media and wrote Denette by e-mail that I'd file fraud complaints with the authorities if she did not let me know within 24 hours that eBoost Media consented to return the $99.

On Thursday of last week, she called again, trying to sweet-talk me into changing my mind. I said I wouldn't and that I had been given no reason to trust eBoost media — on the contrary. I reiterated that all I wanted was a refund. After about 20 minutes of exasperating back and forth, she hung up on me again.

On Friday, when I had left for the day, my voice mail received the psycho phone messages that I've attached.

Here's the first message, along with our concept art of Denette at the phone:

powered by ODEO

And here's the name-calling message, left only 5 minutes later, again along with our concept art:

powered by ODEO

Rogier played the messages back to eBoost and asked them for a comment:

When I called him yesterday, eBoost's acting CEO Michael Luvano agreed to listen to the recording. He then acknowledged that the second call had come from someone at eBoost Media, but curiously enough, he denied it was Denette. The mystery culprit, he said hours after hearing the messages, had already been "dealt with" — she'd been "severely reprimanded." When, puzzled, I suggested we ought to let other people listen to the messages on the Internet and solicit their opinions on whether or not it's the same voice, he got huffy and accused me of being out to badmouth his company.

Nonetheless, Luvano offered to have the CEO, Kevin Johnson (who he said was on vacation) write me a personal apology. He also said the company would finally refund the dough, which I appreciate.

As of yesterday, Rogier had received neither the apology nor the refund.

"Lend Me Your Ears, or, Who You Callin' a Faggot?" [Nobody's Business]
(Photos: Getty)

PCMag's article says,

In a statement on its website dated July 14, Wal-Mart says the "program provides an opportunity for us to understand more about what our customers need and expect in home installation and technology services, within a specific market."

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, describes the program as a small pilot.

"There are no plans at this time to expand the service outside of Dallas other than to 15 select stores," Wal-Mart states.

When we hear the words "Walmart" and "computer repair" together, it's difficult to be optimistic. We just hope that they excel in all aspects of technical support and not just porn-recovery.

Wal-Mart Computer Repairs - Solution Stations vs Geek Squads [TrendHunter]
Wal-Mart Using Dell to Provide 'Solution Stations' [PCMag]

Our tipster writes:

If you aren’t aware, Asus makes an estimated 1 in 3 computer main boards sold globally and in addition to their own brand of products also provide system boards to a number of major OEM builders such as HP/Compaq and Dell. In January, AsusTek split into three separate entities – Asus, which deals primarily with Asus-branded PCs and laptops including the wildly popular EEE PC, ‘Pegatron’, which handles the motherboard business (though we keep the Asus brand name on them), and ‘Unihan’, which handles many of the other non-PC related Asus product line. As a result, each entity was suddenly responsible for its own profitability. No biggie, right? Well, as most of your readers know, customer service and support play a key role in the buyer experience. Given that so many products are similar in specification and performance these days, often it’s the after-the-sale support that can mean the difference in long term repeat business and losing a customer.

Not long after the company split, management began obsessing over numbers, and how to make what is normally an accepted expense (customer support) profitable. It was determined that the new company, ‘Pegatron’, would charge the parent company (Asus) for each technical support phone call, email, or live chat session that was received and responded to. While I cannot attest to the actual dollar amount charged for each call, I do know that phone calls generate the most income, followed by live chats, then emails. Ok, you say, no big deal, how does that affect me? Well, that’s what I’m about to show you, with 10 steps anyone can take in an attempt to get the best possible support by circumnavigating the games played with customers to generate revenue.

1. If you need technical support for any Asus product CALL.
Do NOT send an email, and use the live support feature at your own risk. A single phone call generates more revenue for the company than a couple of Live Support sessions, and more revenue than half a dozen email responses. As a result, nearly ZERO emphasis is placed on answering them, and emails are often replied to with canned ‘cut and paste’ responses which may not be relevant to your case.

2. Best Times For Calling With Low Hold Time
When calling, there are times that give you the best chances to get through with a minimal hold time. Since the support center is based in the Eastern Time Zone, and the best time to call is before 12 noon EST. The very best days to call are Tuesday through Thursday. From Noon-6pm hold times can be somewhat lengthy, as by that time working hours are in play nationwide. At any given time there are only 8-10 staff to take phone calls (yes, we’re grossly understaffed), email queries and answer Live chats. The U.S. office supports all of North America including Canada as well as Western Europe. That translates into a very heavy call volume for a small amount of people.

3. We're stressed, don't take it personally
If the representative you speak to seems curt, ill tempered, or rude, it’s not on purpose, nor personally directed toward you. All support representatives are instructed to strive for taking 70 calls per day. When you factor in a lunch hour and 2 fifteen minute breaks it leaves 450 minutes in a day. For us to reach our goal, we must be off the phone with you in 6.42 minutes. We aren’t supposed to care that it’s the tenth time you’ve called us (which isn’t toll free), or that you can’t stay on long enough to accurately even describe your issue.

4. Can I take a message?
We have recently adopted ‘messaging’ in order to achieve an objective from management that all incoming calls be answered in 60 seconds or less. To that end, we have hired a few people from temp services to answer calls, and when we experience a heavy load, they take your name and number with the promise of a return call. While calls are returned, it may take hours, if not days to get a return call. This serves three hidden purposes. If we message your call, we get paid for taking it even though no support was rendered. When we call you back, we get paid again for making a call. And currently, management has contests running offering cash rewards for most calls handled by a person during the month. Guess what? If we take a message, call you back once or twice, or you yourself call back out of frustration, we may get paid 2 or 3 times before you can speak with someone, all in the name of bonus money.

5. Don't get through? Call back in 10 minutes
If you do get ‘messaged’, you’re better off calling back in 10 or 15 minutes if you have the time. While messages should be returned within 2 hours, it’s often not the case, and generally messaging is done only long enough to clear the incoming call queue, so it’s unlikely you’d be messaged twice in that amount of time. (unless someone is intentionally messaging you, then calling back to generate more revenue and a chance at a nice cash bonus)

6. Write down your case number. Really.
When you FINALLY reach someone, you will likely be assigned a case number. This is a good thing, as it will document the nature of the call and enable someone qualified (hopefully, more on that later) to answer your questions. If you already have a case number, please state it when you first begin your conversation, it will give the technician more time to troubleshoot your problem.

7. It's just like in a game, except not fun
There are 3 ‘levels’ of tech support. Level 1 technicians primarily answer the phones and generate case numbers. There isn’t much point in trying to go into detail about your problem, as most will have a better grasp of basket weaving than solving PC issues. They will most likely transfer you to our level 2 support, where the fun begins. Many of our representatives are competent enough to handle your questions, but if you EVER question the accuracy of the advice you are getting, you can request to be connected to the top tier of support (Level 3) at ANY time.

8. We have the long-term memory of a snail
The reason you may wish to ask for Level 2 or 3 support immediately is this: Pegatron/Asus offers zero informational training about Asus products – past, present, or future. Typically we are not aware that a new motherboard/router/PDA has hit the street until we start getting calls about it. There is no ‘informational meeting’, no product info cheat sheets, or anything of the sort offered to the support team. Normally, the more senior members are tech-oriented, and stay up to date from home, so your chances improve greatly of getting the help you need by asking for a higher tier. Sadly, even some Level 2 agents are lacking basic skills and cannot help you with BIOS settings, RAID setup, installation of an operating system and so forth, nor will they know offhand the specs of the latest and greatest boards.

9. There is no such thing as a ‘known issue’.
Every company that has every produced a physical product has occasionally put out a junk product. We are under direct orders not to confirm ANY problem as a ‘known issue’, EVER. It doesn’t matter if every single model ‘X’ PDA plays ‘Jingle Bells’ every time you turn it on, it’s not a ‘known’ issue and we will not admit to one. If you happen into one of these products that turns out to have ‘known issues’, calling tech support won’t get you anywhere. We will offer to exchange it for an identical product only, which is just as likely to have the same ‘nonexistent’ issue. Since Asus does not sell direct to the public, you won’t be getting a refund either. Sad, but true, so you may wish to browse a few forums and seek outside input before considering any purchase.

10. Merchant refunds and returns are your special friend
If you do have a problem with a new Asus product and are within the return or exchange window offered by your reseller (often 14 to 30 days), don’t waste your time calling us. Simply return the defective product for an exchange or refund. Generally speaking, returning a product to Asus (motherboards in particular), can mean a 2-3 week wait before you see your board returned to you. In addition, it’s likely a refurbished motherboard which likely underwent no extensive testing before being dropped into a Fed Ex box and sent back to you. There is a separate department on the repair floor to handle 2nd and 3rd time returns, and once you’ve reached that level, you r chances of getting a tested board improve marginally. However, these boards won’t be cleaned, and may have thermal paste, grease, smudges, fingerprints, etc on them. It’s no fun to invest $300 in a new top of the line board, only to have an issue with it and get one back that looks like Timmy kicked it down the street for half a mile before putting it in your box. Not fun.

11. BONUS!!!!!
If you do weave your way through the Asus maze and find a helpful soul on the other end of the phone, don’t bank on he or she being there if you need them in the future. We have experienced close to 100% turnover in the past year, and those who remain are constantly threatened, both verbally and via email (proof available upon request, Ben) that they will lose their jobs for failure to make objectives. Sad, yes, but painfully true.

Do you have any tips for dealing with Asus, or Asus tech support stories to share? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

1) When possible, Verizon buries the "drop line" (single fiber that leads to your house) - smart, right? No. Usually they're only buried 6 inches underground, and typically with no conduit or protection beyond the insulation around the fiber itself. Dig and break the fiber? Whoops, that might cost you a few thousand dollars to reconnect if the junction is too far away! Did we install your fiber connection over the top of the lid to your septic system and you can't have it pumped out? Better call us and pay out the ass (ho ho!) to have it moved.

2) We are only supposed to support setting up a wireless router if it has line of sight to your computer. That's right, within the same room. My trainer said their are exceptions you have to make, such as if your install tech stuck the thing up in a cupboard or strapped it to the optical box we install, but otherwise out of luck.

So, PRO TIP: if you want help with wireless, "yes, my router is in the same room as the computer" or "but the Verizon tech installed it that way" will be required verbiage for help from us if you're a normal person that wants to use wireless IN OTHER ROOMS!

3) If we determine you have an in-house wiring fault causing your home phone to not work (only fiber up to our optical box, you still have copper wiring in your house) our repair techs cost $90 just to show up - just to roll up to your house! and then $180 an hour. So if we talk about calling "copper repair" and you don't have a wiring service plan, hang the hell up and find a local guy.

4) One good thing is that FiOS agents have no barrier to the DRC, the people that control dispatches. In DSL, if your truck tech just up and left, or knocked and ran, you're screwed. FiOS agents can call directly and find out if your tech left to do an off-premises repair or get a tool and when he'll be back, or turn a "no access" dispatch around if a lazy tech didn't knock hard enough.

(Photo: davidbivins )

Joelle cc'd us on her Executive Email Carpet Bomb:

Dear Acer,

I have been a long time user and proponent of your products. My friends and family look to me when facing purchasing decisions, and for the most part I have been recommending Acer to them. Recently, I have had some trouble with my laptop, and I am afraid that I will no longer be able to recommend Acer.

I've had my Acer 8204 laptop for a while now, and it has been in for repair more than once. Either due to poor design or poor workmanship, the fan apparently becomes easily fouled and the laptop overheats. However maddening this may be, it is not the reason for this email.

I recently sent my laptop to you for repair, as in addition to again overheating, the sound and bluetooth components had failed. As much as I was not looking forward to being without a computer for two weeks, the overheating had become chronic and the situation was becoming increasingly untenable. I sent my laptop in for repair, and waited.

When I received my laptop back from repair, I turned it on to discover that (yes, indeed) the sound and bluetooth had been fixed. However, the screen was incredibly dirty, a sort of brown dripping appeared to be all over it. I went to wipe the screen and realized that this dirt was on the inside. I assure you that when I sent the notebook in for repair the screen may have been dusty, but not internally coated in grime.

When I contacted your support about this problem, they told me two things. First, I could expect to wait another two to three weeks without a laptop. Second, the screen is not covered under my warranty and that I would have to pay for a replacement. Also, the damage to the screen must have been caused by the shipping company, as rough handling can obviously cause this kind of damage. As I am writing this, the WI-FI has now failed on the laptop.

I believe that it is wholly unacceptable for me to be without a computer for upwards of a month. In addition, by attempting to shift blame from your repair technicians to me or the shipping company, it makes me think that you are not very much interested in customer satisfaction and more interested in the bottom line. I am very much disappointed that your company will not accept responsibility for the products and services that you offer.

A satisfactory resolution for me would be an expedited repair or replacement for my now perennially broken laptop and my warranty extended by the time that my laptop was missing.

I look forward to your reply with a resolution to my problem.

Sincerely,

Joelle

Reader Sean writes:

After being disconnected from Verizon Wireless’ regular support line about three times in a row, I did some digging and got a phone number for their tier 3 voice support, and tier 2 data support. They both use the same number. These people actually know what they are doing and get things fixed. Also, they can authorize overnight RMA’s without having to go ask their boss. No long phone tree either!

(Photo: northernplateguy)

It all started in the '80s, when corporations birthed the phone tree out of a desire to cut costs and, understandably, gain some distance from their outlandishly outfitted customers. They took the need for space too far, even as America cleaned up its act, forgetting that bad customer service is a bad business decision.

“I’ve listened to thousands of people interacting with machines,” Mr. Rolandi said. “You hear sighs of resignation. You hear people swear. If businesses knew what I knew, they would not design them this way. Many people do not take into account the emotional state of the customer. When you call someone for customer service, you’ve got a problem and you’re probably in a bad mood. You hear someone telling you your call is so important that we won’t let you talk to a human. Then they slap people with too many options, and eventually, you’re in a fight with the system. When you do get a customer representative, you’re loaded for bear.”

The popular conception of outsourced call centers ruining our lives isn't quite right. Fewer than 10% of call centers are based offshore. As Americans, we can all be proud of the more than 100,000 call centers we host, excluding telemarketers.

The Times thinks the tide is slowly turning in our favor.

For the first time, American corporations are acknowledging “customer service as something worth paying for rather than just red ink,” said [Jon Anton, director of benchmark research at the Center for Customer Driven Quality at Purdue,] who looks at call centers worldwide and, using a number of criteria, compares how well they work. “If you can satisfy customers and keep them buying, it’s as important as marketing.”

He said that in the last year or so some large companies have been creating a chief customer executive, whose success is measured not on profit, but on customer retention.

Another reason for this change is that the very technology that is driving us crazy is helping people fight back.

Consumers are posting their experiences with customer service online and warning people away from businesses that do not offer a good follow-up with customers. Secondly, there are Web sites that tell customers how to get around an automated system.

The Times cites Netflix as one example of an enlightened company switching its emphasis from automated support to well-trained, empowered call centers. We've lauded Netflix before, but don't know of many other companies that are cutting down phone trees in favor of quality support.

What do you think? Are companies slowly improving their service, or are consumers just getting better at biting back?

Far From Always Being Right, the Customer Is on Hold [NYT]
(Photo: Getty)

Adrian writes:

It’s Sunday, so it is the one day I have to take care of my personal business, and relax. My PS3 crapped out on me a few days ago, and sadly, I cannot get anyone at Sony to fix the problem. The thing is, the PS3 was a gift to me for Christmas. The receipt is nowhere to be found (not by me, but by the person who bought it for me) all she has is a credit card statement. Instead of going to the store and demanding someone give us a receipt for the transaction, I decided to call Sony and see if they would take it under warranty because, for starters it was bought in December, and it was manufactured in July 2007. When I spoke with someone at Sony, I was basically told that they don’t go off of the manufacturing dates, but rather, on the date of purchase.

Fair enough I would think, but if the playstation was manufactured less than a year ago, it would be hard to lie about it’s validity of the warranty anyways. No matter how I went at this, the rep couldn’t help me. Basically he said, no receipt, $150. I am outraged that Sony won’t make themselves responsible on an item which is CLEARLY less than a year old. Their own label on the PS3 clearly shows that it was made in July 2007, 3 months shy of the year mark. Why would they even place that label on there, if it wasn’t any good to them? I’m just angry that a receipt would still be needed, even though I can clearly prove that it should STILL be under warranty.

I tried arguing with the guy telling him I would switch to a Wii, or an Xbox 360, and he just laughed and said, “their support isn’t much better.” I told him I would tell all my friends about Sony and not to buy a Ps3, and he simply said, “that’s totally up to you, but we are gaining momentum right now with customers.” Basically, he was a jerk, my PS3 is shit, and nobody seems to want to help me. That is where you come in. Perhaps someone higher up will see the absurdness in this.

Adrian, we think you're probably expecting a little too much of Sony. They're simply not equipped to deal with this situation logically, and CSRs aren't allowed to make decisions that require independent thought.

Therefore, our advice to you would be to call the friend that gave you the PS3 and ask her to contact her credit card company and see if they'll repair or replace your PS3 under their extended warranty protection. This process should be fairly painless compared with the task you've set for yourself— convincing a huge multinational corporation to think like a rational human being.

Good luck.

Hi consumerist, I'm writing in about your absolute favorite company. I wanted to be able to pay my new Comcast bill with a credit card, which means that I had to set up online access to my account. Well, Comcast, being the helpful company that they are thought it would be great to automatically change my preferences from receiving a paper bill to solely getting electronic statements. Well, I still wanted paper statements, just wanted to be able to pay my bill online. I figured changing back would be easy, but, as you guessed, it wasn't. When I went to Manage My Account, and tried to change "Delivery Method" to paper statements. Comcast redirected me to a site telling me that my choice would require talking to a CSR, and included a big orange button saying "chat now". I hit the button, and had the following hilarious interaction with a chat CSR. Turns out the only possible way to reinstate paper statements after Comcast automatically stopped them is to call Comcast. I've only been a customer a week, and they've already made me wish I picked DSL in my new apartment!

Lethel > Hello guest_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Lethel. Please give me one moment to review your information.

Lethel > It would be a pleasure assisting you today. How are you doing?

guest_ > hi- i would like to receive a paper bill, which automatically was replaced with e-statements when i signed up for online access to my account

Lethel > Can you please acknowledge that you are still at your computer?

guest_ > i am at my computer.

Lethel > Thank you.

Lethel > May I know your name, please.

guest_ > katherine *******

Lethel > Hi Katherine! Thank you for asking that. <

Lethel > May I ask how long have you been a Comcast customer.

guest_ > is this really all necessary just to reinstate a paper bill?

guest_ > less than a month

Lethel > I see.

Lethel > Katherine, I will ask your assistance to call us in 1-800-COMCAST to request for that.

guest_ > are you kidding? please explain why you can't reinstate this

Lethel > We will be more than glad to send you a paper bill as soon as you gave us a call.

guest_ > why is this not as simple as a chat session? please explain

Lethel > I can give you the breakdown here online but I can't send you a paper bill.

Lethel > You may need to request for it.

Lethel > May I have your account number, please.

Lethel > I do apologize for the inconvenience.

guest_ > i don't need one sent. just need my preferences changed so i receive them

Lethel > I will try to help you with that.

Lethel > May I have your account number, please.

guest_ > i am looking it up. one moment

Lethel > Sure.

guest_ > ******************

Lethel > Thank you very much for the information. May I ask for your complete address, too.

guest_ > ****************

guest_ > ***************

Lethel > Thank you.

Lethel > May you give me a sec to pull up your account.

Lethel > Thank you for patiently waiting. I will ask you to log in to www.comcast.com. You may click the link the "customer", then click "manage my account", and change your STATEMENT DELIVERY to "paper statement".

guest_ > it directed me to you

guest_ > said that i need to talk to a "csr" on chat.

Lethel > Let me try to do it for you.

Lethel > May you bear with me.

guest_ > thank you

Lethel > I do apologize but it require me to provide password.

Lethel > As much as I want to do it for you. But password is case sensitive.

guest_ > so there is no way for me to change my preference myself, and you can't do it unless i provide you my password.

Lethel > There is a way. I suggest that you may try logging in again and changed your preferences. If it still directed you to us in live chat support, I suggest that you may call us to request for it. That is the easiest way to changed your preferences in your account.

guest_ > well, this has been a waste of my time

Lethel > I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Lethel > I understand that your time is valuable.

guest_ > is there any place i can lodge a complaint for how highly inefficient this has been? it seems that comcast needs streamlining if something as simple as changing bill delivery options requires so much effort

Lethel > I am sorry to hear that. You can call us in 1-800-COMCAST. As much as I would like to help you but I am limited to our system here. And also, password is a case sensitive which
are not allowed to ask to our customer.

Lethel > The reason why I was suggesting earlier that you may call us in our customer hotline so that we can assist you right away with your concern. You have reached sales department.

Lethel > I can only place orders and provide information with our products.

Lethel > Is there anything else I can assist you with today, Katherine?

Lethel > Can you please acknowledge that you are still at your computer?

guest_ > there is not

Lethel > Thank you for your time. I hope you will give us a call and assist you with your concern.

Lethel > Thank you for choosing Comcast. We do appreciate your business. Please do not hesitate to chat with Comcast again at www.comcast.com. We are always available, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Lethel > Analyst has closed chat and left the room

(Photo: jorny)

Screwed up video display is a problem dear to our heart. In Willy's case, the video problem didn't happen until HP had taken the first crack at fixing his laptop and charged him over $400. They didn't fix it the second time he sent it in, so he sent it once more, again specifying that the video display "has lines, spots, and it scrambles." HP diagnosed a faulty audio component—which Willy says worked just fine before he sent it in—and offered to repair it for $300 more. Willy sent HP an Executive Email Carpet Bomb and has spent hours on the phone with customer service, but it still came back unfixed—but with a shiny new audio PCA. So Willy is disputing the charges with American Express.

I have had this laptop for a good long while, about four to five years, and since then, migrated to a new one, but this one was still old reliable for a while as a backup. Well, as all good computers do no matter what, they eventually develop something, and this one developed an issue where it wouldn't turn on.

Now keep in mind that yes, this is a somewhat old laptop (Compaq R3000) but I have been trying to get this fixed for a while. This has already been in repair three times in one month time. I understood the first time that I would have to pay for the repairs as it is beyond the warranty. At the time, I didn't care; I'm one of those people that would like to see older computers running and being used. The unit does not turn on. I had also requested that the unit be —inspected extensively— and make sure it still runs properly, as I wouldn't know if there was problems since it doesn't turn on.

That was March 26 and I paid $417.90 for the repairs. The repair number for this is:

I get the laptop back on April 1st and immediately found that the computer was making unnecessary fan noises (as if the fan was hitting something inside the computer) as well as developed video problems; the screen was looking like a blur with vertical lines along the screen.

called again to have the unit sent in and the unit arrived at the center at April 7, and received the unit back on April 10. The fan noise is gone but the video is still having the same exact problem. Basically, dead on arrival. That repair number is:

Now I have the unit sent in for the third time (April 11, new repair number: ) over the last four weeks and now they claim that the AUDIO JACKS are broken and I must pay a cost of $312.90. Now I DO know that the audio jacks works as I've tried them through headphones when I had the laptop a second time before the video issue. Unfortunately, this so-called "repair" is not even related to the video problem that came in the second time, and I suspect that would not even get fixed. For the most part, that should have been inspected in the first place at the original repair.

I have been on the phone with HP Support ever since it has entered into the repair facility for the third time. I have asked for supervisors and managers, and they have instead just put me to agent to agent, with some of them even hanging up on me. I've been at my wit's end trying to figure out why they have not repaired the unit, or even replaced it, and why they did not inspect the laptop the first time properly so I wouldn't have been sending it in all the time.

The strange irony of this is that I MYSELF work for technical support for a competing electronics company which deal with EXACTLY THIS class of both technical problems and servicing problems. From my perspective of this and comparing it, you are doing far worse than I remember. I remember it used to be quite quick, snappy, and reliable.

I am sorely disappointed by the support that I have been provided for the notebook, and the difficulty of getting answers and a satisfactory resolution to this problem. Since I have made this charge on my American Express card, I have decided to also dispute the charges to this and halt payment, as I'm not satisfied at all at the quality of the repair and workmanship that you have done with my laptop and I have not gotten any resolution to this.

I am crawling under my desk in my work clothes before I have to take children to school and then run for the train. There is a phone wedged under my ear and a bowl of cereal in one hand. With the other, I am trying to pull a cable from behind my computer while a customer service rep for Treo (like a Blackberry, but worse) attempts to diagnose why the computer just wiped out every article I have ever written and my appointments through next year. She is in Bombay. My children are in my kitchen. They are yelling for me.

Your call is important to us [Larchmont Loop]
(Photo: Getty)

"They publicly threatened me, just to show their arrogance," he told El Reg by email.

He told us that Creative contacted him on a chat session. "They were sarcastic, ironic and asked me if I wanted something from them, as if I were expecting something," he wrote. "It was my protest against them and would like to see how far it would go."

He acknowledges that Creative has a case regarding intellectual property, but is furious about the company's strategy. "I'd say they are stealing [from] their own customers by disabling features based on technologies they own (so they did it on purpose) and by charging for a software that requires an improved driver that they refuse to provide."

"At least they are getting flamed all over the web and they are certainly mad about it. That is enough reward for my hard work," he wrote.

Creative climbs down over home brew Vista drivers [The Register]
(Photo: Young Frankenstein)
PREVIOUSLY: Creative Sparks Customer Revolt When It Tries To Silence Third-Party Programmer

After telling the father that his son was involved in illegal activities and it would result in their internet getting shut off for a week, Mark writes on the halo3forums he heard "the father began to yell at his son, i then heard a loud smack, and then sobbing, and then cracking noise as if something was breaking..it then occured to me that the father had just beat the sh.t out of his kid, and the cracking noise was the sound of a hammer on an xbox." Comcast says it has identified the employee who violated the users privacy to an epic level and told Convergys to fire him. As anyone who read our insider post, "Convergys Call Center Sucks Because Agents Are Stabbing Each Other And Making Out In The Halls," Comcast and Covergys are renowned discerning employers of classy lads. As an added bonus, here's a picture DSL Reports acquired of Mark toking on a bong:

**(UPDATED)To Those of YOU who packet flood...be aware [halo3forums]
Outsourced Comcast Tech Gets Vengeance On Xbox Cheaters - But in the process abuses Comcast support systems, violating user privacy... [DSLReports]

Over the weekend, Creative's forums have exploded with posts from angry customers who have sworn to stop buying their products. There's already a boycott site up at boycottcreative.com.

A Creative Forum poster named "youAREkidding" summed up Creative's stupidity quite nicely:

Imagine what would happen if 10%, just 10% of the people who will read about this, be in a store somewhere, see someone about to buy a Creative Labs product, and say to that potential customer. "If you have Vista, Creative has non-functioning drivers for it, there was a guy who created a Modified driver, but Creative made him stop distributing it, and there are still no workable drivers for Vista." Some people might laugh at him, but the majority of computer perhiperal buyers don't know squat, and if they hear it from someone who presents themselves in a knowledgeable manner, they may actually think twice about it. Creative loses another sale.
 
So, yes, Daniel may very well have stepped on some copyright rules, and Creative had the lawful option of doing what they did. Score 100 on the law, score minus several millions for not doing the job themselves in the first place, and putting someone like Daniel in a position where he had to do what he did, just to get the customers of this company happy.

Let me just remind you that for example NVIDIA still supports GeForce generations 5, 6, 7, and 8 in their latest video drivers for XP, XP64, Vista, Linux and Mac OSX. All those old cards still get performance improvements instead of being crippled.

Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: 03-30-2008
newegg
Message 1179 of 1,436
Viewed 2,595 times
 
To Whom it May Concern:
 
While it is not our place to condemn the decisions of Creative regarding this issue, our customers come first. That being said, it has come to our attention that many of our customers are not happy with the products Creative has released nor the support for those products. To wit, we have processed nearly 5,000 return orders within the past 48 hours. While it is not normally in our best interest to publically comment in a manufacturer's forum, the overwhelming concensus has left us little choice. As such, effective tommorow morning newegg.com will suspend sales of the sound cards in question, particularly those indicated as "Vista compatible", pending an investigation into the matter. Those of you whom recently ordered such a card will still recieve your product as indicated in any relevant conversations. While we regret this abrupt decision, it has been deemed neccessary to protect the interest of our consumers. We welcome contact from Creative as soon as is possible so that we may resolve this issue.
 
Thank you,
 
Newegg.com
http://www.newegg.com

Daniel_K:
 
We are aware that you have been assisting owners of our Creative sound cards for some time now, by providing unofficial driver packages for Vista that deliver more of the original functionality that was found in the equivalent XP packages for those sound cards. In principle we don't have a problem with you helping users in this way, so long as they understand that any driver packages you supply are not supported by Creative. Where we do have a problem is when technology and IP owned by Creative or other companies that Creative has licensed from, are made to run on other products for which they are not intended. We took action to remove your thread because, like you, Creative and its technology partners think it is only fair to be compensated for goods and services. The difference in this case is that we own the rights to the materials that you are distributing. By enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, you are in effect, stealing our goods. When you solicit donations for providing packages like this, you are profiting from something that you do not own. If we choose to develop and provide host-based processing features with certain sound cards and not others, that is a business decision that only we have the right to make.
 
Although you say you have discontinued your practice of distributing unauthorized software packages for Creative sound cards we have seen evidence of them elsewhere along with donation requests from you. We also note in a recent post of yours on these forums, that you appear to be contemplating the release of further packages. To be clear, we are asking you to respect our legal rights in this matter and cease all further unauthorized distribution of our technology and IP. In addition we request that you observe our forum rules and respect our right to enforce those rules. If you are in any doubt as to what we would consider unacceptable then please request clarification through one of our forum moderators before posting.
 
Phil O'Shaughnessy
VP Corporate Communications
Creative Labs Inc.

The only thing worse than being a level 1 tech support rep is being a quality assurance specialist who listens to level 1 tech support reps ALL DAY LONG.

Here are my ten confessions from when I worked at HyperQuality, a quality assurance contractor for Accenture and AT&T DSL outsourced tech support call centers: Sykes, Teletech, Teleperformance, Telvista, and a few other smaller ones I can't recall.

1. "This call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes" applies to about 0.01% of all tech support calls.
This is considered to be "good sampling." Calls are recorded and then given to QA agencies for playback and scoring later. The idea is to select a group of call centers for monitoring and review at least two calls for each agent. In reality, call center management is allowed to select the recordings to send out for QA. Guess which ones they sent? That's right: 20 calls from their best agent over and over again. Good sampling, indeed.

2. Agents say stupid things because they're required to.
That excessively long branding at the beginning and end of the call, the annoying use of your formal name, the pointless verification of useless information? All are requirements forced on the agent by brain dead internal QA policies. Firms like Accenture and HyperQuality who are hired to improve these policies and procedures to improve customer service ratings, but are actually paid to reduce customer service costs. Instead of improving procedures and training so that agents know what they're doing, QA spins its wheels trying to figure out the nicest sounding script for why an agent needs to transfer you to yet another wrong department.

3. Outsourced call centers and QA agencies are in a race for supremacy.
AT&T executives know they can't trust their own internal QA, so they outsource. QA wants tech support agents to be outstanding for the executives. Outsourced call centers interpret QA agencies as threats (rightly so), and will do any amount of lying and number fudging to make QA look incompetent instead of fixing their broken support team. Brain dead AT&T junior executives who are on the hook for hiring these defective call centers will then question the QA agency's methodology and recommend that the QA experiment be scrapped in favor of returning to an internal QA process, which they know has no power to change anything whatsoever. Corporate politics, clusterfuck is thy name.

4. Offshore (non-U.S.) agents are trained to clue in on keywords, not comprehension.
Offshore agents have highly varying proficiencies in English. They can speak it better than they can hear it. In order to help agents overcome this limitation, they're encouraged to pick up on keywords and formulate support solutions around them. The problem is that agents frequently stop listening after they find the first keyword that they understand, even if there's five more minutes of talking after the keyword.

For example, if you say, "Whenever I sign on, my modem starts making noise as if I were dial-up, even though my DSL is okay." An experienced tech would say, "hmm, this sounds like the browser is set to always dial a connection. Let's open up Internet Properties." However, a keyword-focused tech would hear "sign on" and try to verify your account information so he can reset your password. Another keyword-focused tech would hear "dial-up" and try to transfer you to the dial up department. Google is not their friend, apparently.

5. Onshore agents get to be as racist as they wanna.
One challenge of the QA team I worked on was a Midwestern U.S. call center that was outright rude to any customer who sounded Latino, Puerto Rican, Chinese, or even Finnish. This call center would use the customers lack of mastery of English against them, repeatedly saying in very loud drawls, "ma'am, I — I can't understand what you're saying. You need to find someone who speaks English and have them call in for you." (Lie! There are plenty of translation departments within AT&T.) We red-flagged calls on a weekly basis for six months, citing overt racist behavior. At the end of six months, the call center's contract was finally terminated. When we inquired why, the official reason was "Quality Assurance issues." The un-official reason was "cost control." The day after the onshore center was terminated, a new offshore center was hired for 1/10th the cost.

6. When you call in and get a different answer every time, blame the internal documentation.
Agents are required to research answers against the internal doc system, which is essentially a poor implemented wiki. But it functions oh so much more poorly. If only AT&T had taken their $150,000 investment in a proprietary documentation system and invested it in a free wiki package. There are several documents for any particular issue. Documents should be labeled for use by specific departments and teams, but frequently aren't. What's worse is that QA can't score down an agent for reading the obviously wrong document if the document is poorly categorized, or has been available for less than a day. After all, you have to give agents a reasonable amount of time to catch up on the litany of "OMG NEW EMERGENCY FOLLOW THIS CRISIS PROCEDURE" bulletins and documents that are published every day and then never maintained or retired once the crisis has been abated.

When an agent tells you you have to rebuild your modem firmware because your speed is a little slow, he's probably reading from a 4 year old technical bulletin. He's probably been working off that bulletin since the day he started.

7. Agents consistently failing a particular attribute? Obviously it means the bar was set too high.
When scoring agents, we look at forty different attributes, ranging from objective standards such as using the member's name three times during the call, to softer skills such as how positive and upbeat the agent sounds. Male agents in India always fail the upbeat attribute. Many regions in India are highly homophobic, and sounding American-style upbeat and positive apparently means you're gay over there. Sounding monotone and disinterested is the height of masculinity. Agents would rather fail this heavily weighted attribute than make such a transgression, so they fail the call.

Call center managers, instead of helping their agents adopt a more internationally-minded open attitude, will campaign to have the attribute dropped altogether. Their reasoning? "Oh, he sounded very upbeat and positive *to me*." Yeah, because you're a great representation of the customer, pal. The sad part is this reasoning will win, call scores will rise dramatically, and outsourced call centers will receive "great improvement!" trophies and bonuses.

8. Quality Assurance could use some quality assurance themselves.
Nothing says "the blind leading the blind" like outsourcing your quality assurance staff to the lowest bidder in India. Which is precisely what HyperQuality does. Here's how it goes:

Me: "Hey Rashim, don't send out that powerpoint. It has some old data in it, and I need to update it before tomorrow's meeting."

Rashim: "Okay, I won't."

*next morning*

Client: "why does this powerpoint have such old data on it?"

Me: "Rashim!!!!!"

Rashim: "Wha? I sent out the powerpoint like you said to."

Ugh. Where did Rashim work previous to HyperQuality? You guessed it: call center for AT&T DSL Tech Support.

This happened constantly across the board. I don't want to sound racist on this point, though. We did have a couple of incredibly smart staff that came from India. They were a pleasure to work with and we paid them well. I'm sure the rest of the staff could have come up to speed with more training.

9. Smart call centers would rather go rogue and receive a failing grade than assimilate into the clusterfuck.
The true and singular pleasure of this job was monitoring a rogue call center from the Southwest. They used their own documentation, had their own scripts, and hired incredibly smart and capable techies. We "red flag" failed each and every one of their calls because they did not follow the prescribed metrics that we scored against. This team had some of the best I've ever seen from both an infrastructure and service standpoint. They shrugged off action plan meetings, ignored saber rattling execs, and just kept delivering amazing service. Their average QA call score was 23%. For whatever reason, this contract could not be terminated, so they were slowly starved of calls until they could not support themselves and had to lay off staff.

10. The QA metrics themselves are the battleground for a power struggle between different AT&T factions.
So some AT&T junior exec gets it into his head that he's going to single handedly rescue all of AT&T's support issues by transforming the entire customer service paradigm into a baseball metaphor, and insisting that each call result in a "home run." Said exec then proceeds to start injecting this philosophy into as many agent documents as possible, overriding all of the work that QA and other management teams have done. None of these overriding documents say what has to actually be done to achieve this home run, only that achieving the home run is key to the success of the team.

The fatal flaw in this plan is revealed when multiple off-shore call center managers respond with, "vait, vhat is dis base-boll? Ve do not know American shports games."

(Photo:sun_dazed)

Rush Thanks the Apple People [The Rush Limbaugh Show]

He writes:

I recently ditched Windows XP at my house, and have moved to the Macintosh platform (and converted my PC machines to Ubuntu)

I've had zero issues with the conversion, except for my HP "all in one" scanner/pc/fax machine. Although I can get it to work just fine with Ubuntu, I cannot scan from OS X Leopard.

After some googling, I contacted HP support who informed me that there are no plans to update their drivers for Leopard. This is not an old printer, I bought it 4 years ago and I'd think it's in their best interest to support the segment of the market that's moving to Mac.

Instead of solving my problem with a new driver, they're trying to solve it by offering me a "trade in / trade up" program where they want me to buy a new HP printer. The only thing this will serve to do is to kill any brand loyalty I had to HP and cause me to never buy another HP product again.

I find it funny that the open source community can get scanning working just fine on Ubuntu, but a company like HP can't tweak their drivers to get it to work on a mac. C'mon HP, get it together!!!

Hello Matt,

Thank you for contacting HP Total Care.

With the Officejet 6110 & the Leopard OS, you will be able to print dew to the pre-installed print driver with the OS. For scanning, there is no software and drivers that will support this. There will be no software updates for this product and the Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard). We do have a program called trade in trade up. This is where you can trade the older unit in on a newer model. If you would like more information about this program, please reply to this email. Thank you

If you need further assistance, please reply to this message and we will be happy to assist you further.

You may receive an e-mail survey regarding your e-mail support experience. We would appreciate your feedback.

For information on keeping your HP and Compaq products up and running, please visit our Web site at: http://www.hp.com/go/totalcare

Sincerely,
Scott W.
HP Total Care

Can anyone think of a way to translate the scanner's outdated language for Leopard? Suggestions in the comments.

I learned that when they say, "Your call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes," that's only partly true. They also record your calls so they can pass around recordings of the funniest ones.

The agents gave him a CD of their favorite calls, and he transcribes a few of them in his column. We like this one:

A Canadian customer was calling to find out if there was a faster way to trigger menu commands than mousing up to the menus.

Agent: Certainly, sir. There are keyboard shortcuts for many of those commands. For example, suppose you want to trigger the Select All command...

Caller: Yes, I use that one all the time! How do I do it?

Agent: Well, you just press Control-A.

Caller (after a pause): Well, that's not working for me.

Agent: Do you have a text document open in front of you?

Caller: Yes, I sure do.

Agent: OK, now press Control-A.

Caller: I am, but nothing happens.

Agent: The text isn't highlighted?

Caller: No, there's no change at all.

Agent: That's odd. If you press Control-A, the whole document should be highlighted. Try it again. Press Control-A. Tell me exactly what's happening.

Caller (nearing his Canadian breaking point): Listen. I'm pressing Control, eh? And nothing's happening, eh?

The press release did not mention if customer service reps will be getting paid more, which we think is a key factor in attracting and retaining quality personnel.

Having identified the opportunities, senior managers needed a better understanding of the field technicians' daily routines. This extra visibility—and a more flexible and dynamic dispatch system—were the cornerstones of the cable company's transformational program to improve productivity in the field and address key quality issues, such as the punctuality of technicians, waiting times for customers, and getting jobs right the first time. Using improved routing software and making better use of mobile phones, the teams in a pilot study established command centers that provided real-time visibility into the schedules of the field workforce. They also implemented innovative staffing and routing techniques designed to meet customer demand more successfully. The command centers helped field force managers to learn where technicians were, when they began and finished assignments, and whether a test signal had been sent back through the cable network to confirm that an installation was successful or a problem had been fixed. In addition, managers learned (in real time rather than afterward) when employees were ignoring policies; as a result, the company could immediately take corrective action, such as telephoning customers.

The impact was dramatic: 18 months after the company launched the program, technicians were completing an average of 8 jobs a day, compared to 4.5 previously; the average waiting time for an appointment with a technician had dropped to 1.2 days, from 5; and labor costs had decreased by more than 30 percent, since less work had to be outsourced to external contractors.

Improving field service productivity [McKinsey] (Requires free registration or you can use bugmenot login: pjs@mailinator.net, password: 142) (Thanks to c-side!)

I live in northwest Pennsylvania, an area formerly held by telecom company GTE (GTE North to be specifically I believe?). This has been particularly troublesome to the folks at Verizon when I'd call for tech support. Over the past few years of getting DSL from Verizon when the need would arise to call tech support I would cringe. I *knew* they wouldn't be able to find my account, it always happens.

I call, get connected to "Verizon East", they try to look me up, no worky, they transfer me to "Verizon West". Verizon West looks me up, doesn't find me, and attempts to transfer me back to "Verizon East". This nonsense would continue easily for 20-30 minutes before even getting a tech who knew anything about my account.

This was a major source of aggravation for me each call. Each rep would need my telephone number again, transfers sometimes happened, sometimes disconnected me, etc. Major pain in the ass.

However, just a few days ago I needed to call again due to issues in getting a DHCP lease on my DSL modem. I was dreading it...

Much to my surprise, after a short 15 minute wait on hold for a tech, the guy was able to not only look up my account without routing me through east, west or otherwise but he could also perform a line test while I was on the phone. I was stunned.

I was also mentally preparing for the next round of tomfoolery brought to you by Verizon, namely the scripted troubleshooting I knew was coming next (unplug this, do that, check the wires, etc.).

This tech asked me what was wrong. I said "I'm not getting a DHCP lease on my modem, changed phone lines to test it, rebooted, etc." While my hands were nearly mid flight into unplugging the router and modem per typical scripted requests he interrupted to tell me he would simply release the IP address on their end for the modem to see if it remedied the issue.

Less than one minute later I had an internet connectivity—he had my quickly check verizon.net and time.gov to ensure I was all good and that was it.

So, to recap, Verizon gets some points from this previously extremely fired up consumer. Here's how they did it:

1) Apparently cut the crap. The reps can see my account without switching between east, west, south and north.

2) Cut the crap some more. The tech didn't have to go through the bloody script with me and just solved the problem! Kudos!

Now there are still some issues. When I called support due to connectivity issues the automated system ran a line test, saw nothing was "wrong" with the line and booted me back to the main menu—some tech support. I eventually switched my tactics to selecting "Install problems" instead of connectivity problems and was able to route to a human.

(Photo: SkyShaper)

So tonight I went to my local Best Buy, planning on surprising the wife with a new bigscreen TV.

We get there and, believe it or not, the Best Buy people are helpful, friendly, informative and DON'T try to push Monster cables on me. (I know - I nearly fainted too).

Having done my homework, I picked out a receiver, speaker system, wall mount, some blue ray movies , and a 58" plasma TV. Total cost : $5870.69

So I head to the register to pay for my newly acquired goodies and my card - despite having a few grand more than the total in my "available funds" is declined.

Puzzled - I call Bank of America , wait on hold about ten minutes, go through countless adverts for bank services, double authorizations etc and FINALLY I get to a human. Of course in spite of all of this the woman wants my information all over again even though I just typed it in. She wont even help me til I provide it and so I do.

I explain that I am in the store, at the register, and that I know I have available funds.

She puts me on hold about 5 minutes , then comes back and says "Im sorry - that's over your daily limit. There's nothing I can do. Was there anything else I can help you with?"

Remembering to keep a cool head, I ask about a supervisor giving me an override on the limit. She says "let me transfer you to the ATM department." And before I can explain that this isn't an ATM problem, she disconnects me.

Frustrated - I dial again, more menus, get a human, get transferred, get another human, get transferred, (every time re-verifying my ID)finally I get to the FOURTH person who apologizes 10 times and says "don't worry sir - I can help you!"

I think I'm getting somewhere but then a supervisor comes on and explains to me that "Everyone in the United States that uses Bank of America has a daily spending limit of 5000.00 no matter what."

Stunned, I ask for an exception and in a parent-giving-me-a-cookie tone he says "well, I suppose we can up that to 6000.00 just this once."

At this point I am over an hour on the phone but we try the transaction again. Declined.

More hold time. He comes back and says that he is sorry but 6000. is the limit and buying gasoline and dinner earlier in the day is going to put me at more than 6 grand for the day and so I can come back tomorrow and buy the TV or I can go to my branch and get a money order.

Fuming, and doing my best to remain calm, the conversation goes like this:

"Let me get this straight - I have an "available" balance of nearly 10 grand in my account?"

"yes sir"

"And its not pending or a deposit waiting to clear, that's my money, confirmed and in your bank?"

"yes sir"

"And you have kept me on the phone for over an hour, asked me multiple times to verify my identity and are satisfied that I am who I say I am?"

"yes sir"

"And you are going to deny me access to MY money?!?!"

"No sir - we are not denying you your money, your're just over your daily limit."

"My daily limit? This isn't a credit card. It's a PLATINUM Visa checkcard. I understand that you have to put limits in for my protection but I need to make this purchase"

"Im sorry theres nothing I can do"

At this point, after nearly an hour an twenty minutes on the phone, I lose my cool. I am embarrassed, have essentially shut down a register lane on a Friday night at Best Buy and am obviously the talk of the store both from employees and customers.

I ask to speak to a supervisor and am told that I am speaking to one. I ask to speak to HIS supervisor and am told that's not possible.

Out of desperation I ask again and he says "wait just a moment"

More hold. Ten more minutes. I am fuming. He comes back and excitedly tells me "try it now."

So for the umpteenth time I swipe my card. This time it comes up "authorization code needed"

I relay this to the BoA guy and he says "well, we are making progress"

A few more minutes of hold time later and he comes back with the code and makes my purchase go through.

I have NEVER experienced such shoddy customer service ever. Im sure Im preaching to the choir when I say this, but Monday morning I am cancelling my BoA account, and fellow consumerists - Stay the heck away from Bank of America!

As a side note, after the transaction was completed I said to the supervisor, "So, what if I was say, Donald Trump and wanted to spend 30 grand on something?"

His response, " Well , for Mr Trump we would have made an accommodation ahead of time."

I said "And if I'd decided tonight to buy the $14,999.99 71" plasma TV in here this evening?"

"You wouldn't not have been allowed to do that."

At that point I hung up.

Sheesh!

(Photo: Getty)

He writes:

Short history - Got DirecTV in July 2007, each month since, I've had to call customer service about them shutting off channels or receivers not working. I have the protection plan (about $6 a month) so other than time and hassle it hasn't cost me anything.

Current event - We had the floors redone in the living room of our home. To accomplish this we had to move the TV and DirecTV box out of the way. We did. We didn't plug it in a new location, simply moved it to another room while the work was being done on the floor. Skip forward, the floor work is done and I got to plug the TV and DirecTV box back into exactly the same spot as before. Turn it all on and the DirecTV box doesn't find the satellite. I check all the connections, even the box where the satellite line connects into the "signal distribution" box to the rest of the TV's in the home (btw - all the other TV's are working fine).

Reluctantly, I call DirecTV support. After going through every single trouble shooting step with a polite technician Marisela, she concludes I need to have a technician come to my house. Then she says because I made a change to the installation, I would have to pay $79.95 for the service call. Huh?

Fortunately for me, I had just been reading how cell phone companies technicians and reps sometimes get it wrong, so I started asking for details and specifics. First I got her name and ID number. Next I confirmed that simply unplugging the box and plugging it back into the same place in the same configuration was considered a "change of installation". She said yes. 3 times or so. I then asked if this was detailed in the protection plan, and she said "yes". I then asked if the protection plan explicitly defined what "change of installation" was and she said "no". Again, from reading about cell phone companies on Consumerist, I realized that without a legal definition of change of installation, was an arguable fact and that if all else failed some of the other hints from Consumerist such as contacting company executives or filing a complaint with the FCC were last ditch options if I needed them.

During the conversation, I asked the technician to please make a note on my account so that when I talked to other people about this issue, I would not have to explain it all again. She did.

The thought hit me though, that with all the problems I've been having with DirecTV service, this $79.95 service charge was the last straw. As much as I love the high def clear signals from DirecTV and all 5 of my receivers, I just didn't want to have to keep calling DirecTV each month. I was sad because I really don't like cable tv.

I asked Marisela about my options for canceling my account. She said she would have to transfer me to a different department. Thinking ahead and having experience with disconnects after being transfered, I asked for the name of the group I would be talking to and their phone number in case I get disconnected. Turns out there is no direct line to the retention department.

After a few moments, I was transfered to the polite retention technician Jamie. I explained my situation and desire to cancel due to the continuing string of problems and now this $79.95 fee because unplugging and replugging my box was considered a "change of installation". Jamie immediately responded that simply unplugging and replugging the box would not qualify as a "change of installation". She also explained it was within the terms of the protection plan that you could move your DirecTV out of the way for remodeling, esp for cosmetic reasons and that if you plug it back into the same spot without triggering the "change of installation" issue. She was very helpful and I'm really glad I decided to speak to someone about canceling (something I only do if I really intend to cancel). Without speaking with Jamie, I would have been stuck paying $79.95 just to get the DirecTV box to work.

Following on tips from the Consumerist, I asked that the fact there would be no fee for the service call be noted in my account. She did so and included her ID number so if a fee did show up, I could easily get it removed.

Total phone time about 40 minutes. 20 minutes trying to trouble shoot, 20 mins on hold and discussing the situation. Unfortunate that I had to go through the situation, but thanks to the Consumerist, it turned out better than it could have.

Thanks again for your great work at the Consumerist.

(Photo: grendelkhan)

On January 17th, my colleague Matthew Newton poked his head into my office. He'd also donated, and was also impatiently waiting for his XO. He told me that he'd just spent an hour on the phone with OLPC customer service, and had been told that they didn't have his shipping address, as a result of some glitch relating to the fact he'd paid via PayPal.

I too had paid with PayPal...but I didn't have an hour to spare. So I checked the "Track Your Order" link and entered my e-mail address and tracking number. That sent me to a page saying I'd probably received my XO, with...confusingly...a link to a page that it said would let me track my order. I clicked on that link, and got a page not found error.

Today, I happened to be in the office early, so I called OLPC support and turned on my speakerphone. Thirty-five minutes later, the call rang through to a rep. Who t