Sunday, March 24, 2013
phone home/home phone

I have nothing to say except to complain!
For almost three weeks I have had Telephone problems.
I find trying to talk to a "live" person at the phone company is so daunting that I avoid calling the phone company for as long as possible. 
But then....I have to bite the bullet and settle in for a l-o-n-g winter's night of being on hold, over and over and over.....
Then, when I finally do get a "live" person, they are in The Dominican Republic or India, or some other place that makes their English difficult for me to decipher. (There is something very very bizarre about someone 9000+ miles away, telling you the Technician will be there between 1pm and 4pm....and of course, no surprise when said Technician actually does not show up...!)
I find that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing there at the phone company. And one never gets "written" confirmation on agreed upon changes....OR, if you do, it is completely wrong.
About 24 hours of my life, these last few weeks, have been given over to conversations with people at the phone company, and/or waiting to finally have a conversation with someone at the bloody phone company. 
The stress of all this, and these conversations themselves, has taken years off of my already precarious life, and added many many gray hairs to what is left of the hair on my head, not pulled out in utter and desolate frustration.
AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!
The worst part of all this is....the Phone Company holds ALL the cards.....I cannot go to another phone company, and even if I could....it would all be the same!
Without going into the truly boring details---the subjects covered were, in no particular order:
My Bill.
My Internet Costs.
My Phone Line Being Dead.
My Second Phone Line Being Dead, Three Days Later.
My Internet Connection Turned Off.
My Appointment Not Being Kept By The Effing Phone Company.
Bottom Line? 

I HATE THE PHONE COMPANY.

Rant Over!
(well, not quite.....)
The struggle with the phone company is not over....
On Saturday----lucky me----three letters arrived from AT&T.
All three confirm things that are totally wrong.
HELP!!!
So Monday....it all begins again.....
Like I said......
I Hate The Phone Company!

More To Come.....
(if I live through the further stress
with AT&T)







24 Comments:
had this to say:

Oh Naomi, I do feel your pain. Our phone company here in tiny town, has big problems also but I do have an advantage. They are local, only speak with slight southern accent and they do try.
I sure hope you get it all sorted out. Phones are no longer a luxury these days but a necessity.

Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 2:18:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

Oh, my dear -- I'm so certain that many of us can relate to this -- it's incredibly frustrating not being able to talk to a person without great mental gymnastics and the patience of Job -- only to connect with someone difficult to understand. I hope everything is straightened out very, very soon!

Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 2:24:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

Oh boy I can so relate, and I know what you mean about speaking to someone in India too. It just seems so weird when they say something about they can see the fault is on the line right outside my house. How can they? Plus they feed you a pack of lies.

Do you remember the scene in the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel where Judi Dench has phone issues? It was so damn true!

I hope your get your issues sorted out! Hey this was a weekend wobbly!! Can I add your post to my post? You may get a bit more traffic too!

Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 2:27:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

Bloody hell! I hate the phone company (internet company rather, as we don't have a home phone anymore) for many of the reasons you have stated here. We looked into changing, and the only other game in town had similar customer complaints. Hang in there! Rant anytime! Love the pic of the bent phone box.

Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 4:19:00 PM PDT 

Blogger VV
had this to say:

I feel your pain, only with a different company. I'm becoming more and more disillusioned with the time we're living in. I'm feeling disgusted and disinterested. I think I'd make a fine hermit.

Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 5:59:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

Ah, customer service reps., I was one for 18 years, always gave my name, always began with "Good Morning" or "Good Afternoon," and my goal was to SOLVE their problem, giving them my personal ext. # to call me back if it was not solved. I am proud to say in 18 years not ONE call back, except to thank me. My thought was: I may be the only person they speak to today, this may be the biggest problem in their life right now, and I have the chance to make them hang up feeling good! 100 calls per day, 18 years, so I too become not only frustrated by poor customer service, but angry. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. I am so sorry you were treated like this. I worked for the city of Seattle, we had 300,000 customers, AT&T for example, has many more---at the first hint of "are you kidding me?" I ask for a supervisor. If necessary, THEIR supervisor, I once had to go to Michael Dell. (I did get a journey around the world though!) Keep your sense of humor. I wish I was nearby, I'd handle all this for you. Grrrr PS--if those are photos of the phones you are using...you are in for a wild ride. hahahaha

Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 6:30:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

We have cable phone. Glad when it is having "issues " to have cell service. So far they haven't both gone out at the same time.

Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 7:38:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

It is true – telephone service has become terrible. I like all the different telephones you showed on your post. I remember the first telephone we had in Paris – our number had 3 letters to start and then 4 numbers and that was all – I don’t think my parents had problem with the telephone then – but that was in the late 1940s… Then when we moved in the suburbs in the 50s our telephone number only had 3 numbers – I still remember them - 212! Same thing – no problem. Now that the telephone can do so much – take photos, join the internet, aps, etc., the service is a headache. I understand your frustration completely.

Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 8:23:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

It is very annoying to have to be on hold for so long just to have someone who is not only distant in time/space but mentally gone...clueless, in many cases, and clearly not understanding what you need. I've dealt with these folks before and thankfully, I've dealt with them in Spanish and I could defend myself a bit but still, the dialect and the problems themselves were not easily understood and the issues not resolved in a timely manner. I get you, gf, and wish our customer service was better. Unfortunately, as you say, we don't have many options but to suck it up and deal with it. I always jot down dates, the name of the person I spoke with and what they promise me for future reference. If need be, I write a letter or an e-mail and keep copies on file. I hope your phone issues are resolved soon.

Monday, March 25, 2013 at 12:24:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

Oh my dear Naomi, I do feel your pain, worry and discomfort! Our phone company here in country has big problems also when we have a heavy rain with lightning and thunder. It's inadmissible that in this time people has such bad communication trouble.
But I am glad that in spite of those problem and stress, you keep on a good humored nature, posting many photos of old phones! I think that the first one works better than the current and modern one. Lol!
I hope everything will be in order and become straighten very, very soon!
Lots of (((HUGS)))my dear!

Monday, March 25, 2013 at 3:12:00 PM PDT 

Blogger MaR
had this to say:

Oh,dear, so sorry you are going through this. The problem is - unfortunately- universal... Just helped my elderly neighbor get things straight with her phone/internet company.
Hope you can report happy phone news soon!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 12:42:00 AM PDT 

had this to say:

this is one of the reasons why i will never, never, ever bundle my communications services! i wish i could separate my internet from the phone! all the best, dear lady! xoxoxox

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 5:31:00 AM PDT 

had this to say:

and how many songs have you listened to while "on hold" waiting for the "next technician" to help?? my bet is "lots!"

I hear ya... I've had many problems with the same phone company at other times and then calling back each time a bill arrives to go thru it over again... and again.. and again

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 1:21:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

I am so sorry, Naomi. I know how you feel, since I have gone through it many, many times. I have not been sorry since we got rid of our land lines. Not that the cell phone companies are much easier to deal with - but there are many of them, so we do have more choice. I hope you can get it fixed to your satisfaction, and soon!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 5:21:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

Love the closing photo! I do know what you mean. I shut down when I hear a menu phone robot give a litany of information. One of my pet peeves of late though is how you have to call two phones now to try to reach one person cause most everyone has cells AND the cell phone can do almost anything BUT they have crappy sound quality! Why don't they get that right first?

Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 7:30:00 AM PDT 

had this to say:

Oh my gosh, i can so relate to this, Naomi! I hope it gets straightened out soon!!!

Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 8:43:00 AM PDT 

had this to say:

on the contrary i love how you went from very old phones to the newer ones.. anyway i hope your luck gets better with the phone company. I have had troubles talking with them and I hate when I have to call them. MY husband refuses to call them. I have to do it. I have more patients waiting on hold than he does.

Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 11:33:00 AM PDT 

had this to say:

We are a captive audience, aren't we.
We have only 1 option where we live, and it is awful. Enough said.

Friday, March 29, 2013 at 4:21:00 PM PDT 

had this to say:

Oh I so feel your pain. It is incredibly frustrating going round and round in circles and never getting resolutions to anything. This happened to me once with my mobile phone. So I googled to see who the managers of the phone company were. Nothing on their website. However, I did find a reference to their Business Manager in a magazine article on the web. It listed his email address. I emailed him, his secretary replied and soon someone else rang me and resolved the issue. Here is a tip. Find someone in charge and send a link of your blog post. That will get them moving. It's useless talking to phone people in India or wherever who sound like robots. Good luck xx

Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 5:18:00 AM PDT 

had this to say:

Wow, I can feel the stress just reading about the frustration. It can be so difficult to try and deal with the long distance technical support for almost all we have to use these days. grrrrr right along with you

Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 7:39:00 AM PDT 

had this to say:

Sometimes it's just getting the right person on the phone. I have AT&T and never get anyone in other countries, although they are generally somewhere in the states other than Atlanta though. So strange the way it's set up differently depending upon where you live. It took many calls to get my iPhone to connect to my wireless connection at home again. I finally got the right person who walked me through what to do. Good luck - I know it's frustrating. (Ex-AT&T employee here.) :)

Sunday, March 31, 2013 at 3:44:00 AM PDT 

had this to say:

What a nightmare! So it's not just the UK's companies which have outsources calls to places like India. It's so frustrating!

Sunday, March 31, 2013 at 7:37:00 AM PDT 

had this to say:

Yes - plus when it does work properly there's a whole range of telemarketers calling up to offer phone company switches and suspect financial packages.

...And I recognise that Banksy phone box! ;-)

Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 4:13:00 AM PDT 

had this to say:

I'm playing blog catch up. I hope your phone issues are in the past. The first phone photo you featured reminded me of my grandmother's home when I was quite young -- her wall phone looked like that and she was on a party line. Her ring was some combination of long and short rings. AT&T used to be the best before they broke up the company, then digital came along.

Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 1:46:00 AM PDT 

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