I just have had two days of the worst tech support ever, and decided to share it with all of you.
ISP - Verizon DSL
Sunday 11:00ish PM
I am having issues with testing an ASP form, and need a server that supports ASP and has the CDONTS and SMTP components installed. I decide to call Verizon to see if these are available with them because I have some space. I call and after 1/2 hour of ghastly hold music, I get “Bill” on the phone. I explain to him how I have been on their website for the last 40 minutes, and can not find any information because half of the site is down, and the other half won’t let me log in. I tell him that I have a simple question, to find out if their server supports ASP and has the CDONTS and SMTP components installed. He askes me, in a very innocent tone, “what is ASP?”
I then give him a breif description and he informs me that he is going to transfer me to some1 who knows what the heck I’m talking about. So i get put on hold. Lalala. crappy music. Another person, same thing, dunno what I’m talking about. Transfer… hold… another person, says they need to transfer me to the head cheese, please wait. hold…lalal…
OK! Now I get “Sally” on the phone. I explain my problem. She informs me that they DO support ASP, but she can’t tell me if they have the components installed. I say why? and she tells me that it is not their job to tell me how to make websites, and that I should go find a webauthoring help site to assist me. Then I explain to her that I don’t NEED help making websites, I NEED them to tell me about their services, speCIFICALLY, if they have the components installed. She then tells me that all of that information is available on their website, so I tell her that I can’t log into the website, so could she just inform me directly. She then tells me that it’s “beyond their realm of help” and I would have to find out some other way.
At this point I hang up and curse a lot. I try to log into the website. No luck. Then, it tells me that my username doesnt exist. HELLO??!!! I’m using the darn service right now so obviously i exist!! Then I call back. After more transfers I get a guy on the phone. He seems willing to help me and very nice, althoguh dumb. (men are usually nicer to women on the phone then other women i find). So I tell him my problem, and specifically how I can’t acess the website. Basically he tells me that it is an “intermittant problem” and they get “a lot of complaints” but they don’t knwo how to fix it. He also tell sme he doesnt know how to look for the info abotu the components. He also tells me that users have reported that if they repeatedly try to log in, it usually lets them. So I hang up and try like 30 times, to no extent.
Then this nice dude on Kirupa gives me an asp script to test if the darn server has them, but now I can’t upload it because my ftp won’t connect and my websites on it are all gone missing. So I give up. Move on to a different server.
Monday 6 pm
Back to square one. I need to find out if they support it cuz the other server wasn’t working. I call. They tell me taht they can not help me because the name I provided wasn’t the name on the account. I tell them that I have been calling them for MONTHS now and never had a problem. I also tell them that the name ont he account is my mother’s cuz she set it up for me initially, but I had told them to transfer it to my name a YEAR ago and even though I made MANY requests for them to do so, and they ASSURED me that they would, apparently they still hadn’t. I hang up.
Monday 6:30 pm
I call again. No problems this time. I get this dude on the phone. I tell him the problem. Can’t sign in, need to know if components are installed. He makes me explain what ASP is, what the components are, and where could he find them. Then he transferrs me. I get “Amanda” on the phone. I tell her my issue. I tell her about the incompetence of her co-workers and how I am sure she can help me because she sounds a whole lot nicer and smarter then them. She falls for it. She looks up a bunch of stuff. Hold on and off for about 20 minutes. Finally she comes back and said she asked the boss, and this was my responce.
“The server does support ASP, but it doesn’t have the components installed. However, I can install them and make it work as long as I configure my web stuff properly. She can not however tell me what I have to configure, or where I have to go to find out.”
So I explain to her that I can not install the components, cuz I would have to have administrative acess to the server, which I do not. I also explain that I need these components in order to do what I need to do. At thsi point I give up for real. I dont care what she says, if they aren’t there, then there’s my answer. As long as she’s on the phone, I ask her if she could please transfer the account into my name for the umteenth time. She tells me that she can’t do that, but she could transfer me if I want to hold for a few to some1 who can. I say no thanks, wish her a good evening in an overly sweet tone, and hang up.
Grrr. :hangover:
So anyone else got good stories of incompetant tech support of customer service people?
