Andonyx
29th August 2003, 10:14 AM
I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...
Okay here's the deal. I rely on freelance work for a significant portion of my income. Which means having a High speed internet connection is of some great importance to me. I need to transfer semi-large audio and video files back and forth to California 3-4 times a week.
In my old apartment I had cable modem through Comcast, formerly AT&T, formerly excite @home. I had my gripes, but overall the service was fairly reliable. Their billing department had some sort of problem getting me the paper bill I asked for, but all in all, it worked, and I never had a problem getting work done as a result of their failings.
I moved to a new place 2 weeks ago, and unfortunately i had to switch to SBC DSL because none of the other high-speed companies can service my building yet. Despite my every effort to be prepared and make the transition smoothly SBC has thwarted me at every turn.
I called up three weeks before my move and asked them to turn on the service at my new place on the first of august, as I would be moving in on the 16th, and I may have my computer over there earlier. (I assumed ownership as of the first.) They responded that they can't start a DSL order until the phone is turned on, and service has been established. Fine well, you guys are the phone company too, right? So I have my phone tuned on by the first, so you guys should be able to get underway with the DSL same day? No, apparently the next day would have to do, and apparently it takes 10 days to get new service so my DSL should be up and running no later than the 12th.
Well, fine I figure, I won't be moving in until the 16th, and I still have my cable modem until then. I would have just kept my cable service but Comcast doesn't service my new building.
Well here's what happened.
1. First the SBC phone company turns OFF my existing phone service on the 1st, but does NOT turn on my new phone service.
2. I have that fixed on the 2nd, and I had phone back in the right places by 5:00pm on the 2nd.
3. Unfortunately, that glitch was apparently enough to screw up the DSL installation request because they had no phone service to work with and so the order was cancelled.
4. August 2nd-August 17th....No one bothers to mention this to me.
5. I get settled in in my new home and go to set-up the DSL, and lo and behold, there is no DSL signal. A call to the service dept. reveals that my order was canceled:
Me: I have no DSL signal
SBC flak catcher #1: Well, hmm, that would be because you cancelled the service.
Me: No I didn't.
SBC flak catcher #1: It says here you did. It says cancelled.
Me: I think I would recall something like that. I have been patiently awaiting my DSL service for five weeks, expecting it on the 12th.
SBC flak catcher #1: That was your install date, unfortunately I don't know why it was cancelled, and as it's Sunday evening I can't talk to the people I need to talk to until Monday morning.
Me: I think that really sucks, you guys have had an extra week and it's still not on? Also, why didn't anyone call me to say it's cancelled.
SBC flak catcher #1: I don't have that information.
Me: Why doesn't everyone who can pull up my account have that information?
SBC flak catcher #1: I don't know that's not how our computers work.
So I wait until Monday, I end up talking with someone for close to an hour who informs me that when they went to start the service a quick check showed I had no operating phone service and as a result the order was terminated. Now I would have to start with a new order:
Me: Wait, you're telling me I have to wait another two weeks?!?!?
SBC flak catcher #2: Well, sir, the FCC demands we be five days out on our orders.
Me: Well, you're actually three weeks out.
SBC flak catcher #2: But this is a brand new order.
Me: Did you get my old order working?
SBC flak catcher #2: No.
Me: Then this is not a new order. You have to at least actually deliver some service of some kind for an order to be done, which you have not as of yet, so please don't get ahead of yourselves and start on a new order. Just get my first order working. You guys can't even handle one order correctly, please don't try to be supermen.
SBC flak catcher #2: Well, sir, I can try to expedite your order, but I can't gurantee it, that would take four to five days.
Me: Why not today you incompetent boobs? We're three weeks form my initial order none of the time tables you've given me are any longer than that, you should have everything in place to turn it on today. I don't care what the computer says, if it says something different just highlight that field and type in today's date. Just like we used to do at the video store when we would charge annoying people more money for movies.
SBC flak catcher #2: Our computers don't work like that sir. The order has to propagate thorugh our system.
Me: You're system sucks.
I get a call the next day from an "Executive level customer service officer"
Me: I hate you people, I'm glad you're being indicted. I hope you all go the way of Enron, and there are several prison sentences and / or suicides involved.
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: I'm sorry sir, I can see from what you've been through that our service has not been adequate. I've researched the particular error, and found out what it is. Apparently part of your DSL order was billed to your old address, and part was for your new address, and the conflict will not work it's way out of our system. So the people who provision our DSL service have not yet gotten rid of your old order.
Me: I care about this why?.... Me want DSL now!
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: I understand sir, but we can't place a new order until everything about your old order has cleared our system.
Me: How long will that take?
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: 10 days.
Me: What?!?!?!?! Are you people out of your minds? I called three weeks before I even moved to make it easy and avoid these problems. You have had a full month now to get it together, and let me tell you something, Missy, if I go ten more days without porn, woe betide us all!
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Well, I think I can cut that down to maybe four days.
Me: I don't think you understand, I could get really sick.
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: I'm sorry sir. but give me 24 hours to talk to everyone involved, I'll try and hunt down the error, and I'll call you back and let you know as soon as I have an update.
Me: Indeed I want you to call me back every single day until I have DSL even if all you can possibly do is regale me with tales of how hard you're trying to get my service on. If you're going to waste my time like this I'm going to waste yours.
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: I will do that sir.
Me: And umm, dress kinda sexy when you do that.
So she was as good as her word and better. She called me every single day for a week to tell me she had no information for me, because the computer error wouldn't go away.
Meanwhile I actually had the week off as my vacation. I wanted to use it to relax, get settled into my new pad, and have a good time. Unfortunately my freelance contract still needs doing, so I had to drive into my office three times on my vacation to get my work done because SBC sucks so bad. Which does not thrill my employer.
Finally I get a call the following Monday, (last monday):
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Mr. Nyx good news!
Me: My little green DSL light is not on. Relative to that, your news could only be considered mediocre at best.
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Well, I've sorted out the error, and I spoke to ASI, the company that does our DSL provisioning, and they have assured me the error is cleared.
Me: Wait what? another company? You job out your DSL like Yahoo and @home used to do?
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Yes.
Me: What about your commercials?!?! What about your whole, "We own the lines, we are the experts, there are no middlemen" crap that your peddling? I have about four hours of Tommy Lee Jones telling me in 30 second increments that you guys are the go to guys for phone stuff because you are a real phone company, not some company that promises service and then uses your stuff anyway. What a load!
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Well sir, that's our telecommunications department.
Me: I could be mistaken, but I think any reasonable person would put DSL service under the telecommunications umbrella.
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: I see what you're saying.
Me: Are you weraing that little red number I asked you to?
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Anyway, I was able to re- establish your order, which means we can start clean with a new order.
Me: I'm assuming I didn't hear you right, and that you didn't just tell me now, a month later that we are starting over from square one. I'm assuming what you actually said was, "Your DSL should be on any second now, it's just a matter of how long it takes the DSL molecules to get through the wires from our plant to your home, and also, I WAS wearing the little red number but since have taken it off."
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Well, sir I couldn't place a new order until we got the old one out of the system, and I'm sorry that's taken so long, but we finally got it. And your expected service date is September 2nd.
Me: Urge to kill.....rising!!!
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: But I'm trying to expedite that and I think I can get it for you by Friday, which actually means midnight, Thursday.
Well, here it is on Friday and it's still not on. I have no doubt it will not be on any time today. And of course I can't get anything done about it until after the long weekend, which puts me at ohhhh....right back at Sept 2nd.
In the meantime that means I will have to come into work over Labor day weekend, probably twice to get my other job done. So now SBC has screwed up my vacation, my labor day weekend, and been three weeks late at the least getting DSL service to me.
At what point do they have to start paying me?
This is what happens when you have a monopoly.
I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...
Okay here's the deal. I rely on freelance work for a significant portion of my income. Which means having a High speed internet connection is of some great importance to me. I need to transfer semi-large audio and video files back and forth to California 3-4 times a week.
In my old apartment I had cable modem through Comcast, formerly AT&T, formerly excite @home. I had my gripes, but overall the service was fairly reliable. Their billing department had some sort of problem getting me the paper bill I asked for, but all in all, it worked, and I never had a problem getting work done as a result of their failings.
I moved to a new place 2 weeks ago, and unfortunately i had to switch to SBC DSL because none of the other high-speed companies can service my building yet. Despite my every effort to be prepared and make the transition smoothly SBC has thwarted me at every turn.
I called up three weeks before my move and asked them to turn on the service at my new place on the first of august, as I would be moving in on the 16th, and I may have my computer over there earlier. (I assumed ownership as of the first.) They responded that they can't start a DSL order until the phone is turned on, and service has been established. Fine well, you guys are the phone company too, right? So I have my phone tuned on by the first, so you guys should be able to get underway with the DSL same day? No, apparently the next day would have to do, and apparently it takes 10 days to get new service so my DSL should be up and running no later than the 12th.
Well, fine I figure, I won't be moving in until the 16th, and I still have my cable modem until then. I would have just kept my cable service but Comcast doesn't service my new building.
Well here's what happened.
1. First the SBC phone company turns OFF my existing phone service on the 1st, but does NOT turn on my new phone service.
2. I have that fixed on the 2nd, and I had phone back in the right places by 5:00pm on the 2nd.
3. Unfortunately, that glitch was apparently enough to screw up the DSL installation request because they had no phone service to work with and so the order was cancelled.
4. August 2nd-August 17th....No one bothers to mention this to me.
5. I get settled in in my new home and go to set-up the DSL, and lo and behold, there is no DSL signal. A call to the service dept. reveals that my order was canceled:
Me: I have no DSL signal
SBC flak catcher #1: Well, hmm, that would be because you cancelled the service.
Me: No I didn't.
SBC flak catcher #1: It says here you did. It says cancelled.
Me: I think I would recall something like that. I have been patiently awaiting my DSL service for five weeks, expecting it on the 12th.
SBC flak catcher #1: That was your install date, unfortunately I don't know why it was cancelled, and as it's Sunday evening I can't talk to the people I need to talk to until Monday morning.
Me: I think that really sucks, you guys have had an extra week and it's still not on? Also, why didn't anyone call me to say it's cancelled.
SBC flak catcher #1: I don't have that information.
Me: Why doesn't everyone who can pull up my account have that information?
SBC flak catcher #1: I don't know that's not how our computers work.
So I wait until Monday, I end up talking with someone for close to an hour who informs me that when they went to start the service a quick check showed I had no operating phone service and as a result the order was terminated. Now I would have to start with a new order:
Me: Wait, you're telling me I have to wait another two weeks?!?!?
SBC flak catcher #2: Well, sir, the FCC demands we be five days out on our orders.
Me: Well, you're actually three weeks out.
SBC flak catcher #2: But this is a brand new order.
Me: Did you get my old order working?
SBC flak catcher #2: No.
Me: Then this is not a new order. You have to at least actually deliver some service of some kind for an order to be done, which you have not as of yet, so please don't get ahead of yourselves and start on a new order. Just get my first order working. You guys can't even handle one order correctly, please don't try to be supermen.
SBC flak catcher #2: Well, sir, I can try to expedite your order, but I can't gurantee it, that would take four to five days.
Me: Why not today you incompetent boobs? We're three weeks form my initial order none of the time tables you've given me are any longer than that, you should have everything in place to turn it on today. I don't care what the computer says, if it says something different just highlight that field and type in today's date. Just like we used to do at the video store when we would charge annoying people more money for movies.
SBC flak catcher #2: Our computers don't work like that sir. The order has to propagate thorugh our system.
Me: You're system sucks.
I get a call the next day from an "Executive level customer service officer"
Me: I hate you people, I'm glad you're being indicted. I hope you all go the way of Enron, and there are several prison sentences and / or suicides involved.
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: I'm sorry sir, I can see from what you've been through that our service has not been adequate. I've researched the particular error, and found out what it is. Apparently part of your DSL order was billed to your old address, and part was for your new address, and the conflict will not work it's way out of our system. So the people who provision our DSL service have not yet gotten rid of your old order.
Me: I care about this why?.... Me want DSL now!
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: I understand sir, but we can't place a new order until everything about your old order has cleared our system.
Me: How long will that take?
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: 10 days.
Me: What?!?!?!?! Are you people out of your minds? I called three weeks before I even moved to make it easy and avoid these problems. You have had a full month now to get it together, and let me tell you something, Missy, if I go ten more days without porn, woe betide us all!
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Well, I think I can cut that down to maybe four days.
Me: I don't think you understand, I could get really sick.
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: I'm sorry sir. but give me 24 hours to talk to everyone involved, I'll try and hunt down the error, and I'll call you back and let you know as soon as I have an update.
Me: Indeed I want you to call me back every single day until I have DSL even if all you can possibly do is regale me with tales of how hard you're trying to get my service on. If you're going to waste my time like this I'm going to waste yours.
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: I will do that sir.
Me: And umm, dress kinda sexy when you do that.
So she was as good as her word and better. She called me every single day for a week to tell me she had no information for me, because the computer error wouldn't go away.
Meanwhile I actually had the week off as my vacation. I wanted to use it to relax, get settled into my new pad, and have a good time. Unfortunately my freelance contract still needs doing, so I had to drive into my office three times on my vacation to get my work done because SBC sucks so bad. Which does not thrill my employer.
Finally I get a call the following Monday, (last monday):
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Mr. Nyx good news!
Me: My little green DSL light is not on. Relative to that, your news could only be considered mediocre at best.
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Well, I've sorted out the error, and I spoke to ASI, the company that does our DSL provisioning, and they have assured me the error is cleared.
Me: Wait what? another company? You job out your DSL like Yahoo and @home used to do?
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Yes.
Me: What about your commercials?!?! What about your whole, "We own the lines, we are the experts, there are no middlemen" crap that your peddling? I have about four hours of Tommy Lee Jones telling me in 30 second increments that you guys are the go to guys for phone stuff because you are a real phone company, not some company that promises service and then uses your stuff anyway. What a load!
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Well sir, that's our telecommunications department.
Me: I could be mistaken, but I think any reasonable person would put DSL service under the telecommunications umbrella.
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: I see what you're saying.
Me: Are you weraing that little red number I asked you to?
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Anyway, I was able to re- establish your order, which means we can start clean with a new order.
Me: I'm assuming I didn't hear you right, and that you didn't just tell me now, a month later that we are starting over from square one. I'm assuming what you actually said was, "Your DSL should be on any second now, it's just a matter of how long it takes the DSL molecules to get through the wires from our plant to your home, and also, I WAS wearing the little red number but since have taken it off."
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: Well, sir I couldn't place a new order until we got the old one out of the system, and I'm sorry that's taken so long, but we finally got it. And your expected service date is September 2nd.
Me: Urge to kill.....rising!!!
SBC flak catcher with special hat on: But I'm trying to expedite that and I think I can get it for you by Friday, which actually means midnight, Thursday.
Well, here it is on Friday and it's still not on. I have no doubt it will not be on any time today. And of course I can't get anything done about it until after the long weekend, which puts me at ohhhh....right back at Sept 2nd.
In the meantime that means I will have to come into work over Labor day weekend, probably twice to get my other job done. So now SBC has screwed up my vacation, my labor day weekend, and been three weeks late at the least getting DSL service to me.
At what point do they have to start paying me?
This is what happens when you have a monopoly.
I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...I hate SBC...