Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Another Telephone Story

Remember my post from the other day about Using Age To My Advantage? I wanted you to know "the rest of the story."

My new telephone arrived less than 24 hours later! What service, I thought. What wonderful service, I thought. I did everything they told me; took the back off the old phone, took the battery out, took the SIM card out, and put all of that in the new phone. It worked - the new phone worked! It rang...loudly. That's what the old one wasn't doing. Then I tried to call out. No contacts. Not one flippin' contact. Reverse the order...put it all back in the old phone. Contacts reappeared.

Three phone calls and one visit to the store later....my contacts, sort of, were in the new phone. By that I mean when they transferred them it took in this order: work phone numbers, if there was no work phone number it took the home phone number and changed it to say work, and if there were no home numbers it took the mobile number and changed it to say work. Apparently it wanted everyone to have a work number. It only took one number. So all others were lost into cyber space. All home numbers and all mobile numbers. In addition I couldn't receive or send e-mail. The nice 13 year old I got this time had the hardest time figuring that one out but eventually he discovered that the PIN number he had for me and the PIN number my phone had for me were different. They should be the same. That problem was resolved. That left me with lost phone numbers, no speed dial numbers because they all disappeared too, and all ring tones and pictures etc. that I had downloaded were gone.

Now of course there was a way to resolve all of this. All I had was to download some software, save everything to the software, then reload it to the new phone. However, the software took 30 minutes to download and then disappeared. Twice. I think maybe it might be here somewhere but my computer search can't find it. I could have waited until my grandson could come over when we get back from vacation but the old phone had to be mailed back right now or I would have been charged $425. Throwing up my hands I just mailed the darn thing and am working to find all those phone numbers, and giving up on the pictures and ring tones.

I forgot to tell you all that about a month ago my sister, who calls me every morning on her way to work, started getting a "this phone is disconnected" message when she called my cell. That's a whole 'nother long story. First she called her provider (Sprint). After a week they told her it was my provider's (AT&T) problem. I called her provider too while I was at her house and they told me the same thing. So I called my provider who, after a week, told me it was Sprint's problem and I should call them. I did that. But then Sprint wouldn't talk to me because I'm not a Sprint customer. Right. My sister called them back again. They would certainly call her back, so they said, within a few days. Never called. She called again. Same thing. They didn't call. Saturday she called them again. The first person she talked to said she would make a new ticket on it. My sister said "no ticket! You have three tickets on it! Let me talk to your supervisor." The supervisor said, "the problem is that you keep calling back and we have too many tickets so it hasn't been resolved." No kidding - that's what he said. My sister said, "let me talk to YOUR supervisor." :) The next supervisor said, "I'll make a new ticket." My sister said "NO TICKET! You have 3 tickets. Use one of them and fix it!" She assured my sister that it would be fixed soon. My sister asked for the phone number of Her supervisor. So she gave her the number of Account Services. Huh? Account Services? Those are the people I talk to if I don't pay my bill. The lady said, "believe me if you tell those people you are gong to terminate your service because we didn't fix it, they will get something done. They don't want to lose your business!"

So now we are at an impasse. No one who has Sprint can call me or my husband. They can all call anyone else on AT&T but not us. I don't know how many customers Sprint has but all five hundred seventy million three hundred forty one thousand can't call me. If that's how many customers they have. I can call anyone on Sprint. I can get a text from anyone on Sprint. My sister texts me and says "call me" and I can call her. But she can't call me.

I think I'm snake bit.

17 comments:

  1. It would be funny if it were on an "I Love Lucy" show...but in true life these problems are far from being funny. Makes you want to throw up your hands in dispair, doesn't it. Here is hoping you can get it worked out and soon. Meanwhile, what about smoke signals?

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  2. You and your sister are saints! I would have wring someone's neck by now. I'm pretty easy going but do NOT deal with crappy customer service & the run around well at all. It's one of those things I'm trying to work but it's coming very slowly. Hope it gets resolved soon for you.

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  3. Don't you just LOVE great customer service???? NOT!!!!! How frustrating this all must be for you.

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  4. Oh my - I am exasperated just READING your pitiful post - how do you even remember what/where you were? ARghhhh - this is where I would throw it out the door and mash hit with a hammer! But I spose that would cost you a bunch of $$$. 8-(((

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  5. Unfortunately, this sort of run-around is all too common. And if you get the out-sourced-to-overseas folks involved, you might as well not bother. I now refuse to talk to any repair person unless I can see the whites of their eyes. And that doesn't always work either. Dontcha just luv technology?

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  6. I think at this point, I would pay the penalty for closing your contract early, and go with another provider. MY OPINION, for around here, is the only cell company that good a good signal is US Cellular. Good luck. I hope you get your problem solved quickly!

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  7. Nothing like telephone problems~especially with long-distance companies! Hope you get this resovlved!

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  8. It's not flippin' fair, that's what it's not. They say you shouldn't get mad at these people but how can you not? they have their script all typed out in front of them and have an answer for everything.

    The very latest customer services technique I've come across over here is, if you stray so far from their script - you little deviant, you - that they don't have an answer, they say "If you threaten me madam I will put the phone down". And then, eerything you say they repeat "I have to put the phone down" "Putting the phone down NOW".

    love, Angie, xx

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  9. I have found out that a lot ot times when you are talking to customer service they are not even in our country. I hope you get it fixed. I know this is so inconvenient. I gave up my cell phone about a year ago. I decided that I didn't want to be accessible to everyone all the time. I haven't missed it at all.

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  10. MOdern technology can be so wonderful and yet also really frustrating!! I have a hard time adapting to anything new and tend to stick with the old for as long as I can!!

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  11. I am dying laughing at this. The lack of customer service these days drives me crazy but you have written about it in such a way that it's hysterical. Crazy, crazy, crazy!

    I hope it all gets sorted out soon...and I hope you have a fun and safe vacation!

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  12. I'm just shaking my head. Every time we have problems will our cell phone, it makes me re-think about how much easier the good ol' land line is. Too bad we can't take line lines with us when we travel. I have an acquaintance who still uses a bag phone. Believe it or not, she never has a problem with it. Of course she doesn't text message or e-mail or surf the internet either. -Megan-

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  13. Well on the bright side-you made me laugh. Hope you get it fixed.

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  14. Geez - isn't technology wonderful!

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  15. Ridiculous! I especially like the explanation as to why it hasn't been resolved... because there were too many tickets! Unbelievable. That reminds me of the Chili's restaurant employee who told me the reason they no longer offered Key Lime Pie was because it was too popular and everyone was ordering it; so, therefore, they removed it from their menu! Best wishes with your problem, gotta love customer service. Arrgghh!

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  16. Oh my! How about some firewood, a blanket, and some smoke signals...at least there's no third party involved...hee hee.

    I hope you find a GOOD solution to this problem and have a phone in 100% correct working order soon.

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