Before I start this rant, keep in mind that I did tech support for an ISP for 7 years. I’m not stupid. I know how to open Internet Explorer if you tell me to do that. I know that there are 101 things that can go wrong with an internet connection, dialup, dsl or cable. I also know that good tech support will attempt the least invasive procedures first and move up the ladder to more complicated possible solutions. And I know that good tech support will ask the right questions and actually listen to the answers.
So tell me, why on earth would you not do a simple line check to see if our lines are down after I’ve told you a storm is approaching? And why would you jump to the conclusion, after looking at my account and noting that my 2 year old modem is out of warranty, that my modem is at fault? Might it be because you want to get a pat on the back or a bonus for tricking customers into buying equipment they don’t need? Or maybe you were simply tired and wanted to get me off the line so you could relax. Did I call too close to quitting time?
Several days before, my Verizon DSL went out. As the tech support woman tried to get a line reading, she suggested that we work on the modem. She walked me through resetting all of my settings before she informed me that our lines were indeed out. And guess what? Her tweaking took down my home network so I had to completely re-do everything to get my machines to talk to each other. Yeah, I was angry.
And because of that problem at the beginning of the week, this second tech support guy, who definitely didn’t speak English as a first or maybe even second language, jumped to the conclusion that my modem is too old because it’s out of warranty.
Uh…. I have loads of electronic equipment that’s out of warranty. If I replaced everything that was out of warranty, I wouldn’t be able to afford to eat! I’m so angry that Verizon would employ such an incompetent worker with such a severe lack of understanding of the equipment and no concept of logical thinking that I had to voice my complaint here.
Oh, and for the record, the lines were out again this second time, just as I thought. I guess I didn’t need a new modem after all. Seems the Verizon genius tech support guy was just plain wrong