“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of how things work out.” John Wooden noted that years ago, and I am going to try and apply it today. I also know that this is a day the Lord has made, and I should rejoice and be glad in it. So why are both of these truths rubbing me the wrong way? Two words, phone rage.
I recently upgraded some home services with my existing providers. Seemed easy enough, until I realized that their new technology took down some of my old services. Easy fix: call their technical service number. Six hours later, I sign off their online chat room (phone connections were lost three hours in), and wish them luck fixing the problem. The next day I discover they left before I did. I call again, and two hours later, things are working. Now I know why weekends exist. To add insult to injury, I had to pay upfront another online subsidiary for tech support to fix the problem.
So today I called to ask for a refund for a service problem they created, and yet I paid to fix. Seven call transfers later, including three back and forth to the same “wrong” department covering two plus hours, I received my refund and an acute case of phone rage.
So how do I reclaim my joy and make the best of this lost day of productivity? The first way is to realize that this experience will help me in my consulting work. Technology will continue to play a major role in business productivity, and yet the need to develop common sense “high touch” support solutions for implementation glitches will also grow in importance. So maybe this experience is just building my knowledge base for helping a company introduce new technology in their business. I sure hope a call center client retains Pro356 Consulting!
Maybe more importantly, I am in a position to actually have this experience. What if I didn’t have the flexibility to stay on the line? What if no outlet existed for my experience to help someone in the future? Can I use this in personal productivity classes and service courses I facilitate? You bet.
And now that I have thanked my new Philippine friend, Venus, for refunding my bill, do I still have all the wonderful gifts of family, friends, health, and faith just as I did last week?
So I will rejoice and say, John Wooden was a very wise man.
Rick……Please tell me that this was NOT AT&T!
Like half of Fairhope, I am sure, I just signed up for a complete re-vamp of my telephone, internet, and TV service to the UVerse fiber-optic system.
After I signed my contract to switch, was given an install date, AT&T left me 6 “urgent messages” to call them concerning my Uverse order. They then jacked me around by telling me I could not have my existing 2-phone number “ringmaster” setup(1 phone number rings once, the other rings twice) unless I paid $25/month for a “second line”.
Perhaps it is the electrical engineer in me that wants to explain to the AT&T rep the near-infinite capacity of the fiber-optic cable. So that leads me to the conclusion that this is either a “bait and switch” game, or it is incompetence, or it is both.
You guessed it big guy. Lost my ability to print from to wireless to host where my printer hung. I like the service but it was a nightmare. Didn’t want to slam them in public and just wrote this to improve my mood.