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MasonM
MasonM
Join Date 01/2004
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I Hate Verizon Tech Support

December 26, 2007 11:17:43 PM from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
OK, I know that tech support spends most of their time dealing with complete morons. I get that and they are trained accordingly, but they should at least make an effort to put people into those support positions that at least have a small clue about the system they are supposed to be supporting. Come on!

For at least the past couple of weeks the dsl signal here has been dropping out every few minutes. Just enough to screw up downloads, watching of videos, and online chatting. It's extremely annoying.

The timing of this shit pretty much tells me what is going on. It happens on weekends and after 5:30 PM. Obviously they are working on their servers due to the AT&T take over to bring everything up (or down) to their specs. They do these things during these times to avoid pissing off the bulk of their business customers. Fuck the home users who use the service the most during these times.

Tonight, after having a conversation interrupted for the 10th time I got pissed and decided to contact them about it. Phone contact is nothing more than an automated system so I availed myself of their online "customer service" live chat feature. Of course that was frustrating due to a combination of a long wait time and the damn signal dropping out.

The idiot I finally got, some schmuck with one of those Indian names that started with a P, didn't have a clue. I tried to wait patiently as he followed his damn script but after a few minutes it was doing nothing more than seriously wasting even more of my time with very stupid and irrelevant questions. I only had two simple questions.

1. Are they in fact working on the servers and thus causing this problem?

2. How long will this be going on? (I could have replaced a huge server farm, by myself, in this amount of time).

The idiot wouldn't or couldn't answer either one of these questions. When he followed his stupid script to the point of asking me if I had the dsl filter for the phone installed on the dsl modem line I totally lost patience with this moron. After I informed this cretin that I used to make my living building, servicing, and administering networks, am not an idiot, and know damn well how to install a dsl filter on a phone line, he decided that the problem was beyond his capability to troubleshoot and that I should call the tech support center during normal business hours.

What a moron. I know damn good and well that support centers are provided with information about maintenance work that will likely generate complaints. Obviously he never bothered to read it or was just too stupid to understand that was what the complaint was about.

Those bastards will hear from me tomorrow and I won't settle for less than a timetable for when this will be finished and a credit on my bill for wasting my time. Satellite service isn't that expensive.
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MasonM
terpfan1980
Join Date 08/2004
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Reply #1 December 26, 2007 11:35:12 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

heh.  This past week has not gone well for Verizon apparently.

I'm working on (will blog soon about it...) getting the triple play service from Verizon.  Their stupid VoiceWing service (their red-headed bastard step-child) is crap, pure and simple.  I saw the offer I wanted on TV again, jotted down the phone number and attempted to call it from Friday night through out the weekend and it was a no-go.  Apparently their sales offices, which had been running 24x7, were closed.  Now, you'd think that they'd have a message saying call back between the hours of ... and ... but nope.

Anyway, I tried their website -- apparently it was partially shutdown for the weekend as well.

When I was able to connect to it and try to configure the service I wanted, well, I couldn't.  Apparently they don't recognize some equipment as being, well, some equipment, so it kept telling me that I needed to add some equipment to the order and wouldn't let me exit that part of the configuration even though I had another piece of some equipment in the order.  St00pid.

I gave up finally and just waited through the weekend and then called back on Christmas eve.  I actually called at about 2:30 in the afternoon and figured by then no one would be there but was taken aback when I got an answer at their regional sales offices and then was told I needed to call the local office to get the configuration I really wanted.

Called there, got a person right away, and got configured.  I think the sales guy was happy that I knew what I wanted and didn't have to do the hardsell or instruct me on what the various options were.  All he had to do was take the order, give me the right package and equipment that I had already researched and set up the install time to have the tech bring out the equipment and help me hook up the phone line.

Anyway, for now I hope things go well and I get installed when promised.  After that I hope to never need to contact tech support.  When I had to contact their VoiceWing tech support I learned quick they weren't employing 'gifted' people (see Draginol's article for more on that word and why it wouldn't apply to the Verizon techs).

Hopefully things came back to normal for you.  I haven't had problems tonite, thankfully, but probably because I didn't really get online until later in the day.

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MasonM
MasonM
Join Date 01/2004
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Reply #2 December 26, 2007 11:42:47 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Terp, it all sounds pretty typical for that pack of bastards.

The drop outs have calmed down some for now. That just reinforces the fact that it's human work that is causing the problem as you know they aren't working all night on it.

Why can't these people just give a simple, honest answer to a simple, honest question?

When I worked in the business we always planned things in advance and actually INFORMED our customers of service interruptions and gave them an idea of how long we expected them to last.

Of course that was a number of years ago and I guess things have changed since then. Somewhere along the way it changed from "service the customer" to "fuck the customer".

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MasonM
Dr Guy
Join Date 09/2004
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Reply #3 December 27, 2007 7:32:06 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

What's up with AT&T and Verizon?  I guess I have not been following the news as I have not heard a thing about them going into partnership or whatever.

As for Tech Support - I have my own idiots to deal with and they are called a partnership in state government.  They don't know how to read a route or trace a path, and cant understand why they should be involved with a problem (Hey idiot!  The circuit terminates in your location!).

It is all I can do to list the facts without getting into condescension and sarcasm at their ineptness.

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MasonM
Gideon MacLeish
Join Date 06/2004
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Reply #4 December 27, 2007 7:45:54 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
When I worked in the business we always planned things in advance and actually INFORMED our customers of service interruptions and gave them an idea of how long we expected them to last.

Of course that was a number of years ago and I guess things have changed since then. Somewhere along the way it changed from "service the customer" to "fuck the customer".


The new business model is "fault free" technical support, meaning you neither accept nor assign blame. Meaning, of course, if the network is down you don't admit it.

I don't like it, frankly, but you gotta keep your job!
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MasonM
MasonM
Join Date 01/2004
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Reply #5 December 27, 2007 7:46:53 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

What's up with AT&T and Verizon?  I guess I have not been following the news as I have not heard a thing about them going into partnership or whatever.



AT&T took over Verizon's wireless and data services.


As for Tech Support - I have my own idiots to deal with and they are called a partnership in state government.  They don't know how to read a route or trace a path, and cant understand why they should be involved with a problem (Hey idiot!  The circuit terminates in your location!).


It is all I can do to list the facts without getting into condescension and sarcasm at their ineptness.




Yeah I've dealt with my share of idiots on both sides of the fence. Let's face it, the world is over run with morons these days.
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MasonM
MasonM
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Reply #6 December 27, 2007 7:50:58 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

When I worked in the business we always planned things in advance and actually INFORMED our customers of service interruptions and gave them an idea of how long we expected them to last.

Of course that was a number of years ago and I guess things have changed since then. Somewhere along the way it changed from "service the customer" to "fuck the customer".


The new business model is "fault free" technical support, meaning you neither accept nor assign blame. Meaning, of course, if the network is down you don't admit it.

I don't like it, frankly, but you gotta keep your job!


Yeah it's a pretty damn stupid policy and only serves to frustrate the customer.
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MasonM
Dr Guy
Join Date 09/2004
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Reply #7 December 27, 2007 8:19:50 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
AT&T took over Verizon's wireless and data services.


Shit!
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MasonM
Gideon MacLeish
Join Date 06/2004
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Reply #8 December 27, 2007 8:19:58 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Yeah it's a pretty damn stupid policy and only serves to frustrate the customer.


Not to mention insulting their intelligence.

I feel pretty sheepish when someone calls in who has checked their connection, their neighbour's connection, the connection at the library and the bank, and every other connection in town that there's nothing wrong with the network.
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MasonM
MasonM
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Reply #9 December 27, 2007 8:21:43 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

AT&T took over Verizon's wireless and data services.


Shit!


Yeah that was pretty much my reaction as well
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MasonM
MasonM
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Reply #10 December 27, 2007 8:23:59 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

Yeah it's a pretty damn stupid policy and only serves to frustrate the customer.


Not to mention insulting their intelligence.

I feel pretty sheepish when someone calls in who has checked their connection, their neighbour's connection, the connection at the library and the bank, and every other connection in town that there's nothing wrong with the network.


Yeah, they know you're not being honest with them. Such was my case. I already knew it is an area-wide problem as I had already taken the time to check that out. Having this dimwit try to go through all the usual idiot troubleshooting flow chart after I had already told him that I knew it was an area-wide problem was very annoying to say the least.
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MasonM
Jythier
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #11 December 27, 2007 10:08:33 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Tech support is good for one thing, though. I had trouble with my DSL when I first got it. They said it was hooked up early, but it wasn't actually hooked up yet, so I tried calling tech support. They went through their script. This happened a couple times. So, I know the script of basic problems pretty well. (When it was actually turned on it worked fine, btw)

So my wife decides while I was at work to move the computer from the living room to the bedroom, and hooks everything back up. But the DSL doesn't work. So I go through the checklist - and yes, she had put the DSL filter on the DSL line. I probably wouldn't have thought of that if I hadn't spent all that time going through the checklist (twice) with tech support.
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MasonM
MasonM
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Reply #12 December 27, 2007 10:12:27 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

Tech support is good for one thing, though. I had trouble with my DSL when I first got it. They said it was hooked up early, but it wasn't actually hooked up yet, so I tried calling tech support. They went through their script. This happened a couple times. So, I know the script of basic problems pretty well. (When it was actually turned on it worked fine, btw)

So my wife decides while I was at work to move the computer from the living room to the bedroom, and hooks everything back up. But the DSL doesn't work. So I go through the checklist - and yes, she had put the DSL filter on the DSL line. I probably wouldn't have thought of that if I hadn't spent all that time going through the checklist (twice) with tech support.


There are common mistakes that people do make and that's pretty much all their little routine is designed to spot, and the average person isn't trained in troubleshooting techniques. It's when they either simply do not listen, or treat you like an idiot even after you've demonstrated a higher level of knowledge than themselves that they get frustrating.

I truly believe that listening is a lost art these days.
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Gideon MacLeish
Join Date 06/2004
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Reply #13 December 27, 2007 10:29:18 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
There are common mistakes that people do make and that's pretty much all their little routine is designed to spot, and the average person isn't trained in troubleshooting techniques. It's when they either simply do not listen, or treat you like an idiot even after you've demonstrated a higher level of knowledge than themselves that they get frustrating.

I truly believe that listening is a lost art these days.


I agree.

As a techie I can usually discern the technical level of my callers within the first 30-45 seconds of the call. Before they started recording every call when someone called in who had obviously attempted all the troubleshooting steps prior to calling, I would mention that I had to ask these questions to fill in the ticket, so even though I knew they had done it, I'd like them to bear with me for a moment.
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MasonM
Dr Guy
Join Date 09/2004
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Reply #14 December 27, 2007 10:34:44 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
As a techie I can usually discern the technical level of my callers within the first 30-45 seconds of the call.


That is the difference between an intelligent tech and a robot. I would do the same thing back in my days. Once I knew their level, I could gear the call to them.

Oh, and Mason, I just ran the AT&T thing by a couple of others. Apparently we are all in the dark about this. No one up here had a clue about the buyout. I guess I should double my previous comment.
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MasonM
MasonM
Join Date 01/2004
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Reply #15 December 27, 2007 10:34:51 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

There are common mistakes that people do make and that's pretty much all their little routine is designed to spot, and the average person isn't trained in troubleshooting techniques. It's when they either simply do not listen, or treat you like an idiot even after you've demonstrated a higher level of knowledge than themselves that they get frustrating.

I truly believe that listening is a lost art these days.


I agree.

As a techie I can usually discern the technical level of my callers within the first 30-45 seconds of the call. Before they started recording every call when someone called in who had obviously attempted all the troubleshooting steps prior to calling, I would mention that I had to ask these questions to fill in the ticket, so even though I knew they had done it, I'd like them to bear with me for a moment.


Now see that approach would be acceptable to me. At least that way you're acknowledging the fact that the caller isn't a moron and also making sure they didn't miss something simple along the way.
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MasonM
MasonM
Join Date 01/2004
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Reply #16 December 27, 2007 10:41:42 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums



Oh, and Mason, I just ran the AT&T thing by a couple of others. Apparently we are all in the dark about this. No one up here had a clue about the buyout. I guess I should double my previous comment.



You know what? I think my brain cells have totally misfired due to too much turkey the past couple of days

It's actually Cingular that was bought out by AT&T, not Verizon. My bad.

The server/dsl work going on here is part of some consolidation and upgrades they are doing.

I use Cingular services for my work phone and cellular internet while on the road and that's the one I've had problems with during the AT&T upgrades. Just got the two mixed up in my turkey induced stupor.

Still doesn't change the fact that Verizon's tech support sucks moose tits.
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