Connected, Again!!!!

A Verizon story for all:

Once upon a time (Okay, it was a week ago), in a land far away (Oh, all right, it was right here), there lived a pudgy middle-aged woman who went interesting places and did fascinating things in the evenings and on weekends with the man of her dreams (Well, she used to dream of getting married and she did marry him.)

For years, she trudged off to work in a busy law office where she dealt with clients of all types , completed routine paperwork and filed various complaints with the Courts. Then, the day finally came when she had the opportunity to stay at home during the day and do “housewifey” things and start a business that she could do at home. She made wonderful, bright and colorful painted clothing for children, babies and grown-ups, too. Sometimes she painted furniture and other household items. She found various markets for her wares in the online world and life was good. She became a blogger and wrote there daily. She chatted with friends and family on e-mail, Facebook, and various forums. She had a daily routine that began with turning the computer on each morning.

And then…

Her computer became a bit sluggish. Her internet connection became sporadic. It would suddenly cut out mid-word and often lost what she was working on. Sometimes it needed to rest before she could restart the system. Gradually, the situation became worse. Then one day, she was not able to reach the internet at all. She was devastated (and also out of touch with her peeps!)

When her brilliant, much more technically savvy husband came home he tried all he knew to get a connection. He, too, admitted defeat and was forced to seek professional help.

Thus, began their journey into the land of Verizon Tech Support.

It was a very long journey and many obstacles were placed in their way. There were at least 7 phone calls to Technical Support spanning a total of more than 5 hours on hold and in conversation with the representatives that answered. In one phone call, she was forced to state her home phone number 14 separate times!!! Repairs involved two visits by two different technicians who, between them, logged over 4 ½ hours of work on the outside lines - some up to 2 blocks from the home. Service was restarted one day only to stop again 4 hours later. Two days after that, the second repairman was able to get them up and running again.

Life is once again good.

Several questions did stick with them, though.

**Why does one need to state their home phone number multiple times in one phone conversation with one person?

**Why doesn’t the company who installed and maintains your system know what system you are using?

**Why do they repeatedly suggest you go online to resolve the issue quicker when you are on hold for internet connection problems? (If you could get online, you wouldn’t be calling in the first place!)

And the two most puzzling questions were asked in the process of setting up the service appointment -

**They cannot give a precise appointment time but you can choose one of two windows - service between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. or between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., however, someone MUST be present during that window to wait for the repairman. (Who would tie themselves down for 13 hours as opposed to 4 hours? Does anyone actually select that time slot?)

**After emphatically stating that someone must be there while the repairman is present, they ask if there is a security code the technician will need to enter the home. (Who, in their right mind, would simply give out their security code and why when they had to be present anyway? Do people actually do this?)

Assuming my connection lasts longer than 12 hours this time, I plan to get back to the daily routine of blog posting beginning with this post.