DSL Woes and Outsourcing?

We've been having trouble with our DSL for about a month or so in that we would have brief outages that would last for a few minutes or up to an hour or so. I figured we had yet another modem (we're on our 4th one from bellsouth/at&t) dying.

Day 1: Connection was down more than it was up then seemed to stay down but we decided to wait on calling tech support to see if it was working the next morning.

Day 2: Our connection was still down so I called AT&T. WTH? Have they outsourced their tech support too? The guy I spoke with had such a thick accent it was difficult to understand him although unlike others I have talked with, he got it through his head quickly that I had already done everything he wanted me to try to get it working again. The only thing that was determined was that we had no dial tone on our phone either. I did go ahead and order a new modem with wireless so I could eliminate the switch and my old wireless modem I was using as a pass-through.

I have to wonder how people who aren't knowledgeable about computers and what not get anything resolved while on the phone with these foreign tech support people.

Day 3: DSL tech shows up...nice guy but he was just as confused as I was as to why he was dispatched when we didn't even have a dial tone. Needless to say, I had to call AT&T again so they could dispatch a phone repair tech.

The new modem arrived via overnight delivery so I went ahead and hooked it up. DSL was working again that evening...Yeah!

Day 4: Phone tech calls and says he's on his way...calls back about 1/2 hour later to say the problem is definitely on their end and he will get it fixed. Turns out there was a short in our line in the 'box' where all the lines run back here...a box that is hidden behind shrubbery about 20 feet off the road and also protected by cement posts on a road where the speed limit is 15MPH...despite all this...it was plowed into by a drunk driver about a month ago and supposedly, everything was repaired.

Everything is working now BUT...b/c our phone and DSL service was down for so long and b/c the DSL tech actually slowed down the repair, I (we) feel they should give us a credit on our bill. Don't you think that's only fair?

 

Americans live in customer service heaven. I think the only country that does better is Japan. In some cases if you ask for your bill to be lowered, it will be. If you don't ask for it with the expectation of getting it, there is less room for disappointment and more possibility for elation if you do get what you want.

 

hey abby
totally agree. I do not have many good things to say about large companies, but with at&t I have had nothing but good experiences. they have always taken care of any problem we have had promptly and to our satisfaction (and I'll say with a pleasant representative). but this has only been with their land-line and cell phone service here in colorado. I have never been outsourced to a heavily accented support representative for help, but I have only ever called their at&t customer service 800 number. give it a whirl and call them. can't hurt.

 

Ran into a similar problem locally with Time Warner.... told the guy that I would like to speak to someone who spoke English as their primary language, not second.

Fortunately, the guy I was talking to understood and got me someone local to talk to. Still didn't get the problem resolved as it was a Domain vs Workgroup issue in the client machine..... I found it after we disconnected and I started at the very beginning with this computer.... Then I called them back and told them what I found... they have officially added checking workgroup/domain settings now for their tech support..LOL


~C