Bad @#%@# WEEK! - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

01/20/2009 07:01:32 AM · #1

Last week sucked big ass.

Just need to rant for a minute or two and get this out of my system...

So, Monday or Tuesday afternoon, I come walking back into my home office and find my laptop (newest/fastest/beefiest/etc. primary computer these days) has panic/restarted and is at the bootloader prompt. That's not normal, but I don't think much of it at the time, and just boot back into linux.

Linux can't start X-Windows. Awww, crap -- that's even more very-much-not-normal. Diags say it doesn't see a video card. CRAP.

Just for kicks, I try to boot into XP native, as well as Vista native, to see what they say. Both crash into the glorious blue-screen of death with "hardware not found" errors.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the humanity.

Now, as an aside -- I was worried this might happen. During some unrelated research, I found several posts in some user forums about the video chipset in my config of HP laptop (I upgraded to the best video option they had), and apparently numerous people have reported hardware failures resulting in replacement of video components. Several people say HP needs to issue a recall, but HP does not acknowledge there is an issue. Well, add my name to the list -- my hardware failed now, too.

I dug into my file cabinet and pulled out my folder with all my original receipts and such. My Laptop is...... 13 months old (from purchase date). The warrantee was, of course, 12 months from purchase date. There was much cursing. I *did* purchase a 3 year "accident protection plan," which was essentially free because of the promotion I used to buy the laptop. I wonder if this counts as an "accident"?

So, I spend pretty-much the entire rest of the day on the phone with the helpdesk. They speak little English. What they do speak, I don't understand. It's a painful process. I think they ask me if I've tried to reboot it about six times. Did I mention it was painful? I finally convince them it's a hardware issue and they agree to let me send it in for repair.

As for who pays for what... When I called in and gave them my serial number, I was told it was no longer under warrantee. When I finally got to someone who could put in the hardware service ticket, I was told it *was* under warrantee. So, not one to argue with free service, I'm letting them process the claim under warrantee (although I don't know if it's actually my "accident plan" they are calling warrantee...) -- whatever they call it, I'm not paying for it.

So, they send me a box, I pack up my laptop (sans hard drives and memory) ;) and send it off FedEx. The trip from AZ to CA is about 300 miles according to Google. Tracking info for my box shows it makes it to CA.... via Tennessee. [ hangs head ] So, I hope it makes it in one piece...

Little did I know at the time, THAT wasn't going to be the worst of my week...

THURSDAY comes along (or was it WEDNESDAY -- the week has been so far in the crapper, I don't remember now) and I'm working my day job and my network connection goes down.

I work from home full time, and use a vpn to connect my employers network. It's not uncommon for one of our vpn concentrators to have "issues"... so I do the usual drill and connect in through another concentrator. No dice. Try another. No connectee. Try the concentrators in the United Kingdom. Nada. Central America? No workee. Hong Kong? Off the grid. CRAP. Restart my cable modem and local gateway/router -- Nilchee connectee. Try connecting to public sites? Ah - My ISP is down.

I call the ISP and spend a while on hold. Get a helpdesk guy and do the usual drill. Have you tried to reboot? Have you tried to unplug? etc etc etc etc etc etc ....
FINALLY...

HE: "Oh, yeah, I see we disconnected your service today."
ME: [ ... long pause ... ] WHY would you do that?
HE: I don't know.
ME: [ ... deep breath ... ] Okay, can we turn it.....back ON.... please?
HE: Sure, hang on.
[ ... lots of typing ... ]
HE: Nope, I can't do it.

You can only imagine how well the conversation went from there.

So, it turns out, after I speak to another tech... and their supervisor... and try to get a handle on what's going on... Mediacom (my ISP) supposedly sent me a letter back in December, indicating that a third party had contacted them and claimed someone with my modem's ip address *might* have been doing *something* to violate DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and I was supposed to reply, or they would turn off my account. Seeing as how I didn't receive a letter, I didn't reply, and guess what? For some completely unexplainable and bizarre "privacy" concern, however, they can't discuss WHAT they've been told I did, nor who told them I did it. ???!!!

Well, it gets better... After another few conversations (some more heated than others) I found out a number of very interesting facts.

Mediacom never mailed the letters (duh). Apparently to anyone. On the same day they cut off my service, they cut off service to over 2,000 (TWO THOUSAND) other customers, resulting in their helpdesk being quickly overwhelmed, with no warning or notification. They scrambled to set up a dedicated "DMCA Disconnects" helpdesk later that night, but couldn't staff it with "normal" personell, and apparently called in repair techs and anyone else they could find to sit on the helpdesk just to give them extra bodies to try and answer the volume of calls.

So, I'll let you tally up how stupid this was. No notification to users nor to their own staff they were cutting off service... Cutting off service to thousands of users at one time (rather than at least staging it over time)... and on and on and on...

Finally, I got one of the folks I spoke with to fax me a form I could sign and fax back to get my service restored. I wrote a good paragraph on the form detailing how poorly this has handled, how I did not admit any guilt for doing anything wrong, how no one has even explained WHAT they think I did wrong, etc, etc, etc... And got a call back from a VERY upset man in New York who spent about 10 minutes on the phone yelling at me for writing all over their form.

If my network connection wan't so critical to my very job and livelyhood, this might have been funny.

I can only imagine how much it sucked for those customers who use their Internet connection for their primary phone (voip), too -- those poor saps were (still are?) without phone through this whole thing.

I'm not sure how many Mediacom customers are still without Internet service, but mine was finally restored and I'm anxiously awaiting an actual letter in writing explaining what someone claims I did (and WHO that someone is).

If there was another game in town, I'd jump ship right now. But, where I live, there is just one option for cable -- Mediacom is it. Live too far out for dsl. Blech.

CRAPPY week.

MikeO

Fujifilm x100

01/20/2009 07:19:48 AM · #2

Yep - that was a bad week !

NikonJeb

Nikon D850

01/20/2009 07:20:06 AM · #3

Dude, I soooooooo feel your pain!

I hate the complete lack of actual service, and interest, in maintaining happy customers.

It's gotten so bad in the past few years that I find myself being happy with mediocrity as long as I can get it at all.

That's not the way it's supposed to be.

ETA: I work at a place where customer service is paramount, and you'd be surprised how nice it is to work there.......peolpe are HAPPY to deal with us!

Go figure!

Message edited by author 2009-01-20 07:21:20.

FireBird

01/20/2009 09:30:01 AM · #4

2000 customers = class action lawsuit.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

01/20/2009 09:31:17 AM · #5

I had assumed, from the thread title, that this was another of Juliet's "weeks"... So, I'm sorry for your hassles (truly I am) but better you than her, she's had to cope with enough :-)

R.

01/20/2009 04:54:40 PM · #6

Originally posted by fir3bird:

2000 customers = class action lawsuit.

Yup, I've already been talking to laywers trying to stir something up.

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

I had assumed, from the thread title, that this was another of Juliet's "weeks"... So, I'm sorry for your hassles (truly I am) but better you than her, she's had to cope with enough :-)

Oh, yeah. Don't get me wrong -- I have things in perspective and I know in the grand scheme of things, this is just an annoying blip that will soon pass and hopefully just be forgotten. It's just frustrating at the moment and it's nice to vent a little.

Message edited by author 2009-01-20 16:57:14.

01/23/2009 10:19:27 PM · #7

Originally posted by cdrice:

So, they send me a box, I pack up my laptop (sans hard drives and memory) ;) and send it off FedEx. The trip from AZ to CA is about 300 miles according to Google. Tracking info for my box shows it makes it to CA.... via Tennessee. [ hangs head ] So, I hope it makes it in one piece...

So, they've had my laptop since Monday. The online "customer order status checker tool thingymahbobber" didn't update until Wednesday, but it finally confirmed they have received it.

I've made more than one phone call to check status, and those calls went horribly, horribly wrong. I won't even post details of those calls; I'd rather just block them from my mind forever. It hurts to think how poor customer service can really get.

So, I get an email this morning that says my repair will be delayed (with no explaination why), and that I can call to get a status update. I check online, and the "estimated delivery date" has not changed (it was, and still is, next Wednesday the 28 -- 9 days from when they received it; and that's a fair date). But, what's this about a delay?

So, I call in.

Get the same group as my previous calls, of course. We go through the drill I've come to know so well. I go through (I-Am-Not-Kidding), seven levels of automated phone menus (mixed between voice and touch tone), then through two different help desks. I finally get "who they say can help me." They spend another few minutes re-verfiying all the details I've already given and typed in on the phone, ask me their security questions, etc... And finally read to me *verbatim* the status from the online customer status checker tool.

I explain I can read that myself; I'm calling because of the email I received which says the repair has been delayed....

"What email is it you are referring to?"
"The email I received this morning... [ reads direct quote from email saying to call for an update on repair status ]
[ long pause ]
"The estimated delivery of the date is the date in which I am telling you. It is the twenth-eight of next week."
"Yes, that what is was before. Now this email says it's being delayed. Can you tell me why it's being delayed, and for how long?"
[ long pause ]
"Who sent you this email?"
[ deep breath ]
"I assume it was an automated system on your side. It definately came from an HP computer, and it has all of my repair information on it; it looks legitimate to me. Are you saying HP didn't send me this email?"
"Ummmm... I think the email was a mistake. You can delete it."
"So, you are SURE there is no delay on my repair? Can you tell me exactly what they've done so far? Have they actually started working on it yet?"
[ I absolutely am NOT making this next part up... He says: ]
"Have you sent the computer in for repair as of yet?"

I just....I can't describe to you the frustration and basic lack of understanding. I just...how....what.....why......what are these people doing? I actually wonder if I'm on some telephonic equivilant of candid camera or something.....

So, you can imagine the converstation doesn't go well. I'll skip ahead a little...

"Okay, I really just want to speak to the technicians who are working on my computer."
"You'll have to call back for that."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Call back and ask the first helpdesk to transfer you to a technician."
"You can't transfer me?"
"No. You must do the calling back and asking for the technician."
"Allllllllllllllllllllllrighty then." [ hangs up ]

[ calls back ]

Same painful phone menus... Finally get to the first helpdesk and explain the situation. They have no idea what I'm talking about. I get a supervisor. THEY have no idea what I'm talking about. They finally just transfer me to the "service status group," which I imagine is the very same group I've already been talking to before.

I explain the situation again. The next guy, again, reads me the status from the web page.

"Yes, I know that. I can read that. Another person already told me that. I'm calling to talk to one of the actual technicians who is working on my computer."
"You cannot talk to them."
"Why not?"
"I cannot transfer you to to the technicians."
"Why not?"
"You cannot talk to them."
[ deep breath ]
"WHY can I not talk to them?"
[ pause ... again, I am not kidding here.... ]
"They have no phones."
[ long pause ]
"Your.... computer technicians..... they... they have no phones?"
"Yes."
"So, how do you talk to them?"
"They put things on the computer and we can read them. When your computer is fixed, that is how we will know they are done. We cannot talk to them before then. When they tell the computer they are fixed, then they are done. Until then, you cannot talk to them because there are no phones."
"I'd like to speak to a supervisor, please."
"No."
[ pause ]
"I'm sorry, what?"
"There are no supervisors here."
"I'd like to speak to whoever you work for."
"They are not here."
"I see. When will they be back?"
"An hour and a half."
"Can I leave a message for them to call me, please?"
"No. We cannot make phone calls. They could not call you. You must call back in an hour and a half."
"I can't leave a message?"
"No."
"Alllllllllllllllllllllllrighty then." [ hangs up ]

So, the question now is -- Do I bother to call back?

[ bangs head on desk ]

PhotoDave

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

01/23/2009 10:25:02 PM · #8

Originally posted by cdrice:

...So, the question now is -- Do I bother to call back?

[ bangs head on desk ]

Um wow, thats just fricken crazy! *hands

cdrice a beer*

Message edited by author 2009-01-23 22:25:55.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

01/23/2009 10:36:40 PM · #9

Your computer's being fixed somewhere in the USA. The helpdesk is in India or some other place HP outsources to. The guy's telling you the truth; they literally DON'T know any more than what they can see on their computer logs, and they have no authority to transfer you out of "help" to where actual work is being done. Think what would happen if they DID do that: the whole system would grind to a halt as techs went berserk trying to deal with irate customers, something which (if you know Geeks) is NOT a good idea. :-)

R.

01/23/2009 10:46:05 PM · #10

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

There's two sides to that, though --

First, these helpdesk guys are just freaking stupid. I mean, seriously. ;) If I call a helpdesk for some form of technical support, even if it's just to get a status on a repair, I expect to speak to someone with at least the communciation skills of a high school graduate.

Second, and more directly to your point -- I know "how it works," because I *am* one of those geeks ;) -- albeit working with midrange business and supercomputers rather than fixing laptops... I just find it very hard to be "the user" after spending my entire career on the "elite/uncontactable" side of the house... I'm so used to being able to interface directly with other L3 and L4 groups with other vendors, it just frustrates me I'm stuck on the front-side helpdesk when they have my baby boy all torn apart on their table... It's like I'm not even allowed in the hospital waiting room while my child is in surgery... Okay, okay, now I'm crossing way over into the melodramatic, but it's just frustrating. :P

And to combine the two points... If they would just SAY they can't transfer me because of the basic "separation of power" within the support structure, I would be perfectly fine with that -- but don't tell me they don't have freaking phones -- that's just insulting my (or anyone's) intelligence.

Message edited by author 2009-01-23 22:48:39.

MelonMusketeer

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

Nikon MF 50mm f/1.4

01/23/2009 10:49:49 PM · #11

That whole story sounds like a sketch from Comedy Central.
They know that very few people have the patience (self included) to wade through all the menus ect, and if they can make it drag out long enough, nearly all of the callers will simply give up at some point.
You need a Mac, dude : )

Spork99

OM System OM-1

01/23/2009 10:56:28 PM · #12

Well, despite your troubles, your week could have been much worse.

The company I work for just laid off 9000 people last Friday.

LadyK

01/23/2009 10:58:48 PM · #13

egads this thread sterssed me out and entertained me at the same time. i really do hope this works out for you. i truely truely hate talking to large companies that have the hopeless non-english speaking people who seem to know nothing about how to help you, even though it appears to be their job to do so

violinist123

Canon EOS-6D

01/23/2009 11:16:38 PM · #14

Don't assume stupidity where complete apathy is as likely to be the cause: link

01/23/2009 11:17:50 PM · #15

Originally posted by Spazmo99:

Well, despite your troubles, your week could have been much worse.

The company I work for just laid off 9000 people last Friday.

Oh, now you gotta go makin' it all heavy.....

I see your 9,000 and raise you 6,000. Place I work has publicly stated it will lay off 15,000 in the upcoming weeks. And that was before some recent "more bad news."

We're already been told to "get our affairs in order..." just in case.

So, my laptop repair might become the least of my worries, but for now I'll stick to bitching about this rather than worrying about the looming darkness rapidly approaching...

LadyK

01/23/2009 11:20:23 PM · #16

Originally posted by violinist123:

Don't assume stupidity where complete apathy is as likely to be the cause: link

lol i love halo

01/23/2009 11:20:28 PM · #17

Originally posted by violinist123:

Don't assume stupidity where complete apathy is as likely to be the cause: link

BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA. One of the best videos ever. This made the rounds with my work crowd several months ago, and we still ask "Did YOU reboot the web server?!" when things go horribly wrong sometimes.

Message edited by author 2009-01-23 23:22:02.

LadyK