Call center (#344, Topic D)

One reason we went to the beach over the weekend was to set up a DSL connection. Apparently, the demand for DSL service was extremely high, as we had to wait for 5 weeks; our appointment to get connected was set for 2/23. As it turned out, we were invited for dinner on Thursday, 2/22; repeated calls to Verizon, asking whether our account could be serviced in the afternoon of 2/23, were merely answered by a recorded message; we did not receive acknowledgment of any kind. As the dinner invitation was for an important occasion, we took a chance by attending it and then left for the beach early Friday morning. Luckily, Verizon's service technican came around 12:30, so our chance-taking paid off. (Hey, maybe the Year of the Golden Pig is good for us.) We also booked Verizon to do the internal connection, knowing that we would be unable to do it ourselves (the DSL service in our apartment was done by a consultant, and he had a hard time connecting). And a good thing that we did. Doing the connecting was indeed difficult, as the Verizon technician had to call his technical support staff for guidance. What I overheard was indeed a revelation. Though I did not know to whom he was talking, I suspected that that person was in a call center perhaps on the other side of the globe. Apparently, the question our technican had was somewhat advanced, above the level of that support staffer's capabilities. Our man repeatedly said to the other party: "I told you I already had that," "You are repeating yourself," "You don't know what you are talking about." After a while, our man demanded that he talk to another support staffer or to a supervisor, on the ground that "I cannot understand you." At first, this demand was resisted, but was later honored. There was a clear change of our man's attitude, saying to his new contact (who appeared to be a woman) "I am glad you said that," "Thank you for telling me that," "You made my day," etc. So, after I was able to sign on, our man said that he had a hard time understanding the first staffer's enunciation -- blurred and fast -- further strengthening my suspicion that that staffer was with a call center on the other side of the globe. I asked our man to confirm my suspicion, he merely shrugged. I mentioned to him that at least he was able to talk to two live persons; all I was able to connect was with recorded messages of one type or another -- a 24-hour technical support line was a mere recorded message; a forwarding telephone number was answered by a message I consider inexcusable: "This number cannot be reached from your area." Any way, I was happy that I was able to get DSL connection without too much inconvenience.