I woke up this morning with the Internet and Phone out again. I called Bombast (not their real name) and told them the story for the 10th time. They sent a technician out immediately, who was very nice and apologetic that I was still having so many problems. He looked around a while, both inside and outside our house, and then came back in and asked me if we had any lightening lately. I said that we had a couple months ago and asked him why. He then told me that it looked like our cable box had gotten hit by lightening. I just stared at him for a moment, pondering this revelation. Now, I was going to make a comment about how this seemed highly unlikely, that lightening would of struck our house and we would not of been aware of it. However, about 10 minutes before that I had told him that I was pretty sure it was a ghost causing all the problems, so I was pretty sure my credibility was shot at that point. So I played a long with the lightening theory, he got to work outside replacing all these scorched pieces of cable from our cable box (they were scorched from the lightening). After a while he got it working, everyone was happy, and I was seriously starting to wonder if maybe our house really did get struck by lightening and I was just asleep or watching T.V. or something.

Now this morning, when I had told Ian that the Internet was down again, I also told him that I was going to try and get us free HBO for all of our trouble. He laughed and said I totally should. Well, Guess What?! I totally DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AHHH YEAHHHHH!!!! I slyly worked it into the conversation, in that witty half-joking style that I have perfected so perfectly for occasions like this, and they guy totally bought it!! I am enjoying my free HBO as I write this blog!

Now for the not so good news. About a half hour after the guy left, I am sure you can guess what happened. No Internet or Phone Service. I immediately called Bombast (not their real name) and went through the same thing again. Again, the tech support people were very nice and so apologetic and the guy actually admitted that he was not sure they were ever going to be able to fix the problem. I asked him if I was going to have to cancel my service, and he said at this point it was a judgement call. I wanted to tell him, I can’t cancel now, I have free HBO! He suggested I speak to the billing department about getting a credit for all of our lost service and seeing what they could do about the situation until we got the problem fixed (if ever).

I was transferred to the Billing Department and connected to “Arthur”. I explained the situation and he told me that he could fill out a form for me to get a credit and I should hear something in 3-5 days. I told him that was fine, and then asked him what I should do from now on. He told me to keep paying my bill and wait 3-5 days to hear about my credit. At this point I started asking him what I should do if my service goes out again, and he told me that they would not issue me a credit until the issue had been fixed. At this point, I kept trying to explain to him that this was an ongoing situation, and tech support had said they might be able to put a note on my account or something so I could avoid continuing to pay for service I was not receiving. He told me he had submitted the form and DONE HIS JOB.

Uh, okay.

Now, I am a very patient person when I call Customer service. I am always polite, I understand that things are usually not in their control, and I am a firm believer that being nice will get you a lot farther than being mean. I tried to politely explain what it was I was asking, since I figured “Arthur” had not understood. Arthur repeated to me twice, “I did my job”. I then asked him if that meant he was done helping me. Again, he let me know that he had, you guessed it, DONE HIS JOB. I asked if I could speak to someone else who might be able to help me. He said No. I asked to please speak to his supervisor. He told me there were no supervisors. I said I would hold for one. He said there were never going to be any supervisors available, he was it. I then asked him again for his name, and his Operator ID #. He told me all he was giving me was his name. “Arthur”-which I am pretty sure is not the name he told me when he answered my call. I then asked which department I should ask for when I called back to speak to someone above him, and he told me he had no idea. This guy was such a JERK. I was so shocked. At this point I was furious. Now, every time I had spoke to the company before, which had been dozens of times, everyone had always been so friendly and helpful. I was blown away by this guys complete lack of respect.

I abruptly hung up on him and called back and connected to the Disconnection Department. A woman answered the phone and I immediately started telling her what had just happened and how furious I was and how I wanted to disconnect my service immediately. I am not proud of what happened next, but lets just say there was a really really ugly cry involved. I am going to blame this on the pregnancy hormones. I am sure I sounded completely belligerent, I could barely get my words out as I was absolutely fuming and crying. I am pretty sure I freaked the lady out.

She was so understanding and sympathetic. She got me an instant credit on my bill, answered all my other questions, and made me feel all soft and fuzzy inside. She even tried to report “Arthur” to her Supervisor, but of course he made sure to leave no evidence of himself anywhere on my account. AND he never did file any forms, so I guess he didn’t DO HIS JOB after all. I finally calmed down and my internet has been working ever since. And best of all, I still have my free HBO.

And “Arthur” can totally Suck IT!