On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 1:04 PM, Perry E. Metzger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I spent almost 10 hours on the phone with AT&T customer service > representatives who insisted to me they were in Atlanta or where have > you even though one could clearly tell that their accent coaching was, > shall we say, less than ideal. I was told in various different ways > that their training didn't cover this, that they didn't know how to > help me, that clearly the situation could not exist, etc. > > Finally I fixed the problem by talking to the New York State Public > Service Commission, who got me the secret number that put me in touch > with actual AT&T employees capable of figuring out what to do. The > process had wasted my free time for almost two weeks.
This reminds of an episode of This American Life (a popular radio (and these days TV) show in the US) that I heard a while ago: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=253 "Act Two. On Hold, No One Can Hear You Scream. This American Life senior producer Julie Snyder found herself in a ten-month battle with her phone company, MCI Worldcom, which had overcharged her $946.36. She spent hours on hold in a bureaucratic nowhere. No one seemed able to fix her problem, and there was no way she could make the company pay her back for all her lost time and aggravation. Finally, she enlists the aid of the national media—specifically, This American Life host Ira Glass. " Act One of this episode on the economic collapse of the island of Nauru is also well worth a listen. Thaths -- "Silly Indians. Our God made their God" -- Homer J. Simpson
