Something happened just a few days ago which made me angry. Looking back on it now – it was stupid to get angry but at the time it was just how I felt. I had been experiencing a problem with my internet service, it had become intermittent over the last couple of days and then when I woke up that morning it was just dead – no signal at all – nothing.
At first I thought it might just be another internet outage and that it would come back on in a few minutes, but eventually I decided that I would call the customer support hotline and find out what the problem was.
So, as is common nowadays, the internet service provider has one of these irritating automated menus which you have to listen to before selecting the option you want by entering the correct digit. I listened to the first menu and selected the option which was most relevant, which then presented me with another menu and I selected another option, and then had to wait – and wait – and wait.
I actually began to time it – and after 5 minutes I just hung up after listening to the most terrible music I’ve ever heard. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I decided that I would go and do something and then try calling a little later.
About half an hour later I grabbed my cell phone and tried calling the number again. This time I got a message which explained that they were experiencing a ‘surge in calls’ at the moment and that if I wanted to leave my number they would call me back.
At first I thought this was a much better option – not having to wait and they would call me. So according to the instructions all I had to do was press 1 at any time and then enter my contact number.
That was it – no further instructions – so I entered my phone number and I couldn’t believe what I heard. The message informed me that I had entered an incorrect menu option!
By this time I was losing my patience, and just wanted to speak to a customer service representative, so I tried calling again and had to go through the entire menu procedure yet again.
When it came to the part about leaving my contact number I listened extremely carefully to see if maybe I’d missed something the first time around…but I followed the instructions to the letter and it happened again.
After entering my contact number, the message told me again that I had entered an incorrect menu option. This had to be one of the most stupid and annoying messages I’ve ever heard.
It wasn’t a menu option I had entered – it was a phone number, and second, the number was correct, and third, this was an internet company which couldn’t even make sure its customer service menu options functioned correctly.
I eventually hung up again, not having spoken to anyone, and felt completely frustrated and angry with the whole process – it shouldn’t be that difficult to report a fault and get some help.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I eventually managed to speak to someone after calling another couple of times – and they sent a technician out to fix the problem, which he did, but even that wasn’t as smooth as it should’ve been – I had to call back again later before the internet signal was fully functioning.
The whole experience just made me feel completely irate because it should have been so simple and quick – and it wasn’t.
0 Comments