Your world, delivered via tech support

So yesterday, I had problems with outgoing mail on my iPod Touch. It stopped sending mail but could easily deliver it. I had tried to "reply all" to an e-mail that had over 150 recipients and I suspected that my outgoing smtp server ended up being blocked and would need to be unlocked. I figured, easy, all they have to do is to flick a switch to reopen a blocked port. At work when our ports get blocked, we call IT and they are open in minutes. So I figured one phone call, an explanation and I'd be back in business in no time. NINE HOURS LATER.....I was still getting nowhere and had probably talked to everyone from Bangladesh to Beijing to Bombay to Bangkok to Bangalore and elsewhere, but I at no time was I able to connect to anyone from the USA. Not that I begrudge people in third world countries a good job at an American firm, but I am sure that AT&T is receiving huge tax breaks for offshoring their jobs like that, and for that, they ought to be ashamed of themselves, especially at a time when our economy is sputtering so badly. I find it amusing that AT&T's corporate motto is "Your World, Delivered". Yup, especially if you talk to their Tech Support Department, which will take you all over Asia and the South Pacific. You won't hear an American accent anywhere. The phone reps all have funny names like "Ray" and "Arthur" and "Melissa" and you hear these coming out of people who I am sure are named things like Ramesh (betcha this is what "Ray" is really named) and Akbar (maybe this is "Arthur's" real name) and "Madeeha" ("Melissa?"). I kind of feel sorry for these kids because they are no doubt making far less than they would if they were working in the US because the cost of living is so much lower where they live.

Today I spoke to an AT&T customer service rep in Mindanao, Phillipines, a very sweet, funny kid who solved my problem in about two minutes that last night I could not get solved in 9 freaking hours! I forget what his name was, but it was definitely something Americanized. Anyway, he urged me to come visit his country and said that a dollar would go a very long way where he lived because of the exchange rate. Great kid, fun talking to him, and about time I got someone who was funny, sweet, nice and fixed something in a few minutes. I wish I could talk to him all the time when I have a tech problem. Kid's got a promising future if he's that good and so fun to talk to! Dear AT&T, be sure to connect me with him and him alone from now on. I like him, he's fast, he knows what to do and how to do it without the runaround I got from all those other poor Asian tech support people who seemed utterly clueless to try to fix my problem. They kept promising me they'd fix it and then keep me on the line FOREVER (I hear that companies do that on purpose by escalating the problem to where you want to reach through the phone line and strangle someone. Don't know why, seem counter to good business practices if you ask me!). But after 9 long hours of having to scream, shout, plead, beg, cajole or whatever, nothing got done, I was exhausted and decided, aw, the hell with it and went to bed. Honestly, AT&T has THE WORST customer service EVER and should be taken to task for it. Were it not for one very sweet kid halfway around the world, I'd still be cursing up a blue streak and spending countless hours on the phone swearing at every single robo-menu I had to push buttons to get to talk to someone through. I DETEST those things. What ever happened to being able to dial the phone and get a REAL person on the other end instead of a robo-menu? Is it any wonder that I have lately developed a very solid hate relationship with the telephone? I am beginning to think that it has begun to be the object of far too much frustration and I am seriously wondering what to do about mine. Last night I was ready to fling it out the window and watch it crumble to pieces in the driveway while shedding no tears for its demise. But alas, restraint won out and it is still sitting there in its cradle, ready to torment me at any time. Now, could I please just talk to a real human being the next time I pick it up and dial?