Usually, my husband is the one who calls our ISP tech support if we're having problems. He does tech support at work, so he knows what he's doing. The problem has never been on our end as long as we've been with this ISP, but we're sticking with them due to lack of options. Plus, their customer service and tech support is fantastic (to make up for their frequent service disruptions, I guess).
So I get up this morning and I can't get onto the internet. I reach for the phone to call my husband at work and then think "Wait. Its always a problem on the ISP's end. I'll just call them and let them know its down again, and I won't have to bother my husband, who has been very busy at work lately."
Good thinking, right? No.
After navigating the automated system, I had the following conversation:
Me: (polite, but sounding confident bordering on smug) My service is down again, and I thought I'd let you guys know and find out when it will be up and running again.
Tech Support Guy (hereafter TSG): Yes, I see you've had problems before. We're not however showing any outages in your area. Have you *incredibly technically advanced mumbo jumbo that I don't understand* to your modem?
Me: Um...what?
TSG: Oh...have you called tech support before?
Me: No, my husband usually takes care of it.
TSG (chuckling): Your husband has asked us to put a note on the account so that whenever he calls in he gets put right through to third tier support.
(I later confirmed this...husband was tired of calling in and being told to reboot his computer by three different people before finally getting transferred to someone above his skill level who could actually help him.)
Me: I think I'm gonna need first tier support. Do you have to transfer me?
TSG: No, I can help you. Let's start from the beginning. Have you rebooted your computer recently?
Me: Um. No.
TSG: Go ahead and do so now, I'll wait.
A few seconds later, everything was up and running just fine, and I felt like an idiot for jumping the gun and calling support. The first thing I was told when I got a computer was to reboot first, call second.
My husband is now a little annoyed with me, because we're pretty sure the next time he calls he's going to have to start back at first tier.
So I get up this morning and I can't get onto the internet. I reach for the phone to call my husband at work and then think "Wait. Its always a problem on the ISP's end. I'll just call them and let them know its down again, and I won't have to bother my husband, who has been very busy at work lately."
Good thinking, right? No.
After navigating the automated system, I had the following conversation:
Me: (polite, but sounding confident bordering on smug) My service is down again, and I thought I'd let you guys know and find out when it will be up and running again.
Tech Support Guy (hereafter TSG): Yes, I see you've had problems before. We're not however showing any outages in your area. Have you *incredibly technically advanced mumbo jumbo that I don't understand* to your modem?
Me: Um...what?
TSG: Oh...have you called tech support before?
Me: No, my husband usually takes care of it.
TSG (chuckling): Your husband has asked us to put a note on the account so that whenever he calls in he gets put right through to third tier support.
(I later confirmed this...husband was tired of calling in and being told to reboot his computer by three different people before finally getting transferred to someone above his skill level who could actually help him.)
Me: I think I'm gonna need first tier support. Do you have to transfer me?
TSG: No, I can help you. Let's start from the beginning. Have you rebooted your computer recently?
Me: Um. No.
TSG: Go ahead and do so now, I'll wait.
A few seconds later, everything was up and running just fine, and I felt like an idiot for jumping the gun and calling support. The first thing I was told when I got a computer was to reboot first, call second.
My husband is now a little annoyed with me, because we're pretty sure the next time he calls he's going to have to start back at first tier.
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