W3WN
03-06-2010, 10:10 PM
I now really, really, really Earthlink Tech "Support." And I'm not even a customer.
K3AIR brought his laptop back over early this afternoon. He'd lost his Windows configuration a few weeks back, I got Win XP reinstalled on the machine; he just needed some help finding files (the reinstall recreated the default user, and he picked a different name, which means a different folder structure under Documents & Settings)
Mike uses Earthlink Total Access for his email. Mainly because they bought out his original ISP years ago. He was thinking of switching; now he's sure he will.
The problem? I could find, but we couldn't read, his email file.
The solution? After 6 hours fighting with 3 different schmucks at Tech Support, including letting them remotely connect to the computer, and arguing with them about menu options that weren't there but had to be...
They gave him the wrong link, originally, to reinstall the software. He was running a 2004 version instead of the 2009 version. Which explains why the menu options weren't the same.
The best part? They kept trying to make it sound like this was Mike's fault. Especially when they reverted to reading from the script... which, based on their responses, told me that if you didn't give them the answer they were anticipating, they just ignored you and assumed you did.
...no, I doubt that English was their primary language. Not when "James B" connected under the name Bishcueswar, and "Patrick P" connected as Prakash. (I didn't get the first guy's name, but he was a different Patrick. Of course he was)
They also refused to escalate the support call to the next tier (if there was one), insisting that they had to try "one more thing." Right.
James B was a real winner... turns out he was the one who supplied the wrong link, then insisted that he had to be right. Even after I point-blank asked him if the 2004 version was the correct one. Patrick wasn't far behind, since he kept snooping in the "My Pictures" folder... wonder what he was looking for, because there was no email there... of course, he'd ask me where the folders containing the files were, and then ignored me.
Once we got the right software, and uninstalled the old one (which forced a reboot, which disconnected support, which implied another round through the "live support" queue if it got that far), everything installed correctly, and Mike has all of his email back.
And he's dumping Earthlink as soon as he can get his local phone company to install their phone/internet/TV package.
So much for my contest afternoon... well, there's always tomorrow... after I fix the garage door opener's chain... what a weekend...
K3AIR brought his laptop back over early this afternoon. He'd lost his Windows configuration a few weeks back, I got Win XP reinstalled on the machine; he just needed some help finding files (the reinstall recreated the default user, and he picked a different name, which means a different folder structure under Documents & Settings)
Mike uses Earthlink Total Access for his email. Mainly because they bought out his original ISP years ago. He was thinking of switching; now he's sure he will.
The problem? I could find, but we couldn't read, his email file.
The solution? After 6 hours fighting with 3 different schmucks at Tech Support, including letting them remotely connect to the computer, and arguing with them about menu options that weren't there but had to be...
They gave him the wrong link, originally, to reinstall the software. He was running a 2004 version instead of the 2009 version. Which explains why the menu options weren't the same.
The best part? They kept trying to make it sound like this was Mike's fault. Especially when they reverted to reading from the script... which, based on their responses, told me that if you didn't give them the answer they were anticipating, they just ignored you and assumed you did.
...no, I doubt that English was their primary language. Not when "James B" connected under the name Bishcueswar, and "Patrick P" connected as Prakash. (I didn't get the first guy's name, but he was a different Patrick. Of course he was)
They also refused to escalate the support call to the next tier (if there was one), insisting that they had to try "one more thing." Right.
James B was a real winner... turns out he was the one who supplied the wrong link, then insisted that he had to be right. Even after I point-blank asked him if the 2004 version was the correct one. Patrick wasn't far behind, since he kept snooping in the "My Pictures" folder... wonder what he was looking for, because there was no email there... of course, he'd ask me where the folders containing the files were, and then ignored me.
Once we got the right software, and uninstalled the old one (which forced a reboot, which disconnected support, which implied another round through the "live support" queue if it got that far), everything installed correctly, and Mike has all of his email back.
And he's dumping Earthlink as soon as he can get his local phone company to install their phone/internet/TV package.
So much for my contest afternoon... well, there's always tomorrow... after I fix the garage door opener's chain... what a weekend...