Frustrating Day!!!

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:01 am

I think I want to go back and start today over. I woke up to bright sunshine and Chance wanting to be let outside. dr got up and let Chance out. I dragged myself to the bathroom and then got dressed. I came and turned on the computer. I never turn it on, dr does it after he lets Chance out. I usually just pull the covers over my head until I'm fully awake or Chance comes back to whine at the side of the bed. I went to the kitchen and make Zucchini raisin muffins for breakfast and a pot of Russian Caravan tea. When I got the muffins in the oven I came in and clicked on the internet symbol and started the connection for the dial up. It started to dial and then disconnected and said the line was busy. So, I went back to the kitchen. After getting the muffins and tea ready I came back and tried again. Same thing. Well, after about a dozen tries and restarting the computer and checking out all of the computer lines I called the internet server support line. I used my cell phone because you can't use the regular phone and the internet at the same time with dial up. Anyway, after an hour and twenty minutes with the tech support guy, I hung up on further along than when I started. He was in India and half the time I couldn't understand him and the other half he couldn't understand me. He said in an hour his supervisor would call. So, I waited for someone to call. My cell phone battery was beeping the last twenty minutes of the call so I plugged it in to recharge and discovered my cell phone must not recognize 1-800 numbers because the minutes were deducted from my cell phone. So, we made a trip to town and bought more cell phone minutes for the card. I could have done it on the phone but I was frustrated and shall I say a little miffed and wasn't thinking clearly. Anyway, no supervisor called so when we got back, I called the support number again. I got another guy and he ran through the same routine the first guy did but his English was a bit better. He finally after 30 minutes said it wasn't the server. It must be my modem and I should call the computer company and tell them to restart it. I hung up. I didn't even remember to tell him good bye!!
I don't know about modems except you need one to get on the internet. I called my trusty computer person, namely number two son. He took me to the control panel, to systems, to Hardware and we uninstalled the modem. Then, we backed out of everything and restarted the computer. There was the modem back and when I clicked on the internet symbol and started the connection everything worked just fine. Number two son said this is the first thing those computer tech persons should have done. He said if I had called the company they would have done the same thing he did and charged me an exorbitant price. So, at 4:40 pm, after wasting a whole day with people who didn't know what they were doing or trying to figure out what to do next I am finally back on the internet. Next time I will call number two son first and see what he recommends. If he recommends I call the tech support people I will bash his head with something hard. I do need to call around here to people I now know and find someone here who knows computers and can give me reliable advice. If I know what is wrong and they can talk me through it, okay. But, I need to know where to take if if they can't do that. Number two son lives halfway across the country and number three son who talked me through some other stuff lives way up north. Tomorrow I will make some calls and see what I can find or where I can take it if I need more expert advice.
I'm not a complete computer dunce and if I do something once, I can do it again. I have a book of notes on how to do things that the boys have talked me through. But, mostly I can only do surface things and I'm afraid to try to do anything that might fry everything.
Now, I think I feel better. I can take a deep breath and breathe free again. dr can walk into the room without a frustrated computer user "hollering" about that "d" computer not doing what it's supposed to do. He knows even less and left to his own devices would have thrown it out on the trash pile.
He was nice enough to buy me lunch and a new phone card so I made him supper. I also helped him order a didgeridoo from an online store. I can wait for Chance to hear him try to play it. I'll get out my earplugs now.

dooley

Last edited: Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:42 am

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Droopy wrote on Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:12 am:

I'm so glad your day ended on a good note, Dooley. Except for that didgeridoo-thing. Are you certain you won't need big ear muffs with a built-in radio to get you through the initial learning period? *lol*

Sjoerd wrote on Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:51 am:

What a story,I'll bet that we have all had similar experiences at one time or another.
I'll tell you that I am extremely against businesses farming-out "help services". I prefer a company that takes the responsibility on of helping it's customers itself rather than getting third party folks to do it. They actually know little about helping and simply have a list to go down of things to try...but what a person in need of assistance needs on the other end of the fone is someone with an in-depth knowledge...someone who works from their brain, not a list.
I have to say that this "third-party assistance line" thing is not confined to computer-related help alone, many other sorts of businesses use this method. It all gets down to money. It is cheaper to have someone on the other side of the world with a list provide "help". And of course the the company can hide from responsibility this way.
I have often wondered what the customer threshold is with this type of would-be assistance.Grrrr!

jladams4 wrote on Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:26 pm:

Dooley
The next time you have to phone a computer tech other than #1 or #2 son and you get a foriegn speaking tech, tell them to transfer you to a American tech. Thet are required to transfer your call.

glendann wrote on Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:26 pm:

I'm glad your day finally ended well.I call steve Boyd and if he has time he will help me.

Kay wrote on Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:20 pm:

Enjoyed your story! We are kind of clueless on the computer , so I can relate. We were not taught anything on computers like kids are now! Sometimes I have a computer question and I don't even know what words to use to ask it!