Tech Support
“Hi. I am wondering if you could help me. I recently ordered Total Internet from Bell. I received the modem yesterday. I hooked up the modem and I was not able to connect to the Internet. The DSL light on the modem kept flashing. I called tech support and they told me that the DSL service was not activated even though the welcome letter said that the service was activated on September 8. They told me to wait a few days and try again. I did and it didn’t work. Is the line active?”
“Let me check for you. Yes. It is active.”
“Okay. So why am I not able to connect to the Internet?”
“I don’t know.”
Must remember that Bell Canada is not necessarily the most helpful organization in the world.
“Could you help me find out?”
“Let me connect you to tech support.”
Sigh. Tech support. Polite people from India. They always ask me how my day is going. And from there I have a hard time understanding them.
“Hello, this is Sharma. Is this Mr. Richard Cleaver?”
“Yes it is.”
“Hello. May I call you Richard?”
I thought long and hard about whether I should allow this level of familiarity with a tech support person in India. And, in the end…
“Sure.”
“Richard, how is your day going so far?”
“My day is going just fine.” And from here I basically repeat what I told the folks at Bell in the country of Canada.
“Well Richard, tsad lkf otu skj fsdu pfoikd otut ejfllg dhsj thi ofout oofje. Okay?”
“Uh. Could you repeat that please?”
“tsad lkf otu skj fsdu pfoikd otut ejfllg dhsj thi ofout oofje.”
This was not going to be easy.
I will spare you the details of the rest of the discussion. Suffice it to say that I went from Sharma to a senior technical support person. Also in India. Went by the name of Kali. And she also asked me how my day was going. And from there, I really couldn’t understand what she said.
However, they both seemed puzzled that my DSL modem would not connect. Recycle the modem. Connect the modem to another telephone jack. Check cables. Repeat.
After an hour or so of this fun, I was finally transferred to Paul. A Canadian tech support person. From Montreal.
“Let me check the line Richard. Please hang up and stay off the phone. I will call you in about 10 minutes.”
3 minutes pass.
“Hello Richard?”
“That is me.”
“The line was busy. Were you on the phone?”
Paul, the Canadian tech support person, did not ask me how my day was going.
“No.”
“Okay. We’ll need to send a tech support person to your home. How is Thursday morning between 8am and noon?”
That time was fine with me. But would it be Paul or Kali or Sharma? Or someone else?
Will they ask me how my day is going?
Will I finally get high-speed Internet access?
Stay tuned.
Yes…
Only this past weekend I spent some time with the good people at Bell Internet tech support.
I too faced the “How is your day going” question. I felt that honesty compelled me to admit that it was not going very well after waiting 1 hour 10 minutes to speak with someone on the phone.
The conversation went downhill quickly after that.
All I wanted was some information on exactly which internet package I was paying for (they appear to have all changed over the last while, so I had lost track of what I was paying $36 bucks a month for).
After a 10 minute conversation, I was still not sure exactly what Bell calls the package I’m on. I have however been made quite aware that it would be in my best interest to pay another $10 per month to upgrade to the next level.
Apparently I am in great danger of exceeding my monthly limits.
Must go! I don’t want to exceed my limits.
All Hail the Great Bell!
*snicker*
Hopefully they’re able to figure it out.
…unfortunately, some things never change. I have been where you are now, Richard, and no, it is not fun. I left Bell entirely about 4 years ago. Rogers is only marginally better but I do find that most of them speak at least a little English.
Good luck in getting it sorted out.
R
At my office people spend countless hours on the phone with a various number of utility providers. They are ALL terrible, you can’t win. I had this EXACT same problem with Bell last June when I switched our internet provider. Eventually they fixed the problem, but I’m not sure how, they never said. It was just broken one day, and fixed a few days later over night with explaination. Like I said, you can’t win.