Another hour plus I'll never get back...

I spent 43:20 on the phone this morning with Comcast. For the second time during the past four days, the customer service rep I spoke to "suggested" that my problem with connectivity will go away today if I drop EarthLink and become a Comcast customer (for an additional $10 per month).

So I go online with EarthLink (their computerized phone system is bulletproof, as I suspect there really is no way a human can use it, from the EarthLink side). Here's a transcript of my session (rep's name changed and security password exchange deleted):

'Mila J' says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I help you today?

alexpgp@earthlink.net: I would like the email address, or mail address, or physical address of an Earthlink office where I may discuss a complaint. I live in the Houston area.

alexpgp@earthlink.net: The complaint concerns Comcast.

alexpgp@earthlink.net: I believe they are deliberately not fixing my connectivity problem to force me to drop you guys and buy connectivity from them.

Mila J: I will certainly assist you with your query.

Mila J: I would like to convey to you my sincere apologies for any inconvenience you may have experienced with respect to the service we have provided to you regarding your issue.

alexpgp@earthlink.net: Thank you, Mila, but my problem is that you are *not* providing me with service, and frankly, your scripted replies are not of much help.

Mila J: I see that you have subscribed cable through EarthLink.

alexpgp@earthlink.net: Yes.

Mila J: I understand your concern.

alexpgp@earthlink.net: Touching, but it does not solve my problem. Please provide me with the email address, or mail address, or physical address of an Earthlink office where I may discuss my complaint.

alexpgp@earthlink.net: Can you do that?

Mila J: I suggest you to contact your cable company or Cable installation at - 1888-847-4708 (Monday - Friday 7am - 12am; Saturday & Sunday 8am -10pm) .

alexpgp@earthlink.net: I have done so, five times.

alexpgp@earthlink.net: FIVE TIMES

Mila J: Your Internet Service is being provided to you by your Cable Company whereas the email service is provided to you through EarthLink for free and we do not charge you anything for the email services.

alexpgp@earthlink.net: Are you a real person?

Mila J: Yes, why do you ask?

alexpgp@earthlink.net: Because I'm asking for the address of your company so that I may discuss possible predatory practices by Comcast and you're referring me to them?

Mila J: Once you order for the service it takes 5-10 business days for the installation process to be completed and get the service

alexpgp@earthlink.net: I have *been* a customer for two months (I'm sure my customer record must indicate that). I used to have connectivity. I do not have connectivity now.

Mila J: You can write to yourfeedback at EarthLink.net.

alexpgp@earthlink.net: Thank you.

Mila J: Thank you for using EarthLink LiveChat. For further assistance, please feel free to contact us again.

Not. Bloody. Likely.

Cheers...

P.S. The email message I sent to yourfeedback@earthlink.net bounced.

A new point of view...

Client reprioritized tasks last night.

I wonder why it is that, upon seeing a PowerPoint presentation with 85 slides, I now think of it as "short"?

Cheers...

A surprising critic...

From Robert Reich's blog:

While health care reform, if done right, can help American families stay afloat in the economy, the current bills won't offer most Americans any appreciable decline in the cost of their health insurance nor clear improvement in the efficiency or quality of the health care they receive, and those who will benefit won't see the benefits until 2014 at the earliest. All this is partly a result of Obama's sharpest break from Clinton -- whose ambitious health care plan drew immediate fire from Big Pharma, the American Medical Association, and health insurers: The Obama White House bought off the medical-industrial complex by promising it fatter profits, bolstered by tens of millions of new paying customers.

That and other deals cut with industry -- including promises to Big Pharma that Medicare wouldn't use its bargaining clout to reduce drug prices, to the AMA that doctors wouldn't have to face larger cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates, and to private insurers that the White House wouldn't fight hard for a public insurance option -- are likely to make the resulting reform far more costly than it would be otherwise. These extra costs will be borne by those Americans who will be required to buy insurance but won't qualify for federal assistance, along with Medicare beneficiaries who will be paying more and receiving less.

It's one thing to hear Republicans criticizing the "reform" shaping up in Congress, quite another to hear it from someone not exactly known for Republican leanings.

Cheers...