Tuesday, November 5, 2019

That Human Touch

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

After two weeks of banging my head against a wall and dialing 800 numbers that were designed to keep customers away from service representatives, I have finally regained internet access - at least for the time being.

Two weeks ago when I finally reached a human being at CenturyLink, I was told that I had an antique router and would need to buy a new one.  It was an expedient answer.  Neighbors - and others - warned me that if I bought a new $100 router from CenturyLink and it failed to work, the next step would be a corporate accusation that the wiring in my house was faulty.  It is apparently an old routine that the company uses to forestall having to send technicians to a home and fix the problem.

But now, two weeks later, I am still using the same antique router (modem), and I am back on line.  Funny how things work out, isn't it?

Yesterday a CenturyLink customer service rep in Southeast Asia transferred my call to a customer service rep in Louisiana who suddenly made a decision to schedule a technician to come to my home and try to resolve my issues.  This morning as the fellow was driving over, he happened to notice a piece of damaged CenturyLink equipment along the roadway - more than a mile from my house - and pulled over and fixed it.  That put me back on line.

The technician came on to my house to make sure that I was back on line.  I told him about all of the research that I have done regarding internet access and speeds over the past few weeks and made it clear that I was now fully aware of all of my options.  We discussed the CenturyLink high-speed connection which I can see from my back door.  He told me that I was at the end of an old line, and that connection was the beginning of a new line, and that CenturyLink never backed up to take in more customers with new service - but he would call his boss and advocate for me.

A few minutes later he told me that I would be getting connected to the new line and would have a significant upgrade in service.

And all it took to calm poor Pa Rock down was a bit of personal service.

What a concept!

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