Coffee always fresh...

Coffee always fresh...

Wednesday 12 March 2014

I've missed two days!  Oh, no!  Yesterday was too nice to be in, so I wasn't.  Today, had lots to do and virtually no Internet, thanks to Ma Bell. When we got home, I cancelled our Bell services.  After 45 years, it took a lot to push me that far, but having dealt with several people who were less that helpful (actually, totally useless), and one who actually knew what she was about, I decided to switch. Over the last three days, I have spent 5 hours or more on the phone with Bell.  Most of the time, I was waiting and listening to the abominable music. Then, when I actually got to speak with a person, that person was in India. Now, they were very polite, solicitous and friendly; however, their accents were so broad, they were very hard to understand. I deal with people in India often in my job. They are not generally in customer service, so not speaking English fluently is not a concern, and I can usually make out what they are saying quite nicely. The call centre for Bell is populated by people whose command of the English language is fluent but so accented as to be virtually incomprehensible. That is certainly acceptable in a non-professional environment; however, people in a call centre dealing with people in Canada need to speak English in such a way they can be readily understood, specially when there is a technical element to the service they provide. I pay through the nose for Bell's services. I should, at the very least, receive intelligible information.

After my second call, I guess my number threw up a red flag because I reached a Canadian call centre. That was this morning, having suffered with dubious internet for 24 hours. The man who answered my call, after the mandatory 25 minute wait time, stated his name and asked me how he could help. I said I was calling about the problem with the DSL (notification of which was presented in a recorded message at the beginning of the call), and he replied flatly there was no problem. When I questioned the recorded message, he told me he hadn't heard it and knew nothing about it.  Batting a thousand here. I persisted, and he said we could try to unplug the modem and turn it back on. That should fix it. (Is this sounding nauseatingly familiar?) When I stated I was in the middle of some work, he bluntly asked, "Well, do you want to get your internet fixed, or not?" At that point, I said thank you and hung up. Unplugging the modem did not help, of course. So, I called back. This time, I got a helpful person who announced she was a level 3 tech, and she could solve all the problems. In all fairness, she did help somewhat, but the problem has persisted, so Bell is history in this house. When I think of the hundreds of hours and the thousands of dollars I have handed over for poor service over the years, I truly question my consumer sanity.

Because we couldn't work, we went out. Ronald took Jackson to get his hair trimmed, we got the dog her shots and took Jackson home.  We then went to the Home Desperate and bought a kitchen cabinet on sale (last day!). We have partially assembled it, and it will be great. I guess when they did the kitchen, they left space for an eating area, but we do the dining room or on our laps, so don't need the space in the kitchen.  We do have lots of "stuff," though, so the extra cabinet will be wonderful.

Erica and her family went to Niagara for a few days but came home early to beat the storm. Good thing, too.  They have 20cm of snow in the city! (for the metric challenged, that is 8 inches). Erica and Mac shoveled the snow from their stairs and walk and then did their neighbour, Jean's.  Jean is a 90 year old lady who has lived in the same house since she was born! Wow.  Matt was driving in it this morning and thought he might stay in the city tonight, but I think they got more there than in Newmarket, so he may come home.  I hope so.

I found out this morning our catering website is gone, so now I will have to create something new.  Never a really dull moment. We found out from a customer who used our services last year but persisted by sending an e mail. Thank goodness! She wants our food again in June.

Well, enough for today. It is really cold tonight. Windchill is -27C (-24F), and every time we let the dog out, the cold invades our toasty space. Spring is coming, right?  Tell me it is, please!

1 comment:

  1. If you hadnt had back luck with Mr. Bell, you would have had no luck at all! Sorry, I hate it when I get a useless person at any company or someone in Iran who cant speak English and I never understand them. Hope all is set now and you also have the website back up and running. Nothing new and exciting here.

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