lost in space

ahhhh the sometimes beauty and grace of customer service in our techno age. i have been a cricket customer for 3 or 4 years now and have been paying a monthly stipend at the 15th of each month. i have texting and internet (which has never worked) and insurance and unlimited minutes. it has been inexpensive telephone access, but it has never wowed me.

i have made a decision to buy a blackberry and move to verizon. i ordered the phone, a car charger, a case, and had it shipped to my home for my personal use. i have ordered unlimited minutes, texting, and email access, as well as insurance. the phone is a bit complicated for an old codger like me, but i am anxious to learn at least some of its capabilities. the phone arrived yesterday by fed-ex.

i activated the phone per instructions and was led through the process by a live rep. i thought all was well. i explained about porting my old number to the new phone and was explained how to do this by this rep, promptly hung up and called cricket to get the information to start this porting process.

when i called cricket i was transferred to a recording which explained all about porting numbers to cricket, but nothing about porting cricket number out. i called back and the same thing happened. i called back a 3rd time and asked not to be transferred to that recording and was told to call a different number. i called that number and was promptly transferred to the same recording that i had gotten twice before.

i then had to drive to work as this whole process took 1 hour 15 minutes. i tried to call cricket with my cricket phone but it was no longer activated. i tried 6 times, as i just could not believe my ears. then i took my verizon phone in the car and dialed cricket to continue the process and was directed to verizon activation. i was informed by a recording that my phone had not been activated. i then spoke to a rep and went through the activation process. i thanked the rep and redialed cricket to resolve the 1st issue. the activation department at verizon is all i got.

i am frustrated by now, and go through the activation process for the 3rd time. i am assured by an over-eager rep that all is definitely resolved. upon dialing cricket, i get verizon activation one more time. this time a very sweet rep tells me i need to do all the same things, except one more step (which i did the 1st time). i comply and we do a test on the land line at my office- which is a half hour drive from my home. no activation has transpired. i am instructed to go to a verizon store to see someone in person in the morning.

i get off work and stay on hold with cricket for 29 minutes to ask for my service to be reinstated. i get a very perky and hollow sounding rep who thanks me 3 times before she transfers me to the recording i got earlier. i call back and ask to be transferred to a rep with a heavy accent who sternly apologizes about a system upgrade and there is absolutely no access to accounts right now. he clumsily suggests i call back in the morning to try to ask again. i explain that this is a cricket error and i don't believe i should have to call back and ask why cricket can't call me back. he repeats that there is a system upgrade and there is no access to accounts. i replied that i was under the impression that taking a note with information about tasks that needed to be done was still acceptable in the workplace and that this was a cricket mistake and i would cricket to take care of it. he repeated that there was no system access due to an upgrade.

this reminds me that dear bob may dies of congestive heart failure. he played the robot on lost in space. i heard someone talking about the cush job he had. he didn't even speak the dialogue- warning! warning! will robinson...


but thank goodness for bob may, the robot, and lost in space... it took me from frustration to release as i smile about the whole situation. it does make me wonder if this is a friendly planet sometimes.

let's see- here's a stretch for sound choice today- sade with her unforgettable "smooth operator"