Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Well my phone is fixed now . . .

And I'm not sure but I think I was just propositioned by the repair man.

A week ago Wednesday a daycare parent exclaimed that she'd been trying to get a hold of me by phone for the last couple of days. My usual response and my response to her now was that I didn't see the light blinking on my answering machine. She said my answering machine was not picking up. The phone just rang and rang.

I picked up my phone. No dial tone. Hmm.

Thursday my Avon lady showed up at my door with my order. She usually calls before trekking up my steps but here she was. Then it hit me, phone not working. She said there was an article in the paper about some SW phone outages. I wrote her a check and sent her off. After checking out my Avon loot I sat at the computer.

My DecaturDaily.com subscription ran out a few months ago so I was forced to renew if I wanted to read what happened to my phone. I did and she was right. An AT&T contractor had accidentally cut something big and bad Monday afternoon around 1:30. Days ago. I should have missed all the phone solicitors that didn't call all week. The paper said the fix may take as long as three days. By now it had already been three days.

Friday morning friend T called to ask if I had ditched my home phone. I threaten to cut AT&T out of my life completely at least once a week, it seems one service or another is always screwed up. She thought I had finally had enough and cut ties. But no, I explained the mess up and told her my phone would be back soon. She said, "No, someone else is answering my number."

I hung up and immediately called my number. Sure enough, somebody answered my home number , "Bueno?" Followed by, "No hablo Ingles. You wrong number."

I hung up and called hubby. "When you call home and dude answers, "Bueno?" it's not my new Latino Lover.

I have to wonder just how many of my phone calls this guy got. Apparently this started as early as Thursday morning. My friends and clients must have been keeping his phone ringing off the wall. Wonder if he even knew about the phone mishap? Maybe he just thought we were screw balls.

Next I called AT&T. I had to talk to the recording again answering it's questions concisely in as few words as possible. I forgot the technique I learned a few years back (have baby screaming in the background so computer can't make out my answers and I get a human almost at once - see earlier post PLEASE, just say yes or no!). Because I had proclaimed an interruption in service, I was directed to billing and was placed on hold for the next 25 minutes before being informed that my bill was current. I knew that. I explained the cutting of the line and that currently someone else was receiving my phone calls and she redirected me to repairs. After telling my phone number to the computer three times I was fed a recording that told me basically what the newspaper did and that I should have my phone service by Monday evening.

Monday night, no phone.

Tuesday morning, no phone.

Tuesday night, no phone.

Wednesday morning, no patience.

I called AT&T (now on my speed dial) and this time I told the computer repairs, repairs, repairs. I got repairs. I was informed by the nice lady that my phone was now working, that the issue had been resolved last Friday night.

"Wrong," I said, "I just called Pedro last night to check to see if I had any important messages. He's still getting my calls." And his "Ingles" is improving.

AT&T lady, "Who's Pedro?"

"Someone else is still getting my calls!"

"No, that issue was resolved last Friday according to the work order. You must have something else wrong with your phone."

Well that's not right likely but I let her place a new work order on my line and I asked her to rush that because I really needed the use of my line. My daycare license requires a land line or I would have ditched them years ago.

"Ok, your repair is scheduled to take place before Friday evening, " the voice said. I hung up. It was 7:50am.

At 9:50am my phone rang. I happened to be sitting at the computer adjusting my lunch menu and the sound about threw me out of the chair.

Startled, I answered it, "Good morning?"

"Is this Ms. Carol?"

"Yes?" Often called Ms. Carol but mostly by voices I recognized.

"Hi honey, this is AT&T. I've just repaired your line. There were still a couple of lines that were switched - blah, blah, blah. I just saw your ticket up and it wasn't due for work until day after tomorrow but I said I want that one. I'm going to get her today. I'm sorry for the inconvenience sweetie. Anything else I can do for you today, hun?

Well, my boyfriend canceled for this afternoon so I have a ten minute spot before I pick up my . . . "No, that'll be all. Thank you," and I hung up.

DId he know me? Do I know any AT&T techs? I don't think so. He sounded a lot like the tech who fixed my phone and my DSL last spring. He was full of "hun" and "sweetie" too.

Then it occurred to me. The outlet in my bedroom wasn't working. I bet he had just the tools to fix that. And if he didn't, I have a nightstand drawer full of 'em.

1 comment:

Blasé said...

Well good for YOU!