Is there Hope?

At my bro's house now. Home connection is down again.  It's been happening on and off..about once in 2-3 weeks.  I've gotten tired of complaining.  The last few times when it happened, I was still able to log on by 'riding on' some unsecured connection in the neighbourhood :)  but couldn't detect it today :(

I've also been a pro at calling the call centre to report about the problem.  I think they are also quite ashamed when I asked them to look back into my long list of previous reports.

I've gotten very tired of repeating the same story over and over again..hecne, I'd always start by referring to the previous report(s) and tell them very sternly that "IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN FOR THE Nth TIME"

A smart agent will quickly skip the normal procedures and create another report to send a technician to the the necessary.  A not so smart agent will insist on asking the standard questions that they were trained to ask..some even insisted that I go through the standard trouble shooting procedures again...and this will normally blow my top.

Anyway, I've given up asking why ..all I want is the connection to be back up again....soonest possible.  But today's agent was quite diligent ...gave me some hope when he noticed immediately that my problem had been recurring for so long and said that "he will refer my case to the second level"

Received a call from the 'second level' a few hours later ..it went something like this:


'second level' : helo..I'm xx calling from xxx.  May I speak to..xxx
Me : Yes..speaking
 'second level' : this is regarding your faulty internet connection....are you able to connect now?
Me : No..


'second level' : ok.....(she tried to say something...which I couldn't quite understand.)

By this point, I knew the conversion is heading no where..but I decided to try my luck)

ME : Ok..but do you have any idea WHY this is happening so often? Can you refer to previous reports to understand more?

'second level' : oh..ok..I can see your previous reports...the last time was due to a cable fault..

ME : Yes..but why so often..at least two times in a month..

'second level' : ermm...why so often..ermm..ok..I will refer to your case for the technician ..

ME : how long will this tak..?

(I know the standard answer..just testing her)

'second level' : we will need around 48 to 72 hours..


I hung up.

Second level my foot. The quality of response I get from 'second level' is not different from the normal '1st level agents' that I normally speak to.  In fact the one that I attended to me earlier in the day was far more responsive.  At the very least he showed some understanding and empathy.  That's all we need...we don't expect miracles..or immediate solution...show some empathy,..instead of giving us robotic standard questions and procedures.