Spoiler alert: Has RantWoman been listened to by a certain enormous telecom company????
Suppose the answer is YES and RantWoman's tale from last time she attempted to interact with a home internet promotion from enormous telecom company had an impact!
After an experiment in live interaction and upselling, RantWoman decided to try home internet. Perhaps this is still a silly idea. Over the past couple months, RantWoman has received multiple text messages assuring RantWoman that the network is being upgraded in RantWoman's neighborhood. However, if there were 5G service in RantWoman's neighborhood, both her old phone and her new phone should have been able to find it. Um, no. In fact, that simple test migh be more valuable than some zip code search. But there IS a promotion....
Wait. RantWoman is getting ahead of herself.
RantWoman has been thinking of upgrading her phone for a while.
Should RantWoman change brands of phone? Silly RantWoman last year about this time passed up an opportunity for free to crash test a phone for a whole year. Why? Aside from all the steps required every time RantWoman changes phones, RantWoman was relying on her phone a lot in connection with medical care. RantWoman decided that the privacy intrusion of a few more prying eyes, even if engineers interested only in technical info, not in RantWoman's personal business was just too much.
RantWoman could change telecom companies.
Well, yeah. But there is something about the devil you know....
Next, we come to promotions, promotions, promotions. Truthfully, RantWoman finds unraveling promotional info in the company's app or in email just bewildering. So off RantWoman trooped to a friendly, reasonably bus accessible store to just try the "Ask a human" algorithm..
First step: trade in the old phone. Wondrous improvements compared to previous experience: First, transfer data from old phone to new in store. Even better, now one can take the old phone home for a couple days while setting up the new phone. SO helpful because RantWoman did need to compare one set of settings about font and screen size. More on that after further tech support adventures described below.
Apparently, RantWoman also secretly enjoys watching store clerks try to upsell. This time, the upsell is "Try home internet" and we'll give you a 43" television. RantWoman does not need a 43" television. She does need a 24" computer monitor but that is a different problem.
The other option on offer: a Samsung tablet. Will that happen now that RantWoman has returned home internet equipment? RantWoman has mixed opinions about carrying around another device besides her phone. Bigger screen sounds like a great idea. RantWoman might even like space to try out one of the braille input apps because those are a lot less vision intensive than the onscreen keyboard. (No RantWoman is still not into just making her devices take dictation. RantWoman's brain needs some kind of physical motion to help organize thoughts.) There is one large Samsung tablet that sounds especially appealing, but who knows whether that is part of the offer? And who knows whether the offer stands now that RantWoman has returned the equipment.
Anyway, RantWoman packed home the new phone and the home internet equipment. At the last minute, there was even an offer to have someone come out and help set it up. RantWoman foolishly declined. After blunt reality check about whether there is in fact 5G internet close enough to RantWoman to matter, RantWoman decided not even to unpack all the gear for home internet and just send it back. So off RantWoman troops to say goodbye forever to data on her trade-in phone and HOPEFULLY to free herself of unwanted home internet equipment.
Saying goodbye to the old trade-in phone needed a few minutes wait but was painless. Will RantWoman regret missing something? Maybe but now that RantWoman has gone through all the steps of setting up a new phone, she is not going back.
Returning the home internet equipment took a couple steps, steps which in their simplicity almost made RantWoman swoon. Go to the UPS store, the one in the neighborrhood that does a better job than a different one. Stand in line a few minutes. Watch the clerk open the boxes, scan bar codes, print shipping labels, and hand RantWoman a receipt.
SWOON. RantWoman remembers the long awkward phone call from a different UPS store abou generating a label that could be applied to the box (only 1 that time) and ... Eureka. RantWoman is clearly not the only person on the planet who found the old print a label at home process vexing. Now there is a super easy process! This time was SO much easier that RantWoman ALMOST forgives enormous telecom company for the need to return her equipment at a different place.
But wait. Two MORE customer service moments.
First, there was a text survey about customer service. RantWoman never knows how to respond when some of the service, such as "ask a human" in general was just fine and other parts less so but there are only number response. So RantWoman's rating generated both a text and a phone call wanting to follow up. RantWoman often does not have time in the moment to respond to such outreach. RantWoman would really, really, really be THRILLED if it were possible to call back later and on the number the calls come in on. Apparently that is never a thing in the world of call centers. RantWoman knows from listening to others' complaints that she is by far not the only person on the planet who thinks this.
As an aside, RantWoman would also be THRILLED if there were an option to review voicemails in order starting from most recent and going back. Right now RantWoman has some calls on her voice mail that are important for record keetping purposes but that, for both time and emotional reasons she does NOT want to have to listen to over and over if she mis hears a callback number.
On to the last customer service moment. After a whole bunch of set up, dealing with passwords, biometrics, accessibility features, RantWoman went to try to pay her rent through her banking app. This did not work. Various accessibility features were screwingup. RantWoman called a tech support number. RantWoman has done more than enough tech support to know that the odds of hitting someone who could interact easily with RantWoman's question might not be great but getting forwarded seemed like a good step. RantWoman spoke to someone who definitely knew enough about what RantWoman was talking about to try to help.
The only hiccup: the last person RantWoman talked to wanted to send a text with a link allowing him to look at her phone. The link went only to RantWoman's old phone. If the old phone had been powered off, would the link go to the new phone? Who knows? By the time RantWoman talked to tech support, she had already spent considerable time trying different things to make her banking app work and was just out of time in her schedule. RantWoman did manage to mess around with enough things to get her rent paid this month and will now see what other experiments might save the steps needed to pay her rent this time.
RantWoman has more to say, OF COURSE, but tis is plenty for tonight.
