Thursday, November 10, 2005

Just get me a person to talk to

Yes, you are about to read one of those “I just wanted to talk to a human being” rants. After my garage door opener decided not to work at all today (yeah, I said I would get this fixed early this week), I really decided to get something done. I had mentioned my problem to my mates (hey look, I can speak Aussie & British) and looked for any recommendations they could give me on getting someone to fix it. The Toxic Weasel insisted I call Sears. They would be the cheapest and maybe the best product in itself. I tell you one thing, if there is one thing the Toxic Weasel knows, and is, that would be cheap.

So I give Sears a call to get some more information after digging around their website. I want to figure out the difference between replacing what I have and having the current opener repaired. I get the cost of installation rather easily.

However, when I call the repair center, I get greeted by one of those nice automated voice systems that never seems to understand what you say. It starts out fine. I get past the first two steps rather easily. I find myself enunciating each syllable hoping it won’t through me into the hellish telephone loop. I am just about where I need to be when it can’t understand me saying “no”. Must have been programmed by a woman. JOKE. It keeps asking me again and again, in a very annoying cheerful voice the same fuggin question. Finally after 4 attempts it understands no.

I am then placed on hold. Not a big deal. I do some work as I wait. After sitting on hold for 5 minutes, it disconnects me.

WTF!?!?!? Is this a joke?

I call back and just about go through the whole thing again. This time, a co-worker is looking at me funny. Don’t know what as I am talking in fragments, not having a real conversation with anyone. When I get through the system, I hope- nay pray- I do not get disconnected again.

Finally, I get a human. Whoo hoo! (no that is not a whoo hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo Happy Lite cry of joy. More like Homer Simpson). She is able to give me the info I need and schedule something for this Saturday. Nice. Best yet, if the opener is dead or the repair is pricey, the cost of the service guy gets transferred to a new unit. Not a bad deal.
Only downside is that the service guy can show up any time on Saturday. They will phone ahead but it could be 9am or 3 pm. I am basically forced to sit around and wait. Mental note: Hit liquor store for beer for Badger game.

2 comments:

WhisKeYGyrL said...

The automated system at sears is crazy. If it means anything it doesent understand yes either. I had the same issue 2 weeks ago when my furnace was acting up... I called the same crazy sears repair line and said "yes" six times to the same question and also got disconnected after 10 minutes of hold...Once again WTF??!!?? and called back...The automated systems are even more fun at the doctors office...on hold 25 minutes with that one.... Grrrrrrrrr!!!!

Blonde said...

I refuse to do anything through automated systems. I want to talk to a real person, and when I get that person, they better not be taking the call in India.

Stb...you still have a Bonham CD? *Sigh*. You are my 80's music soulmate.