Tech Support! How Can I Hinder You Today? (Part 1)

One day last week my fiancee got on a tech support chat because she’d been having trouble getting calls from one particular number. She handed her phone to me, and I went through the steps suggested by the IT person (in what foreign country I don’t know). Eventually I reset the network settings as suggested.

That led to her not being able to make calls or text at all the next day. Way to go, tech support! So I called and made sure I stayed on the line to talk to a live person. I explained the problem was with a cell phone. He then asked me if I had a dial tone.

“On a cell phone?” I said incredulously and irritatedly, because I hate dealing with tech support anyway.

“Is this a landline you are calling about it?”

See, when I said “Cell phone” I assumed he’d hear “Cell phone” but somehow I got routed to landline service. He had to send me over to mobile phone help.

So here we go again. Listening to the woman talk to me, I also heard lots of background chatter—I wondered how many people work there at that call center—and occasional cheering, as if they were watching a soccer match on TV. 37 minutes later, and a few gyrations including her resetting (or something) the eSim card, the phone worked again. That came after she asked me, “Have you reset the eSim card?” I tried not to sound too angry when I asked, “How would I know how to do that?” It’s bad enough doing self-checkout in stores, but self-tech support is ridiculous.

As it turned out, that tech support call was a prelude to an email exchange to another company’s tech support. Check back tomorrow for details!