Not everyone is an idiot.
Some time ago, the wireless part of my Verizon router failed - indeed, it had never actually worked. In addition, the router itself would seize up routinely on file uploads or downloads; it did not like certain programs, and would instantly die if I tried to upload any video to the allpar.powertvonline.com site (it still does that, by the way).
The Verizon rep on the phone immediately asked me if I had reinstalled Windows. She insisted that until I reinstalled Windows, I could not get a technician or a replacement box. I explained there was no wireless signal from either of my two Macs, which picked up several neighboring wireless signals which indicated THEY were working, and that it’s pointless to reinstall Windows on a machine that doesn’t use Windows.
She reiterated: I must reinstall Windows. I gave up for a while; then the TV box died (gotta love that Verizon reliability) and the tech came out for that, without an argument. Two men replaced the box, then suggested I call tech support again for the router. I did, and this time, after demanding that I reinstall Windows, they sent a technician over. He put in the new box, which only crashes if I try to upload video and does have a functional wireless radio.
Fast forward to Thursday, when I’m leaving to go to Carlisle. The phones, TV, and Internet are all dead. Verizon took my repair order and called me on my cell phone, as I’d requested; they wanted to send a tech out, but wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t home. They didn’t want to waste time if the problem was inside the house. I pointed out that I’d rebooted the optical converter, and that the light was on for power and off for network. It was no use; the problem might be in my house.
On Monday I came back home and at around 9:30 am, so did the Verizon tech. He went downstairs, saw that the power light was on and the network light was out, and called for a truck. Only three hours later, the truck arrived and fixed the problem on the pole. It’s a good thing they stuck to their policy, because otherwise their tech might have had to waste some time. You know, like the three hours or so he spent waiting for the truck to arrive.
The moral of the story, other than “if you have wired service, don’t switch to FiOS” or “Verizon is trying to make the cable company look good,” is that not everyone is a complete and total idiot. Most customers are quite capable of walking up to a box, finding the light marked “Power,” seeing if it is lit, and then finding the box marked “Network,” and seeing it is not lit. Likewise, if two customer computers can see other wireless signals but not their own, well, maybe there’s a problem that doesn’t require reinstalling Windows - a moderately onerous process that doesn’t really solve many problems on Macs.
Like every Verizon employee we’ve met, our technicians seemed knowledgeable, competent, and underused by managers who seem to think that nobody but them has any brains whatsoever. We know there are fools and problem customers out there, but I’d like to think that they’re a minority - and that those of us who can read short words and can tell the difference between a brightly lit LED and a completely unlit LED should not be punished by the maybe 1% of the population who cannot reliably be counted upon for such weighty judgements.
Verizon is, of course, not the only company to think this way. Many companies consider their own employees and customers to be the lowest grade of fool. I would like to think these companies will not exist for long periods of time. Unfortunately, Daimler had the reputation of considering Chrysler employees to be intellectually inferior, and Chrysler customers to be… more so. That has resulted in Cerberus controlling Chrysler - a situation that is not desirable from a long-term point of view, though it’s far better than having Daimler control Chrysler - and in Chrysler’s sales spiraling downwards, year after year. It has, it seems, also resulted in the loss of key personnel, like the man who tuned the Neon, LH, and original cloud cars for their fun, light feel, along with countless other bright, hardworking people who, because they did not always agree with the imported managers, left, one way or the other.
So the real moral of the story is - it is better to think highly of your fellow traveller and be disappointed now and then, than to think nothing of them and send them to your competitor.
