Fairpoint Customer Service - LOUSY

For those who follow me, I blog about horrible and superb customer service experiences and everything in between.  I am finally online today so I can write and publish this blog.

OK, we have a house in Vermont because of the lifestyle.  We have no TV at our house (House has the name of Coniston), and we did not have internet for about the first 6 months.  We added satellite for a few years and a year ago, we caved in and switched to Fairpoint.  It was about 1000 times faster than Wild Blue Satellite and we have been very please for a year.  We do not live here full time but when we are here, the speed of the DSL has been adequate.  Rod can watch Netflix, which is the largest connectivity we need.

Yesterday morning, we both got up and tried to check email, and neither of us could get mail.  Our modem was live but we could not connect to the Internet.  We shut off electronic equipment went on our way.  2 hours later we checked again and still nothing.  We had our iPhones if we really needed to call of find something.

Last night at 8, when we got back from the activities of the day, still nothing.  We are going on 12 hours now, and truth be told we were both twitching a little bit.  I called customer service and they knew nothing about when we would be back up.  The rep at that point said to call back in the morning and there would be more information.  Again, we are in Vermont, we don't encourage technology at our house, and we could live another 12 hours, AND I have my 3G iPhone still.  Yes, I still have a 3G iPhone which is getting replace as soon as Apple releases their next iPhone and I will buy a 5S.

This morning I called at 8am, and got this message "We are sorry but due to the high volume of calls we cannot take your call."  I have worked in technology, and I have taught customer service and this was like waving a red flag to a bull.  There was no way to talk to anyone, nor leave a message, nor ask a question.  Their website was not up-to-date with outage information.  Yes, it is pretty slow to surf the web on my 3G phone but I did while my coffee was brewing.

I called back at 10 and got through to a live person in Texas, Brittany.  I asked her if she knew when we would be back up.  NOPE.  I asked her if anyone in Fairpoint knew when we would be up.  NOPE.  She started being very defensive and definitely had an attitude.  I asked her why she was being defensive.

In my experience, and in customer service training, you never are defensive with the customer.  I reached my limit and asked to speak with her supervisor, Curtis.  He was teflon, in that nothing stuck to him.  He had no information, did not know who did, did not know what the problem was, etc.  Rod at this point emailed the CEO of Fairpoint, and I started tweeting (which I never do but I have a Twitter account).  Down Detector have both of our tweets and face books posts on their page about Fairpoint.

Two things astound me.  That we are some of the few tweets and Facebook posts on the Down Detector site.  AND That Fairpoint is still in business.  Maybe the lifestyle in Vermont is really such a lay back one that people would not complain about the Internet being down for 36 hours.   I am sure there are people in Vermont who have Fairpoint and Twitter.  Do Vermonters not complain like we flatlanders from Massachusetts?  Is Fairpoint's reputation such that people are used to being down? The few tweets out there indicate that it is down a lot.  Does Fairpoint has few enough customers in Vermont that there is no one to complain?  If this is the case, please leave a note about which provider you are using in Vermont for internet connection.

I worked in technology and was on calls for 24 hours at a time where tech support was trying to solve a problem.  What we learned was to give customers information, be transparent, let them know when you would give them an update, and give them one.  The first outage we did not do that, and we suffered the repercussions, on twitter, blogs and other social media.  The later outages, customers thanked us for the transparency on twitter, blogs and other social media.

So, I told Curtis that I blog about customer service, both good and bad and here it is.  One person's experience with Fairpoint DSL and today my experience was LOUSY!  AND I got online by changing DNS settings on my computer, a solution which I found from a poster on the Down Detector website.  He can figure out how to get around the problem but the Fairpoint tech support cannot.  HMMMMMMM?

Liam, snakes and gardening

WOW, I really thought that I had already blogged about this.  One of our first years at Coniston, Christopher walked up the boardwalk to the house and jumped back when a snake slithered out of the woodpile.  My sister stayed here for a few weeks and named the snake Liam.

Rod said when Christopher jumped back "He is a lot more afraid of you than you are of him."

Christopher said "Then he must be shitting his pants."

We have retold this story many times since that day.

Today while out gardening, weeding actually, a snake slithered out of the weeds and I jumped back and screamed loudly.

Rod said "What, a snake or a spider?"

Sally said "A snake, I don't scream for spiders, and only call you for wolf spiders."

So, Christopher comes by this fear of snakes honestly and I have yet another reason not to garden or weed.

Packing for a Month

This is a crazy summer.  All good things are happening but maybe just too many of them all packed into the same summer.

In light of that I reflected on packing for all of these trips.  We went to Star Island last week, and I usually reserve my Star t-shirts to wear for the week.  After Star we will primarily be staying at Coniston so rather than pack again for Vermont and Coniston, I am going to wear my Star t-shirts all summer up there.  EXCEPT, I will need a few collared shirts for golf if I want to play golf this summer up in Vermont.  OK, so when I go home this week for 3 days, I will have to remember my golf clubs and because I want to sew some quilts I will have to remember the correct fabric and all the right accessories for those quilts.  YIKES, this is getting very complicated.

I wonder how Mom used to pack for the summer when we went to stay most of the summer on Gardiner Island on Lake Champlain.  Did we just throw all of our clothes into a duffel bag? did we pack our own bag or did we pack with a sibling?  We always seemed to have enough clothes although we spent most of the summer in our bathing suits so maybe it did not matter.

For our first wedding of the summer we had to pack for a black tie wedding.  Evening gown and tux.  For our second wedding of the summer, just a regular dress sufficed, and a suit for Rodney.  For the 4th of July, I remembered to pack my red, white and blue hat.

So it will be a miracle if I remember everything, and if everything is in the right place, but when it comes down to it, as long as I have something to wear, I can rent golf clubs and sew something with the fabric already up at Coniston, or I could go buy more fabric.  These are all first world problems.  I carry the essentials in my backpack and everything else is just an add on.

TV Watching

In a conversation with friends this weekend we talked about TV shows that we used to watch.  There were not any recording devices or an internet to store all the shows.  There was not even replays that I remember.  On Sunday night, we all watched Disney and Bonanza.  The kids watched Captain Kangaroo.  It was great to remember all of those shows.  The memories of the entire family sitting down to watch a show together and 50 years later, it seems that we were all watching the same ones.

It is so different now.  I already watched the Sox games earlier, which is my default viewing lately so I was at a loss for what to watch.  I started to watch some PBS, since I have had enough news for the day and then noticed that a Facebook friend was watching the hockey game so that is what I am watching now.  There was a point in my life when I would never watch a hockey game unless Boston was in the Stanley Cup finals.  I have actually grown to like watching hockey.  But I digress.....

There is such a variety of shows to watch and times to watch them that there is not the same common language around TV.  Sure, there are shows that a lot of friends watch, Mad Men, but even that can be watched On Demand after the show airs.

Our discussion also included listening to the radio as well as watching TV.  I don't remember that as much as our first TV which we got in Colorado in 1960 to watch the JFK inauguration.

I actually don't watch that many series and I hate most reality TV, except Dancing with the Stars of course.

TV is also a background activity for me.  Sometimes it is on while I read my email, or quilt.  As an extravert, I want background noise most of the time, so it serves that purpose.

So, TV watching has changed and I am not sure how I feel about that.  I much prefer Lucy or My Three Sons, to most series today.  We did watch West Wing recently and that is great TV.  House of Cards was OK, but not great.  And somehow I have become a sports fan.  Maybe it is to be able to converse about sports, but I really enjoy the Sox games, and as I blog this I have the LA vs CHI game on in the background.  I don't really care who wins, I am just happy Montreal is out of the running, because they beat us.

Last note.  It is funny to see how deep those old TVs were.  Technology sure has change, which enables this different TV viewing.

Latest Rant - pulling over for sirens and emergency vehicles

Driving through the center of town today, I heard and then saw a police car behind me so I carefully pulled over to the right to let them pass.  MOST of the other drivers also pulled over.  That was all pleasant and thoughtful.

However, when it came time for us to start driving again, don't you think you would do it in sequential order.  The first car in line pulls out, then the second, then the third?  That is not the case in my home state of Massachusetts.  The most impatient person pulls out first, cutting off the others ahead of her in line.  It causes absolute chaos, and is just plain rude.  

As this happened today I gave the two people the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe they did not think I was ready to drive yet.  My inching forward to try to take my turn getting out since I was in front of her could have been a clue.  Apparently she was in such a hurry, after all we had been stopped for less than 20 seconds.  To me this is just plain courtesy.  I was ahead of you before we pulled over, therefore I get to pull out first.

This behavior really pisses me off.  In my zen state of mind I tried to let it go and let her go in front of me, but I just do not understand it.  I have lived in Massachusetts since 1984 so you would think I would be used to it by now.  

The sirens and lights are a clue folks.  Pay attention, slow down and chillax.  

Restaurant Review - Asmara in Cambridge

Last night we were in Central Square in Cambridge to see "The Golden Door" at the Cambridge YMCA.  Who knew they had a theater at the Y?

We went a bit early to eat, because Central Square has lots of great restaurants.  We tried to get into an organic restaurant but decided not to wait in line and instead went a few doors down to Asmara.  It is Eritrean/ Ethiopian food and we were both really glad we decided to go there instead of the first one we walked into.

The food is all served communally on a large plate or platter.  Some of the tables are actually very low baskets that the platter fits into.  We sat at a regular table with the platter between us.

No utensils were on the table however, the meal was served on top of Injera, a bread made of teff grain, kind of like an Indian dosa.  As an aside, teff is grown in the US in Idaho which must have the same climate.  There was a table tent card describing this on our table.

They also served extra injera bread to eat the meal with.  Ours was an vegetarian variety of cabbage, lentils, sweat pea, and some spicy sauces.  These were all arranged in a circle.  In the middle of the platter was a very nice traditional tomato salad.

It was great to eat as they do in Eritrea and it was great to experience a different kind of food.  The waitress was very helpful explaining how the food would arrive, and explaining the menu.  She also warned us about the green peppers in the tomato salad.

After we left, I read Yelp reviews and I guess there are always bad experiences and some people love to complain.  We loved the meal and plan already to return with Bethany and Bryan, and probably others.

It is so interesting how Rod and I are.  Now that we know about this restaurant, and how great the experience was, when we are near Central Square it will be a regular destination.

I love NOT eating at chains, and I love experiencing a new ethnic food.  I also am a creature of habit and once I love a restaurant I am apt to want to go back there often.

"The Lunchbox" Wow, what a system

We saw the move "The Lunchbox" last night which really got me thinking a lot.  I just now finished reading about this incredible delivery system of lunch to workers in India.

It is amazing in this day and age that such a complex system still exists, and yet a simple system.  It is nice to know that people still appreciate home cooked meals, versus a restaurant meal.

I wonder how long this system will exist, and how long it will continue to be an effective delivery of lunch to office workers.  The movie quite accurately shows Mumbai and the collecting of the lunch boxes by bicycle, sorting to get on the right train, then unloading them and delivering them on the other end, again by bicycle, to the office workers.  And in the afternoon leg, the collecting of the lunch box to return it to the home.

I suppose it gives a job to the deliverers, and provides a home cooked meal to workers with a specific dietary requirement.

On one hand, I really love that this system of delivery has existed for over 100 years, and again I wonder how long it will last.

The story line was wonderful.  It is true, that we express in writing, things we would not otherwise express face to face.  Both main characters are lonely, and share of themselves in notes left in the lunch tins.  They share a lot in these notes in fact.

The only thing that I did not like was the ending.  It left me hanging and caused me to make up the ending, which is OK I guess.