Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Take My Money, Please!

Have you ever been put in the position of having to Beg a
company to take your money? Somehow, I have been maneuvered into just that place. When the monsoon came to Kay's Branch last Saturday, my Hughesnet satellite started taking on water like everything else on the place and shorted out.  Thankfully, it comes back as the weather dries out, but having a high tech hunk of metal connected to my computer that shorts out at the first rain drop is not my idea of efficient so I called Hughesnet, spoke to a very nice fellow in India named "Romeo" because being the Ugly American that I am I could not possibly pronounce his real name...but that is for another rant.
He did his diagnostic tests on my satellite and informed me that it needed re-pointing or new "parts". So, he very kindly set me up with a local company with whom I have had satisfactory dealings in the past and I assumed life would be good as soon as my repair guy showed up and worked his magic.  Wrong...
Allow me to insert here the reason I have a satellite for my computer in the first place. One Word: Boonies. That is where I live. AT&T calls every so often and tries to sell me new services. Each time they ask if I wish to sign up for new services I say, "Why yes, I would love to sign up for DSL." To which they reply, "Great! We'll get your hooked right up....oh, I'm so sorry Ms. Spicer, DSL is not available in your area."  Duhhhhhh.....Ya think!?
Thus the charter membership in the wonderful world of satellites.
Meanwhile, back in the Boonies waiting for the repair guy. And waiting...and, well, waiting. The Cable guy has nothing on these fellows. I finally had to call and cancel as I had! to get to work.
Call to re-schedule. Get a good time slot. Guy was even courteous enough to call me at work to tell me he was running late and gave me a time when he actually thought he could be there. Wonderful! We're cookin' with gas now.
I get there. I wait a little but not too much. He gets there and takes one look and I know this is not going to be the magic moment I was hoping for. "Ma'am...that satellite dish is out dated; I don't even have replacement parts for it."  (it is six years old people; technology these days has the shelf life of a med-fly!).
He says I need an upgrade to the 9000. Okay...I can deal with that. But...he can't put it on the roof; the roof is metal...not allowed. Okay...what can we do? He can put it on a pole in the yard...But...it has to be a ten foot pole, not the normal six. Okay...I can deal with that. But! It is going to be a booger to point,(he actually said that...Booger to point...I love this guy!) and that tree may have to go. Okay...I can deal with sacrificing one very tall skinny tree, I have the Tree Guy, remember? So, I am thinking we're making progress. My repair guy, whom I have dealt with before and whom I trust says to call Hughesnet to request the upgrade.
Okay...I do. The very nice little girl tells me that since I had the modem upgraded almost two years ago and it is still "on the books" that they will have to clear that upgrade before I can upgrade my dish.  Huh??? Whatever. So do it already. Nope. Not so fast. We don't do that in this department. They will have to do that "somewhere else"...mysterious place. It will take 24 hours.  
ACK! Okay, I'm calm. My computer is working as long as the weather stays dry. Don't panic. So, I just now called Hughesnet and requested the upgrade again. Another very sweet little girl informed me that it still has not "cleared". Well, when should I call back? To which she replied, "I don't know Ma'am. That is handled 'somewhere else."   (I really need to find out where "Somewhere Else" is and get their number!)
So, here I am. Waiting, wanting someone to take my money and bring me a new Hughesnet 9000 series satellite so I can go whizzing around in cyperspace at lightening speed.
Maybe I'll just read a book...that is a novel idea. Bahhh Haaaaa!!!! (yep! I'm losing it!)

...to be continued.

1 comment:

  1. Okay, you just managed to give me a headache. Bah! I can't deal with this type of stuff. Unfortunately, if it happened to me, guess what? The hubby would put it on my Honey Do List because in our house this is how we roll. The man loves to delegate!

    ReplyDelete