OK. So losing Internet service isn't quite as bad as I made it seem, but I think everyone can sympathize with the frustration that Internet blackouts lead to. As you fumble around helplessly unplugging and then plugging in random cables. It's a fun game, but gets you nowhere if you don't know what your doing...like me. And deep into my game of "How many times can you cuss at inanimate objects?" I kept thinking how long I could hold out before breaking down and calling customer service.
Our Internet provider is StarCat. They have an English call center, so it wasn't the language barrier I was worried about. It was more the idea of calling customer service given my history dealing with our IT friends back home, Comcast. Customer service isn't really something Comcast is known for. I'm not just talking from personal experience, either. This chart shows how Comcast fared in a 2007 JD Powers survey to reinforce the point.
So, naturally, I was expecting some sort of hastle like, oh, I don't know, like how Comcast used to manage to turn the problem onto me. And by the end of the conversation, I was an idiot and reluctantly they would be sending somebody to clean up my mess. You know, something of that nature.
You can imagine my surprise when I recieved nothing of the sort from StarCat. In fact, quite the opposite. Although no one answered the English call center line for StarCat, I was able to navigate to somebody who could speak English from the main line. Although they couldn't offer technical support - I think because they just grabbed someone who could speak decent English in the office - the kind person told me that the server had gone out that morning, but that it should be on later in the day. Two things then happened. First, my confidence was restored in the ol' trouble-shooting with random plugging in category - Hey, this problem was no fault of mine. And second I was more than pleased to give the fine lady my number because StarCat was going to call back later in the day to make sure my Internet came on and there were no further problems. Not bad customer service right?
Well, later that day I came home to find the Internet working. Yay. And I also found 3 missed phone calls and 2 messages from StarCat. Ace Ventura's quote, "Obsess Much?" immediately popped into my head. OK. Well, the Internet works at least. I'll just make sure to pay attention to the phone to get the next call.
Day 2. At work, I missed two more of their calls...and two more messages. Ugghhh. This is the most phone traffic I've had since I've been in Japan, I thought. And now I was actually starting to get annoyed with StarCat. So, I tried calling them, to tell them the Internet was ok and to stop calling.
Problem solved. Until the next day. Missed another call before finally catching them on try 2 of the day. "Yes. Yes. The Internet is fine. It was fine three days ago like you said it was going to be. And it was fine yesterday when I called to tell you everything was fine. Now for the love of God, Please. Stop Calling Me!" I wasn't that harsh, but I did feel relieved. And you know, it actually kind of made me miss Comcast's customer service...or lack there of.
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