Recently in Bad Support Category

...at least on my end, has been that I have been without a functioning computer for the past 48 hours.

Because I followed the manufacturer's instructions.

I normally use a MacBook Pro, my third Apple laptop, purchased to replace a PowerBook G4, which replaced another PowerBook G4, which replaced a Linux desktop.

The MBP was purchased on January 9th. Five months to the day, I installed a firmware update that the Software Update application would not stop telling me to install. When I rebooted...it didn't reboot. No chime, nothing. When I called support, they had me burn a "Firmware Restoration CD" on my old Powerbook, which thankfully works fine with an external keyboard and monitor. Nothing.

I'll be trying to get my data off the machine, because Apple will deny the problem was caused by their update, attribute it to a bad logic board, and do a warranty replacement, which will take too long during a time when I need a laptop. So, I'll probably be going back to Linux.

Thanks, Apple.

Has anyone else noticed Tom Friedman's absence from The New York Times recently? He's been on "book leave" it seems.

I hope he's writing a new book this time. I don't think I can stomach another "new and updated" edition of The World is Flat, his ubiquitous paen to globalization which for some reason makes people believe he is really, really smart, and by repeating some of his inane book or dropping his or the book's name often enough, they are, by extension, just as smart.

In Friedman's flat world, we are more efficient and productive through use of offshoring, just-in-time production and being able to recieve services 24/7 via a networked world. Sounds great, right?

In his opening chapters, he talks about his visit to the Dell factory and how he saw his laptop being built. Well, what about the time my brother spent $1,000 on a new Dell laptop and got an empty box? Sealed, delivered, and empty. When he called Dell, they simply sent him another machine, because it's apparently normal for some machines to disappear in transit. Some never make it into the box. Some are stolen. Who knows? They don't care. Meanwhile, they take no measures to disguise that their 24/7 support is based mostly in India. Actually, this isn't a bad thing. The amount of competition for these jobs and the fact that it's an english-speaking nation makes India a perfect economic partner for keeping operations running 24/7.

Now, I've got no problem with offshoring. In a conversation with Alex the other day, I noted that an Indian Institute of Technology graduate in a call center could possibly be more qualified to do either of our jobs than we are. It's pretty incredible the calibre of people they can choose from over there.

On the other hand, what happens when offshoring to cut costs leads to bad experiences?

On Monday, I decided to cut my DSL and go with Sprint EvDO broadband. It costs around the same and I don't have to pay for hotspot usage at airports and other public places. So, Monday evening I called Sprint's new activation line. I requested the "web special" pricing and a certain piece of equipment, etc etc. Now, this call center was in Buenos Aries. While I've dealt with Dell's support before with no problem, the Sprint reps obviously were having a hard time. Having worked at helpdesks and call centers, I know when I'm being read a script.

I also can tell when I'm dealing with someone who is having a hard time communicating. Quite simply, these guys were not up to the job of communicating in English and getting everything 100% accurate. So, after two disconnects and a 20 minute hold, I finally got the account open...except where I had been promised overnight shipping, the rep put in for the standard 3-5 day. Useless.

I quickly called back and was bounced around and around until I got to a supervisor, who was barely any better. They dispatched a 2nd order and canceled the first. However, yesterday, i found out that they sent the order to the wrong address. I repeated that address maybe 8 or 9 times. The Sprint rep simply didn't understand what I was saying.

Meanwhile, UPS dropped the ball, too. Their driver didn't unload the package, either, and despite 4 phone calls, I never recieved a call back about my package's location. So, around 5:30pm I walked the 3 blocks to the 18th Street Sprint Store.

25 minutes later, thanks to a helpful rep, I was up and running. Despite the call center's protestations that the store wouldn't honor the web price, they were happy to do it. Very nice people. I plan on going back.

What does this have to do with tech policy? Well, a large amount of our infrastructure is supported by people in other countries. When so much of our security depends on our ability to communicate with one another, shouldn't we trust the administration of those systems to people who are best equipped, not just the lowest priced?

A flat world still has corners you can hit your head on.

Oh, special event coverage after my doc's appointment today. Live, with photos.

Unlike yesterday, TechCrunch has a good summary of Facebook's announcement of new privacy features, which took place at their headquarters today. Also, Facebook is launching an internal chat function, which is in-browser and useless because it doesn't allow third party development or API access. Walled garden blah blah.

What I want to mention is the privacy controls. Basically, what Facebook has done is allowed you to whitelist different people for different kinds of data, so your work friends can't see your drunk college spring break photos. You can also be someone's "friend" and decide what info to give them, etc etc. Your ex can be your friend but he can't have your new address. Stuff like that.

Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer (wtf kind of title is that, anyway?) Chris Kelly took a few questions, and noted that by using Facebook you consent to letting them possibly use your profile and image to promote the site. I assume it's in the TOS.

This brings us back to the 300lb Facebook Gorilla in the room: who owns your data?

Robert Scoble tried to find out a few months ago and famously found himself kicked off Facebook. When he asked founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg about it last week, he got a weak non-answer about preventing spam and an "appeals process" which, since he is Robert Scoble, was unneccessary.

Some background: Robert wanted to put his Facebook contacts into his Outlook address book. Facebook allows you to import your contacts to make them your "friends" using the ubiquitous CSV format, but does not allow you to spit that same data back out.

See, that's funny, because when I joined Facebook in 2004, that was an easy thing to do. I even exported my friends into my Apple address book. I know because an archived version still has some that didn't list their phone numbers, just their "@wisc.edu" email addresses.

Sometime in 2005, that feature disappeared, and has been gone ever since.

I asked Mark Zuckerberg a question at the Developers' Garage event, but not that one. I'll be asking around though, because when I emailed Facebook support, they pretended the feature never existed.

Who owns the data? We'll find out.

Alex is usually the one who goes on about bad customer service, but this was just shocking enough to get me angry. Consumerist has a story on a gamer who sent his signed XBox 360 in for repairs along with a letter describing the signatures on it and specifically asking that the art be left alone, only to have the letter ignored and the XBox returned with the case scrubbed clean.

Unfortunately, someone at Microsoft took it upon himself/herself to scrub the exterior of the box until the signatures were completely removed. This just seems spiteful. Trying to picture the person who thought that giving someone's signed XBOX a bath was an awesome idea makes our brain hurt.

This was no accident. If we believe the owner, he spent time on the phone with Microsoft making sure he could sent the box in with the case marked and not have a problem. He was indeed assured he could.

Despite the fact that Nathaniel called beforehand and got assurances that everything would be ok, despite the fact that he included a very detailed and clear letter with his console, despite the fact that it was no fault of his own that his console broke in the first place, 

As many of you know, there was an approximately 3-hour long outage for BlackBerry users addicts yesterday.  For most of us it wasn't that big a deal - 3 hours and a power cycle later there was no problem.  For me, not so much.

First of all, at about 11am Pacific time, I called Sprint to ask if there was any sort of an outage.  I was told that there was no way there was an outage. 

At around 3pm I called back and was informed that there was indeed an outage affecting some BlackBerry users.  I was walked through some troubleshooting (nothing I hadn't tried already, but more than the average user would have done) and it didn't help.  The rep was very nice and knowledgeable (far more so that the Sprint reps I usually encounter).  She let me know that the issue should be resolved in about 5 hours and that she would call me back.  Yesterday involved me being up very early, spending 5 hours driving followed by a meeting so I was a little exhausted.  Imagine my surprise when I awoke and it was 8pm.  Now imagine my lack of surprise and utter disappointment when I saw no missed calls from Sprint.  I realize that Sprint has millions of customers (granted, a few million fewer than they used to, but that isn't the point) and I know I'm not th  most important one.  I also know that you're doing a pretty shitty job in customer service if the customer gets off the phone feeling like they aren't the most important.  When I finished with the rep I felt ok about the call.  Granted, my BlackBerry still couldn't get online but she tried to make it work, gave me an ETR (Estimated Time of Resolution) for the outage and even offered to call me back when it should have been solved.  When I didn't get that call I was more than a little upset.  I know they can't call back every customer.  Maybe they aren't even allowed to call customers back these days.  I know that in the call center that I work in we aren't supposed to call people back without clearing it first.  I also know that if I told a customer I'd call them back that my boss would have my back.  Here's how, even in a situation where calling the customer back isn't allowed, the conversation between the rep and supervisor should go:

Rep - "I need to call this customer back"
Supervisor - "Ummm, no.  We don't do that.  You know that."
Rep - "I know, but I told him I would."
Supervisor - "Ok, then call him back.  Just don't do it again."
Rep - "No problem."

See?  You don't penalize the customer because the rep made a mistake regarding policy.  Sure, if the rep promises a year of free service, maybe you can't give that to the customer.  But a simple call?  A call that was offered, and not just offered but unsolicited (Microsoft-style), by the rep?  For Pete's sake, let her call me!  Let me, the customer, think that the company cares about me, even if it's just for a moment.

I just think that a company loses credibility when it doesn't keep its promises to its customers.  And the smaller the promise that's broken, the more faith I lose.  I mean, if they can't follow through on a simple phone call, what confidence do I have in them to change my plan properly or to credit my account if I'm ever over-charged.  And what about bigger things, like a mail-in rebate or proposed coverage enhancements?  Sprint definitely has me in a tough place.  Not just because it would cost me $400 to break my contracts (and no, I don;t make enough money to shrug that off) but because I really believe in the product.  I love the voice clarity I get.  The only coverage hole I have around here, well, everyone has it (it's a road through the mountains, folks).  The data speeds are great.  The thing they lack is support.  Whenever I call in, whether it's to ask a simple question or because there's a problem, they treat me like I'm interrupting them.  The few good reps I do get are really good.  Not just in comparison to their shitty counter-parts, but they're generally really good.  The problem is that  I shouldn't be surprised by great service.   I shouldn't have to dread calling Sprint.  I shouldn't have to put up with a problem until it debilitates my ability to communicate just because I don't want to get bummed out after talking to these people.

Come on, Sprint.  Based on product, there's no reason why you shouldn't overtake Verizon.  You guys run the same network and you both have decent handset lineups these day.  And Sprint, your prices, especially on data plans, are way better.  The problem is lack of care.  I hear plenty of people complain about calling Verizon, but never with the same amount of frustration (or profanity) as is involved with Sprint.  I have never heard anyone talk about leaving their carrier with as much glee as someone leaving Sprint.

Listen up, Sprint.  Change my mind. If you can't call me back, that's cool.  Really.  Just don't say you will.  If I ask you a question, check it out before you dismiss me.
If I call you, act like you're glad to hear from me.  Even if you have to press the mute button and tell your neighbor what an asshole I am, or how fat I sound over the phone, the second that mic is back on, make me feel like I'm the goddamned prom queen.  I mean prom king.  Or special, non-high-school-dance-related guy.  You know what I mean.

Please, take a sec to share your cell company story.  Good or bad, I want to hear it.  Even if you don't know their name I'd be interested to hear some good stuff.  Let me know there's hope.  If there is bad stuff I want to hear it too.  Let me know I'm not all alone out here.

This was submitted to The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro:

When I try to open iTunes on my PC, it says it cannot run because it has detected a problem with the audio configuration, and then quits.

After solving the problem Rob added a little something:

If I may offer a suggestion to the iTunes developers: How about writing an error message that tells people how to fix this problem? The vague notice that users see now offers zero guidance about what to do, not even a link to the tech-support article on Apple's site explaining this issue.

Now, I would probably be a little broader in my plea to developers.  How many of us have gotten an error message on our computer and just thought (or in my case yelled) "What the f*** is this?!"?  Granted, if you go to apple.com you can find the solution (albeit under "New User's Guide"), but would it have been that hard to add "Please remove QuickTime and visit apple.com/quicktime to re-install."?  How much time (both the customers' and tech support's) would be saved if simple solutions were given right along with the error message?  I would love it if my computer would tell me what to do, if for no other reason than I wouldn't have to admit that I couldn't fix it on my own. Of course, there are problems that are a little more complex than can be handled with a sentence-long solution.  But if tech support lines were being flooded with calls regarding simple things that most user could correct on their own (with a little guidance) then the people with bigger problems could get the help they need a lot quicker. Are Pegoraro and I alone in this?  I don't think so, so let's take a moment to speak the hell up.

It's ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, Northern Virginia (the part that votes Blue and used to have AOL Headquarters and stuff)...there is a Frankenstein...and we have created it. Alex and I have been talking about getting some kind of combined blog up for a not so insignificant amount of time now, and so I finally bit the bullet Wizard (the struck word conjures up far too many images violence, so by eliminating the word we can do our part to eliminate violence. right, Abe Pollin?)  and registered the domain and set up the host, along with some hosted Exchange and BES so Alex and I could get some decent push email* and calendaring and stuff on our BlackBerry devices (shouldn't I just say BlackBerries?). Only, the hosting company, which I will not name since they were nice enough to refund my setup fees and credit me a month or two of service, did not properly set up the various services. Really, I should send them a bill for the six hours of my life I can never get back. Remember, my employer charges by the hour, so I know exactly how much little my time is worth.

Anyway, when I went to transfer posts from my old Blogger account, WordPress freaked out. Again. Another call, and a brush-off. Finally, another hour later I get to a call center guy who lets me talk long enough to explain what I did and that I know it's an Apache issue and that I'm not Tom Cruise Batshit Crazy(tm), and 5 minutes later

a) we're up, b

) Alex can import his stuff,

c) I'm drinking a nice ice cold Diet Coke, the official drink of this blog and Breakfast of Champions(tm), and

d) I can write this for you, one of the maybe 4 loyal readers I had over at Blogger, if Google Analytics is to be believed.Anyway, welcome. This should get prettier soon, and maybe even have something you find bizzare or interesting enough to pass on to someone who can generate some real traffic.

 A preface: I use Sprint for my cell service. Like Verizon (also AllTel, Helio, Qwest, etc) Sprint is a CDMA carrier. This is important because unlike my GSM pals (at&t and T-Mobile) the handsets are locked to the network. Unlike a GSM phone, which you can unlock on the cheap and then use with your SIM Card, CDMA devices are locked, by their serial number, to one network. Also, (at least for Sprint) the serial number (ESN) can be locked to a specific account or can be flagged as lost/stolen. This is important when buying a used device, like I attempted to do last night. Because of the potential for buying a useless device I only buy used CDMA units locally, through Craigslist, if I'm buying from an individual. Why? The fact that you have met the person, have their phone number and know where they live greatly lessens that fuck-you-over factor. The Story: I found a used BlackBerry that I really wanted. It was the model I love at a decent price. Also, exceedingly close to work. After realizing that the hardware was perfect and all of the accessories were there I bought it and swung back to the office to sit down and get it activated. The Bit About Customer Service: I sit down and call Sprint to activate the BlackBerry in place of my regular handset and switch over to a BlackBerry plan. After I get through the automated prompts so that I can wait for a real live person I am informed that my wait will be 5 minutes. 10 minutes later, I get a rep on the phone. He got the PTN (phone number) wrong a couple of times but we got into my account. I told him that "I need to do an ESN swap and to change the plan on 301-xxx-xxxx." Note the order in which I placed the ESN swap (getting the BlackBerry onto my account in place of my other handset) and the changing of the plan.  This will totally be on the test.  Then, "I'm switching to a BlackBerry, so I think we'll need to do the ESN swap first."  Notice how I said "I think" Instead of just jumping into "...we'll need"?  I did that specifically so it would not sound like I'm telling dude how to do his job. He put me on hold for a few to take care of things (this was after a forever of explaining what plan I waned) and when he came back he informed me that he could not activate the plan I wanted because a BlackBerry plan can only be put onto a BlackBerry. "Yeah, I know that. That's why I said that we'll probably need to do the ESN swap first." He got the ESN from me and put me back on hold.  When he came back another 5 minutes later he told me he could not activate it because it is still active on the original owners' account. See? If he had done things in the order that I suggested he would have seen that the ESN was not available and not wasted both of our time trying to find and change the plan. Back to the Part About Craigslist: So I call the seller of the BlackBerry and tell him what's up. I let him know that he needs to either clear it with Sprint or give back my money. He called me back in a few to tell me something about how it was his sister's and how tomorrow we can do a 3-way call with Sprint to clear it up....  I decided that it was becoming far too involved and I went back to his place and got my money back. That is why I buy from Craigslist when I'm buying a used CDMA phone.  The guy knows that I know where he lives.  He does not know that if he fucks me over that I won't show up to throw rocks through his windows, shit on his car or be otherwise evil towards him. Conclusion: The Sprint part of things was kind of a run-of-the-mill experience:  The rep was inexperienced/poorly trained, it took too long and I didn't get done what I needed. The bit about returning the phone was the best bad experience possible:  Shit didn't work out, I got my money back, no harm/no foul. Epilogue: Dude calls me back today (twice!) saying how we can go to any Sprint shop (his words) and take care of it.  Really?  If I was annoyed by the prospect of calling am I really going to drive somewhere and stand in line to take care of it?  Fuck no. After I left a message with the nice version of that last sentence I have not heard back and the hunt is on...again. Update: Got a reply from someone selling a newer, fancier BB for the same price.  Not my first choice but it is smaller.  We shall see, but we shall not be placing all of our eggs in this basket. Update - the Sequel:  The BlackBerry should be mine on Monday, which is perfect from an activation and plan swapping standpoint.  Despite my prior update regarding egg baskets, I am a wee bit giddy about it. 2nd-to-last Update (I hope): Got a different BB and it looked good - turns out that dude suspended the PTN while waiting for a new phone - this does me no good as the ESN is still tied up.  So he got a call from me 1st thing this morning telling him that he needs to fix it. At lunch (12pm Pacific) I will check with him and Sprint again.  If it is still un-usable by the time I am off of work (5pm Pacific) there will be stern words until my money is returned, in full.  After my money is back in my pocket, the profanity will explode from me with the power of 10,000 Suns. Final Update: So I spent 50 minutes this afternoon trying to activate this BlackBerry 8830 and get a BlackBerry plan.  The rep spoke little English, would not do what I asked and was combative the entire time.  When he said it was done I got the hell off of the phone before I exploded (see comment about Suns). Come to find out 3 hours later that the plan was not provisioned.  I called Sprint again and got a non-outsourced rep.  Not only did she get the BlackBerry Plan on there, but got me one that is $10/month cheaper and includes unlimited SMS messages.  I am wary of that (sounds too good to be tru) and will call Sprint later to get the exact details of what plan is now on there. Sadly, it will be foreever before I can check the plan features online. Currently, I have Twitterberry installed and will review that soon.  It is pretty damned straightforward (this is good) and I will confer with a longer-term user of it to make sure there's nothing I've missed.  If it looks like I've gotten a handle on it, expect the review this weekend.