The Brightspeed Saga

If you haven't been following along on Facebook, or don't actually use Facebook, I'm currently having issues with Brightspeed - the phone company in these here parts.  It's reaching 'epic saga' proportions at this point.  (Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but hey, I'm a writer. We exaggerate stuff.)  

Let's see... a week ago yesterday, we woke up to no dial tone.  Nothing.  But we still had internet - which travels along the same lines as the phone, so go figger.  I was not in the mood to call the phone company, and I assumed someone else would do it.  It's never just us when these things happen.  I called in the afternoon and learned NO ONE had called.  :shrug:  I was unsurprised.  They gave me an appointment time of Thursday between 8am and 5pm.  Woohoo.  

Wednesday afternoon, I picked up the phone to see if it miraculously healed itself and the phone read-out said 1 missed call.  Well, if we're missing calls, then we have phone.  Yep, dial tone.  But we couldn't figure out how we could've missed a call because we didn't hear it ring.  Shrugging, we figured we must've been out in the smoking room at the time and went merrily on with our day.  That night, we're watching TV and see the phone light up like it's getting a call, but it's not ringing.  Okay, well sometimes it does that when the satellite is reaching out for data.  Except the answering machine picks up and starts giving the standard greeting.  So it WAS a phone call.  It happened two more times that night.  Hubs and I used our cell phones to call the landline, and it's not ringing.  

Thursday morning, I reach out to the Brightspeed technician - cuz I was smart enough to take down his number from one of the many other times we've needed service.  I tell him that we have phone but that it's not ringing, so we still need a service call.  He comes out.  He works on it off and on Thursday.  He works on it off and on Friday.  Late Friday afternoon, he tells me that he can't finish fixing it that day, but they'll be out on Monday.  If time allows.  He also kinda hints that his supervisor is telling him he's already spent too much time on this issue, so it seems like anyone getting out here is iffy.

Monday... I get a notice that a technician will be here between 1:45 and 5:45.  A totally different tech than before shows up at 1:45 and he's out messing with the box on the outside of our house.  He's got his supervisor on the phone with him and they're bouncing ideas, I guess.  Then I get a call from the supervisor telling me that the tech's butt-set is ringing outside, so the problem has to be inside the house.  (Inside the house problems are the responsibility of the customer, and cost like $99.)  Whatever.  The tech comes in and starts messing around with our jacks and wiring inside the house.  Still, no ringy-dingy.  Then he decides that it has to be the other jack in the house that's causing a problem with the jack our phone is plugged into, so he's in the office now messing with that jack and wiring.  Still no ringy-dingy.  He leaves to go check the big box at the beginning of our neighborhood.  When he returns, he lets us know that the problem ISN'T just us after all.  Several other houses in our neighborhood have the same problem.  Which he can't fix that day.  His supervisor will be out personally on Tuesday to fix this.

Today... As I was typing this, I got an email and a text message that they are very sorry but a technician cannot come out today.  The appointment has been rescheduled for tomorrow.

We have some of the oldest equipment on the Brightspeed lines and they're having a tough time finding parts to fix it.  Seems to me the answer would be to replace the old equipment - which might be pricey at the start, but it wouldn't certainly cost less in the long run when compared with the amount they're paying in labor.  Short-sighted turds.

Anyway, if you've read this far, thanks for letting me vent.  There's really nothing we can do but ride it out and continue to demand the service we're paying for.  Unfortunately, crappy service seems to be the norm rather than the exception these days - across the board and not specific just to Brightspeed.  They're just a symptom of the larger disease.  =o\

ETA: Final Update... fingers crossed... I got a call and the phone rang.  It was the tech letting me know it was fixed.  When I sat down at my computer, I had an email that the tech was working on it and another one sent two minutes later that it was fixed.  I guess whatever it was, it was quick fix.  Thank you, Brightspeed techs for working the problem until you resolved it.  Now, if only you can fix the internet so it's not so damn slow.