Be forwarned - this may turn into a rant.
This would be funny happening to someone else ::) but I'm not quite ready to laugh yet....
I have slowly been changing my bill paying over to online payments and today was the day I decided to pay my phone bill online.... normally a simple matter of going to a site and setting up passwords, security ques., tracking #'s, etc......But not with Fairpoint >:(
First I go to website, find bill paying- because I don't have an online account yet I am refered to a landline # to contact....now not being completely naive, I dial the phone completely prepared to be confronted with an automated menu- even had my phone bill handy, had gone to the bathroom, limbered up my index finger....after listening to the recorded message and entering phone #, several 1's and 2's to get english,and the dept. I was looking for, I hear a message directing me to "go to our website to set up online billing".....HUH?... Ok, must have missed something ::).....Do it all again....and again.... ::)
Maybe I dialed the wrong number? tried anotherr from the list an get (after the menu crap and being told at least 4 times how important my call is) some fella that I am sure came from or still is in India.....nice guy, he offers to connect me to the correct dept........and promptly disconnects me.
Sit and stare at website trying to figure out what I'm missing..., call original # again, enter account #, listen to now very familiar menu, enter several 1"s ,still hoping for "speak to a representative" ..... to no avail...even screaming "I want to speak to a ****representative" didn't help-all I got was "was not able to understand your query"or something along those lines...The blood pounding in my ears kinda muffled that part.
Eventually( we are 40 minutes into this by now) I found the right combination of 1's and 2's and 3's andwhatever else to find a line that led to another series of "Your call is important to us" and finally Denise- who by the way is not paid enough-. I was so stunned at finally hearing a voice not prerecorded that she said "Hello" a couple of times while I was composing myself and telling myself that "It's not her fault, don't yell at her"....I told her what I was trying to accomplish and she assured me that it was possible but thatI would have to establish a password and that I would have to give email so they could give me a temparay password , etc and I would have to have a login name, etc -nothing unexpected there- of course the first 3 of each are denied. ::)....I can by now feel urge to tell someone where to put their ****business welling up again.....but, Hey, we're on the home stretch now".....Well, maybe I am that naive after all......even after spelling out my email twice and stating all lower case she was having trouble getting her system to accept my email without converting to caps...".but not to worry- I could call back if it didn't work....."
I assured her(with forced calm) that I would never be calling back if it didn't work and that even though she had been great, their business at this point was not that importnat to me,and I had better ways to waste 55 minutes.
Guess what? no email!
SO, anybody using Vonage? Can you communicate with them?.....
:D :D :D We've all been there! You told the well-known story very well, though. 8) 8)
I don't know anything about Vonage, but if you switch to them Fairpoint will probably buy them out next week. ::) :D
We use Bill Pay through our bank to make payments. You don't have to mess with the individual companies...takes maybe two minutes to set up a new payment. And you can pay anybody no matter wether they are online or not.
Down here, in the Jungle, I use the system set up by the Bank. Just connect and click payments. It gives all the different monopolies that you can give your money to.
Sometimes, the system even reconnects the server during the transaction, so, you can either repay the bill, or pay it a second time, or, assume that it WAS paid, in which case, it might not be, and the Electric Co. comes out, without warning, and boots the meter.
They send a guy on a Motorcycle, from 10 miles away, and he can't ride the extra 100 meter up the hill, to tell us he is to cut the juice.
Once cut, I mosey on down the hill, cut the seal, pull the boots, plug the meter back in, and go back to the house and pay the bill, again. ::) ::)
That's the way it is, here, in the Jungle ::) ::) ::) :D :D :D :D :D
I don't know anything about Vonage but...............
Here at the office I switched from verizon to a voice over IP co which cut my 6 business lines cost to 1/3 of what Verizon was charging plus there are no taxes, fees, or other costs that you get with a actual phone co. Just a simple sales tax.
The transition was seamless. I'm very happy with the quaility and cost.
May I ask who you went with Bill?
it's a local company called "yoursip" Sip is supposed to mean something in computor/phone talk.
www.yoursip.com
I'm sure there are some co's that do the same thing in your area..... well maybe not but look around. I am very happy with them.
Free long distance, .03 minute for our 800 number incoming. All kinds of bells and whistles. Did I mention 1/3rd the cost of verizon!
Radio shack is promoting a phone system on TV. Can't remember what it's called Magic Jack something. Maybe the same type thing.
It used our exsisting phone system, we didn't have to do anything.
PS
I always ask questions here. I feel good that I finally have a answer to someone else's question! 8)
I just have to add that I am very pleased with Skype. It's a free download.
It's free when talking to other Skype users and only about 2ยข a minute when calling a non-Skype (land-line) phone.
The call quality is very good. But you do need a microphone.
I have Vonage, works fine for VOIP, and I got a rep that spoke English when I called to do a custom setup to my router.
Clark Howard pushes magic Jack on his program . If you have high speed internet you get a little plastic thing that conects to your computer and then the phone plugs into that. Cost is about $25.00 /year He claims that it works great.
Thanks Bill. :)
Our ISP is finally getting reliable enough I am thinking of changing over to VOIP.
I had Vonage, and had chronic dropped calls. Yep, dropped calls on a landline. Also, when I signed up for Vonage, they would only take a debit or credit card to automatically deduct the payment from your bank account. When I discontinued the service, they continued to try to deduct payments. I could never reach a person to discuss the payment problem, and the only thing that really saved me was the fact that my debit card expired the same month that I switched to my local cable company's phone line. I have my tv, computer and phone with one local company, and have never had a dropped call since that time. I get great service and a real person when I phone them, and all that for less than my Verizon landline was costing me.
I had a neighbor who had Vonage. He said it worked great, when it worked.
Stonebroke
Thanks....
I'm going to see my favorite banker and see what they offer(I still want to be able to prioritize(sp) who gets paid and who waits if funds are short.) Most companies take 3-5 minutes to set up a pay system.....I still don't get whats so tough for FP? ???
Dang- ain't that the truth. Had no issues wit Ma Bell or Verizon that I recall...
Harold- your story took the edge off my hate and discontent, humor helps- thanks. 8)
Vonage sounds about like all cell service in this area- summer service (sum'er the time it works, sum'er the time it don't.)
I'm gonna research some other options for servicxe- this isn't the first difficulty I've had with Fair(?)point....but hopefully the last.
"he claims it works great" -pay anybody enough and anything works great ::), and I'll check it out
Dang I like this place
;) ;D ;D ;D