A recent experience with a phone problem began when someone called my home and when I answered there was only a loud hum. This happened on Thursday afternoon. Friday morning it was evident the problem was not going away so I called AT&T. After nearly a half hour of consulting with a computer voice and punching in various numbers I was assured by the computer voice that service would be restored by 8 PM. I never spoke with a real person.
Saturday and Sunday went by. On Monday there was still no phone service so another call was made and with the determination only a woman has (it took nearly an hour), my wife spoke to a guy named Kevin in Chicago. He was appalled and promised service would be restored in a few hours. Our alarm company was concerned enough that one of their technicians changed the monitoring system over to a secondary line we have for computers.
Tuesday and Wednesday came and went and still no phone service on our primary land line. Finally late Thursday afternoon (one week anniversary) an AT&T truck showed up. The problem was at the telephone pole and took ten minutes to correct. In the bygone days of Indiana Bell and good service I would have dialed "O" from any phone that worked to report the problem, talked to an operator and by five that afternoon the problem would be corrected.
Think about this before installing automated phone service for your business. In our service company in Indy we answer our phones and even have a line in our advertising that reads, "Real, Live People Answer Our Telephones." You'd be surprised at how many callers comment on how much that is appreciated.
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