Customer ping pong

For the past two weeks I have been wrestling with my router and its access to the Internet.

In the process I have learned more about DSL modems, routers and other such stuff than I thought I ever would and my life-long observations about customer service by high tech companies have been confirmed.

First -- customer service. My provider is AT&T and the router is from Linksys. I have to say that once I get through to someone the person on the other end does try his or her best. Where it all falls apart is their tendency to either follow a script or blame some other part of the computer which requires a call to another company. (My longstanding theory is that tech support isn't there to help you but to get rid of you as fast as they can.) Thus, if you're running one of these call centers, and I realize that it's tough to do, some thoughts:

• If you're going to prompt through all sorts of menus before I get a live person, at least retain that info. Don't make me repeat my phone number, operating system if you've already captured it through your decision trees. (Linksys, AT&T)
  
• If I already have a case number put me in a different line. And let me enter it over the phone so you have it ahead of time. That will also avoid the annoying habit of tech experts going through the same script time after time even on the third or fourth call. (Linksys)
  
• If I already have a case number, give the person answering the call a few minutes to review my case before they come online. It's better for the customer and certainly more fair to your tech expert. (Linksys)
  
• Use the same case number. Don't generate a new case number for each call. (Linksys)
• If you're going to charge me for tech support tell me before I sit on hold for 30 minutes. Also -- don't tell me you're going to charge for something on one call and then offer it for free on the other. Actually -- better yet, just don't charge for tech support. (AT&T)

Second -- usability of high tech equipment. These past two weeks have taught me we're a long way from making computer household appliances. We've been saying this for five years and it's still true. Granted, computers are complicated beasts but where it gets truly frustrating for the consumer (and I suspect the manufacturers) is the variety of software and peripherals that are mashed together to produce a computer. In my case I spent countless hours going back and forth between AT&T and Linksys trying to locate the problem. In the end it turned out the modem needed to be changed to bridge mode. Then the router (and the range extender) needed to be reset. It all sounds rather easy on paper but it ends up being immensely time consuming, a bit complicated and frustrating. I am stupid enough to put up with this stuff. I imagine most other people would just say the hell with it and go watch TV or go to bed.