Saturday, May 23, 2009

Internet Provider Fail!

Yesterday I suddenly got disconnected from the internet while I was working. I checked my land phone and there was no dial tone.

My phone was dead.

I wonder if petty crooks stole the telecom cables in my neighborhood again. Sheesh!

I had no way to call our corporate DSL support number, so I drove all the way to some shopping mall just to use a payphone. I only had 7 pesos worth of coins with me, but this should be enough to report the issue.

I put my 5 peso coin in the slot and dialed the corporate hotline.

Voice Mail: "Sorry, this number is not allowed"

Sigh, apparently pay phones cannot access our DSL corporate hotline number. I'll have to go through the regular customer hotline instead.

Voice Mail: "Welcome to bla bla bla. Dial 1 to know more about bla bla bla, 2 to report a bla bla bla"

Garando: "2"

Voice Mail: "New and exciting features await you... bla bla bla bla"

The queued advertisement took about 2 minutes to finish. BUT there were three different advertisements queued.

Voice Mail: "Sorry all agents are busy. We appreciate your patience, we will get to you shortly as soon as the next agent becomes available."

Whistling along with the waiting music.

Voice Mail: "Sorry, all agents are busy. Bla bla bla bla"

Garando: "Sigh... "

Very bad music cuts in again.

Voice Mail: "Sorry, all agents are busy. Bla bla bla bla"

Garando: "Sorry, all agents are busy. Bla bla bla bla"

Very bad music continues.

Garando: "Oh, I give up! You win. I'll try calling again later."

I hung up, pushed the coin return switch, and waited for my coin to fall down to the change slot.

Nothing happened.


I slapped the side of the phone a couple of times, and still nothing happened.

Garando: "Stupid phone, ripped me off! That was 5 pesos for nothing!"

Then I saw a label at the top of the instructions, in really small fonts.

"This public telephone unit does not give change."

Garando: "You've gotta be kidding me..." (slaps forehead)

I decided to give it another shot. I only had two 1 peso coins left, so I had to make it count! Inserted the first coin, and dialed the customer hotline again.

Had to wait through the same annoying advertisements. Good thing the meter only starts when I actually get to talk to someone.

Voice Mail: "Sorry, all agents are busy. Bla bla bla bla"

Garando: "What's new?"

Voice Mail: "Sorry, all agents are busy. Bla bla bla bla... click!"

Operator: "Hello, how may I help you today?"

Garando: "Hi!! Boy am I glad to hear you! I need to report my land phone connection. I don't have a dial tone, I think I'm completely cut off."

Operator: "Have you checked your cable connections sir?"

Garando: "Yes, I did."

Operator: "And it's all connected?"

Garando: "Yes."

Operator: "May I have your name sir?"

Garando: "Sure, I am... Oh wait, I'm almost out of time, I'm calling from a payphone so I need to put one more peso in..."

Operator: "Sure, sir."

I put my last coin in the slot. I got another minute to finish up.

Garando: "Done. Let's do this fast though."

Operator: "Ok, no problem. And that number is at your residence, correct? Can I have the number please?"

Garando: "Yes, it's ###-####"

Operator: "Thank you, let me repeat that. It's ##... POP!!"

Garando: " ??? "

Operator: " ... "

Garando: "Hello?.... Hello?...."

Operator: "...."

Apparently the pay phone had lost its dial tone.

The phone was dead.

Same with all the other pay phones next to it, all three. Completely cut off with no power. Very familiar.

Garando: "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

As I write this, I still have no internet at home and I am posting from my office. I apologize for not being able to reply to your comments, or do some bloghopping. Will catch up soon as this mess gets sorted out!


Garando mode:
I wish I was Simon Cowell because I really want to hurt their feelings right now!

31 comments:

Midge said...

Oh, that just seriously sucks! Our internet provider at home was down all day yesterday and much of this morning.

Grrr... So much for their promise of tip-top / round-the-clock / super-ayos service!

jeanny said...

Badtrip nga yan. Hope things would be okay na!

Anyway, have a great Sunday :)

escape said...

that's an unfortunate experience. i hope that you get your line back the soonest time.

sheng said...

Simon Cowell is giving revenge in person of you, hehehe... that's a big *toinks*...anyway, keep your cool... some things just happen they way they aren't suppose to happen, and at times it's so frustrating...

Alice said...

That is NOT good! My condolences to your Internet line. I hope it's resurrection soon... :(

ms firefly said...

that is sooooooooooo annoying!
i hope everything goes well soon, and signal comes back. ^-^

no internet connection ranks highest with telemarketers and door-to-door salesmen in the annoy-me-meter of my husband. only at said circumstances will my ever calm and peace champ of a husband explodes. i hope that would never happen here! ^-^

witsandnuts said...

Yaiks, kakainis nga yan. Natawa ako dun sa Simon Cowell comment mo. =)

Leamsi said...

i know how it feels having no connection. we waited for ours for seven looonnnggg days. super irritating kasi buo ang bayad mo for the month tas ganon mangyayari.

anyways, patience is a virtue. hahaha! goodluck!

Missy said...

It was really a bad day for you :-( when it rains it pours hehehe, kakainis nga ang customer service sa atin.....hay wawa ka naman. Keep it calm and don't worry we're always here waiting for your new post :-)

kg said...

naku...ako walang alam sa mga connections na yan! :)

pldt phones ba yan? they are so unreliable. lucky ka pa nga you got through. he! he!

Unknown said...

And that's a good company which provides high quality services.
Oh yeah.
Try to skip one payment and you'll see their efficiency.

Anyway, if the problem also occurred with a public telephone than the problem would be of a much larger scale, wouldn't it? Isn't there any institution that do something about? Fight for the user's rights?

Anonymous said...

If it's a consolation to you, I think we all had that very same experience, I mean, of losing a dial tone and not getting it back for a few days; of calling the line provider and getting an annoying operator who promises to solve your woes but delivers nothing.

Haaay....

mordsith said...

i really get annoyed waiting for someone to a CSR to answer my call. and when I finally report my problem, he or she will put me on hold for eternity! argh!!!

Mai da Paypay said...

ack! hahaha! if I have all the time in the world to kill, I always enjoy talking to customer service reps especially if I have reklamo. The way they handle it always amuses me :P don't worry, you'll sort it all out. sana may internet ka na ulet! :-)

Chyng said...

That's very normal. DSL fails from time to time. And NO HUMAN will answer your call for customer service. haha

dodong flores 도동 플로오리스 said...

You don't deserve such lousy service.

I had the same experience from the past. Instead of using a payphone, I used my cellphone to call the hotline. It will cost you a bit but at least you won't run out of credit the way you would in a payphone...

Jules said...

I am sure that was the baddest day you had.Sorry for what happen,i hope everything is ok now..How's your weekend?=)

A Writers Den
The Brown Mestizo

Unknown said...

Kainis yun ah..Hope to see more from you garando,have a great day.;D

Travel and Living

Sidney said...

I understand your frustrations...sounds quite familiar to me... :-(

Hope your connection will be ok soon!

Jaypee David said...

hi there.. nice post.. thanks for sharing!

-enJAYneer-
JAYtography: An Online Travelogue

onyxx said...

i had a similar experience once... so i know exactly how you feel heheh. i only appreciated the irony of it all about 2 months later

Lantaw said...

hmmm PLDT? hehehe. some internet providers have hate websites especially made for them LOL!

physiquemama said...

Sorry but I must say that's a life...

Garando said...

All:
Thank you very much for your comments, suggestions and support, I really really appreciate it! Come to think of it, I wasn't really upset... I guess the situation was just too ridiculous I couldn't help but post about it here! :D
Sorry for not being able to bloghop, I promise to catch up on your posts soon enough! ;)

Maidapaypay:
You're back!! Great to hear from you again! ;)

The Pope said...

Grabeh experience mo, well I hope that by the time you read this one, your connection is restored already.

A blessed evening to you.

Rico said...

I would have pulled all my hair out from frustration.
But you still have some hair left I hope!

Anonymous said...

Ugh, annoying naman 'yan!

Hope you'll get back online soon.

Unknown said...

Whenever you have time check my blog as I awarded (or tagged) you ok? :)

Oman said...

i think you need to play "you had a bad day" in the background.

geez, shi* happens sometimes.

ALiNe said...

is this the reason why you havn't posted updates.. tsktsk

Garando said...

The Pope:
Unfortunately I was still disconnected when you wrote that comment. Thanks for the support! :)

Rico:
Yup, I still got hair left! And it's a good proportion of blacks and whites too. :D
I'm just worried about this particular spot where... never mind. lol

Dyosa:
Thanks! I'm back!

Shadowmoon:
WOW! Thanks a lot for the tag! Heading over to your blog shortly. ;)

Lawstude:
Yeah, I wish there was a song with "had a bad two weeks"! I'm just glad I finally got reconnected.

ALiNe:
Hello! Thanks for visiting Balut & Natto! Yeah, I can't really blog at the office so... blogging had to take a back seat until my DSL got sorted out.