September 08 2011 Google hates Microsoft
Part of my day-job requires writing a lot of SQL queries. I recently started digging into more in-depth queries than I’m used to so I started doing some more research (ala Google). I didn’t get very far before realizing that the results of my searches that included “MSSQL” in the search string were automatically changed to “mysql” by default. The suggested corrections that Google provides are usually pretty useful, but it seems kinda odd that a very specific (aka not misspelled) term is automatically and consistently replaced with a different (and competing) term. Not that it really matters…just had to click a second time to search for what I already typed in and tried to search for the first time.
Tags: SQL
July 13 2009 Why does AT&T suck so badly
Ah, yes…the question of our time. Why does one of the largest and most recognizable brands of our time have the worst possible customer service and policies of anyone out there, and yet we STILL continue to give them our money. I run an Internet Service provider and we pay over $150k per year in service fees to AT&T for a multitude of services and still get treated like shit by all levels of customer service within their company. It’s insane and should be criminal.
Here’s what sparked this rant: I finally got fed-up with the fact that I pay over $50/month for each of my office telephone lines whereas I pay $26/month for the same exact calling plans & features on my home number. I decided to cut some costs and port all but one of our office telephone lines over to Broadvoice SIP trunks and just connect my Asterisk box up to them. The move will save me over $600/year for our company. I had to leave a single POTS line with AT&T so we could still have DSL service into our office for testing modems and for our 24×7 Torrent box.
After all of the lines being moved were ported to Broadvoice, I called to AT&T’s Business Customer service at the telephone number they list on my bill in-case I need to reach them. I was calling to get the additional calling features (Caller ID, Call forward, etc…) dropped since it’s only going to be used for the DSL connection riding on it.
Here’s what happened when I called; keep in-mind that I had my customer number and gave it to each person so it’s not like they don’t know who’s calling:
- The first person couldn’t find my account and said I must have dialed the wrong department so they transferred me somewhere else
- The second person said she found my account but it’s an ‘Industrial Account’ and she’s not authorized to help me, transferred again.
- The third person told me I’ll need to go into an AT&T retail store to make the change (What?! There’s no such thing as an AT&T ‘landline’ retail store)
- The fourth person told me I would need to e-mail my request into them: “I’m sorry sir but we don’t take orders over the phone for those changes.” My response: Are you fucking kidding me?! You’re a PHONE COMPANY!!
I gave up and decided to leave it for another day….or when I can delegate it to an employee to deal with. I wish there were a decent and affordable alternative to AT&T. NOW I see why the FTC (supposedly) trys to prevent monopolys from forming. Fucking christ…
Share on FacebookMarch 31 2009 Incompetent Sales Staff at Tech Stores
So, I was at my local office supply store today; I won’t name-names but it rhymes with ‘shmaples’. I was casually strolling through the aisles looking for deals on some gadgets when I overheard the dialogue between a sales-staffer and a customer interested in buying a laptop.
The customer was asking the usual stuff like ‘Does this one have enough memory to stream videos on YouPorn’ and whatnot….you know, the usual. Then he asked another basic question: “Does this one have Bluetooth?”.
Simple, right? Everyone that has a cel-phone has at least a faint idea of what Bluetooth is…..right?! Especially for those of us who live in California.
NO-apparently the staffer (who had a prominently displayed ‘EasyTech Expert’ tag on her shirt) had no idea. Her answer? – “I’ve actually never seen a Bluetooth port before so I’m not sure what they look like. It’s got a monitor hook-up though.”
Now-in situations like these, I always try to not get involved…both for my own sanity and for the sake of embarrassing the salesperson (Side-note: My employees and I have been asked to leave this particular ‘office supply store’ a few times in the past because we were answering tech questions for their customers…ironic). In this case I couldn’t bear to let this poor guy continue the conversation with the salesperson without at least pointing out to her the obvious: “You know that Bluetooth is a wireless technology, so…by definition it doesn’t actually have a port.” Her answer: “Right”
Seriously – if you’re not qualified to give competent sales advice, get out of the computer aisle and go stack boxes of paper.
Share on FacebookTags: stupidity
