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Comment by d2viant | Hacker News Reader

I'm not AT&T's "partner", I'm their customer. I pay them for service. I shouldn't have to find the optimal path through their system to get things done. Move to a different ISP, plain and simple. There's no reason the customer should be inconvenienced because they can't get their act together. It seems like a no-brainer to me, especially since some ISP's will give heavy discounts to jump ship from their competitors.

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I shouldn't have to find the optimal path through their system to get things done.

Consider this a "hacking a non-computer system" challenge. It is a very useful skill even if you never send YC an application, since there are at least a few organizations which are isomorphic to AT&T customer service which are very difficult for you to opt out of using. (Your local department responsible for collecting taxes, for example.)

Arguably it's not a non-computer system if the customer service rep is just a front-end for a finite state machine.

I agree with you. But if you want to actually get the problem fixed in real life instead of in a theoretical best-of-all-worlds, just dial the phone number. You can lead the revolution against AT&T after you get your internets back.

You could always ask to speak to their customer retention department (i.e. phone and say "I want to cancel my service") and then ask to be transferred directly to a line tech once you have a retention agent on the line. They're a lot more flexible in what they can do for you.

Absolutely.

Tangentially - I ordered ISDN service from Qwest about a year ago. The business ordering agent (ISDN is only tariffed for businesses in Washington) transferred me to a supervisor, who then told me to hang up and call the retention department, and gave me the number. Retentions was able to transfer me to the person who was responsible for ISDN ordering, who was very knowledgeable.

Lesson of the story: Retentions agents can transfer you anywhere.

99% of their customers would benefit from talking to that tech support person. As infuriating as the conversation was for a knowledgable person, it would probably suffice to resolve most technical issues people have.

I think the mistake was admitting to having a mac. A rule of thumb is to pretend that the computer is Windows / IE so the rep can go by the book.

It isn't always 'plain and simple' to move to a different ISP. Except for very few parts of the country, most users do not have a choice of ISPs.

But you aren't willing to pay for that, plain and simple.

Where do you think the money comes from to offer the jump ship discounts? The sky?

As someone who has the option of low speed dsl and satellite internet moving through the system as quick as possible and getting answers quickly is very handy.

But if you have other worthwhile choices that's great, until you run out of choices and have to go through the same system again. (Most ISPs seem to run a similar support scheme.)

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