Sing along, won’t you?
That’s the sound of the line (line)
Connecting on the mo (mo) mo-o-dem!
Yep. We’re on dial-up tonight. Well, I am. If the DSL won’t cooperate — and it still won’t — then we’ve got to check the Drama Club email somehow, even if it means reaching back through the ages of connectivity.
Nikki’s on the phone. She picked up where I left off after scaling the tiers of power on the Earthlink technical service chain. I made it all the way to from the remote technical supporter to the stateside supervisor, but when he repeated the dreaded part I’d already heard, I had to call for backup.
Looks like the issue isn’t with us or with Bellsouth (Earthlink’s DSL backbone), but with my four-year old modem. I need a new one. Sure. But what’s that? $24.95 for 3-day shipping? And if I don’t renew my contract for a year, the modem itself will cost me another $49.95?
Call me entitled, but I don’t recall ever paying for a replacement DSL modem at any point in my Mindspring/Earthlink career. Before this Speedstream model, I had two others. Perhaps three. They just came with the service. After all, if there’s no modem, there’s no DSL and nothing to warrant my monthly bill.
So when it looked like nobody cared about my pleas of loyalty and ten years of service and remembering back when Mindspring was just a little rebel company … I handed Nikki the phone.
Time passed. Things were said.
We’re somewhere near the one-full-hour point on this call. Nikki was on hold just a few moments ago. She said that the customer service supervisor might’ve shed a tear. Now, the conversation is sounding more and more positive. I heard something about credit and shipping and no contract renewal.
A miracle worker, she is. And she wonders why I think she’s awesome.
