We were going to a soup supper at 5:30 and called our neighbor Marilyn, who was also going, to see if she wanted us to pick her up. Said we’d pick her up at 5:15. We were done with the computer about 4:15 and ready to head home. Car wouldn’t start. Called road service, which got there about 4:30. God knew we needed that particular parking space for more than one reason…it was a most convenient place in a parking lot for the serviceman to charge the battery. It was so low he said we needed a new one. The shop we go to was not too far away and off we went. Arrived there at 4:45—he closes at 5:00. The boss, Todd, teasingly said he couldn’t possibly do a job that late in the day. But he put his man on it and while he was working, I told Todd we had to pick someone up at 5:15. “Don’t want you to feel any pressure or anything,” he said to his man. He was done at 5:00 and we arrived at Marilyn’s at exactly 5:15.
When Marilyn found out we were having to go to the bookstore to use the computer, she offered her house (a very short walk from ours) where she has a router. This is much more convenient and we both don’t have to go together. When she’s not home, it’s the bookstore.
On Tuesday, January 31 (installation day), we were home all day waiting for that call. Eloise had to be gone during the evening, so I was here alone. I had to go into the bathroom, and to make sure I didn’t miss the call, took the cell phone with me. It fell into the toilet (water was clean!). I frantically fished it out and wiped it dry as best I could, hoping it wasn’t ruined. (This is our lifeline, remember!) It seemed to be OK, for which I was very thankful. “That” call never came, nor were we notified that installation would not happen that day.
I had a doctor appointment Wednesday morning, but before leaving I decided to call our PAD number from the cell phone to see if I got the same message the PAC said would be there. I reached the answering machine of a business! I tried it three times and reached the same business. I called the PAC. “Unplug the device, plug it back in, and try again.” Bingo! (At my appointment the doctor said my blood pressure was great. I can only assume stress is good for my health!) After the doctor visit I called TC to find out why nobody showed yesterday. “I’ll call you back in five minutes.” I called him back after a half hour … ”your router is on back order. You’ll have it in two to three more days.” Saturday morning I called TC to get an update…new installation date is Tuesday, February 7 (twelve days after ordering). In the afternoon’s mail was a final statement giving the credit for the unused phone service, but not for the unused Internet. I called the number for billing and was told I’d get a separate statement for the Internet because the billing dates were different. He then said he’d enter the credit right then for the Internet. I felt I was talking to someone who understood and not TCV (the canned voice), so I said to him, “I might as well dump on you, while I have you.” I explained to him a little of what was going on and asked him a couple of questions that we’d been wondering about: (1) If we’d called them before they disconnected and asked for the dry-loop DSL to be retained, would they have done it? He didn’t know, but didn’t think so … everybody would eventually be changed to the new system …it just happened to us now because of the change in service; and (2) The router we have works just fine. In view of the delay, could they reconnect the DSL we had until the new one is installed, because until then we have no phone, either? He thought “no” on that one, too. Hearing my story, he then told me he was wiping out the entire balance to zero to help compensate for the delay. So that conversation reaped dividends.
