You Think I'm Muddled?

Talk about muddling through, just try dealing with Verizon. It started simply enough when my wife called Verizon to question a service we had ordered. That went well and we even managed to save $20 a month in the bargain.

Then the fun began. Next day I get an email that tells me my Verizon Security Suite has been canceled. What the...? We didn't cancel that service. In fact, we were working in an entirely different set of services. So I called one of the many toll free Verizon numbers and navigated through their voice mail until I finally got a person to talk with.

Next thing I knew the line was disconnected. Can you redial and get the same person? You jest. So here we go again through the message maze until finally I get another person. They must have a gazillion people working their customer service numbers because you never get the same one twice. And when I ask if I can call them back directly if we get disconnected again the answer is no, of course not.

So I finally get a sympathetic young man who chats me up while checking my account. How's the weather up there, he asks? Where I you, I ask? He's in Florida. Well, we had a Florida sort of day here today, I said. And by the way, how are we doing resolving my security suite non-cancellation. Oh, we'll have to transfer you to Rachel. She'll take care of it. Oh, yeah, well Brian, you better stay on the line with me until I hear Rachel's voice because I sure as hell don't want to be disconnected again and have to go through all this rigmarole a third time. I do have a life I like to lead.

So Rachel comes on the phone and I make her pledge that if we get disconnected she'll call me right back 'cause sure as shootin' I can't call her.

Well, bless her little heart she restores the security system that should not have been canceled in the first place. No one could explain to me the unsolicited cancellation. The best one of the Verizonites could come up with was that someone must have hit a wrong key.

Is it any wonder this so-called modern world is all muddled up.