Oh, yeah! I forgot about that feature. I don't know whether the technology for seeing your info is too complex for them to figure out, or if they are trying to see if you are lying to them, or if it is just a great way to waste time so they don't have to talk to as many new people each day.
And the U-verse repair people are weird. The are Americans, I think, but they sound as if they migrated here from the funny farm.
When you tell them something they say, "Oh, I see. Hmm. Let's try something else. Unplug your modem again. Now plug it in and lets wait 10 minutes while it reboots. Is it done yet?"
I only deal with them on broadband aircards.
On one occasion I called because the aircard had quit passing traffic. I suspected that there was an account issue and running substitute hardware tests had confirmed that (to me at least).
So I called to verify status of the account and they turned me over to a tech who worked directly off the script:
“So, is it turned on?”
“Do you have it plugged in?”
Questions like that. I tried to cut to the chase but he wouldn’t/couldn’t go off-script. When he got to the point where he was going to talk me through the process of uninstalling the Communication Manager software I refused to go any further.
“I don’t understand. Don’t you want to fix your aircard?” he asked.
“Yes, but this isn’t the way to get there. Please transfer me to someone who can check the status of my account”
“I can do that for you sir, but first...”
“No ‘but first’. Please escalate this call to your supervisor. You can refer to me as a hostile customer if it makes you feel better”
I went through the same maddeningly obtuse procedure with the next tier and ultimately they got frustrated and escalated me once again. This one had the sickly syrupy condescending voice, “Now SIR, what seems to be the matter (with you!)?”
I explained the issues for what seemed to be the ninth time. This time I had stumbled upon someone who, even though she the slightest bit interested in actual customer service, wanted me off the phone - and had no point of escalation that she could punt me to.
So she checked the account. Knock me over with a feather - someone had placed it in “inactive” status. Don’t know who, don’t know why. She agreed (reluctantly?!) to reactivate the number and within a couple of minutes the card was working again.
“Is there anything else I may do to assist you today?: she asked with dripping sarcasm.
“No thank you - you’ve been most helpful” I lied.