2001-07-11 - 8:02 p.m.
Remember what I said about sending in your change of address at the last minute when you move? Do the same thing with your cable service. Drop the little box off at the office and cancel your account on your way out of town. It'll save you one big reoccurring headache.
Our original move plans were scheduled for tomorrow, so two weeks ago I called the cable company here and put in a disconnect order for July 10. When everything went to hell last week, I cancelled it. This morning I called again to schedule it for the last week of this month. Shortly afterward, my cable tv and internet services were terminated.
This is the second time my internet account was cut off. Each time the family moving into our house puts in an installation order, it wipes out my file because two accounts cannot share the same address. Since both of us have been bouncing around moving dates, no thanks to the fruitbat agent in Virginia Beach, we've been spending a lot of time on the phone and my cable account has turned into a mess that makes tech help pause and ask for my phone number so they can call me back after they've deciphered it.
My saving grace is my ability to flirt with tech help. I'm not leggy. I don't stop traffic. But I speak geek. And I have a great telephone voice. And, trust me, if the guy on the other end of the line thinks you're a nice, sweet person who's working just as hard as he to get the problem fixed, he'll be willing to try a little more before passing you off to the second tier. Now, sometimes you're better off going up to the next level. But if you know what the problem is (which I did) and how to fix it (which I did) and you want to get it done as quickly as possible, (ditto) you're often better off talking the first level tech into what you want. Second tier techs know more, know they know more, and are generally less flexible.
The rules of calling tech help: Be calm; Be thorough; Do what they ask you to; And begin your own suggestions with "This might sound crazy, but what if we try x."
Another crisis solved. On to the cheerios in the living room carpet...
