A long day in the customer service line

I've got a congratulations and a complaint today.

We'll start with the congrats because I"m feeling like good news. I bought a great Samsung printer in mid-2007 but there was a bit of a programming glitch that kept popping up. It got bothersome enough that I called customer service. After a fairly frustrating day dealing with people who act more like automotons, it was nice to get a person who actually knew what he was doing. When I called a computer voice told me that the wait would be about five minutes but they were on in three. Then, after discussing my problem for about 60 seconds, he told me what the problem was and that the tech service guys would need to email me a fix. Then, you know what he did? He actually called the tech guys himself and it was in my email box within ten minutes. So, in total, my problem was fixed in under fifteen minutes. CONGRATULATIONS TO SAMSUNG for doing the right thing and to the customer service rep for actually fixing a problem and taking care of the customer. Customer service is practically non-existent these days and it is a moral imperative to recognize it when it comes along. Even better, I'm not paying any premium fees to receive good service from Samsung, they just did it. I'm now a devotee.

Thankfully my good experience happened late in the day because it's always nice to finish on a high note. Earlier, I had the misfortune of actually calling a billing department at Verizon and expecting them to know something about my bill. I've got to hand it to them for their commercials which are excellent, but their affiliation with Idearc Media is a nightmare. Let's just say that while advertising does work, advertising with them cost me more than the business I received by a lot. It doesn't help when the company you are supposed to be working with crashes your website and then blames it on you. The details are too painful but if you really want them, email me. Just don't do business with Verizon's directories or Idearc media if you can possibly avoid it.