Tag Archives: Internet service provider

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Tricky Situations: Or How Ma Bell Fails Customers

Bell is my Internet Service Provider (ISP). Has been for years. There are options, but I’ve stuck with Mother through thick and thin. This week thin has been see-through.

Norton, McAfee etc. vie for our loyalty in the Internet protection racket. Ma Bell has her own service which is not compatible with the instantly downloadable providers. Instant gratification is a term unfamiliar to the old girl. I needed a modem replaced – 3-5 day wait. I could cancel my service and install a competitor in less time. Eventually the wait time dropped to 24 hours – I counted my blessings – I could have opted out.

The installation of the new connection went relatively well, until Ma Bell alerted me to an incompatibility issue – Norton and she were not on speaking terms. Norton was included on the new computer. Ma assured me I would be protected, so I sent Norton to the Pale, and let Ma bully me into accepting her protection. Wrong!

I found out today that I haven’t been protected for 4 days, because I hadn’t activated the service. I hadn’t activated the service because I didn’t have an account. Yeah, I do…not that account says Ma, but another account with an additional fee. From free to fee, and no protection.

Once the other account was sorted, I asked when I could expect the protective services to begin – not until Monday. What? I have to wait. I have a system already installed and could turn on in 2 minutes, and I have to wait 3 days for your service. Ah come on, Ma.

Switch? Don’t think so. I firmly believe that none of the available ISPs will be any better at customer service. What I wouldn’t give to remove myself from the tyranny of ISPs.

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What the coding and security boys forget – an #AhHaMoment

The main user interface of Norton Internet Sec...

Image via Wikipedia

The Fox Shop customer service debacle continues. I’m getting crankier by the minute. But I’m tenacious [reference to the Glee Project is not intentional], when it comes to online human interface. I know that coders and Internet security types are woefully uninformed when it comes to the human experience online.

There had to be a reasonable explanation for the problem I’m experiencing. I think I figured it out. The automated customer service system recognizes the email address from which a message is sent. When that address does not match the primary address, then the system automatically assumes a security breach or error has occurred, rejecting the form submission.

What the security and coding boys didn’t think of when they set the registrations system up was to inform the registrant that the primary email address should be the one from which most messages will be sent.

In other words…like everyone I know in the universe…I have 2 email addresses. I use them for different reasons, but behind both is my ISP’s email address. My second address delivers to the ISP address. But when I send emails they come from the ISP address regardless of which address I used to register an account.

If the FoxShop had made it clear that the auto system only recognized the email address associated with the account from which my messages would be sent, then I would have chosen email address 1 not 2 for my account email.

I am off to check my theory. If true, then I’ve added one more rule to Prisca’s rules of human interaction online. The list is growing!

PS – 5 minutes later – the system worked like a darn, when I changed the email address. Come on programmers…you got to think like a human being some times!