MCI doesn't know how to listen

After my phone call with the barely English speaking MCI representative yesterday where I hung up on him out of frustration (not being able to understand him and the representative not being able to think on his own were the causes of my frustration), I received an email from Rajmohan at MCI:

We appreciated the opportunity to discuss this matter further with you by phone today, and would like to thank you for allowing us to resolve the issue.

I'm sorry, Rajmohan, but you didn't resolve anything. No wonder people are moving to VOIP and other carriers as service seems to be going downhill (if it hasn't already) with many large companies. I'm quite lucky that I don't have to contact service/support all that often as it would annoy me to know end to have to deal with people I can't understand and don't have a clue.

MCI Customer Service sucks

So after writing my last post, I got a phone call from MCI customer service trying to explain to me that they pay the Federal Excise Tax directly to the government. The guy with a heavy, heavy accent was reading directly from some piece of paper and didn't really understand what he was talking about. I could barely understand him and it is a good thing that I don't have to deal with MCI all that often otherwise I'd pull my hair out. I tried to explain to him that the tax had been repealed (OK, not repealed, but no longer collected). He didn't seem to get this and I just hung up out of frustration. It is completely unacceptable to have customer service representatives that you can't understand. They need to get a clue and realize that if people can't effectively communicate with their customers, they're going to lose their customers.

MCI is living under a rock

I received my Sprint PCS bill today and was pleased to see the slight decrease in the bill (about $6) due to the federal government no longer imposing the federal excise tax on most telecommunications. For those that don't know, the federal excise tax was enacted in 1898 to help fund the Spanish American War. I also got my MCI bill (local and long distance) and I asked them when they would stop collecting the tax (they're required to stop collecting it on August 1). Their response was laughable:

Please be informed that Federal Excise Tax is currently 3.00% and applies to all usage (interstate, instate, local toll, and international). This tax is imposed by and paid directly to the government, and has no connection with the Federal Excise Tax on Airline Miles/Rapid Rewards Surcharge.

I almost asked her what rock she (the responder) was living under, but provided links to articles and asked the question again. I'm so not impressed with MCI's customer service. As long as I don't contact them, their service is OK. I like having their Neighborhood plan (which they no longer sell) for unlimited local and long distance; the quality is better than VOIP and it is reliable. The only issues I've had is the voicemail indicator wouldn't stop a few times and when we moved, they made a complete mess out of things by cutting off our service 2 weeks early. Other than that, it just works.

I'm not a plumber, but...

Sometimes I pretend to be one. This past weekend, I finally decided to fix our toilet that seems to keep running as the flush chain keeps hanging. Since I had to muck with the toilet, I decided to replace the major components. It isn't rocket science to do plumbing, but it is harder than it looks. I figured I could replace the parts in 30-45 minutes. I open the directions (after the trip to Home Depot), unscrew some of the stuff and then get to removing the bolts from the tank. The bolts were rusted and wouldn't budge. 2 hours later after using my Dremel to cut them off (without putting a hole in the tank), I managed to get the bolts off and put the toilet back together. I didn't see any leaks from what I put back together, but the next day, the only part I didn't replace started leaking...another trip to Home Depot to get that part. This part only took about 45 minutes to replace instead of the 3.5 hours to get the other parts replaced. However, I cheated and gave up installing the "LeakSentry" feature as the little piece of plastic didn't want to cooperate.

So, after a few days, my toilet isn't leaking and it was a job well done (knock on wood).

This experience (I curse plumbing work every time I tackle it), reminds me of a Fraiser episode where Niles is talking to the plumber working on the toilet. In Niles's "I'm better than you attitude", he considers the plumber just a hired hand that doesn't make as much money as he does since he's a psychiatrist. They are talking about their cars and determine that the plumber had the same BMW that Niles had. Niles inquires as to why he doesn't have it anymore and the plumber responded that it was too small and he got the larger model. (OK, maybe my synopsis isn't great, but you get the idea.) I have a new found respect for plumbers and while I might not want to pay whatever rate they charge, it is probably better than me doing a plumbing job myself and doing it wrong.