My internet service on my laptop went completely down on or shortly after July 13, 2012. Naturally, that coincided with one of busiest weeks, and I have spent the majority of my time this week trying to straighten it out. It's sad how simple things become complicated and take forever to resolve. Unfortunately for Sprint, I did have time this week to resolve it - and now they're scrambling trying to figure out how I just saved the cost of sending my computer to Dell Tech Support in India or have a Techie come to my home at the cost of $139 an hour, orf the cost of buying a new computer. They're really hot under the collar because the Attorney General just told them that they couldn't charge me for their internet service if they were unsuccessful in getting it to work. That last part would seem pretty intuitive, but they needed a letter with Lisa Madigan's signature on it to understand, I guess.
Internet service in my area has been sketchy with Sprint. I would get onto the internet and I would get kicked off all the time. I'm paying top dollar for this internet service - it's not free, so I demand that it be reliable. Sprint Tech Support worked with me all day on July 13th and through several of my off days after that. On the 25th I couldn't get a connection at all. So I wrote to the General Counsel at Sprint. for me, Customer Service gets two strikes and after that, I gotta go to the top.
I took my computer into a Dell computer authorized repair location and they told me the problem was the Sprint software that was built into the machine. That took six hours of my day to find out. I took it to the Sprint repair office, and after the Tech on duty added software package after software package, he still came up empty three hours later. I called Dell Tech Support in India and they said I needed to have a Technician come out at a rate of $139 per visit and $50 an hour plus the cost of parts. At that point, I was ready to just get a new computer. I have everything on a detachable hard drive, so what's the point of getting this computer fixed. I only needed it for the internet connection and if that doesn't work - I need to move on, right?
So I called Sprint and told them that even though I had a 2 year contract on their wireless service, since it was embedded in the computer and that software, or the hardware (depending on who you ask) doesn't connect to the internet, I cannot be charged for the service and I cannot be charged for breaking the contract. They went crazy at the thought of that - their internet service is not cheap, because it's unlimited. The General Counsel's office calls me and I three way us to the Attorney General's office. They exchange a few pleasantries and before the call is over, I hear this pledge "Ms. Brazil, we will find a way to make sure your computer connects to the Internet and it won't cost you anything...". I gotta give credit where credit is due - the Attorney General is worth every penny that she can wrest from our state taxes. That happened this morning, haven't heard a word from Sprint since, but my account was credited for the cost of the internet service immediately.
I called AT&T this evening. They handle my cable service, and they are always trying to get me to get something else from them. So I ask and they place an internet connection card to the side for me to pick up. I plug in the card and we're off to the races. I even have state of the art 4G, something Sprint doesn't have in this area. My computer is running like a top and I'm very pleased. I never had much respect for Dell products to begin with, but for a computer to completely break down after one year -that means everyone else with this embedded service will also have a chance to get out of their contracts.
Now, I can write again....
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