How to lose a friend in 30 minutes?

Raymond Law — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:38:00 -0400

Since I have Verizon FiOS running perfectly for 3 days now, I called to cancel all my Cox services. It took 3 attempts to do it.

First call:

I navigated through their complex and redundant voice menu to finally hear “Please hold.” Boy they mean it. I was put on ‘silent’ hold for 15 minutes, then a strange music was on then off, and back on hold I was. Taking a peek from working on my Macbook, I was disconnected :(

Hmm… I figure they really can’t afford to lose any more customers to Verizon and they are probabl thinking maybe I will change my mind and call Verizon instead to cancel my FiOS. Nice try!

Second call:

Again I was greeted by their automated voice system. BTW, Cox has been my friend many times more than the number of friends I made since I had ICQ, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, Skype, Facebook,... combined.

Here is the conversation (not exact word by word coz I can’t possibly remember that many words coming out of a robot’s mouth):

Robot: Thank you for choosing Cox Communications, your friend in the digital age. (Some spanish…)

Robot: Welcome to the Cox automated service, ... so tell me in just a few words, tell me why you are calling today?

Me: Cancel services.

Robot: Did you say “Change your existing services?” If so, please say yes,....

Me: Cancel!

Robot: I am sorry I did not understand you. Please try again. You can say in a few words…

Me: Fucking Cancel!!!

Robot: I am sorry…

I just hung up… Should I send them a letter through USPS?

Last call (hopefully ever):

I made yet another friend with Cox. Usual greeting not worth repeating anymore.

Robot: Thank you for choosing Cox Communications, your friend in the digital age. (Some spanish…)

Robot: Welcome to the Cox automated service, ... so tell me in just a few words, tell me why you are calling today?

Me: Cancel ALL services.

Robot: Did you say “Cancel all services?”

Me: YES!!!

Robot: Okay. Please hold while I transfer you to a representative…

Apparently, the key to cancel with Cox is the word ALL.

I finally was able to speak to a guy who helped me cancel my services with Cox. He asked:

Human: May I ask why you want to cancel?

Me: (Not wanting to hear any last minute pitch about how I would suffer after losing Cox as my friend) I switched to Verizon. It was cheaper, works better, got more stuff. It was kind of a no-brainer.

That finally sealed the deal and ended my long-lasting friendship with Cox. So I wrote this post to celebrate my new friendship with Verizon FiOS, hoping our friendship will not come to a bitter end.

I have Verizon FiOS installed!

Raymond Law — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 15:48:00 -0400

The technician came at 8:30 in the morning on a Sunday and woke me up in bed. I am actually appreciative for the guy to show up early and on time. Cox never keeps their promise…

This guy, Jason, is probably one of the most knowledgeable technicians that I’ve ever had at my house. He seems very proficient at the installation of the ONT, BBU,... And he had the TV remote controls memorized! He covers his shoes before walking on my carpet. So that’s a bonus.

The router Verizon gives me is actually very capable. Before, I feared that they would lock many configurations and not let me mess with it. But it actually turns out to be a MUCH more capable router than my crappy DI-524. And it does true WPA2 (it is initially configured with WEP, so you have to manually configure it). the TV set-top box actually connects to the router as 192.168.1.100 to download programming, so do NOT block anything above 100.

I ordered the 5MB/2MB D/L and this is the result of a speed test:

So far I am quite happy with the service and ready to dump Cox.

Raymond Law: Tag verizon

How to lose a friend in 30 minutes?

I have Verizon FiOS installed!