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[wolfie]

This is a combination of 2 issues that are somewhat related.

1) During yesterday's power outage in Toronto, the automated phone message at Toronto Hydro said that they'd be updating the status of repairs on their Twitter feed. Hello, McFly, anyone home? The people MOST interested in the status of the repairs would be those who still didn't have power. Needless to say, these are the people LEAST likely to have access to a computer with a working internet connection, and would therefore be unable to check the reports of when they're expected to get their power back. POTS lines (the old-fashioned non-VOIP landline) generally stay "live" during a power failure.

2) A few customs brokers have started putting in their recorded message (before you get to the option to choose what service you want) that you can now check your PARS status (i.e. how far through the processing and subsequent acceptance/rejection by Canada Customs) on-line. Who is going to need to check their PARS status so they can correct any problems before the shipment reaches the border? Truck drivers. Are truck drivers more likely to have access to a phone, or to the Internet? Obviously a phone.

Businesses, please - sure it's cheaper and faster for you to provide information via the Internet rather than through either a recorded message or a live operator, but before you make the jump, THINK! If the people who NEED the information aren't likely to have access to the Internet, putting the information on-line has the same effect as not providing it at all.

[Greenday]

It's because everyone has smartphones these days. Hell, whenever the power goes out, I go on my phone and check the power company's website immediately.

[wolfie]

Not everyone has smartphones. Also, both of the cases I mentioned have an issue with smartphones:

1) In a widespread power outage, cell towers lose power. While many have battery backup, that's for the equipment itself, and not the climate control support gear. As a result, the equipment will overheat and shut down. Also, the batteries only have enough "juice" to keep a tower going for a couple hours, so a longer outage will leave no "live" towers. Finally, when there's a major emergency, cell service goes to hell even if the towers are still "live", simply because EVERYONE is using their phones.

2) Of the Canadian cellphone carriers, only one has a data plan that doesn't have roaming charges ($$$$$$$) when used in the U.S. Since any trucker checking a PARS is going to be in the U.S. and headed toward Canada, this becomes a major issue (and likely a reason to stick with a "dumb" phone).

[Andara Bledin]

It doesn't matter that not everybody has smartphones capable of getting Twitter or going online.

Enough people have one or the other that it saves everybody time, including those who don't, if those who do can go to a central site and check there as opposed to everybody having to call in to the same overburdened call center.

In neither case did you state that Twitter or online were the only options and I would be surprised were that the case.

[siead_lietrathua]

to the smartphone thing: you don't need one for twitter. i have a "dumb phone" shitty little paygo with a texting plan and i can tweet and get tweets on it like they were normal texts. it's easy to set up (and how i keep track of local wrestling, woo!)

otherwise i agree with andara. it's just one more way they can get stuff out on the grapevine.

edit: you can also get these funky things to charge a phone with. you pop a couple of batteries in, hook it to your phone, and it'll charge it. at least enough to keep you going (depending on adapter YMMV, etc)

[HYHYBT]

Right. Unless the ONLY option is to go online, as opposed to their merely letting you know the option is available, what's the problem?

[Andara Bledin]

I can understand how frustrating it is to be on hold with an entity while said entity is suggesting that you should totally be checking their online feed and not sitting on hold with them over the phone.

I've been there. And while it's not entirely rational, it is blood-preassure raising to have to listen to that on loop while waiting for a live person to help with your problem for which their suggestion is not an option.

Particularly when it's from a source such as a service provider whose service is usually a necessary component of doing so.

I've long thought that there should be decision gate before getting to the automated information that offers you the choice of either getting that info and a potentially faster answer while also being in the queue, or going to the 'just music please' section of the queue where you don't have to listen to constant suggestions to do something that is not a possibility due to conditions that should be obvious to the entity in question.

Of course, I also believe that any provider that is experiencing any form of outage should state that fact as the opening message on their automated answer system as that would cut most calls down to mere seconds. I know that one of my providers (ISP or power, I think) lists the option to check for local outages as part of the initial phone tree option list, while Earthlink not only doesn't offer it at all, but requires you to specifically ask if there is an outage, as their first tier techs will walk you through all of the troubleshooting steps they have in their little procedure list even if none of them will work because their service is currently not even functional. >_<

[HYHYBT]

One thing that would help, and not just for this: make yoir announcements ONCE. Don't keep on cutting in with the same suggestions over and over; if they were useful right now, I'd have done it the first time you brought it up. Likewise with "please stay on the line" messages; waiting on hold is much less frustrating without them, and the content I got the first time.

[Pixilated]

Aw Hell used to give out similar messages: "You can get help/get information/check your account online blah blah blah ..."

Well, that's nice. Except the reason I was usually calling was because my internet service had inexplicably gone poof. So telling me I could get info/get help/check things out on your freakin' website was no goddam help at all.

Yeah, I know that not everybody was calling due to an internet outage. But it was very aggravating for those of us who were.

It's because everyone has smartphones these days. *snip*

Not I. I have a dinosaur dating back to the days when it cost a small fortune (or possibly two small fortunes) to go online using your cellphone.

[Fire_on_High]

Of course, I also believe that any provider that is experiencing any form of outage should state that fact as the opening message on their automated answer system as that would cut most calls down to mere seconds. I know that one of my providers (ISP or power, I think) lists the option to check for local outages as part of the initial phone tree option list, while Earthlink not only doesn't offer it at all, but requires you to specifically ask if there is an outage, as their first tier techs will walk you through all of the troubleshooting steps they have in their little procedure list even if none of them will work because their service is currently not even functional. >_<

This, 100%. And do you know the techs will not only plead ignorance, they will occasionally LIE, too? They deny an outage, but you do absolutely nothing and it resolves...hmm lemme think here...

Aw Hell used to give out similar messages: "You can get help/get information/check your account online blah blah blah ..."

We referred to them as All's Hell Their current name lends itself readily to fart jokes, too...

[Bloodsoul]

Hell, the power going out is why I still have a rotary phone…

[Nekojin]

This, 100%. And do you know the techs will not only plead ignorance, they will occasionally LIE, too? They deny an outage, but you do absolutely nothing and it resolves...hmm lemme think here...

Oh, yes. This is one of the more egregious reasons why Andara and I left Earthlink. I had one phone call in particular, where I was just calling to ask about an outage, where the clearly-not-native-English-speaking tech wasted close to an hour of my time making me reset things, reboot things, and generally do bone-stupid tech checks that I'd already done, to finally discover that, oh, yes, there's an outage in your area.

[Andara Bledin]

Oh, yes. This is one of the more egregious reasons why Andara and I left Earthlink.

It was so bad, I was actively considering going back to Charter, and I loathe Charter. I just loathe Earthlink even more.

Thankfully, a bit of research led me to discovering a local ISP that is not only much more reliable, but who employs techs that not only can think for themselves but seem to be encouraged to do so.

[Nekojin]

It was so bad, I was actively considering going back to Charter, and I loathe Charter. I just loathe Earthlink even more.

Thankfully, a bit of research led me to discovering a local ISP that is not only much more reliable, but who employs techs that not only can think for themselves but seem to be encouraged to do so.

*nod* Furthermore, the experiences with regard to outages is night-and-day with DSLXtreme. We've had three service outages since switching. On the first one, I spoke with a tech who quickly and efficiently confirmed that there was an outage, and they were working on it. On the other two occasions, an announcement about the outage was in their Hold dialogue, so I didn't even have to wait to speak with a tech.

[wolfie]

In neither case did you state that Twitter or online were the only options and I would be surprised were that the case.

For the customs brokers, it's a time-waster (using up cellphone minutes) before being able to talk to someone in the office who can do the check.

For the power failure (paraphrasing), the entire message was that they were receiving a higher than normal call volume, if you want to check the status of what's happening in your area, check our twitter feed. (call disconnected).

In other words, in the power failure case, a method that couldn't be used DUE TO THE POWER FAILURE was the ONLY method of finding out. VERY frustrating, considering I live in one of the first areas to lose power that day, and for the last few hours I could look out my window and see lights on in other parts of town.