I’ve got no problem with having call centers in India or anywhere else, however I don’t see any reason not to hold them responsible when they screw up.

I called Qwest at 12:20am (Mountain) on July 18th and was given the run-around for 45 minutes while I tried to convince the lady reading the script to me that I needed a new modem. I thought I’d finally done so, and she assured me I would have a new modem within 24 hours if I was willing to pay a “deposit” – which I readily agreed to (though I was never told the deposit price). Given the time of day, I figured it was reasonable to expect it in 36 hours (delivery on the 19th).

Since she said someone would need to be home to receive delivery of the new modem, I thought it smart to call and verify that the modem would indeed be delivered today. After all, I can’t be at the coffee shop (where there is working wireless) and at home at the same time.

After getting another vaguely helpful rep in an offshore call center and sitting on hold for another 15 minutes, I was able to get the tracking number for the modem. I then called UPS and found that:

1. No details for the package were in their system yet – which generally means that the package has not yet been picked up.
2. That tracking number was for a ground package.

This did not make me particularly happy.

I called customer service (rather than tech support). After explaining the problem and waiting on hold for another 10 minutes, the customer service rep then transferred me back to tech support – but this time to someone in a US call center. This fellow informed me that there was no replacement modem order in their system for me.

Ugh!

He told me I had 2 options, he could overnight a modem to me or I could go buy one myself at Best Buy. I opted to have them send one out, but now I’m re-thinking that. I might swing by Best Buy and see what the damage is on a modem. His estimate was $60, rental is $3/month – life expectancy seems to be about 2 years, of course if it dies faster then it’s my problem. Naturally I was next door to Best Buy yesterday and could have just bought one then and avoided most of this entirely.

Advice on renting vs. buying a DSL modem is hereby solicited…

UPDATE: it looks like the modem I currently have is $90.

UPDATE #2: I bought a DSL modem for $20 off Craig’s List, but it seems not to work so well. Hopefully the modem that should arrive tomorrow will work properly.