Ranadok …doesn't have much better to do

A tale of two tech supports

I recently had to deal with tech support for two totally different companies on two totally different issues. They were two totally different experiences. I offer them both up as a contrast.  Plus, I want to complain about Rogers.

First Issue: Dead Roomba, iRobot

My poor robo-buddy just up and died some time around the New Year. It stopped charging, giving no response whatsoever to being plugged in or to any of the buttons. No rhyme or reason, jut got up one day and decided to not work. I was not impressed, I had only had it since October.  I did some testing using the charger and battery from somebody else's Roomba, and determined that it was the robot itself. Great. To make matters worse, I dropped my Roomba while I was working on it, snapping the front wheel assembly clean off.

This is not good.

I contacted iRobot support via their web page and explained the situation, my accident and all.  After a couple diagnostic questions, they decided to replace my robot, charger, and battery. Outright. With a better model, with more features, with no cost to me. They even gave me an upgraded  'fast' charger and let me keep the old robot/battery/charger to use as spares (well, they suggested recycling it, like that's going to happen).

I think that went well.

So to iRobot customer service, I say good job. Excellent job, in fact. At best I was expecting them to have me ship it in for repair or perhaps ship me a bare-bones replacement and have me ship the dead one back minus the accessories. Shipping me an upgraded unit is certainly going above and beyond. I just hope the new robot lasts longer than the first one.

And dirt detection is an awesome feature. I don't know how it works or how reliable it really is, but I love it.

Second Issue: Mandatory Android Update, Rogers

Now this is a totally different beast; It requires some back story. A bug was discovered in Android 1.5 back in September that prevented 911 calls under certain circumstances. Google fixed it, T-Mobile issued an OTA patch with the fix in October and they moved on. Rogers, with the exact same phones running pretty much the exact same software, ignored the problem until last week. When they finally realized the problem existed on their phones, they issued a quick software update for the Magic that both fixed the problem and included the promised Sense UI update. OK, fine. A little late perhaps, but at least they got an update out and including a promised major software update at the same time. The problem came in when they decided to make the update mandatory... and cut off the data for everyone that didn't upgrade. Because that makes sense.

Now the problem is that I don't want to run their upgrade. I'm perfectly happy with the software I have on my phone. In fact, their upgrade would actually downgrade my phone from 1.6 to 1.5, losing all sorts of neat features that I like (new market, faster camera, new map/nav, Google Goggles, and so on and so on). In return I would get... a non-standard replacement for the default UI (which I happen to like). That would be like Shaw cutting off your cable internet because they wanted you to apply an update to Windows XP after you moved on to Windows 7, and they refuse to reconnect you until you can prove you've done it.Time to talk to Rogers.

So call number one. I give them a ring, sit on hold for about fifteen minutes, talk to some fellow named Henry or George or Alfie or something like that, and explain the situation. I've already upgraded to 3rd party software, the 911 problem is already fixed on my phone, I don't want to run their update, and so on and so forth. Hank hems and haws, checks with 'level 2' and finally tells me that I'll be fine, as I am running a newer version than the one that has the problem. No guarantees, but my data should not be cut off when the deadline rolls around. That is exactly what I wanted to hear, so I thank him and go about my business.

Kind of pretty, but so very much not worth it.

Then Sunday rolls around and I have no data. Fun times. I did read in several places that they may be cutting off data to everybody - even those that did the official update - for a minimum of 24 hours. Fine, I'll let it wait. Two days later, no data. Of course, data is 90% of what I use my phone for, the actual 'phone' functionality is secondary to the ability to search the internet and check my email. Time for call #2. This time I'm on hold for well over an hour. When I finally get through (to Craig or Brian or Morty or something), the conversation pretty much consisted of me saying I don't want to run their downgrade for something that doesn't effect me and him saying that there was nothing he could do about it, so just install the update and deal with it. He tried to make it sound like he was breaking some giant rule by suggesting I could re-root my phone after the data was updated, but it was clearly just an attempt to get me to go away.

So... I 'updated' my phone. I took the long route in order to make sure it didn't give the perfected SPL (much harder to root later), and installed Rogers's terrible ROM. Long story short... it is terrible. Slow, buggy, non-standard. Cool features from 1.6 don't work and nothing it adds are worth it. HTC's Sense UI is alright, though very dark (and slow, laggy, and so forth). I may tough it out until the 2.1 update hits just to give it a chance (and to make sure Rogers doesn't cut me off again), but I definitely prefer the stock UI.

So all in all from Rogers? A terrible experience with idiotic customer service practices combined with incredibly unhelpful phone support. The end result is me having a slower phone with less features than I had a month ago, all to 'fix' a problem I didn't have.

They should have just sent me a robot.