It seems that there is “Indian English” and “American English.” Indian English literally puts the accents on different (wrong) syllables. And sometimes they talk fast and act like you are slow if you don’t understand them.

I like the idea of asking for American agents. I once had an Indian Dell agent who didn’t seem too hot, so I asked for an American. He said there would be a longer hold time for that, but then his service improved and he solved my issue.

I recently spent way too much time with Amazon, trying to do something which took five minutes to do in the past. (Someone gifted me e-books, which I wanted to return for credit without them knowing.) I like to use chat, because it’s all in writing. After being passed around like a hot potato, I gave up and told them off. The worst thing I said was calling them bastards, but I told them I wouldn’t say what I wanted to, because it was obscene.

It occurred to me after I disconnected, that if you ask for a supervisor you should verify that the person they give you *is* a supervisor.

Also had an experience many years ago, the first of three incidents where AT&T tried to cheat me. They finally did what they were supposed to do, after I yelled and swore at them.

I am running for office in a small NY town and need to run ads for my campaign as they are the cheapest and one of the only ways to advertise hyper locally.

I am not a tech dummy. I buy and sell stuff online and have been doing so for years. I have never experienced anything like the problems with FB political ads.

At one point you have to upload your driver’s license and then they SNAIL MAIL you a secret code so you can get to the next step.

There is ZERO help. It’s like dealing with the nastiest, most FU robots in the universe.

If anyone out there knows the secret of FB political ads, please tell me.

Thanks.

Supervisor did not know of the incident. She and I were the only people in the store. As for appearance and attitude, I’d be very surprised if the company put up with that for very long. I’d be even more surprised if she didn’t provoke complaints from people who aren’t as easygoing as I am.

“Anecdotal” example: I have a subscription to satellite radio and found out I had been mistakenly overpaying for years. I tried calling and faced the same problems, long hold times, accents etc. But one of them suggested I go through the website. I did so and soon got a full refund, a not inconsiderate sum.

Not suggesting this is a panacea but phone support is probably the least, um, “cost-effective” from the corporate POV.