Customer Disservice

I'm on hold as I write this, waiting for my telephone company to help me register my SIM card. For some reason my dumb phone (as in "non-smart phone") stopped recognizing my old SIM card last week. I called the phone company, followed one prompt and then another before waiting on hold for 15 minutes. This in order for the nice lady, whom I could sometimes understand, to tell me to remove the card then put it back in. Of course, since I'm not an idiot, I had tried that several times without success. So, when it again failed, the lady said she'd send me a new SIM card.

The card came in the mail today and, following the directions that came with it, I put it in the phone. Of course the phone didn't like that and displayed, "unregistered SIM card." I think I'd have liked it better if it had just growled at me. The instructions suggested going to the company website for assistance. I tried every link that could remotely concern registering my SIM card but there was nothing that could help me. So, after going through the phone tree again, I'm on hold and have been for 30 minutes. I wish I could bill them for my wasted time.

Most of us have had similar experiences with this and other big companies who have relegated customer service to "necessary evil" status. It was nice in the days of old when most every national company had a local office where one could speak in person to another human in order to solve whatever problem they might have.

As for my experience today, I eventually hung up and called again.