Raising the bar? I don't think so.

In another episode of "wait on hold foever" we find our hero desperately trying to wiggle his way through the maze that is Cingular Wireless. I am so disgusted anymore by how long companies let you hold. Maybe it's because I have spent over 8 years in the Call Center striving to make all of my customers not have to wait more than 20 seconds on hold, or maybe it's just common fucking sense that I should not have to wait on hold since I'm a paying customer. In any case, I took Cingular up on this amazing offer to migrate from the now defunct AT&T Wireless and today my brand new shiny Motorola flip phone arrived in the mail. The instructions inside were simple enough. 1. Charge battery. 2. Call this number to activate your new phone. After waiting on hold for several minutes I was greated by a woman who within 2 sentences placed me on hold for several more minutes. Then she came back to clarify what the fuck I was calling about and got me right back to holding. Thanks! When she returned the second time, she explained that she couldn't help me. I asked her what number I should have called and she didn't know, but she said she could transfer me somewhere else. Before sending me off she was nice enough to warn me that the hold time I would be facing now would be 10 minutes. Okie dokie. This is fun.

30 minutes later, I get Heather who asks me the same shit as the first gal and quickly determines that since I didn't come through the automated system and select a bunch of shit, that I could not progress with activating the new phone. Fucking sweet! I politely asked Heather in a not so pleasant tone what number I should be calling in lieu of the one in the fucking box with the phone and she was kind enough to give me a completely different number (that she said may not be 100% right) and then told me the department I need is closed. I didn't ask, but I assume the closed at 10 PM since I was speaking to Heather at 10:01 PM.

I decided to say fuck it and keep the old phone operational for the rest of tonight and begin anew in the AM. I guess the bottom line is that since cell phone companies force you into these 1 and 2 year contracts, they know that you aren't going anywhere without paying and they can making you hold or jump through as many hoops as they like. What a sham. I want to got back to 1987.