Woosh customer support now answers their phone with ‘Hello Ritsa, what can I help you with today?
I finally caved last week and got a broadband connection at home. After extensive research (which is quite difficult with a dial-up connection) I chose the folks at Woosh. Woosh seemed quite happy to have won a new customer. I bet they’re sorry now…
The lovely Maria* from their sales centre welcomed me to the programme, and assured me that I would be able to install the ADSL router and set up my connection myself. ‘Errr no, Maria.’ I protested. ‘My online moniker is technebish for good reason’. (N.B. Nebish is a Yiddish word referring to a person who is awkward, ineffectual, a bit of a dope). ‘No worries,’ said the lovely Maria, ‘if you run into problems, just call customer support and they’ll talk you through it in 10 minutes.’ Famous last words…
After laying out all the contents of the router box, I proceeded to read the instructions all the way through. They may as well have been in Swahili for all I comprehended. I tried in vain to match up the dozens of cables and widgets with the ‘items in this box’ diagram. I still had 4 bits left over that I could not classify. Oh dear…
Anyway, it took 4 rather long and painful calls to the Woosh customer support line, to get me online… during which I was heard to utter such gems as ‘so is the ethernet cable the one with the squidgy end or the angled end?’ and ‘is that the hole with the drawing of cactus above it?’ Total phone time was about 80 minutes, of which 65 minutes was me asking idiotic questions. Through it all, the 3 customer support operators I spoke to were patient, polite, …well… saints really. Snaps for you Woosh customer support.
At the end of the process, I still have 3 cables and 2 dangly bits left over. However, I can now carry my laptop around the house and get online from any room. I could be typing this while sitting on the toilet (I’m not, but I might be next time).
*Maria’s name has been changed to protect her from the murderous wrath of her colleagues in customer support.