On the Contrary

Some of you may have noticed my missing blog with a “UNDER CONSTRUCTION” banner.  I think the appropriate term is being deconstructed.  On Friday, 18 July, I tried to post a really informative, witty, and deeply intellection Vine/Wine Friday (and now you will never know) only to get the message on my blog administrative site, “URL NOT FOUND”.  For those of you who techies, that meant that the address I have been using for the last 18 months no longer existed.  After some investigation, I found a notice on Hughesnetwebservices.com (these guys are who I subscribe through for my blog) that the site was being worked on but would be back after about 8 p.m. on Friday.  It wasn’t and it wasn’t up by Sunday either, but I did check my blog itself at http//onthecontrary.us and it was still there.  Curious.

So Sunday evening I sent an email to support at Hughesnet describing my problem.  Okay, first thing Monday morning I get an nice email from them giving me a brand new address to administer (post) my blog.  I log in only to find a whole new software suite I will have to learn and no old blog to edit, i.e., I had to start from scratch.  Time to pickup the old telephone.  So I called them and sure enough I got Eddie from New Delhi (names and places may be changed to protect the innocent).  After several dropped calls, miss-starts, and miss-directions, and an independent call to a company (quite reliable) called Tucows who had the contract apparently from Hughesnet to administer my blog, I found out that they had ended Tucows’ administration (too bad because they spoke English, were competent, and from the culture I am from) and had migrated (that means moved over in IT talk) the files and administration to Hughesnet which had then installed new software to manage it.  I was getting a serious feeling of foreboding.

Okay, but I don’t care about any of that because as of Monday morning my blog itself had disappeared and replaced with the “UNDER CONSTRUCTION” banner.  I just wanted it back and besides I am flowing out all these blog essays and they are getting backed up in mental constipation.  So finally Carlos (new guy, but when I greeted him in Spanish he was flummoxed) says he has created a new “ticket” and they will migrate my files over by Tuesday.  So along comes Tuesday and you guessed it, nothing.

Now I am starting to get really warmed up.  This has taken up about 6 hours of my time now, still with no resolution.  So I get another able person from Mumbai.  I had to start from scratch but he finally figured out the problem after three or four conversations with his supervisor and they assured me that they would get my site restored enough that I could use the new software (which I have no idea how it works) to get my site reconfigured and they would send me two months free credit for the inconvenience.  Since I am paid up through December and I make over $100/hour, this has cost me more than 6 hours so far and they were giving me a $8 credit, I literally jumped for joy.  But I could be up by Wednesday so please, just get it done.

About two hours later I get an email saying that my “ticket” had been resolved, that they were going to give me two months credit, but since their new software did not support the old site, I would have to create a site from scratch and transfer the “text” file by file to the new program.  And oh, by the way, they lost all my pictures.  Hot is not the word.  Let’s review.  They lost my old site, destroyed my data and their fixed is eight bucks and I could rebuild it if I wanted to take the time.  So long, it’s been good to know you.

That’s when I sent them the termination notice and the request to transfer my domain name (onthecontrary.us) to another web hosting company that was rated very good and I called their tech support number and talked to someone who was in this hemisphere.  Not that this is an easy process, because Hughesnet is dragging their feet as we speak on transferring it, but when they do, I will have to start again, learn new software, build a site, before I can start bombarding you with my wine induced thoughts.  But at least these  new guys are fairly competent.  By the way, I did log into the “new” Hughesnet site, construct a blog just so I could leave a message about their incompetence and my upcoming move, but it never posted and all you get is “UNDER CONSTRUCTION”.  I could call tech support, but I think they know what my content is and it is never going to post.

You can come to either of two conclusions about this:  First is that if this is the state of American commerce, no wonder we are a receding power.  I don’t know if they created a plan and did risk assessment and mitigation planning (standard project management stuff), but if they did, they did one sorry job of it.  Second, they apparently had no plan when “shit happens” and it always does.  In my case the approach was just to flush it.  Outsourcing your contact with your most valuable resource, your customers, is just plain stupid.  Then there is this nagging thought I have:  The second possibility is that the government has finally caught up with me, they are on to me, and they have silenced the website.  But then I think Arianna or Kos would get hit long before me and Olbermann would be looking for work.  No, I just think it is the arrogance of a large business that doesn’t know their customers and won’t have them for long.  Maybe they learned their long range planning skills from Ford, GM or Chrysler.  Anybody need another 12 mpg vehicle?

One last thing:  I am not against outsourcing of tech support, even to India, Pakistan, or Bangladeshi, but there is a difference between understanding the language and understanding the culture and the difference is a total lack of communication.  That is multiplied by no one in charge having any real authority in the tech center and trying to move each call along to reduce their wait time.  Companies may need to re-think this little cost saving strategy as most of us are tired of having a 10 minute problem take hours to resolve and our time is important too.