My console is doing the behavior listed here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907534 (three red blinking rings). Tried all troubleshooting steps listed and I don’t believe it’s an issue with the power supply as the light is green on the power brick when system is powered on and this happens on all power connections in my house. There was a disk in the drive and being unable to open the drive normally I used the method here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906935 to remove the disk. There has been no modifications to the Xbox 360 and only operated under normal use. I would like to request the system returned has a HDMI port as the console I’m sending in has one included. This is my second repair order (Service Request Number: **********) during Xbox 360 ownership.

Thank You,
vanlandw
*****************
***********************
************

Gamertag: gaming vanlandw
Service Date: 2009/05/06
Serial Number: ************
Product Id: ********************

Regardless I’ll keep everybody in the loop with updates. Now to send my Xbox to UPS, get some food, and go to Vo’s to make sure my 360 Hard Drive isn’t completely fried.

Update 1: I forgot to note that I’m sending the Xbox to the repair center using the same box and shipping materials they returned my previous repaired Xbox. Also I’m using the Print Label feature this time rather then having to wait for a box to be sent to me. Hopefully turn around time won’t be over three weeks like last time.

Update 2: Rather then going directly thought UPS like I did last time I went to an authorized place in Jenison called Aim Mail Center. The gentleman working there was very helpful. Noticed I was having problems with my packing tape and came around the counter to help me. Great customer service.

Today I was also able to test the Hard Drive on my 360 and everything appears to be working  without a problem thankfully.

Update 3: My 360 has arrived in Texas….

Update 4: My 360 is out to delivery to Microsoft’s repair center…

Update 5: Looks like UPS is what is holding up this delivery. My “Rescheduled Delivery Date” has been updated three times so now is listed for June 28th. Things are going bad so far my rough ETA is up again to three weeks best case on the speed of UPS ground shipping. UGH

Update 6: I might have been quick to judge on UPS shipping. Their site now  lists the shipment as recieved at 06/25/2010 7:46p so the shipping turnaround so far is 100% acceptable if Mr. Mesquite TX recieved the shipment on Friday. Repair status at support.xbox.com lists the status still as “waiting for console”.

+1 UPS -1 Microsoft

Update 7:

I would be elated if my system got sent out tomorrow that means I would have it back maybe next Monday/Tuesday for slightly more then a two week downtime. I’ll make sure to keep everybody posted.

Update 8: Xbox sent me a really nice email confirming they received my console and will be sending me  another one right away. Enjoy this poorly photoshopped picture of the message. On my last repair they did not do this and it’s a step that is appreciated. The repair process for Xbox’s under warranty is fairly painless process and this step is a positive for customers who are not as anal as I am. +1 Microsoft

Update 9: June 29th 7:39 AM I received another email from Microsoft

An Xbox 360 console has been shipped to you from our service center.

Regardless of how weird ”An Xbox” sounds it’s nice to know a console is on the way. There is a chance system breakdown to return might be under two weeks. Personally I’m hoping to have it on Friday. So far so good. Watch me get returned a 2005 Xenon version with no HDMI and the shiny DVD drive scratched to shit and with children’s fingerprints on it.

Unlike my last repair Microsoft did go ahead and register my new console. They are returning me a “Xbox 360 Exchange Pro” and I have no idea what that means. The Internet doesn’t really either. If this site is to be believed deciphering the serial number shows my new Xbox was created in China and built in the year 2008. Gives good hope to being returned a HDMI model.

Update 10: 7-1-10 9a – It’s been over two days since Microsoft sent my Xbox back and my tracking status is still…“>>> UPS could not locate the shipment details for your request. Please verify your information and try again later.”

In the email sent they really did mean “It can take several business days for UPS tracking information to be updated online once your console leaves our shipping center.”

After being optimistic about return before the holiday there is no chance it comes before Friday. Best case next Tuesday.

Update 11: Yup next Tuesday at best sadly. My 360 hasn’t left Mesquite yet. Today at 12:52p the “Origin Scan” was placed. The emails sent from Microsoft are slightly misleading. That was over two days from the email sent saying my console has “shipped”. Also this is coming by ground so it will be about 2.5 weeks turn around. I’d rather them just email when the 360 has truthfully been shipped rather sitting somewhere for a few days. Assholes…

Update 12: Email sent today 7/3 from Xbox Live…

This mail is confirmation that your subscription to 1 Month for $1 has been cancelled on Saturday, July 03, 2010.

Given the membership is worthless without a console this message went straight to the trash. Assholes…

Update 13: Checking shipping status at UPS shows my 360 will be sitting in a warehouse in Wyoming MI for the next three days. I believe UPS doesn’t ship on Saturdays and they observe the 4th holiday on Monday. Thankfully it’s a busy weekend but it came REALLY close to getting my console returned before the holiday. Oh well I’ll let everybody know Tuesday how the return goes.

Update 14: As expected the UPS delivery came at 2:20pm July 6th 2010. Turnaround time from failure to return was June 20th – July 6th. If it wasn’t for the holiday worst case it would have been a day shorter. Faster then my last repair but that counted delivery of a box to send the console in that I wouldn’t suggest anybody to do. Make sure to just use any old box and use the free printing label option to make the repair time faster.

The return came with slightly different literature the second time around. Non personalized letter regarding admin functions (warranty registration, extended service contract). They also said they were sorry for the inconvenience of having to send the 360 in for repair. This was all handled in three languages. They also continue to give you a free month of XBL service that I will use when Halo Reach comes out (unless somebody wants to play something online but I don’t expect that to happen in the summer).

In two languages was a picture tutorial/reminder to reconnect the controller to the console.  In three languages a reminder regarding downloaded content due to the new serial number assigned to the console (this being my third 360 in 16 months).

This newest console was returned again with HDMI support (sorry Vo) and is again clearly a refurbished system. There are scratches on the body and wear along the hard drive chassis. I was also able to find some sticky residue and paper on the console as well. The power button and disk eject button are very firm and don’t feel as used as my first returned system. Overall this seems to be an upgrade. Even the smell is better.

Now that the console is returned I’m going to spend a few hours getting my downloaded content reauthorized and using the system for a little bit. I’ll update the post later today with hopefully final thoughts.

Update 15: One thing I would like to mention is how horrible reauthorizing your downloadable content is on a new console. It’s a terrible process. On my 360 I’ve downloaded 118 items, some that I want to keep some that I’ve already deleted. There is no way to reset this where it only auths the content that is on the HD or where the download list shows what you have. So for all 118 items you have to review if you have it still on your xbox or if you either need to redownload it or ignore it.  This process took forever and I ended up downloading items I didn’t want. Also you can’t queue up over 30 items as once so it needs to be baby sat. Doesn’t help how unresponsive the 360 menus are.

After getting the cords setup and using the power button for the first time the response on the button iss a little mushy. Seems that is to be expected on some systems but my previous two were not that way. The disk drive that came with the system seems to be the “BENQ VAD6038″ that at this point cannot be flashed or used for mods. The system seems very similar to my previous xbox’s I don’t believe it’s any different as the power adapter I’ve had since my first xbox works. Last night I played a few hours of Mass Effect 2 with no problems. The system appears to be quieter but I haven’t tried a game that was running off the disk yet.

At this point I’m going to call this saga closed.Overall really the process was rather painless but still not something I would hope anybody to have to deal with. With the amount of money invested into platform it can be stressful knowing the brain of the operation is sitting in southern Texas being repaired. Any questions on the repair process let me know.

I forgot to post about this back in June. Email today sent to me from “The Best Buy Rewards Zone Program”

You may remember receiving notification in June 2009 about changes to the Reward Zone® program. This is just a reminder to explain the changes that will be affecting your point balance.Please take a moment to review the important elements of points annualization.What is points annualization?

•In February, Reward Zone program accounts with 250 points are automatically being issued reward certificates to the nearest $5 level

•Any remaining account balance below 250 points will be forfeited

•The annualization of the program is based on your purchases as of December 31, 2009

Apparently Best Buy needed to make up a word to hammer the point home that the Rewards Zone Program is now a joke. What this means is you HAVE to spend $250 dollars with Best Buy within a year to make even being part of the “Program” worth it. If you don’t hit that goal all your purchases are worthless to the program when February rolls around.

Last time I checked I was at about 180 points. Today I’m back down to zero.

I used to carry my Best Buy card with me everywhere. Today I ripped it up and threw it in the trash. Seriously what a bunch of idiots it’s just a worthless matter of control making the customer think their purchases are going to lead somewhere. Honestly it’s not even worth it’s weight in my wallet for a five dollar gift certificate.

Go beyond status messages

Share updates, photos, videos, and more.
Start conversations about the things you find interesting.

This is absolutely the LAST feature I would want tied to my personal email. Clearly I’m not a “status update” kind of guy. Nobody cares what I’m doing anyway.

I opted out. I made sure I was sharing nothing then on the bottom of your gmail there is a link “turn off buzz”. It took so much work to migrate towards one personal email account years ago. I came close to switching today after Buzz. It bugged me in one day I could have something “social” being tied to my “personal” email. Sadly I believe I can’t “stop” anybody from following me. I fully understand that many google services are tied to your google profile but still this one is a pill I didn’t want to swallow.

I would say this is required reading for anybody using Buzz.

There is already a lot of insanity on the web it’s impossible to catch up, keep track of everything and be apart of every conversation. Right now I’m swimming in Google Reader items as I have been for months.

1000+

I’m drowning in web projects I can’t even find the time to start or even clean up abandoned ideas. Google Buzz is just another hopeless distraction I can’t be apart of.

Really I would love to know how everybody deals with this problem I can’t imagine I’m the only one. Honestly it frustrates me and could use any tips, rules, or methods anybody employs.

Update: Looks like things are getting better at least I can block people I don’t want following me. Time to go back and make sure to block everybody.

Update 2: I love this story. Well it’s serious in nature but still it’s the truth. Seriously Buzz is just a nightmare. Buzz assumes that everybody lives these glorious lives where ones entire social circle  integrated and loves one another.

Update 3: Yeah just hitting the “turn off buzz” icon is not enough. Quote from Google Help documents…

Disabling Buzz

If Buzz isn’t for you, you can turn it off it by clicking the turn off buzz link at the bottom of your Gmail (it’s near the basic HTML link). Please note that this will only remove the Buzz label from your Gmail account.

To completely stop using Google Buzz, you also need to block all followers and delete your Google profile (which will delete all of your posts and connected sites) before clicking the turn off buzz link.

Abysmal…

Update 4: New York Times puts everything together here. Hopefully more people read this and hopefully massive changes are done to Buzz. A single click “opt out” would be nice. Also I’m unsure if “blocking all followers” means I lose everybody on Google Reader? I might need to get a hotmail account.

On Google Reader I commented to a friend thinking about replaying the game on veteran the following…

…if you cherish your sanity don’t even attempt playing that game on Veteran on the 360. You have to be able to predict the future have uncanny reactionary time and be able to perfectly wield the 360 controller to be able to survive. If I could I would record the choke point I’m on now seriously you have to play perfectly to advance it’s awful.

I might not be the worlds best game player but I have been around the block a few times with hard games. I’ve defeated Ninja Gaiden, God of War 1/2 on it’s hardest difficultly and the list goes on. Not that Half-Life 1 is “hard” but I don’t think I know another person that has beat it due to it’s confusing lack of  direction.

I’ve done it twice.

Hell I grew up in the Contra Era. As a freshman in college I remember me and vanberge sitting for an epic co-op session defeating Contra five times in a row. For ages me and vanbergs would play Contra: Shattered Soldier and that game requires a pure learning process of enemy patterns and deciplne I’ve never seen in another game for two players to progress. Oddly enough that game only made it feel like your own fault for pershing.

Call of Duty 4 is just another beast all together.

This is the only game where I  watched videos online of people beating the levels to find a plausible strategy to beat choke points. The two hardest areas are both timed and I believe will continually throw enemies at you. The game requires you to learn where enemies are placed (sometimes) and also be able to continue quickly.

“You will not survive” is correct.

Watch this video.

This is the final checkpoint of the mission “Heat“. This checkpoint took me FOREVER to beat. The guys can kill you almost instantly and you have to be very quick using the air strikes and forward progression. A few AI exploits and a little luck and I was able to get past this after countless attempts.

Watch this video.

This is a middle checkpoint for the mission “No Fighting in the War Room“. The first flashbang I was able to throw flawlessly. If you don’t do this part fast there will be two guys instead of the first guy to the right. In this level there is at the least two parts where guys are cross firing so it’s almost impossible to get past a section. The next video will display this better. Let me make a picture of this.

As you can see the red dots are bad guys. The green dot is “Soap“. As modern as warfare has become Infinity Ward twice on this level has designed guys to pretty much cross fire upon one another in attempts to kill you. These points the guys are pretty much standing there waiting for you to come around the corner and kill you instantly and friendly firing upon one another.

Ugh

Watch this video.

There is an “epilogue” mission called “Mile High Club“. I tried this mission haphazardly multiple times and was only able to get to the stairs. Watching this video you have to be an amazing shot and have a little bit of luck to complete. There might be a possiblility I’ll keep trying to beat it but really it’s so freaking hard. Your flashbangs have to be perfect and your shot just as much on veteran.

As much as I wanted this post to be the “end all” of Call of Duty 4 really it’s not. I haven’t defeated all the challenges and I’m not an “expert” at the game by any means. This all started as a quest to understand why these games are so popular. I do have more of an understanding and honestly I did find some enjoyment in COD4. Beating this game on Veteran is one of my highest gaming achievements but not even close to what I would say was an”enjoyable” experience…and it’s entirely my own fault. What in the world was I thinking playing this game right off the bat on it’s hardest difficulty (hint ‘G’)? This was the first game I’ve ever done that with.

As a “van” I’m a stubborn SOB. I had to beat this game but really I didn’t “want” to.

Thinking about maybe that is testament to the game?

Pressure

The game is so grossly overscripted and pressure the player to act along with how the designers want the game to be played.

I’m pressured to continue moving forward. I’m pressured to not play how I want to.

Sadly I believe many people enjoy this type of gaming.  The feeling the designer wants the player to have is that of fear and the overbearing burden of “Modern Warfare” but as a game it just feels cheap. Your character is constantly pushed towards the “next checkoint”.

Go here do this and do it this way.

On veteran difficulty these feelings are amplified to an un-recommendable state. There are choke points where fleets of enemies will CONTINIOUSLY keep going to hiding spots and be able to kill you practically instantly.  For max enjoyablilty I would highly suggest normal difficulty where it plays more like Halo because using a controler has alot more room for error over a mouse and keyboard. CoD4 on Veteran has NO room for error. None…

There are highspots and even the constrictions of the experience do bring out. Noted here by Mitch Krpata the the sequence helming the AC-130 in Modern Warfare really is indistinguishable from documentary footage of the same gunship. Behind the rifle shooting does feel responsive and quick. With the game engine attempting to hit 60fps, action  is fluid and but sadly at a cost at sub HD graphics at 600p. There are other plusses but in the matter of keeping things short I have to agree with they.misled.us the game is “Average for medium”.

If I had the power to influence…

• Migrate away from nameless/faceless player avatars that can aim and fire. The scripted deaths would be much more powerful if the player had a larger connection the playable solider and their deaths would hold more weight.
• Allow the game to properly slowdown. The game does this once (All Ghillied Up mission with Captain MacMillan) well but sadly is a follow the leader sequence and the pace is again frantic. Stress is good and all but that doesn’t feel “Modern” at all it feels like WW2.
• Rouge sections. Lone Wolf. Lack of supplies. As a character the world is littered with weapons and being able to regen health honestly doesn’t make any sense.
• I could go on for years

The sequel made sales of $550 milion dollars with five days. People enjoy these types of games. For me Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare  feels like having your hand held though a shit storm.

According to the world of stat tracker vanlandw is apparently 1-1-0. UGH

Vanlandw Sticking a Fork/300 Foot Sword Into FFX

My thoughts on the game mirror on the tone of jjafuller’s. He wrote two posts (one / two) mostly as rants but rants that are all valid. After reviewing these posts I believe I agree with everything he said. The cut scenes from 2001 do not hold up with recent offerings and the stutter on multiple characters when they speak (Yuna, Auron,Lulu in particular) is borderline annoying. The voice actor for Wakka (John DiMaggio) is the lone standout but he is almost non-existent towards the final act. Also the guy for Seymour grew on me as the game moved on he played a good asshole.

Absolutely 100% Unskippable

The main  gripe I mean to touch on is the unskippable cut scenes and the genuine pacing of the game.  In Final Fantasy X you CANNOT skip cut scenes. Now, I love cut scenes. The Metal Gear Solid series is my favorite series of games and those games are LOADED with cut scenes. The thing with FFX is when you are having problems with bosses sometimes you will have to watch a five minute scene over and over again. Before you fight the final boss you have to go though the dreaded “Crystal Room” then sit though a long cut scene before the battle. On my third attempt on the final boss I put the controller down and made food. Earlier sections of the game I was cleaning my apartment during the cut scenes. The pacing of this game drags it down so much. There is so much time twiddling your thumbs and rewatching scenes it ruins the impact the game is trying so hard to bring. After looking at videos for Final Fantasy XIII it looks like the battle pacing has been radically changed.

SPOILER ALERT SIN IS JECHT! As the characters in the game remind you of every cut scene

Another thing to be discussed is the absolute broken combat. In this game your characters can only gain “AP“  by being “active” in combat. That can be, defending, boosting, or pretty much any action during combat. Your party in FFX can have up to seven characters. Some battles could be won in as low as three actions. There are so many times I had to have my characters be brought into battle to do nothing that required nothing to be done by them. My strategy for a large amount of the game is “how can I defeat my enemies so all my guys can do something”. This also gets you into a bind at some points. You bring in somebody to do something then one of your guys dies, then you need to bring them back to life to get AP. This drags battles way longer then needed and then in turn makes them more frustrating then need be. Keep in mind I used only three characters to defeat the final boss and swapped nobody.

There is a lot of “good” in this game but sadly to a 29 year old male this was the only game aside from World of Warcraft I’ve ever played that felt like “work”. After a point I was listening to my iPod just to make the time go by faster. Honestly I like the music a lot in this game. It’s not as “iconic” as many of the Final Fantasy soundtracks from when I was younger but the “To Zanarkand” track is fantastic and I like how throughout the game many variants of this song was used. Moreover, the “Tutorial” section at the start of the game has a very fast pace and has a great “frantic” feel to it. I wish more of these style of battles and exploration was used rather then the countless “Trial” rooms.

Beneath the Rubble Lies my Copy of Final Fantasy X

This all started because vanberge and vanbergs made fun of me for never defeating this game when I was in college. As a “van” part of being a “van” is being stubborn. I made it a very firm point at this junction in my life to once and for all conquer this game so I will never receive any additional grief about it EVER again. As my favorite track from the game plays in the background to a degree it makes me sad that I did finally defeat this game. As myself and everybody around me gets older will there be another game that I’m driven to the brink of insanity to defeat? Will any outside forces ever again fuel my desire if only for spite to be victorious in a electronic medium? This post and these thoughts are forever timeless. As my final image to a “vanlandw” I leave behind in my past along with Final Fantasy X I leave you my readership with this……

EF YOU FINAL FANTASY X I'M FREE AT LAST

For me the thing that I’ve always liked about game consoles was that it wasn’t television. I could turn on a video game console and get away from everything that bothers me. Now with next gen consoles with both NXE and now PS3 3.00 you are CONSTANTLY hit with advertising. It’s WORSE then television. You cannot use your dashboard without being hit up to spend more money. It’s appalling there is no opt out either.

On previous PS3 firmware there was only one link to the Playstation Store and when you selected the icon it had no advertisiung and it was located under the “Playstation Network” selection so I could 100% ignore it if i wanted to. Personally this was a huge bragging rights I could express to non-ps3 owners. Keep in mind on the 360 I have 15 “friends” and 0 ps3 “friends”.

On PS3 3.00 now they added a “Information Bar” that cannot be opt out that constantly rotates ads for the Playstation Store. Also they added Playstation Network icons under the “Games” selection and the “Video” selection right above where you would choose your movie or your game disk. Also now hovering over those icons shows ads for movies you can buy or games you can buy.

To me this is just unexceptional. If I could hide the icons I wouldn’t have a problem. If I could turn off the constant ads in the top right I would. This console cost me $500 the last thing I should have to deal with is constant ads just to get to content I already own. This blog is going to be posted on the playstation blog on the slight hopes that others dont’ want to deal with this. Regardless I’ve turned on the setting to auto play (a setting I actually don’t like) on the hopes of seeing less advertising on MY console.

Sony please don’t rip off Microsoft in this regard. Make your advertising optional because I can tell you I’m not going to give you a dime if you continue throwing advertising in my face.For some folks this might be acceptable but for me to I find it highly disappointing. When two of your first four features are rotating advertising and shortcuts to advertising I think you have a problem.

Watch the video below to watch some guy pump these new “features”.

Sorry for the rant

Update 1: I posted my comment after publishing this post on the official playstation blog and now it’s currently “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” right now. My comment should be #1158 and I will check later to see if they publishing it. Personally I”m betting they won’t. It’s nice to see many other people commenting about their dislike for this update. The Xross Media Bar was one of my favorite things about the PS3 now I just dread it because of unavoidable advertising.

Update 2: Sony decided not to post my comment linking to this post along with a calm and critical evaluation of the firmware upgrade. Utterly not shocking but still disappointing considering all the strong negative feedback they have received.Again not shockingly they closed the comments at over 1,500 strong with the following at the end…

Chris Morell replied on September 1, 2009 at 11:49 am
Sorry, but we’ve closed comments on this post for now. Thanks for all of the great feedback on this firmware update! Feel free to continue the discussion over on the forums: http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/search?submitted=true&q=firmware+3.00

Very interesting maybe they will release 3.01 that will fix what everybody is complaining about but I doubt it.

Update 3: If I could take PS3 screen shots I would love to show how this informative “bar” has slaughtered my theme and made my current wallpaper unusable. Forgot to note this.

8/25/09 – As noted earlier I had about a 11 day outage of service at the start of July though 4th of July weekend and beyond. That was another multiple call and multiple tech visit issue that ended up being an issue with the “central office”. After deciding it’s not even worth the effort to get reimbursed for the loss of service I let it go and was prepared to pay my full bill come the next month.

This past Saturday came the 100% unexpected. I received TWO bills from AT&T. Both with my name, and address on it. They both had different account numbers. When I was having on going problems last month I received a”new users packet” and during one of my countless calls to AT&T I was told not to worry about it. My second bill with with the new account had a charge on it for a new modem (I did not ask for or receive) and a full month of service charge. As anybody knows after reading all my previous posts support hell is coming.

Rather then giving a full account I’m just going to do a short account.

Total call time: 1:40
Times Hung up on: once
Times Transferred: 7
Times I asked for something and didn’t get it: countless

Seriously their support structure at AT&T is so stupid. There are so many people answering phones that don’t have access to other things and it makes no sense at all Also doing a blind transfer between departments is just inexcusable. One person says a Modem was sent another says it wasn’t. Apparently this modem could be from my initial setup and apparently I might have never paid for it.  After all the problems I had with my initial setup and all my bills after that I never got charged for the modem. At this point there is no WAY that I’m going to pay for it especially after this. I even asked if it was possible to combine the charges and I would pay for my last month of service and the modem and cancel my service and that did not seem possible to anybody to be able to make that happen for me.

At this point after talking to multiple reps that the second account is closed and canceled. I refuse to pay for the DSL modem at this point after all the problems I’ve had with my service and paying for service outages. Today I sent out the check for the full $45 dollars for July/August counting the 11 days of loss service. There is no way they are going to get me to pay for that DSL modem.

Regardless I really need to find a new service provider. Comcast I guess would be the best choice but I don’t want television service and I don’t want to pay more then already do. Does anybody have any suggestions seriously AT&T has treated me so poorly it’s embarrassing to still be sending them checks for what they offer me.

This post is going to be different then the last one. Fully expecting my setup to take ages I wanted to have a full account chronically of the experience. After going about three months with no issues at all my rage subsided and was “OK” with my service. From when I finally got my service setup I had no problems other then not hitting the advertised speeds I’m paying for. Running bandwidth tests I was never able to reach even 3MBPS even though I was paying a premium for 6MBPS.

..and it begins..

Everything started last Monday June 29th. After some “mild” weather I came home from work and noticed my internet was down. Not thinking much of it at the time I didn’t bother calling support thinking it could have been due to the weather. Tuesday June 30th my service was not returned in the  morning and again I didn’t think much of it. Driving to work I saw three AT&T trucks within an eighth of a mile from my home. Drove to work assuming my problems would be all fixed by the time I got home.

Clearly everybody has to know where this story is going, got home no service. At this point I decided to contact support and get the ball rolling. Called the “general” support number at about 7:50pm. After about a 15min wait time I got on the line with a CST. When he got on the line I told him exactly what I’ve tried (everything anybody with any sort of tech knowledge would try before calling) and I also informed him of my previous issues (I would assume their first level would have access to my entire call history) ON TOP of telling him about the trucks in my area. I gave him EVERYTHING he should need to get my problem fixed and to the right support team. This turned into about a 30 min + conversation of typical tech support. Ran me though modem reboots and actually had the audacity to have me “blow into the phone jack” while I was on the phone with him. Flat out I said “I’m not going to do that” proceeded to use compressed air just to keep things moving. After doing everything he asked me to do (and yes I understand this is their job and I did not give this tech any exorbitant amounts of crap) he finally put in a trouble ticket to the “line support” team. Mostly I believe this is transferring me from foreign support to american support.

About 15 mins after getting off the line with “support one” I got transfered to “support two”. Actually an automated call was placed to my phone that I missed then had to call customer care and wait on hold for another 15 mins. The first guy couldn’t give a shit about my frustration but the second guy was very sympathetic (actually all the AT&T people non first level I’ve interacted with are very very good more on this later) and worked with me to setup a time to have a tech come to my place. Most of the time I’ve been thinking my problems were outside the house or in the lines and was positive it wasn’t a problem in my place. Support two said I would need to be home for the tech appointment and they had no times after 4:45p. Sadly I was working all week early morning late afternoon so I would need to make an appointment for Saturday 4th of July. AKA your not going to have service for four days. Overall my first support interaction took me an 1.5 hours of hold’s and tech talk time.

Four Days Later: Saturday Fourth of July. The tech called me after morning breakfast said he was on his way. He was VERY good at his job and again very sympathetic of my situation. Before calling me to  check the house he did his job outside and needed to check the basement. Looking at my line he said that “I wasn’t getting a signal from central”. Now this is where I got pist not at the tech but just at AT&T in general. How in the FUCK don’t they know they have a hardware failure like this? I’m not a server room tech I don’t know how ISP’s work but seriously give me a break. The guy said he was going to go down to “central” and see if somebody can fix the issue. Understanding this is a holiday I assumed nothing would be done but he would call me with an update. An hour later he said he submitted a ticket with “roving support” to fix the issue at “central” and more or less I would be down till Monday. I was ok with that as I was leaving the house for the holiday and left it at that. The tech was great he gave me the number to his manager confirmed my ticket would stay open and again was very helpful.

Monday July 6th. Came home after work at 4:45p and found my service was STILL not restored. Did the typical (modem reboots reconnects blinking red DSL light). First called the managers number and left a very detailed and respectful message including  names ticket numbers and my overall issue. Next I called “customer” care. 10min wait and got a hold of a lady that couldn’t care less about seven days of service outage. She told me my ticket was closed on Sunday and I received no follow up. I told her explicitly my issue and that I was disappointed with lack of follow up and asked if I would receive follow up on my second ticket. She told me that everything was “automated’ could give me no reassurances. She told me a bunch of BS about having my issue looked at right away and I totally called her out on it (again I wasn’t a dick) asking if I would receive a callback tonight and pretty much she said to call back after 2pm tomorrow if the problem wasn’t fixed. So pretty much another incident was opened thrown in the back of the queue to rot while I get over charged on service that hasn’t worked for a week that from the start I’ve been told is an issue at “central” they cannot fix for me. UGH

Tuesday July 7th 2009: Ok well here I am posting my frustration with my service still not fixed. I believe I’m at my final straw with AT&T. After posting this I’m going to call my FINAL time to get status on my issue. My DSL light is still blinking red and I’ve recently tried a power cycle to no differences. I’m going to call customer care to check the status. I’m not going to give them till 2pm because I understand how support works that just affords them another day to fix your issue it’s not like things are magically fixed that customers need to wait till 2pm. Also 16 hours later this “Manager” has not called me back but I just assume he’s on PTO or something not shocking. OK here we go…calling customer care for status then asking to be transfered to the billing department to make sure I’m not getting charged for this outage and if I don’t like how this call goes I’m going to ask to be transfered to the “cancel your service” department.

UPDATE  1: July 7th 2009: About 20 mins after posting this I received a call back from “Chris” the “manager” I called previously to find an update on my service. Had him on the phone for about two minutes. He was pretty much a cut the chase guy. Asked me for my ticket number and that he would check into it and get back with me. That was about 11a and he called me back after 3p. I got back in return pretty much what I expected knowing how segmented AT&T support is. He said the problem is on the “DSL Provisioning side” and that “the central office is not providing a DSL signal” to my house. Knowing he works with the techs that come to people’s houses it makes sense his guys couldn’t fix it and I understood.

As I said earlier the weirdest thing was just how SEGMENTED their support is. He kept saying there was nothing he could do and nobody else he could get me in contact with other then the Customer Care number for a status update. Telling a paying customer who hasn’t had service for eight days “it maybe an internal thing they are working on” is pretty much bullshit. For the most part this was a dead end and to be honest I received more then I expected in a callback.

Immediately after getting off the phone with “Chris” I decided to call back the Customer Care number again to check the status of my WO. Waited on hold 10 mins (keep in mind I’m doing this during work time on the SILM hopes of having this taken care of today as nothing will come close to getting done after 5p) and got what sounded like a helpful and competent gentleman. Again explained my situation and my downtime and gave him my current WO number. I was put on hold twice and he apparently made some calls. After it was all said and done he said “it should be a couple of hours and you should be all set”. I also specifically requested a call back multiple times provided my callback number requesting knowledge of the resolution. It’s been almost three hours and have not heard back (not that I was expecting to but I figured it would make something interesting to write here).

For some reason I believe I relish in the pain of all this. Tonight I should be home late and right now I’m at my last straw. For the most part I’m not going to deal with this issue tomorrow and Thursday so for the most part they have a free pass till Friday morning mostly because it’s taking to much time to deal with them and I won’t have that time the next few days. Tonight I will post another update with my findings and I will make sure to post the thrilling Finale on Friday. Seriously this is pathetic AT&T should be ashamed of themselves.

Update 2 August 6th: Yeah I regret not posting the finale to my AT&T Nightmare. Mostly I got fed up of the time sink thinking, writing, and dealing with AT&T was becoming. Ultimately I was able to get my service restored. Rather then account everything it took about 10 days and two tech visits to decide it was an issue at the “central office”. A few weeks after that I had another single day of downtime that only required three phone calls and one tech visit to get repaired. If I had more time to deal with this and if I could find a good deal on another provider I would switch without reservation. AT&T had done nothing to earn my business and in the month of July I had over 10 days of downtime that I was fully charged for. Honestly it’s not worth the effort to do anything about this anymore.

The only thing I’m curious oabout anymore is if anybody has any “inside knowledge” about how AT&T’s internal support structure works or if anybody can provide me firm knowledge of what the “central office” is. Mostly I’m just worried about ongoing issues at this location and would like to know as much as possible. If anybody reading can give me any information I would find it very interesting. Also if any random readers have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me I would be more then happy to share my full experience and help if requested. brb