In preparation for MoSup's tour of Europe with her sister, I set
up my notebook so she could check e-mail, and installed SKYPE so she
could call. It took me a few days to sanitizing, etc. At
the last minute she said the notebook was too heavy, and her sister had
purchased (for $100) a phone from an outfit called Travel
Cell. You can't use it to make a call, but people can call the
user with a special number. This worked fine for 3-4 days, but of
a sudden I began getting "The country
you are calling cannot be reached by direct dial WN009"
I tried everything, including asking my son (who is in Russia) to
call her Swiss hotel. Why? Because I was unable
to dial it on my Verizon phone! He e-mailed back that the
clerk said they were out drinking, but gave me her room number.
He had no trouble.
I try calling the Swiss hotel again, with no success, so I Dial "O" for
operator. I am given a half dozen options, none of which include
call assistance.
I call 411 and am told they can't dial long distance so I said
WTF? is going on and she says dial "OO" and they will help you.
I dial "OO" and got a menu of options none of which pertain to me, but
I picked one (billing). A live person said she couldn't dial for
me, but call the operator. I told her that I had without any
success.
"You have to dial 'OO and do nothing. An operator will then pick
up (I am not making this up)'"
So I did, and a live lady picked up and I told her what was going
on and she said that shouldn't be happening, I'm going to put you
through to tech." The line went dead.
I dialed "OO" again - same drill - and eventually got customer
assistance.
The robot voice says, "Your
confidentiality is important to us. Please verify by giving me your
account number"
WHAT"!
"Your confidentiality is important to
us. Please verify by giving me your account number"
Me: I don't have that information right now, I'm
calling you on my home phone, which you plainly see, so unless I
just broke in to use their phone, I am the customer!
"I
don't understand. Let me rephrase. Please say or type your
billing number."
 Arrggggh! I slammed the
phone and went to Verizon's "IN HOME ASSISTANT" on the computer.
I punched the "Live Chat" option and a half hour later I still
had no on line chatter (even though I was "3rd in the queue," so I hung
up.
Today I got this E-mail
Dear
Rodger,
TravelCell tried calling the phone and it rang just fine. It could be
at the time you called the phone was switched off? Please advise if you
are still having trouble reaching your wife.
Okay, I'll bite.
"The country
you are calling cannot be reached by direct dial WN009"
FkM!
I used SKYPE to call the Swiss Hotel.
Answer:
Very nice lady's voice said something that sounded like "Misseur, your voice has excited me in a
certain way, but you would probably think I am too young for you,
alas. What other way may I help you?"
"ROOM 2307,
DING DING -
DING DING
MoSup Answered! And let me tell you, it was the best, clearest
connection I have ever experienced! and all via ear buds on my
$200 recon'd ACER notebook.
SKYPE is my new phone for everything.
Of course all of you have been using SKYPE for ages but I'm old,
and don't cotton to new things that easily. As fas as this whole post
goes, I would never read anything this long and tedious, but guess
what? It's an e-mail to Verizon customer service. I'm
changing my plan with them. I'm just taking double credit here.
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