Tag: technology

Mom’s Internet Saga

After my mom’s Xfinity internet was fixed, I was still determined to change her provider because I didn’t want to go through the same experience again. I ordered Astound service for her address, even before her Xfinity was fixed. This ended up being a very stressful half-day because I didn’t realize that the technician would call me about 30 minutes before arrival, and I went to my mom’s at 1 PM. The technician ended up coming at 5:40 (past the appointment window), and he couldn’t find where to disconnect my mom’s Xfinity, and we ended up working together (me looking at the meter while he tried to unplug different connections outside). He worked till 7:30, and between 1 and 4, I had constant calls from work, while the internet at my mom’s house was far from perfect.

Not to mention that I sat on her bed for all six hours, surrounded by two computers, two phones, and without any support for my back. And not to mention that I started working at six that day to make sure I was mostly done by 1 PM, and I notified everyone about that.

But the good part is that my mom finally has reliable internet for a very modest price, and I also got $200 credit on my account for sign-on. Canceling Xfinity was relatively painless, because they already had my record of dissatisfaction :). Now, the only thing left if to ship their modem back, and it’s sitting here at my home ready for shipping.

Mom’s Internet

Mom’s internet has not been working since last Sunday (August 9), and I have already spent close to ten hours on the phone with tech support. The worst part is that each time you have to go through an AI agent that tries to send you back to troubleshooting, and you can’t explain that this’s your tenth call about the same issue and that you’ve already done all the troubleshooting. On Friday, a technician finally came to my mom’s house, but even there, he was unable to identify a problem and said that he would pass the call to another technician and that someone would call me later, but no one called, and I had to start the process all over again. My mom has a hotspot on her phone, but it was a project to teach her to enable it and to reconnect after she walks away from the computer.

On Saturday, I gave up and called another internet provider (the one I have my service with) and asked them for a new line for her. Unfortunately, they can only come on August 21. I still have a second appointment with her current provider on Wednesday, but I can’t spend that much time away from work, as there are more things I will need to address in the near future. The reason I am not canceling it is that I want my mom to get at least “some” internet sooner, and also, if for whatever reason, the Friday appointment would be delayed (things happen!), I want to have at least a temporary solution.

I could not imagine it is even possible to deliver such poor customer service! I wanted to cry on Friday night when I got off my last call with a human – it lasted 40 minutes, including all the wait time, and there was no satisfactory resolution of our issue. I left them a “zero” review the next day. 😂

You Know I Am Good In Messing Things Up…

On Friday (in the morning of the day of my departure), I received an email from Chase Visa saying I didn’t pay my bill, which was due on that day. I clearly remember scheduling the payment for June 24 (it happened to me once that Chase processed my payment the next day and left me with a past-due amount, so I always make sure I have a payment scheduled a day before the due date).

I logged in to my bank account, and there was no payment on June 24, which left me puzzled. A minute later, I realized what was wrong: I had scheduled the payment for July 24 instead of June 24! I promptly scheduled a new payment, but since it was Friday, I could only schedule it for Monday, which would make it four days overdue.

I started calling my bank (and it’s not easy in the middle of my workday), and as always happens these days, it takes some time to reach a human. Fortunately, I succeeded, and a person on the other end of the line told me that they, “as a courtesy”, will remove the fees when they receive my payment on Monday. Which they did, and life became better 🙂

Then, on Monday, I was booking our trip to Tallinn, and was struggling with the Tallink website: they are prompting people to book a day trip, which is way cheaper than any overnight trip, so I did it incorrectly first, that tried to rebook, then was adding and removing meals, and finally, when it looked like everything was done, I hit the payment button. It was spinning forever; I saw the charge appear on my phone, but the Tallink website responded that “something was wrong,” but they will resolve it and send me an email.

The email never arrived, and Talling was still showing as an unpaid trip, so on Tuesday, I sent a message to customer support. They replied that I had a duplicate booking, and they just canceled the second one. I thought that the issue was happily resolved and didn’t look at the reservation again. It was only on Thursday morning, right before we were ready to leave the house, that I realized two things: that the booking had not been canceled, was a day trip, and also that I hadn’t booked a meal for the inbound trip. Unfortunately, it was already impossible to change the reservation, so I had to book a new one for the next day (this was a minor thing, because of the special pricing of day trips). What was worse that there was no way to pre-book a buffet, which I was hoping for. If there weren’t that many people on board, we could pay for the buffet “at the door,” but the ferry was packed. I was very disappointed, even though Boris kept telling me it wasn’t a big deal. And it was not, I just hate when things are not going as planned.

There are a lot of places to eat on a ferry, and even more places to sit, so it was just me not checking the tickets.

iPhone Adventures

As I mentioned, I broke my iPhone screen on Sunday, and I was so busy with everything that I didn’t have time to figure out how and when I could repair it. I was so sure that I did not have coverage (after all, I knew all along that these iPhones are unbreakable!), that I only did a quick search on repair places. There was none close enough to my office that I wouldn’t have to take two hours off work, so I decided “to think about it tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow” finally arrived on Friday, when I could theoretically get off work slightly earlier. I finally asked Google the right question: not “locations of iPhone repair shops” but “how I can replace the broken screen”. And the answer was: click on this link to check whether you have coverage. I checked, and it turned out I did! Moreover, the screen could be replaced while I wait. Apple immediately listed available appointments, and the first available at the Michigan Avenue location was on Sunday at 1:45 PM. The next available at North Avenue was on Saturday, between 5:30 PM and 7 PM. I decided that I do not need to go to the Loop on Sunday, and booked 6:30 PM at North Avenue.

Turned out that was a mistake. There was track repair going on on the Red Line. I “knew” about it, but since I didn’t plan to go anywhere far over the weekend, I didn’t store this information in my operational memory. Also, I knew that the Loop was reachable via elevated tracks, just a slower ride. So it was literally me walking into the Jarvis station and realizing the train wouldn’t stop where I needed it. Also, I quickly realized that I have no time to figure out an alternative route, and the only way for me to get there was Uber, which had two major disadvantages in addition to having to pay for it: 1) it was slower than the L-train, especially on Saturday evening 2) I could not do anything productive during the ride, so it was wasting both time and money at the same time.

Finally, I arrived at the Apple Store at my appointment time (6:40 PM) and waited for a technician until 7 PM (as expected). But then he told me that, because it’s too late in the day, they can’t repair it while I wait, and I need to either leave the phone with them or come one more time. He assured me that if I come any other day before 4 PM, all parts will be ready and they will fix the phone while I wait.

I had to pay for another Uber ride to get home, because I didn’t want to spend an extra 15 minutes walking to the Brown line, and an extra 15 minutes waiting, first for the Brown line and then for the Red.

I didn’t want to come back on Sunday because it would still mean taking an Uber, and I decided to work from home on Monday, especially since it would be the last day Boris and I would be alone (I will have people staying with me during the conference).

Based on what I was told on Saturday, I headed to the Apple Store right after lunch. When I arrived, I was told that the wait time for repair would be three hours, “because we are busy,” and I still don’t understand why this couldn’t be scheduled. I can’t go anywhere without my phone because even my Ventra card isn’t physical anymore. And in any case, it’s 30 min in one direction.

It ended up being three and a half hours, and given where I am now with work, conference, and stuff, I am beyond mad. I had a couple of other maddening things today, all related to time wasted, so it’s very difficult for me to get into a calm mood.

Find My

Everyone knows I love the Find My app! In fact, I do not know how I would survive without it! Recently, I’ve added several more AirTags, and I feel quite protected.

When I was in Armenia, I told my hosts about this app and demonstrated how I have everything displayed there and how I can check the status of the items I left at home. When it was time for me to leave for the airport, they asked me whether I had checked my room for forgotten stuff. I told them I did, and that everything except for my phone and passport is not important.

I got into a cab, and about ten minutes after the ride started, I saw a message from the Find My app: the AirPods left behind! Yep, a white case on a white windowsill…I reached the driver: How far along are we?

It was great that, because of the severe weather conditions, my host insisted I leave an hour earlier than needed! I messaged them, they found the AirPods case and brought it down.

I guess, thank you, Apple?

Digital ID

Starting from yesterday, digital IDs are in use in Illinois, and guess who was clicking on their Apple Wallet starting at 7 AM, waiting for a new option to appear!

And guess, who already has it approved 😊

***

I thought my last week was “too much,” but this week was even worse because of several major incidents at work. Once again, it’s not like I work long hours, but how I work. During these two weeks, I had to pack a lot into each minute of my workday, and then, there were also multiple non-work urgent matters.

I ordered several new devices, which were on my list for a while, but I didn’t want to upgrade anything before my trip, so I ordered a bunch a day before my departure. And just to give you a picture of my overload: I received a new laptop on November 5, but it was not until November 13 that I opened it, and not until this morning that I migrated my previous Mac to the new one.

My previous was Mac Air, and it was super light. I consciously switched back to Mac Pro, but I already slightly regret it because it’s way heavier, even though it has almost the same dimensions.

A funny thing happened with my iPhone. I am on an Apple upgrade program, so I had to return my old phone back to Apple when I received a new one. When I took my old iPhone out of it’s case, I saw that it’s back was massively cracked. I dropped in multiple times, but I never had a need to take the case off, and the screen was fine. I still packed it for return, and was anxiously waiting for a note from Apple about how much they will charge me for repair. Miraculously, the repair cost was only $31, so now I am a happy owner of iPhone 17 🙂

I also got a new smart scale, and same story, I had to wait for the weekend to switch to it, because I couldn’t find twenty extra minutes in the morning to connect the new device to my account and to run the firmware update.

Things are finally sorted now, and I think I am done with new devices for some time 🙂

My old and new macs talking to each other 🙂

AI

Last week, I had my first positive encounter with AI. I needed to reschedule the A/C maintenance, and I forgot to do this during the business hours. I called shortly after five, hoping that maybe they are still open, or I could leave a message, and the call was picked-up by an AI assistance, who introduced herself. And I might not even figure out that she was AI, if she won’t say so. Not like completely unrecognizable, but a striking difference from the automated answering system; it was an absolutely “human” conversation. She said that “she got it,” and my appointment changed to the day I requested. I was still not sure whether I could rely on her answer that everything was set, and I called the office a couple days later and they confirmed that my appointment was indeed changed.

I was most impressed when she asked me to spell my last name :)).

I Think I Found The Limit

… of how much I can squeeze in one unit of time. Namely, I can’t do something for what I need five days into two and a half days.

That’s what was going on. I confirmed with my friend Lena, who comes every year in December to help me with cookies that she is coming for Dec 6-8, and then I launched my usual cookie advertisement. Two weeks later, Lena told me she wouldn’t be able to make it. It was 100% not her fault; she had an unexpected personal situation, but the fact was that I was on my own. And also, although at least five people told me they would come and help decorate, nobody showed up. On top of it, I had only one weekend instead of two due to the late Thanksgiving, and Vlad going to be in town on the second weekend.

At least I was smart enough to take Friday off (I planned it anyway), but it didn’t help much. Before I had a chance to get to baking:

  • Unpacked and shelved Amazon Fresh deliver
  • Had a call – somebody wanted to connect with me professionally, and that was the first option available, 45 min
  • A visit from a social worker from mom’s insurance (1.5 hours, including walking)
  • going through my baking supplies, finding mice dropping, cleaning the whole pantry, throwing away damaged goods
  • another professional call was scheduled for Friday for the same reason: “I am at home anyway.”
  • Going to the Night Ministry office to drop the presents (the last items I ordered arrived on Thursday, and I couldn’t fit this trip into any other day before the deadline) – two hours

That way, I started baking at 3-30 PM and baked until pretty late. My phone was showing a very low battery, but since I knew I would plug it in for the night, I thought it was not a big deal for it to run out of power. It was already 11-30 PM, and suddenly, the screen went black. I plugged the phone in and waited, but nothing happened, and no buttons could wake it up. I tried three different plugs and waited, and it didn’t even show the battery picture. Finally, i went to bed and left it plugged, and then I woke up at 3-30 AM and saw that the screen was still dead.

To be continued:)

How I Beat The System – Again!

Boris tells me that it’s my specialty to get through any bureaucratic or technological challenges, citing my battle with Finnair for my missing points, my battle with Lyric Opera for my money to be returned, and the most recent for the trademark agreement. Here is one more of my accomplishments that I am extremely proud of.

The Illinois Department Of Human Services (IDHS) has a very non-user-friendly website, so it was not unusual for me to call their customer service to validate my mom’s eligibility for benefits or whether they were ever renewed because it was impossible to understand from the website. Many people, especially those who had to communicate with this system more often than I used, told me the only way to resolve issues was to come in person. A couple of months ago, I decided to try to apply for additional benefits for Mom, but when I logged into the website, I found that they switched to the new logins (they are using ILogin, same as many other sites) and that I need to create ILoging and link it to the existing account.

I followed all the steps, and almost at the very end of the process, I accidentally copied a blank at the beginning of the password I prepared, and after that, nothing worked. I could not confirm the password, and I could not reset it. I tried to use the “reset your password” buttons, but I didn’t receive any links by email or text. Then, I found that there was no phone number to call for any login issues anymore because IDHS no longer maintains logins, and I needed to submit an issue online.

The online system, as you can imagine, requires ILogin to submit an issue :). It took me several attempts to get to the page where I could submit a ticket without a login, but then I got lost in the questions like “location of the service (work/home)”, “new/old hardware,” etc.
In the next several weeks, I tried to repeat the sequence of actions with similar results. Finally, I decided that I had to break through the system, and followed all these steps about “at work/at home/new/old hardware.” In the comments section, I described the issues in detail.

Hurray – I received a ticket number! Two days later, I saw a call from Springfield on my phone, and it was customer support calling. I repeated the whole story, and they said that they would reset the login and send me a link – “watch for the email.”

Three days later, I indeed received an email. I could follow the link and create a new password! And I am more proud of myself than ever! I am only wondering how they expect seniors to navigate this system! the existing account.