The Twilight Zune, Part V: Now they're back to saying they really don't know where it is.
********************
Friday, 1/25/08, ~12:15pm central time (during my lunch hour). Today is Business Day 17, calendar day 23 since the repair facility first received my Zune player on January 2, 2008. I have been told over-and-over again that 10-15 business days are required for repair.
(NIGHTMARE realization #18 (or greater, I think I've lost count): 10-15 business days is obviously in reality a ballpark figure.)
"Tier 1" Alex, or perhaps Alice, (a woman with an Asian accent) keeps me on the phone for 20 minutes while she looks through the file, contacts a "consult" and comes back to tell me someone will contact me within 3-5 days. I refuse to accept that response and ask to be escalated.
13 minutes later (now 33 minutes total on the phone), Carmela finally picks up. I first ask her alias, which she gives me. She immediately tells me that "Microsoft is looking into this", that "A bug has been sent out." and that there is nothing else she can do or say to help me. I ask her several times about 15 business days, but she ignores the question. She tries very, very hard to get me off the phone, raising her voice, becoming somewhat belligerent and very confrontational, while I remain calm and continue to ask questions. Finally, Carmela asks me if I would like to speak with the floor supervisor - I, off course, say yes.
About 40 minutes into the phone call, Jen (Carmela's supervisor) gets on the phone; I get her alias. Jen is polite. She reads through the file and says she knows how frustrated I must feel (I tell her that she does not). Jen tells me that this issue has been escalated through to Microsoft (Tier 3, more on that later). She goes on to tell me that they are working with FedEx to locate my Zune and that in fact, FedEx was last contacted just yesterday (Thursday). (NIGHTMARE realization #19: Microsoft/Zune people have obviously been telling me untruths about whether the location of my Zune is actually known. The credibility of these folks is zilch! Even Fred, whom was one of the people I actually trusted!)
I request to Jen that I be called by someone every 2-3 days (at least twice a week) to give me direct status updates until my Zune has been returned to me. Jen agrees to this request tells me that she has added a note to the file to have someone call me every couple of days (I'll only believe this when I hear voices on my mobile phone).
(NIGHTMARE realization #20: They will tell you anything to get you off the phone.)
A little more info about support tiers for Zune. Jen admits that she (as well as Carmela) is with Tier 2 support, and that Tier 2 is absolutely as high as a customer can speak to directly. Customers do not speak with Tier 3 - obviously an elitist team.
Phone time: 53 minutes.
********************
Total accumulated phone time to this point: (at least) 386 minutes, or almost 6 1/2 hours. Note that this figure represents phone time only and does NOT include time on such things such as packing and shipping the Zune, on zune.net looking for current repair status, getting copies of the Best Buy receipt, and certainly not the time writing this on-going saga.
Good luck to all!!
