[TriLUG] Earthlink Tech Support

Kevin Flanagan kevin at flanagannc.net
Mon Feb 21 21:18:12 EST 2005


I had a similarly frustrating experience with Mcafee's support last
night.  My wife runs Windows XP, her machine came with Symantec AV for 6
months, once the trial expired I wanted to install the Mcafee we bought
a while back. I did the installation, it went fine, that is until it
updated itself, the update broke it completely.  All pieces, including
the updater were broken by the process.  I did a chat session, after 3
different techs the last one got snippy with me, he told me that the
computer was infected.....   I asked for the feedback email address and
he gave me a bogus one.  I'm going to go on a crusade now to tell
everyone to not use Mcafee's products.

On Mon, 2005-02-21 at 20:43 -0500, Jeffery Painter wrote:

> people getting paid to chat... seems like a cushy job to me :) too bad 
> they don't have a clue about how things really work though... I had 
> similar response with TWC RR live chat support a couple years ago
> 
> 
> On Mon, 21 Feb 2005, Joel Ebel wrote:
> 
> > For anyone wondering what the quality of Earthlink's tech support is, or 
> > anyone just looking for a joke, here's a rather hilarious exchange I had 
> > today with Earthlink's tech support chat system.
> > 
> > Joel Ebel
> > 
> > 
> > 'Spenser G' says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I 
> > help you today?
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: The mail relay: 
> > smtpauth04.mail.atl.earthlink.net [209.86.89.64] appears to be listed 
> > in: http://dnsbl.sorbs.net/ So if my mail is routed through that relay 
> > and the recipient uses dnsbl then email from me gets rejected.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: Here's a copy of the listing. It just got on the 
> > list last Friday.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: Address: 209.86.89.64 Record Created: Fri Feb 18 
> > 20:54:09 2005 GMT Record Updated: Fri Feb 18 20:54:09 2005 GMT 
> > Additional Information: Portable Display Currently active and flagged to 
> > be published in DNS If you wish to request a delisting please do so 
> > through the Support System.
> > Spenser G: Please hold on while I go through your issue.
> > Spenser G: Are you not able to send / receive emails?
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: If I send mail there is a chance it won't go 
> > through. It happened to me today with several emails in a row.
> > Spenser G: Let me know the email program and version you are using (like 
> > Total Access, Outlook Express, Outlook etc.).
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: Let me be clear. I'm well aware of what the 
> > issue is. I'm not asking for your assistance in solving my problem. I'm 
> > informing earthlink of a problem they have on their end. From one system 
> > administrator to another.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: I'm using Mozilla Thunderbird. But that is 
> > irrelevant.
> > Spenser G: Kindly hold on for a moment.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: sure
> > Spenser G: Thanks for being on hold.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: no problem
> > Spenser G: I am sorry, but I do not support technical issues with 
> > Mozilla Thunderbird.
> > Spenser G: Please try to send the emails using any other email programs 
> > and contact us back is you have problem.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: I repeat. This is not an issue I'm having. This 
> > is a problem with an earthlink mail server.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: How can I get this information to someone who 
> > knows how to deal with it.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: I could very easily reproduce this using Outlook 
> > Express, as well as any other mail client I might chose. However, doing 
> > so is not a good use of either of our time.
> > Spenser G: Please send the email using WebMail for testing purpose.
> > Spenser G: You can log into "WebMail" page from the below link using 
> > your EarthLink complete email address and password.
> > Spenser G: https://webmail.earthlink.net/
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: Thank you. I know how to use webmail. This is 
> > not my problem. Would you like me to repeat my problem?
> > Spenser G: Since you are able to send the email using WebMail, it 
> > clearly indicates that there is no problem with EarthLink mail server 
> > but with the email program.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: Who can I call to speak with someone who 
> > understands how email works?
> > Spenser G: Since the issue is with the email program, we cannot provide 
> > any assistance in this regard.
> > Spenser G: Kindly let me know, if you are still with me.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: Ok. Well, just so you know, there is a problem 
> > with one of earthlink's servers. I'm smart enough to deal with it, but I 
> > thought I would be courteous enough to let you know about the problem 
> > before it was a problem for others who couldn't deal with it so easily. 
> > But if you chose to ignore it, then it will only cause earthlink more 
> > troubles.
> > Spenser G: Kindly hold on for a moment.
> > Spenser G: Thanks for staying with me.
> > Spenser G: I will escalate the issue to our engineers to resolve the issue.
> > joelebel at earthlink.net: Thank you.
> > Spenser G: You're welcome and thank you for using EarthLink LiveChat. 
> > Should you need further assistance, please feel free to contact us again.
> > Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Thank you,
> 
> Jeffery Painter
>     2431 Reunion Meadows Lane
>     Apex, NC 27539
>     voice: 919.321.0378
> 
> - --
> painter at kiasoft.com                http://jeff.kiasoft.com
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-- 
Kevin Flanagan <kevin at flanagannc.net>



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