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Friday, October 16, 2009

Contact Us

I tried to contact one of our government departments for information that doesn’t seem to appear on their web site. The web site has lots of information, but not the answer to a simple question that I have.

Under contact us there were choices of email, or several phone numbers, depending on where you are. (I couldn't figure why the answer to the question would be different if you are in Canada, in the US, or outside North America.)

Email: My first choice was email. That included a warning that their response would be slow due to the high number of requests. Also your email would be rejected if it included certain content, such as personal information, or obscene comments. (Does that mean I can’t give my name or email address?)

After a few hours, the email bounced back, with an attachment that this was an invalid address. A double check revealed the address was the one posted on the web site. I had clicked on it to open my email program anyway. So that avenue for answering my question is out.

Telephone: The following day I tried the telephone number, a typical 1-800- number. A notation said you could talk to a person anytime during normal working hours, and the hours were listed.

Don’t Use Skype: I use Skype for nearly all my calls because it is convenient, and you don’t have to hold a receiver to your ear while writing information down. The headset makes it real convenient. Not here! Using Skype got the response: “You are not allowed to call this number from your current location.” That’s odd, because Skype gives my cell number as a caller ID, which is from the same location as my home phone.

Anyway I pick up the handy dandy cordless regular landline phone and dial the magic 1-800 number. I get the response “This is not a valid phone number!”

Press 9 to eject: On the third attempt it reacts normally. Standby for a trip with the Jetsons. First I listen to a long message in French that says something about pushing a bunch of numbers. It was long. Then it tells you that you are going to be presented with four menus. The first one is – and it names a dozen or so things. “If you want this group, press 1.”

Then the voice goes through a list of another dozen or so department areas. “If you want this group, press 2.”

This was repeated four times. Four times.! And none of those groups had anything to do with what I wanted to know. That took about three or four minutes. “To speak to a person, press 0 at any time.” Oh that would be too easy to put that statement at the front. You might have to talk to someone I am thinking.

I press zero! “We are experiencing a higher volume of calls than normal. You might want to check our web site for your information.” I already did that, that’s why I am here. “You can wait on the line and one of our agents will answer your call as soon as possible.”

Shortwave Radio Rises Again: Now different answering systems have various kinds of horrible music. Sometimes it drives you nuts. Well this was different. Like going back to music from the 50s. This was like listening to shortwave radio back in the forties and fifties. The music would get real loud, then it would fade away so you could barely hear it, then it would get loud again. Sometimes it faded away not to be heard at all, only to come back loud as could be. The quality was right up there too – a little less than what short wave used to be.

After nine minutes of listening to this on speaker-phone I gave up. I am not going to get the information I need this way. I have to have this information within two months. It is not looking good.

Full Circle Email: I go back to email. This time the email goes through. The same address as before. An hour later I get an automated reply saying “do not reply to this email. We will try to answer your email within 24 hrs, etc…”

This is the information age - - - but you can’t get any!

-=One Day At A Time=- (¯`·._.·ns¢ävË·._.·´¯)