Can you hold please?

What is it with the lack of training at call centers? Are they all outsourced to India now? After my 6 days on hold with Asurion to get my cell phone figured out, I noticed that nearly $200 had been charged to my credit card for Verizon. Considering that my phone was defective and therefore free for me to replace, I took a little exception to that.

Then I started calculating the time involved in getting a refund, and I'm pretty sure I make more per hour than that. Which isn't saying much.

First, customer service transferred me to some other department, who hung up on me part way through the hold process. I called CS back, got put on hold again, got transferred again, at which point I was told I need to talk to customer service. I got put on hold and transferred back to CS, only to be put on hold before I could explain myself fully. At which point the line was picked up by the other department who couldn't help me in the first place. And then they sent me back to CS, the same dept that was trying to convince me I wanted the cheapo ugly phone they shipped out in place of the defective one. And that I agreed to pay $200 for it.

After all my hair turned gray and I was hoping to find a stray caffeinated mint in the lint in my purse, I finally managed to get them to agree to refund me the $$$. An hour later, I realized I had to call the hotel we're staying at over Spring Break and adjust our reservations. Imagine my dismay when I heard, "I can't find your reservation. Can you hold please?"