A Rant -
of epic proportions
First of all, thank you to my incredible and very smart son who was kind enough to let you all know I was in over my head. He deserves a medal!
OK - here goes - (please feel free to just move on by this blog - my feelings won't be hurt).....
1. Our tv is old. It's creaky, like all us ol' folks get. She had issues with her picture sometimes but bravely soldiered on....until yesterday afternoon when she threw a hissy fit and went to the tv pasture in the sky. Well then.
We're told we're supposed to stay home...but....with no tv and no means to get the latest updates and news? And a husband who loves his tv? Sigh. Into the car...and cough up the bucks for a new 'Smart' tv. Which, said the salesman, was 'simple' to set up and implied that any moron could do it. (hmmm....obviously he doesn't know me......)
2. Carted home, unpacked and undertook to set it up, only to come to a screeching halt when it asked me for my 'wireless connection password'. Sure. I can do that. If only I knew what it was. I keyed in Every.....Single.....Password I have ever used (and a whole lot I haven't) and nothing worked. So....phoned the cable provider who very kindly told me (after going through a series of tests) that I would need to call the 'router' company, and gave me the proper phone number to call.
3. Called....and was put on hold and forced to listen to their advertising blurb for their wonderful incredible amazing offerings....over and over....for over an hour. FINALLY, a real live guy appeared and proceeded to have me unplugging, replugging, poking, proding, waiting....rinsing and repeating....the router (picture your Magpie up and down off the floor because said router so happens to be on a shelf beneath my computer desk...I'm too darned old for this!!). After nearly an hour of this he managed somehow to kick me off the internet (at which point I pushed the panic button, called my son on the cell phone... and had him post the message to you). Upon being told that the internet had gone poof - the guy had me doing more poking and plugging and finally the phone call got dropped.
4. Insert a string of swear words that would curl your hair....and probably that of most of your neighbours too.
5. Called back....on hold (listening to the same blurb and, I might add, not believing a word of it this time!!). In the meantime Resident Chef was on the cell phone talking to our son who proceeded to tell me to try a couple of things....one of which, wonder of wonders, was how to actually...get this....CHANGE my password!! Which was ALL I wanted to do in the first place and didn't involve ANY crawling about on the floor, plugging and unplugging. At this point I hung up on the idiots from the router company and went with my son's advice.
6. At least two hours on the phone with him and he walked me through getting a new password (which, I might add has been written down and is in a safe place) and the rest of the tv set up, including figuring out how to get our Netflix working....all from nearly four thousand miles away. I tell you, this guy should be working in tech support - he's brilliant!
Seven...and....one....half.....hours....
I....will.....never....get.....back....
I....will.....never....get.....back....
7. Well after midnight I fell into bed with my internet back and a tv sort of working. One more phone call this morning to the cable provider to get the final picture quality issue fixed and we're up and running.
8. I did not even THINK about the fact that said 'Smart' tv has the ability to let me run internet through it....I don't want to know. I can only imagine the furor THAT might cause!
There, that's my tale of woe in a nutshell...
now my achy body has to recover from
all the exercise it got getting up and
down off the floor and crawling round
behind furniture
and
we have to learn which buttons to
push on the remote (now two of them!)
Extreme thanks (and huge hugs)
to our long-suffering son,
who deserves all the accolades he
can get.
The end.
Your son's post was very funny. I hate dealing with stuff like that and I'm the one who always has to do it.
ReplyDeleteHe could have a career in stand up comedy if he wasn't uncomfortable in front of crowds...unfortunately for him I posses the same sort of sense of humour and sometimes it's not good! I'm the 'tech' person in this household - DH would have just walked away and done without tv.
DeleteI'm glad you're back. I haven't had TV since Andy died. He loved it and it was his main entertainment. But I don't think I'd go through this to get it! Anyway let's hope it stays fixed.
ReplyDeleteAnd who would have thought to just create a new password instead of hours of gymnastics? The cable guy wasn't too swift if he didn't think of it.
If it were up to me I probably wouldn't have tv, but DH likes it and since he doesn't have needlework to occupy him, tv is it. I was smart enough to know that all I needed to do was reset the password but all this getting of exercise doing all the plugging and unplugging certainly wasn't called for. Methinks the ultimate aim from the router guy was for me to have to buy a new (and totally unneeded!) router. I'd hate to think badly of the guy but after I had to listen to that canned 'on hold' advertisements for hours he deserves my ire!
DeleteYup I totally get it--been there done that, too--but I have an electronic genius husband--who STILL had that problem--so it's not just you...and how DO you reset a non-existent password? Huh???;00000
ReplyDeleteYikes--
You deserve a rest today for sure...hugs Julierose
My electronic genius lives 4 thousand miles away so there's no doubt in my mind that he's a genius to figure things out remotely like that. As for there being a non-existent p'word - actually there WAS one but I didn't know what it was. It's amazing how reliant we have become on the internet and tv and how scary it feels to be without.
DeleteGood news that you are back online, thanks to your clever son. It's a pain in the knee joints getting under the desk for switches etc., I hope the muscles recover quickly.
ReplyDeleteI've been in regroup mode today and haven't done anything that shows beyond sitting on my duff in front of the computer putzing about on Ancestry and reading blogs. Not exactly productive but at least a whole lot easier on my joints!
DeleteYou are too, too funny. Sorry but I am belly laughing over the Perils of Mary Anne's Smart TV. If they were so smart then why in the hell are they so difficult to connect?? So how's the mouth this morning after all that soap washing?? =) Your son is brilliant and patient getting you all up and working via the phone. So glad you have it sorted. Look on the bright side.....you won't have to do all those contortionist callisthenics for the rest of the week. You may not be able to move for a few days but at least those muscles, (you know the ones you never knew you had) that haven't been used for yonks will be a little more supple.
ReplyDeleteGood - it's nice to know I've caused some laughter in amongst all the doom and gloom. Brilliant and patient is definitely a moniker my son should wear with pride, and I'd be the first person to say so. Computers, tvs and the like are marvelous things - until they don't work.
DeleteOMG! I think I’ll take the earthquakes we’ve had today over your “service provider” (using that term loosely) issues. I pawn all that stuff off on Bruce. If he ever couldn’t do it, I guess my brilliant sons (I have 2 who work in computers) could. Me? I’d probably end up chucking the (insert your expletives here) TV through the window. Hugs!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe live on the third floor so, despite wanting to, chucking the tv over the balcony wasn't really an option because with my luck somebody would choose just that moment to decide to walk underneath. Resident Chef is not the least bit tech-y and therefore no help whatsoever. Me, I'm just plain stubborn and refuse to give in.
DeleteOh my. What an ordeal. My DH is the one who goes through all that rigmarole when we have computer issues. And yes... it's almost always an easy fix in the end. We lost internet service a week ago and had to wait 4 or 5 days for a technician to come to our house (after hubs spent time on the phone being told to unplug, replug, reboot, etc). All it took was some abracadabra change of a code. And it could have been handled from the office. Grrr. If something were to happen to my hubby, I might just finally go dark on the internet. I don't think I could tolerate the insanity. I'm sorry you went through all that, but I'm so glad you got it fixed. In this time of social distancing I don't want to be losing any of my favorite blog stops! A big thank you to your son from one of your readers. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like you went through much of the same rigmarole with all the plugging, unplugging and such and, as in my case, was totally unnecessary. Had the (insert derogatory name here) simply done what I asked in the first place and just changed my password (or, heaven forbid, retrieved my old one) I could have finished the job myself. Instead he put me through all this mess. One wonders if he was simply trying to make sure my router fried to force me into buying a new one. Surely not.
Deleteha..ha.. Brilliant son!
ReplyDeleteYep - definitely brilliant! Just wish he lived closer.
DeleteTechnology and “Smart” devices seem to be more trouble than they are worth! Your son is a gem!! Epsom salts in your bath dear will be very helpful for those aching body parts. Life used to be so much simpler and we were all very content. Please stay safe and well. <3
ReplyDeleteWe have the Epsom salts - unfortunately I don't possess a body that's willing to get up from a tub. You think I have problems with technology, can't imagine what a performance THAT might be! (hmmm.....then again, it might be worth a laugh).
DeleteWOW!!! What a day you had.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, fun and games - and challenging to both brain AND body!
DeleteI haven't had a tv since - I think - the early 90s, and haven't missed it one bit. The only time I've considered buying one was during the most recent laptop replacement, when I pondered getting one to use as a monitor for a desktop computer instead of a laptop. I need a big screen and big laptops are so darned expensive, but I won't give up the internet unless there is no other option - my life is so physically and geographically constricted, the internet is very important to me.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you just suggest to your computer that it "find" your tv it will do all the connecting on it's own? It would not surprise me!
Quite truthfully I doubt if I would miss the tv one bit, but it's DH's main form of entertainment so it's a necessary evil. I could easily make do with the internet altho' I would be lost without it. I'm sure it's relatively simple to connect the tv to the internet now but DH has absolutely zero interest in the 'net so it's rather redundant.
Delete