The Brads – When all Else Fails
January 12th, 2010
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Brad Colbow is an independent web designer and illustrator living in Cleveland Ohio. He is the owner of Colbow Design and creator of the web comic, The Brads. If you’re looking for fun and practical website design Contact Me..
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John Miller
January 12th, 2010 at 6:38 amThis has to be one of my favorites so far – hilarious! And you could easily substitute at&t for Time Warner, Dell, Progressive,….
kyle steed
January 12th, 2010 at 7:11 amWe are calling to cancel our AT&T uVerse service today actually. So this is perfect timing. Not to mention it’s hilarious. Another solid comic Brad.
Andrew
January 12th, 2010 at 7:24 amthey do suck. they won’t trace a call made from my phone which was in my girlfriend’s purse that was stolen on saturday night with like $300 cash and $1,000 in gift cards in it. they claim they don’t have the ability. jerks…
Bridget Stewart
January 12th, 2010 at 7:30 amApparently, Brad will have to make yet another trip to the Apple Store after slamming down his iPhone on the desk, scratching/shattering the face.
Also, Brad does speak so softly sometimes that “Help” does sound like “Sasquatch.” I can’t really find fault with AT&T for that.
Brad Dielman
January 12th, 2010 at 7:50 amOne of my favorites, Brad!
@John Miller – You can also substitute the EA support line. Horrible.
@Bridget Stewart – Oddly enough I do have to make a trip to Apple Store and it is iPhone related. Coincidence?
Konrad Neumann
January 12th, 2010 at 8:24 ambrilliant. I actually just had that happen to me with comcast
Josh Walsh
January 12th, 2010 at 8:43 amMore panels… We want more panels!!
Priceless.
mikeo
January 12th, 2010 at 9:09 amreally? i never had a prob…. i can’t finish that – they are gawd awful.
Russell Lephew
January 12th, 2010 at 9:11 amThanks for the funny, B-Rad. I needed the mid morning pick-me-up
Liz Hunt
January 12th, 2010 at 9:15 amIs it just me, or does Brad’s face look a little more red with each panel?
Beth
January 12th, 2010 at 9:21 amDid you know you can’t even call your local AT&T store? The local numbers route you through the master phone tree. Such a nightmare.
Stephen Jenkins
January 12th, 2010 at 9:22 amI tweeted a very abbreviated version of this sentiment: “Damage control is not customer service.”
David W.
January 12th, 2010 at 9:47 amThis exact same thing happened to me the week before christmas with FedEx!
Kendal Richer
January 12th, 2010 at 10:38 amAwesome! Also, do not call if you have a barking dog in the vicinity… it will put you through to the spanish language menu everytime. I kid you not.
Design Informer
January 12th, 2010 at 10:47 amSo funny but true. I’ve actually dealt with Verizon last month, and it felt exactly like that. I got transferred and transferred and a couple of times, while I was talking to them, I got disconnected for some odd reason.
I also tried to see if I can get a phone number straight to a department that I wanted and they said no, I have to go through the horrible automated response line junk before actually talking to a real person.
Chad Engle
January 12th, 2010 at 11:19 amThis is so true! I had a bunch of utility bills wrong recently and this was about the sum of my day. I almost spit my coffee on my keyboard. Thanks Brad!
Kyle
January 12th, 2010 at 11:35 amThis is great!!!
We, too, are on the verge of canceling our AT&T U-verse service. What a nightmare of a company to deal with. Same is true for many other B2C behemoths.
Nikki
January 12th, 2010 at 12:02 pmOMGYES! This happens far too much. Thank goodness for Twitter.
Maria
January 12th, 2010 at 2:45 pmHappened with me and Bose. And another time with Comcast. Why call the number? Just tweet a whine and help will come.
@mlanger
An Eclectic Mind » Interesting Links, January 12, 2010
January 12th, 2010 at 11:01 pm[...] When all Else Fails – Tweet it. Thanks to @Miraz for tweeting the link to this hilarious (and true) comic. [...]
Jamie Chung
January 13th, 2010 at 8:03 amThis is so true that it hurts. That automated system is so hard to work with.
Daniel Groves
January 13th, 2010 at 8:42 amHappened to me as well before. Quite handy a thing, twitter.
Jeff Finley
January 13th, 2010 at 9:36 amHaha, nice. So are you saying complaining on twitter actually expedites the process of getting support? Or maybe once you describe your problem they’ll just tell you the customer service phone number.
Greg
January 15th, 2010 at 4:59 amSpot On
OK. The answer is…
(Keep this to yourself or you’ll spoil it)
Go to the government regulator’s site, where these guys have to provide submissions on proper company headed notepaper. Search a bit ’till you find something from the company you’re after. Take a note of the company’s REAL phone number and call reception. Ask (very politely) to be put through to the Marketing director (or a director of your choice, but Marketing usually works). If they ask what its about make up something true but esoteric, so they’ll not palm you off with someone else. If they can’t get the requested director or offer you the secretary, don’t be put off – if you’re nice to the secetary they can also be very helpful. BE POLITE and FRIENDLY AT ALL TIMES and don’t bore them with every last detail unless they ask. Just let them know that you love having them as your supplier but feel let down by -insert ONE sentence summarising your problem, here – . They’ll get details when they’re ready
Kevin
January 16th, 2010 at 1:51 pmHave actually had similar experiences with AT&T. “Hmmmm. I’m sorry I didn’t get that. Please say which service you would like assistance with.”
The Brads – When all Else Fails | Marc Ashwell
January 24th, 2010 at 1:43 pm[...] The Brads – When all Else Fails Found Online via bradcolbow.com [...]
Max D
January 29th, 2010 at 6:49 amha! yes at&t is really that bad and worse.
Brad Sherrill
February 11th, 2010 at 8:10 pmmachines are coordinating our human communications faster nowadays
Pk Anane
February 12th, 2010 at 7:35 amlol.. we have the same problem here with Vodafone in Ghana. Once we created a facebook group and had about a 1000 in a couple of months they started sending us personal facebook msgs to solve our problem
elayidom
February 14th, 2010 at 10:53 pmExcellent! Really solid one, most of the IVR customer service area like this. I think companies are competing and finding new ways to irritate their customers.
Mo
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:21 amWonderful stuff. Reminds me of the automated “buy your parking ticket” over the phone service.
“Please tell us your car registration number.”
“TG68 SAB”
“Did you say FA99 RPQ? Yes or No.”
“No.”
“Please tell us your car registration number.”
“TG68 SAB”
“Did you say KT11 AZP? Yes or No.”
*sod it, I’ll risk the fine dammit*