What technology has done to me!

Guess I'm not the only one thinking "What do I do without my gadgets?" or "How am I suppose to live without internet or TV?".

I've been TV deprived since last Sunday because of my Astro problem. Yes, you heard me right. Not 1 or 2 days, but practically 7 freaking days without TV. The amount of stress I endured watching little diva's Gogo, Brainy Baby, Baby Genius dvds was crazy.Yeah...shoot, I know almost all children's favourite nursery rhymes now. I am the baby genius! hahahahahhaha.

So what happened was...my Astro dish was strucked by a thunderstorm. Rang Astro for their technical assistance, and as expected (monopoly business), they took 7 days to come to my house to fix the problem. Throughout the 7 days, I can't remember how many Astro customer service personnel I've dealt with (I started shouting after speaking to the 6th or 7th personnel). I even spoke to the supervisor and eventually the team manager as things were out of proportion. Don't judge me too soon for my reaction because....

After 7 days of waiting ,320 calls to Astro and replacement of a new decoder yesterday afternoon, as advised by the technician (my decoder was reckoned faulty because things were fine when after they tried their spare decoder on), I thought my nightmare was over. But it was not as a new error came up on my screen, "Your smart card is inactive. Please call our customer service for a reconnection". Grrrrr....customer service again??? I was lucky enough that the supervisor whom I spoken to called to find out whether everything was okay after the technician came. Told her about the newest issue and she said apparently Astro has made a mistake by suspending my account on 1st May due to an outstanding payment when my account due date is actually on the 4th of every month.God, what is the matter with Astro??? So, the lady supervisor reconnected the service for me and ensured me that I should be able to watch the TV in another 3 hours time. Meanwhile, I should just "wait and monitor". Thank You! Finally.....

Unfortunately, I came back to the same error on my screen after 3 longg hours. Man...what is it this time? I called Astro for the 450th time to find out what now? The girl from the technical team tried to troubleshoot the problem through phone but to no avail. So, she told me she would do something to the smart card and advise me to "wait and monitor" for another hour. Okay! So...from 7 days, to 3 hours and now another hour! Reasonable! I GAVE THEM 2 HOURS and they blew it! Problem was still not resolved. Now do you understand why I lost my head ????

Told myself that I'm going to call Astro for one last time now and I'm gonna scream my lungs out if they still ask me to "wait and monitor"! Spoke to another customer service personnel and he told me that my smart card was faulty and they will send me a new card in 3 to 5 days time. GREAT! From 7 days to 3 hours to 1 hour and now to 3-5 days??? I'm confused! What is the f#*%ing problem, really? From decoder to account been suspended and now my smart card?? PUT ME TO YOUR MANAGER. NOWWWWWW!!!!!!!

The manager told me that they were actually having problem with their broadcast system (God knows what!) and they were in the midst of fixing it. She told me that there were more than 500 customers that were affected by this problem. I'm sure they had hell of a time answering to all these angry customers which includes me. The manager went extra mile and offered to call me once the problem is fixed. Finally...someone who understands customer service!

As at 9am today, my Astro is working well and I hope I don't have to "wait and monitor" this anymore. I'm back on track and I have loads of my favorite shows to catch up. And to answer what technology has done to me...trouble! absolute mess!