“Pictures hanging in a hallway
And the fragment of this song
Half remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were
turning
To the color of her hair
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind”
English
lyrics from the song “Windmills of Your Mind”
Marilyn
and Alan Bergman
(music
composed by Michel Legrand)
I had an interesting encounter with Customer Service this
morning. We had been early registrants for toll transponders, when such service
came to our area. A year ago, we discovered that the transponder we had was
no longer operating; we would go through the transponder toll lane, and no
telltale beep would issue forth to signify that our toll had been registered.
The system had photo identifications of our cars, however, and so we were never
in violation, as the photo would be compared to our account information and
verified.
Somewhere along the line, about a year ago, this was no
longer good enough, and we were contacted by letter, and asked to call in to
unsnarl what had previously not been snarly, but now for some reason was.
We called in, and the customer service person told us we
needed to get not one, but two transponders. We could no longer share one
between both autos. And they asked us to send them back the one we had that was
no longer working. We did so.
Now, a year later, we have two transponders, but were sent a
notice of “evasion of toll”. Guess what, one of the “newer” transponders no
longer seems to be working. My husband checks out our on-line account (this was
one of the “changes” or “upgrades” to transponder “service” over the years, so
that customers can do all the work and the transponder people don’t have to
hire as many customer service representatives). When we initiated our online
account, years ago, all you needed was a customer identification code and
password.
Today, when I called the transponder customer service line,
negotiating the knarly phone system, (including the ubiquitous “please listen
carefully, as our menu options have changed,” message that has appeared on most
customer service phone systems in the last ten years, never to be changed again,
but always to repeat that it has been changed, even if that change was made years ago, and not yesterday...), and was asked for a four-digit
pin number.
Well, we don’t have a four-digit pin number. We never had
one for this account; all we ever needed was a password and user identification
code. So, I waited, while the automated voice yammered at me “the code you
entered [even though I had not entered one] is not valid. Please enter your…”
(sigh)
Finally, the machine gave up on me, as I waited on the line,
and kicked me over to a live representative.
I gave her the account number, in response to her first
question. Then she asked me for a pin number. I said, “we don’t have one.”
“You should have a pin number, and I cannot help you if you
cannot give it to me.”
“Can’t we verify by address and phone number?”
“What is your address?” I supplied the address.
“And what email address would the account be under?” I gave
my husband’s current email address.
“That is not correct.” Oops. My husband had changed his
email address within the last six months, but had not updated it in the, oh,
gee, several HUNDRED accounts we have all over the internet.
I supplied his previous email address.
“That is not correct.” GAH! We had opened this account so
long ago that the email address used was one that was for an email service no
longer available, owing to merging and submerging and overmerging of undermergable
corporations by übermergable ones. “I am afraid I cannot help you.”
“Look,” I said, “I am just trying to tell you that of the
three transponders listed, we only have two. One of them was no longer working,
and we were told to mail it back, which we did.”
“Where did you send the transponder?”
“This was about a year ago. I know that they gave us an
address over the phone, and we sent it there. Obviously, things have changed
quite a lot since then, for you and for us. I no longer have a record of that
information.”
“If you cannot verify your account, I cannot help you.”
“I can give you the numbers of the transponders we do have,
surely that is something that will verify our account. You should be able to
see this information.”
The rep listened patiently as I recited what records I did
have to proffer, in the form of transponder identification numbers. I heard typing in the
background.
“Yes, these are listed on your account.”
“Thank you, yes. And the other one that is listed we no longer have, as we sent it back.”
“Since you cannot verify your pin number or your email
address, I will have to send you a letter in the mail about how to properly
update your account.”
“I see…”
That phone call took about 25 minutes, and when it was over,
I was really no closer toward my goal that when I started.
I might understand all of this multiple code business, if
security were really at stake with regard to “the product.” This is not a stock
transaction or a bank transaction, and while we use a credit card to pay for
our toll transactions, surely our address should be enough to verify we have an
account. It works for other accounts.
This kind of security is rather misplaced in our scheme of
priorities. The fact that we must have unique codes (passwords, user
identifications, pin numbers, etc.) for every
single internet account (which often is a secondary account associated with
an original service begun before the internet was available to the public) is nothing
less crazy-making. We have a huge spreadsheet to tell us what all our codes
are. Seems a little ridiculous, given that most of these accounts are not
dealing with trade secrets, government secrets or anything except a very
occasional monetary transaction that, yes, should be secure, but is often transacted through a secure webpage that you are transferred to on the website.
In fact, this is just how we were able to change our credit
card information on the transponder site, without the need for a pin number!!!!
Meanwhile, customers pay the price for the
inefficiency of the agency that does not remove old information when it is
supplied or send a message informing the need for new, additional means of
identification, like a pin number.
While we are chasing after the “circles in spirals” and the “wheels
in wheels” of petty business bureaucracies, what more important life
experiences are we missing?
Is this the aspect of technology that was supposed to make
life easier and less work-intensive?
Is this the windmill of your mind, or mine?
Perhaps we are all now face-to-face with the dilemmas of “Don
Quixote.”
