Beyond the Blue Verizon

Houston, we have a resolution.

You will recall that a few days ago, I wrote here about a problem I had with my Windows Phone in Germany.  By way of reminder for those who might have missed it, I had bought a Verizon Global Data Pack so that I could access email and the Internet when overseas.  It stopped working during the week, but as I mentioned I was happily surround by major tech experts – one was my friend Ed Bott who’s written about 25 books with Microsoft on using their software, and another guy, Todd Haselton specifically writes about mobile phones, and is so good that Ed brought him in to help.  Both have Windows Phones, too, but alas they couldn’t get it to access the Internet.  And boy, did they try everything.

As I mentioned the other day, if you're going to have a mobile phone problem, at least this is the group you want to be with to resolve it.  But alas, try and try and try as they might, it was just a lost cause.  Happily it was near enough the end of the trip that it wasn't a big issue.  But it sure was annoying.  And almost more than that, I was concerned too lest the problem reoccur on other trips overseas.  I certainly didn't want to be stranded again on some insolvable tech issue. 

I found out the problem on Monday.

After returning home, I called Verizon to tell them all about losing service and getting a "Can't connect to server" and "DNS error" messages.  I explained it all in detail, and explained that I had to major tech whizzes trying to resolve it and unable.  I was fully armed and prepared for all arguments they were going to give me.

The customer service rep checked my account, confirmed everything I was saying and saw the problem.

It turns out that the rep I had called back in August to set up the Global Pack Service screwed up when I ordered it, and marked it to be cancelled on Sept. 3, rather than Sept. 30!!!!  
That’s why the tech whizzes couldn’t get it to work!  It’s like spending an hour trying to figure out why your lamp isn’t working, and it turns out that the power company had turned off your electricity…

I let Ed and Todd know that being unable to resolve problem wasn't their fault.  They could have spent days on it and not fixed anything.  They bought were relieved and could only shake their heads in ridiculing laughter. (Happily, laughter is acceptable after-the-fact, especially when there wasn't a big problem, just an annoyance.)

I refer to this as the "Why Me, Lord?" Syndrome.