I don't want to be an SC....

[IHateStupidCustomers]

D'oh! I misread your first post, I thought you said "airport card" (an apple product), but you said "air card". Therein lies my confusion. Damnit marketers, come up with some more identifiable names for things!

That's okay. There is probably a more specific or better name for this thing than "air card." That was what the first salesperson we ever talked to about it called it, and the name stuck...

[trunks2k]

That's okay. There is probably a more specific or better name for this thing than "air card." That was what the first salesperson we ever talked to about it called it, and the name stuck...

I'm fairly sure that's its (marketed) name. I just get annoyed when marketing people can't come up with original, distinctive names. Especially when the names are similar to the names of products that fall in the same sort of category.

[wagegoth]

I think it would be completely reasonable to ask for a credit. You've been paying for a service you haven't received. If it were only for a few hours or a day, that would be different. But you're talking weeks here, and the additional hours wasted driving to the store and then the store not being able to help you. You're out a lot of time, and now school is starting again.

(ATT/Cingular can drive you nuts, because they're not clear on their site which stores are actually company stores that can do this kind of stuff and which stores are franchises that can't help you.)

[cinema guy]

Yes, I would ask for a credit. But be polite, explein the problem and how you were messed about and ask nicely if they are able to reimburse you for lack of service, wasted time and gas.

Complaining and asking for credit when you have a valid reason isn't SC behavior, so long as you do it politely.

[Shangri-laschild]

Credit

I really just want to know if I should ask for a credit for my trouble and the time I haven't been able to use the internet....or if I would be a sucky customer if I did.

If you weren't able to use your service, then there is no reason that you should have to pay for it. Nicely asking for a credit is not an SC thing to do. Especially with it being so hard to get them to fix things. So long as you don't present it in a "I'm above you, give me what I think I deserve NOW" manner, it's not out of line. Hope things get cleared up for you and you're able to get online!

[IHateStupidCustomers]

Here's a little update for you guys:

I did end up asking for a credit, and getting the whole month's service credited. I had actually called because I was supposed to get a call back from someone in the warranty department, I guess, and hadn't got a call back.

First person I talked to, I was on the phone for 47 minutes. We got to the point where we had two options: try another software download, or send out a new card. She tried to call my boyfriend, who is on the account, and once the three-way call started a bunch of staticy noise was on the line, and we lost the rep.

I call back, get another rep who for whatever reason needs the exact phone number associated with the air card. I didn't know it - I had previously just given a cell phone number on the same account. So, after already being on the phone this time for half an hour, I have to go outside and dig a bill out of the trash to get the number, because he says he can't do anything without it. So, as I am doing that, my cell phone starts beeping that's its dying, and it dies as soon as I get back up to the house, before I can get it on the charger.

Have to wait ten minutes before the phone will let me call out. The rep did actually try to call me back, so that was good at least. So, I call back and talk to someone for another half hour or so and finally got a new card sent out.

That's almost enough to make me just go to the library to use the internet.

[pacman]

Those Edge/WCDMA (?) cards are a bit tricky. Up here I'm working with a Finnish ISP/mobile provider and we've got those, too. Basically the card/USB modem is just a cell phone. It doesn't have voice call ability, though. SMS's can be sent through the computer software that gets installed and the Internet is used via the mobile network. It's called packet data (at least in GSM/3G/WCDMA networks). It is reasonable that you got the month credited because it apparently wasn't your fault the card didn't work.

Many times I've got angry customers stating that their mobile internet doesn't work, and when I plug the card in our test computer it works there, so they've just f'ed up something with their computer. Basically that's the point you call tech support. They just don't believe it can be their (computer's) fault... *headdesk*