Are Any PacBell Reps Trained?

RBOC Lockup

A recent move caused me to doubt that Pacific Bell hires anybody but high school students. On the first call, I attempted to disconnect service at my old phone number. The customer service [sic] representative had taken down most of my information, when she said she would have to see her supervisor, as she wasn't trained to handle a transfer. After a long hold wait, I was informed that her computer was frozen and that she would have to call me back later to confirm the cancellation of service. She took down the information that was locked up inside her computer again, it now being inaccessible. "Technology doesn't always help!" she exclaimed exuberantly. Let's hope Pacific Bell's switches are more reliable than their order processing system.

Please Hold...

Not wanting to risk any further details to this particular rep, I called customer service another time. Again, I was asked how I could be "helped". I asked that my payment arrangements be transferred to my new number. The eager rep told me that he wasn't trained to handle this request, but he would transfer me to another number. I interrupted him to ask if he could restore my Caller ID blocking, which was mysteriously dropped when my new number was connected.

Why is it that the RBOC's are so eager to keep customers from having Caller ID blocking, anyhow? PacBell has been running sinister ads, insinuating that your calls will never be answered if you have blocking enabled. They neglect to mention, of course, the fact that you can selectively enable display of your number on a per-call basis. (Dial *82 before the call.)

But I digress. This rep did successfully enable blocking, which apparently they do train some reps from the main pool how to do. The he transferred me to the next rep. Or tried, I should say. I ended up at an operator, who could only transfer me elsewhere. I described my request, and she told me where she was transferring me. She also gave me the number, "Just In Case! " It's a good thing she did though, because the call didn't go through! Shouldn't the phone company, of all people, be able to transfer a call?