Tech Support
posted in Technology |Here’s an online chat transcript that a colleague of mine had with Earthlink tech support today. I’ve changed the name of the customer service rep and customer to protect the innocent/frustrated. As somebody who actually does support end users (though not in the same manner as an actual CSR), I have a moderate amount of sympathy for the CSR. But my true sympathy and endless amusement from this conversation thread goes to the poor unfortunate soul that I have relabeled as “customer.”
info: Welcome to Earthlink LiveChat. Your chat session will begin shortly. Feel free to begin typing your question.
info: ‘CSR’ says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I help you today?
Customer: http://kb.earthlink.net/case
Customer: These opt-out servers don’t work as stated.
Customer: They haven’t for months.
Customer: I need to use some opt-out servers for DNS.
CSR: Hello, I will assist you.
Customer: Please let me know which DNS servers Earthlink offers users who need to take advantage of the provisions this knowledge base article erroneously claims these servers provide.
CSR: I suggest you to use:
Primary DNS server number: 207.69.188.185
And the Alternate DNS server number: 207.69.188.186
Customer: Those are opt-out servers?
Customer: Per the article? Or are those just the regular Earthlink suggested DNS servers?
CSR: Yes, let me know, are you getting any error message.
Customer: :-/
Customer: Do you understand my issue? Are you looking at the Earthlink article I cite above?
CSR: Yes, I am at that link only, let me know are you able to follow the steps?
Customer: To answer your question, I still get the stupid Earthlink redirect after changing DNS servers as you suggest. So no, those are not opt-out servers.
CSR: I apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.
Customer: I won’t accept your apology, ’cause this isn’t your fault. There’s no way you can be expected to represent Earthlink’s stupidity on this issue. I’m sure you’re doing a good job; the company that pays you has just been really, really stupid about this.
Customer: Tell you what might be helpful. Can you give me a list of every DNS server Earthlink may have — all of them that exist as far as you know? Maybe — just maybe — one of them will opt out of the redirects.
CSR: Please let me know the redirected page you are getting when you are trying to access the page.
Customer: I’m getting the lame Earthlink DNS redirect page: http://earthlink-help.com/main
Customer: That’s when I try the URL sosososososos.com — which of course is a non-existent domain.
Customer: That’s the darned simple test for whether the DNS server at issue is an opt-out or not.
CSR: Thank you for the information.
CSR: Please stay on hold while I work on the issue.
Customer: The actual issue in my case is as the article acknowledges — a VPN problem with the stupid redirect servers.
Customer: The article claims: “In rare circumstances DNS error page routing may cause problems for some EarthLink customers running various speciality programs or services. As a work around, EarthLink provides two DNS addresses that do not route to our EarthLink/Yahoo! error page. These DNS addresses can be used as a means of opting out of the error re-routing service.”
CSR: Let me know, have you installed TotalAccess on your computer.
Customer: The only problem, of course, is that the servers specified haven’t provided this opt-out functionality for nearly a year. And Earthlink hasn’t updated this article, nor have they restored the functionality their stupid article claims the servers provide.
Customer: Good Lord no, why would I install Earthlink’s bogus software?
Customer: This is a simple DNS issue.
Customer: And installing such software would not make any difference for how DNS works.
Customer: Among other things, I’m doing PPPOE at the router, and specifying the DNS servers in its settings to avoid the defaults via DHCP, which are not opt-outs either.
Customer: So my DNS on the local machine, via DHCP, is the router’s IP (gateway on the local network).
CSR: Are you chatting with me from the same system with which you are having the issue?
Customer: The problem is demonstrably that the servers listed in the knowledge base article are not performing as the article claims. They are redirecting bogus DNS requests. Therefore, the solution to this problem does not involve the client system or settings. The solution will be to identify actual DNS servers that opt out of the idiotic redirection, or to change the ones Earthlink CLAIMS do, but they don’t.
Customer: Aaaargh!@
Customer: This isn’t an issue of a particular computer having this problem.
Customer: Any computer on the planet that’s pointed to the supposed opt-out servers specified in the article, will ridiculously get the redirect page when a non-existent domain is looked up — contrary to the article’s claims for these servers.
CSR: I suggest you to use another browser once and check the issue.
Customer: Look, please understand. DNS works fine for me with existent domains. My problem is the paragraph I ARGH! NO NO NO!
Customer: Do you understand the paragraph I pasted in from the article?
Customer: Please read that paragraph I quoted above, from the article. This is NOT A CLIENT ISSUE. The reason the article exists, and the opt-out servers were originally provided when the article was young and accurate, was because people using the usual DNS servers had problems the paragraph I quoted cites. NORMAL DNS IN A WEB BROWSER WORKS FINE.
Customer: The way to TEST whether the DNS servers in use are actually opting out of the redirection, is to type in a bogus domain. If the redirect page shows up, the DNS servers in use are not opt-out servers — they’re still redirecting just like the normal servers you configure everyone to use, or which automatically configure from the connection.
CSR: Please let me know the Operating System that you are using. Is it Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP/NT or Vista?
Customer: :-\
Customer: You’re doing it again.
Customer: Vista
Customer: XP
Customer: 2000
Customer: 98
Customer: it doesn’t matter.
CSR: Thank you.
Customer: I have two machines in the house. One XP, one Vista.
Customer: It could be Linux, and it’d be the same.
Customer: A Macintosh would have the same problem.
Customer: The issue is that the DNS servers in the article are not doing what they’re supposed to do. Again, I can do everything else just fine. DNS is just dandy! But the servers redirect bogus domains, which is a SYMPTOM of a non-standard DNS functionality Earthlink implemented for stupid marketing/revenue purposes (syndication links on the idiotic redirect page), which also indicates why VPN connections (in my case) aren’t working properly.
CSR: I suggest you to bypass the router once and connect the DSL modem directly to the computer and check the issue, This will confirm whether the issue is with the router or the modem. If you still face the same issue I need to escalate this issue to our engineers.
Customer: If the opt-out servers were working as specified in the article, I would not be having any of these problems with the VPN connection. It worked fine back in the day when the servers actually opted out off the redirection.
Customer: ARGH!
Customer: IT’S THE DNS SERVER!
Customer: If you don not understand the article or the paragraph I quoted, please escalate immediately./
Customer: I’m not going to jump through these hoops. I seriously don’t think you understand the issue. That’s fine, no ill will, but please let’s move this along.
CSR: We are having two type of DNS numbers: the stander DNS numbers are:
CSR: Primary DNS server number: 207.69.188.171
And the Alternate DNS server number: 207.69.188.172
CSR: And the another DNS numbers are:
CSR: Primary DNS server number: 207.69.188.185
And the Alternate DNS server number: 207.69.188.186
CSR: You have checked the issue with both DNS numbers.
Customer: Right. Those are specified in the article, and they do not work as specified. They work (with respect to redirection) just like the other servers. They’re not supposed to. There’s nothing on the client side that can cause the servers to behave wrongly. THEY are doing the redirection. This is an Earthlink problem.
Customer: YES.
CSR: I suggest you to bypass the router once and check the issue, if you still face the same issue I will escalate the issue.
Customer: :-\
Customer: Trust me on this. Please.
Customer: Just be honest with yourself as you read the article; if you don’t understand the issue and are reading off a checklist of what I should try, please escalate.
CSR: Okay, Please let me know the security word on your account, which appears to be mother’s maiden name, for verification purposes.
Customer: **********
Customer: Thank you.
CSR: Thank you for the account verification information. I was able to verify your account.
CSR: In that case, as all the possible steps have been taken to fix the issue, I would need to escalate it to our engineers who would be in a better position to assist you on this.
CSR: I am escalating the issue to our engineers with high priority so that our engineers will work on the issue and will fix it at the earliest time frame.
Customer: Will they get a full transcript of this session?
CSR: Let me know your contact phone number.
Customer: ***.***.****
Customer: Thank you.
CSR: Is there an answering machine on the contact phone number?
Customer: No. I always answer it. 
CSR: Let me know your Time Zone.
Customer: Central Standard in Illinois.
CSR: Let me know the best time to contact you at your contact phone number.
Customer: Any time at all, night or day.
Customer: Now would be best.
CSR: Thank you for the information, I appreciate your patience and cooperation and understanding while we are working on the issue.
Customer: You mean “doing the best we can under the circumstances while the buttheads at Earthlink who hired us sit on their arses doing nothing.” I know you can’t say that, but I can.
CSR: This will take 24 to 48 hours to fix the issue, It was my pleasure assisting a friendly customer like you. Is there anything else I could assist you with?
Customer: No — just have a great day/night.
Customer: If EL actually takes care of this as a consequence of this conversation, you will have pulled of a heckuva miracle — or your supervisors will have. So cross your fingers and hope for the best.
CSR: You are welcome!!. You are a very valued customer and it has been a pleasure serving you. Thank you for all your patience and understanding that you have shown while we were chatting.
CSR: I am glad that you gave me the opportunity to assist you. However, If you need any kind of assistance please feel free to contact us again. Have a great time ahead and please do take care, Good bye!!.
Customer: And if I took you out for a beer (unlikely; the airfare would be insane just to get there), we could both laugh about Earthlink. You’re doing a good job keeping a straight face
