Everything is amazing...Technology sucks

While it is very true that the number of things my computer allows me to do is quite staggering...it is also true that it allows companies to put a wall of technology between you and their products. It would be nice to think that if I couldn't get a human or machine process to help me at certain times, I'd vote with my feet and stop dealing with that company. The reality is that everyone uses these web sites and phone trees and sometimes you just have to suck it up.

My flight to New York this morning was cancelled late yesterday (after I checked in online). An odd enough situation, considering the time of year. The company was nice enough to phone me. Too bad for me, my pay-as-you-go phone was disconnected earlier in the day, so no phone call and no cancellation info.

Up at 4:00 Am to get ready to go to airport, one last check of website...Flight Cancelled! Just what does one do with this info? The AA website is intensive, but never mentions what happens when they cancel a flight. No info other than cancelled, no phone call and no human available at this time of morning.

The phone? I had upped my quota online on Friday, but not with a voucher or credit card, but with my online banking. Seems Friday posts don't happen till Monday and there is no human support on weekends for pay-as-you-go. I was online and voice-mailing Rogers about this from my home phone as American Airlines was phoning my defunct cell.

I have spent mucho time online and in phone trees the past 24 hours, yet it was still the 2-3 minutes of human contact that let me know what was happening, both with my phone and my flight.

Too funny, I suppose. Technology helping me get from one place to another on the planet and trying to keep me informed, while non-complementary processes were leaving me in an info/access void.

*** Of course, it's now the next day and I'm sitting in the airport, updating this entry with my little netbook PC while I drink coffee and browse my online blogs that I follow. I really like reading my local paper, but when online, I have access to such a wide variety of information.

Everything is amazing...Technology is so cool!

B