Cox Communications is my cable company and my cable Internet provider. I read some bad stuff about Cox, but normally their services are pretty reliable and I don't have an issue.

But Heaven forbid something should go wrong.

Yesterday the Internet service went out. Now I've learned that sometimes when this happens you have to shut everything down, unplug the cable modem, plug it back in and then everything resets and you're back in business. And, to be fair, I learned this in the past from a helpful Cox representative.

Yesterday that didn't work, even after I tried it on two separate occasions about an hour apart. At this point I'm annoyed that my service has been out this long and I'd like a ballpark estimate on when it might be back up.

So I go to Cox's Web site, where they do all they can to hide the customer service telephone numbers from you. Their support area offers everything but what you want--a number.

After finally tracking down the number (I bookmarked the page I found it on, btw, you know I'll need that again someday), I call up and am put in the queue for a representative--except I'm not. Instead I am routed to an automated helper that directs me to unplug my modem and plug it back in, and puts me on hold while it waits for me to get "back on the network".

After about 15 minutes of going through these motions even though I know they won't help, the automated voice realizes it can't help me & give me a live person who verifies that the Internet service is down and they have no idea when it will be back up, which means I spent 20 minutes on the phone and ended up pretty much where I started--no service and no idea when I might get service. (It actually came back up shortly thereafter.)

It's a smart thing for Cox to try to help people by telling them to unplug their modems and see if that corrects the problem. What made me angry was that I had no choice but to go through these motions in order to actually speak to a person. I had to keep pressing buttons and waiting for the computer to check my status, all the while knowing that this wasn't the problem.

Why not have the auto voice say to me, "Service interruptions can often be easily corrected by restarting your computer modem. Do you want me to show you how to do this?" Then I'd have an option to say yes or no, wich if I had no idea what that meant, I'd say yes. (Although a lot of people would just say "no" because they want to talk to a live person, which should be their right as a customer who is purchasing your services, Cox!)

At one point the computer voice says to me "By the way, if you were talking to a customer service representative right now, they'd be taking you through these same steps." Well, actually, they wouldn't, because when I got a customer service rep on the phone she immediately confirmed that the service was down altogether.

I'm angry all over again. Not very Zen at all.

Enjoy your weekend.