WIRE TAP PRO
November 30, 2007 by shiva
Omar Little is one of the reasons I still watch TV. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, you don’t watch "The Wire" (HBO) ***. As much as I love Bunk, Omar is my idol. He is an exceptional thief who lives by a strict code of ethics. His unflinching devotion to this slightly twisted moral code has made him my business and corporate model.
You may wonder why I have embraced a criminal mastermind instead of embracing the Buddha for my business dealings. You wouldn’t wonder if you had read Robert Sutton’s The No Asshole Rule . It’s an eye opener.
Certainly we all believe that corporations assume a large number of "incomplete calls" (ie- hang-ups) as part of their customer/ tech support costs. They make it a point to frustrate the callers so they in fact give up and live with whatever the problem is. BUT we have no hard evidence to support this feeling.
Mr. Sutton’s book points out that credit card companies train their customer service reps who call to remind you that you have missed a payment to be rude and aggressive if you respond to their reminder call in a polite manner. The corporate mindset is that, if you aren’t flustered about being reminded you’re a deadbeat then you must have no intention to pay. Shame seems to have a high degree of success in getting us deadbeats to pay our bills.
Personally I believe that these psychological manipulations extend beyond reminding the deadbeats. It is easy enough to extrapolate from this a corporate policy where the customer who has already paid for their services don’t deserve to be treated with even a modicum of respect. I deal with it on a regular basis.
This past week alone I have the frustrating experience of trying to point out to Cricket Wireless Communications that I cannot contact anyone in customer service to inform them that they are billing me for service that has been cancelled because I no longer have an account. You think I am kidding? Try to call 1-800-Cricket (1800-274-2538) to ask them about their service options. The end result was firing off a letter each to 8 different Presidents, Executive and other sundry Vice Presidents containing a copy of the bill, a copy the confirmation of receipt of payment of the bill and a copy of the credit card transaction that paid the bill. I hope all those executives have some lowly serf who reads the mail.
My latest nightmare is Comcast. Let me mention that this article was researched, written, edited, and illustrated while on hold for a total of 3.5 hours on 4 different phone calls to Comcast’s customer service line.
A few months ago, Time Warner Cable handed over certain Houston neighborhoods to Comcast. The changeover has been spotty at best and finally this week, the service has became unbearable. The new season of "The Wire" is slated to start soon. I have already missed the first episode of K-ville because of COMCAST. I will let nothing stand between me and Omar.
I called 1-800-COMCAST . I actually called Comcast 5 times over the last 3 days- four times today alone.
I was a little shocked at how many automated "options" I have to navigate before getting a human. Please note that these options are NOT an option. No worries- I figured- they will solve the problem and I won’t have to call again. Once, twice , three, four times today alone I have the pleasure of had navigating these options to be put on hold to speak to misleading and ill-informed customer service reps who told me various versions of the complete opposite of the truth and left me on hold for extended periods of time while they concocted some other story to feed me in hopes I would go away. By my THIRD phone call and 24 MINUTES on HOLD, I was annoyed enough that I decided that I was going to embrace my inner Omar.
I am sure at this point you are wondering what this has to do with Macs or software, right?
Maybe it was the viking warrior logo calling to me. I dunno but I have found my weapon.
Ambrosia Software has a great utility called Wire Tap Pro. Their website describes it as an "all-purpose digital recording device: with the click of a button, WireTap Pro allows you to record any audio on your Mac."
The best part? My weapon of choice has a free trial version- excellent. I can refine my plan and test out the most important part of my battle plan: illustrating their convoluted automated customer service. For FREE. I like FREE.
Yep- it’s just what I need. First I set to recording the incredibly elaborate automated system using my plantronics headset and Skype. As you can see, it’s idiot-proof.
My next action was hunting down the addresses of all the higher level muckety mucks who ever have to call their own customer service number for help. I am sending them letters detailing my mistreatment at the hands of their customer service policy and a link to these recordings.
While recording my call to 1-800-COMCAST, I realized that I could also use it to record music from the web unavailable in the US. (FUMUJ comes to mind- I can’t seem to find this band anywhere in the US. I deplore stealing money from the lesser known artists of the word but I can’t seem to find where I can download this song in the US)
Ambrosia will get my money shortly. Yep. This is one utility I want in my arsenal.
DON’T FORGET THE T-SHIRT!!!
WARRIORS MUST BE PROPERLY ATTIRED!
Check them out:
Ambrosia Software.
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/wiretap/
WIRE TAP PRO
* Version: 1.3.2
* Genre: Audio Capture
* Price: $19.00
* Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3 or later, QuickTime 6.5 or later
* Intel: Native
* Extras: MP3 audio capture
* Summary: WireTap Pro allows you to record any audio, saving it to a file for later listening or processing. Streaming Internet audio, sound snippets of a DVD movie, voice notations/narration, audio from a game, digitized audio from a line-in… WireTap Pro does it all.
If you want to know more about THE NO ASSHOLE RULE:
* An Interview with Mr. Sutton
*** If you don’t watch The Wire , you are missing out on the best pulp writing in America. George Pelecanos , Richard Price and Dennis Lehane have all written episodes for The Wire. If you don’t know who these guys are, well, I just feel sorry for you