Phone Troubles and Stellar Support

In my job I am frequently required to travel internationally. The other engineers in my group are also required to travel internationally. Usually there is some type of misunderstanding about what is being observed at the customer and we go and treat the start visit like a fact finding mission before trying to come up with a solution.

Frequently a call to the home office is required. This is all well and good, except that sometimes our IT department does not realize the perils of international travel or the consequences of being without a phone that works for more than an alarm clock.

Our IT department is very bad about upgrading phones. We go through Verizion Wireless and I guess we are allowed to get an upgrade every 2 years, like normal consumers. Who knew?

Before a recent trip to Brazil, Rodney received a new phone because his old phone refused to charge the battery. He went for about a week swapping batteries with another coworker before he could get a new phone, but that strategy would not work in Brazil where he only had one phone.

Luckily we have good local support in Brazil, and they actually have phones that work in Brazil and can call the United States...

Rodney arrives in Brazil and his phone does not work. He uses our local representative's phone and calls me for help. I send an email to IT requesting assistance for Rodney who is currently in Brazil on a customer visit. Here is the email conversation:

Me: Rodney is in Brazil and his phone does not work. Can you help with this issue?

IT: He needs to call the Verizion Global Support line at 908-559-4899

I wanted to retort with: "How is he supposed to call Verizion Global Support if his phone does not work?" but I did not. I would like my computer and phone to continue to function.

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