Having a reliable internet connection is important for modern living.

What would you do if your internet went down and your ISP couldn’t fix it or tell you when it would be fixed for weeks on end?

That is what happened to the customer in this story, so he started opening tons of tickets to try to get it fixed.

Let’s see how the story plays out…

You’re not giving me an ETA for a fix? I’ll flood your ticketing system!

This happened around 2012.

Back then I used to live in Southern Europe (one of the Mediterranean countries). I was a university student in a remote, rural place.

I had just moved to a new apartment and, naturally, my first order of business was to make sure that I have a running Internet connection.

The problem was that, due to the place I was living in being so remote, there was only one ISP provider available.

You didn’t like the provider? Too bad.

Things are going smoothly so far.

Anyway, I sign the necessary paperwork in time, move to the new place, set up the router and all, and thankfully my connection is fine.

That is until day 3 or 4 when out of nowhere my Internet connection dies (but my phone line was working normally).

Ok, no probs, I call the ISP to open a ticket.

The representative tells me that they will get back to me soon.

A few days pass by and I get nothing so I decide to call them again.

It wasn’t an easy fix.

The representative tells me that they are still investigating the problem and that they will get back to me soon.

Now, this is the point where I’m starting to get frustrated.

I know that the Internet in the area is fine, in fact, my next-door neighbor’s Internet connection is great so the problem must be something that is easily fixable, right?

WRONG.

A week has passed by and I call them again.

This time the representative tells me that they have investigated the issue and the problem is officially of “unknown origin” which means that they cannot give me an ETA for the fix.

I hang up the phone feeling sad and perplexed.

Going without the internet is difficult.

As I contemplate my internetless existence the representative’s words echo in my mind: “unknown origin”, “we cannot give you an ETA”.

Slowly, my sadness transforms into denial.

How is this possible?

My phone connection still works so the line is still there and I know for a fact that everyone in the area has a stable Internet connection.

This must be a simple bug that is easily fixable. This can only mean one thing: Someone has not been doing his job correctly.

The denial becomes anger.

How dare they tell me that they cannot give me an ETA? This should be illegal!

What if my job depends on my Internet connection?

He got really worked up about his internetlessness.

Not to mention that Internet access is a basic human right! They are denying me my rights by not giving me an ETA!

At this point the issue stops being the Internet connection – it’s about the principle of the matter. As a human being and a customer, I am entitled to an ETA!

I call the ISP again and I try to explain my flawless reasoning.

No luck.

The poor representative who listens to my rant tells me that the only thing I can do is to open a new ticket.

Shocked by my inability to define my fate I accept his offer and hang up.

Is there a limit on how many tickets you can open for the same issue?

And then… A magnificent idea is born.

Since the only thing that I can do is to open a new ticket then this is exactly what I’m going to do.

From that point on I was calling my ISP provider two to five times per day.

Each time, I was telling the representative the same thing: “This is what has happened, I know that there are multiple tickets with my name on them already but I want you to open a new one!”

Most of the representatives were pretty amused by my story.

Everyone complied.

A month later – yes, a month passed without the issue having been fixed – I get a call from the regional tech executive of the ISP.

This is very unprofessional.

The call goes like this:

Executive: <long angry rant> You must stop opening tickets, you’re flooding our ticketing system! <more long angry rant>

At first, I was shocked at how aggressive the executive was, he was clearly one step away from starting to calling me names and I knew that the only reason this didn’t happen was that these calls are being recorded.

And then my shock transformed into excitement.

You see, my friends, this is the point when I realized that I was winning.

Still no ETA?

Me: Well, are you going to give me an ETA for a fix?

Executive: We cannot give you an ETA, the problem is of an unknown origin.

Me: Then I guess I’ll keep opening tickets.

Executive: hangs up

To cut a long story short, this exchange renewed my passion for crushing the souls of those who have wronged me so I kept opening tickets at the same pace for another 30-40 days.

I estimate that in the course of the total ~70 days that this lasted I must have opened more than 250 tickets.

Finally, good news!

One day my phone rings.

I pick it up and it’s an ISP representative who tells me this:

“Mr. XXX is this you? Your problem has been solved, everyone at [ISP name] is talking about you!”

Indeed, on that day my Internet connection was back.

The cool part about this, however, was that I had Internet all along.

Remember my next-door neighbor?

She was kind enough to let me know her WiFi password since day 1.

This guy is a little dramatic, but sometimes you have too be persistent to get results.

I wonder what the issue ended up being.

Let’s see what the people in the comments on Reddit have to say.

This person makes a good point.

I sure hope they did.

This person says it isn’t a big deal to open multiple tickets.

I’m curious as well.

They better have.

He was definitely persistent!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.