belkin: good product, horrid customer service (lyn)

I am compulsively neat.  My drawers, my cabinets, and especially anything not tucked away.  So looking at tangled wires, even if they reside under my desk, bothers me. The NY Times recently printed an article regarding solutions to wire clutter.  I investigate the products they recommend, and decide to purchase an 11-plug Belkin Outlet Conceal Surge Protector. 

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Outlet-Conceal-Surge-Protector/dp/B000W3V3EM/ref=lh_ni_t

Today it arrives.  It takes me two hours to set it up; it would take the average person about 15 minutes. 

My “not grounded” light keeps blinking, and I cannot fit the big cable wire through the tiny place for it to go.  I’m wondering if I may be doing something wrong.  I call Belkin.  This is what adds almost 105 minutes to my set-up time.

  

Call #1

I call the number on the Belkin website.  I speak to a heavily-accented non-American  who gives me “the correct number.” 

Call #2

I call that number and it is incorrect.  Another poor-English speaking person gives me a new number.

Call #3

I call this number and it is correct.  I listen to the prompts and press #2.  I get someone who tells me I should have pressed #4.  She can’t transfer me.  She is in some Indian country very far away.

Call #4

I call back and hit prompt #4.  Finally, I get an English-as-a-first-language-person named Andrea.  She is very nice, but needs to connect me to someone else.  She takes down all my info in case we are disconnected.  We are not.  I get another foreign person.  He tells me he is the right person; I explain the problem; he disconnects me.

Call #5

I am disconnected before I even get a person.

Call #6

I get the right number, the right extension, and a polite but clueless heavily-accented person.  Before I can say anything, she needs the model number.  I don’t see it on the package and I don’t see it on the surge protector itself.  We spend over twenty minutes looking for it.   She places me on hold three times.  Frustrated, I ask, “I can’t get on the internet to get the model number because all my cords are disconnected.   Can you just Google Amazon and get the model number that way?"  "No, I cannot do that."  Then she adds, “I don’t see the surge protector you are describing.”  I am looking at the surge protector as she tells me this.   Twenty-three minutes into the call she gives up and says, abruptly (but politely), “Thank you for calling Belkin; have a nice day.”  Click.  Dial tone.

I re-plug everything back in.  Find my answers on the internet.  Confirm with my building that my plug is grounded despite the Belkin product telling me it isn’t. 

I now hate Belkin, but my wires look much better.  Not perfect, but better. I go on Amazon and purchase a second one for my wires on the left.  This next time, if I need help, I won't be calling Belkin.  But I'm a pro now; I shouldn't have to.