Official News page 7

REAL LIFE NEWS: WHEN A BAD CONNECTION LEADS TO COURT

by Hazed

It's terrible when you lose your internet connection, as I found out a few weeks ago when I was offline for three days. In my case, I knew the cause: I moved ISPs and there was a gap between the old company turning me off, and me getting the router needed for the new setup.

What's worse is when you have no idea why you can't connect. For then, you're into the hell that is Customer Service.

An actress and playwright from Halifax found herself in that position recently, but what started as a fairly common standoff with an ISP that wouldn't provide the service, has left Carol Sinclair facing criminal charges.

She phoned up her ISP and they went through the usual routine: "Is the modem connected? Are the lights blipping?" and when she said yes to all the basic questions, she was told, "It should be working. The problem must be with your computer." When she still couldn't figure out what was wrong, she phoned back again. And again. And each time got the same response. Twenty times in a row. Each time, they refused to send out a repairman to look at the problem.

Finally, she tried something different. She phoned them again, with the same complaint, but this time she disguised her voice so she sounded like a man, and claimed she needed her connection fixed right away because she was a businessman. This time they agreed to send out a repairman the next day. And sure enough, a repairman did arrive. But he couldn't find anything wrong, and said the problem was with Ms Sinclair's computer.

Now the story of what happens next changes depending on who is telling it.

According to Halifax Police, Ms Sinclair was furious with the repairman, 21-year-old David Scott. "She told the technician, in a tirade, that he was not leaving until her internet was working and she told him she was keeping him hostage," said Constable Jeff Carr. "She implied that she had a gun, although he didn't see one."

Mr Scott told Ms Sinclair that he could fix her computer but to do so he'd need a disc which was in his truck. This ruse enabled him to run away and drive back to the office.

Ms Sinclair, however, has a different version of events. She says that when Mr Scott couldn't figure out what was wrong, she asked him to call for another technician, saying, "I don't want to hold you hostage, but would you mind hanging around until the other technician arrives so that the two of you can sort it out." Then the business with the disc in the truck, and the daring escape, is much the same, except that Ms Sinclair says she has no idea what spooked the repairman and made him run away.

Not long after that, five police officers came knocking on her door. She's been arraigned in court and will be back at the end of the month; meanwhile she is free on conditions that include having no contact with Mr Scott - or with any employee of her ISP.

So I guess she still hasn't got her internet connection fixed!

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