More than a year ago we were suckered into upgrading our antiquated (read: three year old) phone system and switched to a pricey state of the art package from a certain high-tech company. Spirits were high as we anticipated streamlining our communications and benefiting from a myriad of new options and services. That was a year ago. Today all we want is a dial tone when we pick up the receiver.

We had problems right out of the chute. Dropped calls. Phones that mysteriously went dead. You could hear the person on the other line, but they could not hear you. No dial tone. Calls rolled into voicemail without ringing. Couldn’t connect to voicemail.

This company insists that every problem fully documented so they can investigate and "correct" the issue. So not only do we have to endure the endless frustration and embarrassment of faulty calls, apologize profusely to our clients who may suffer as a result, worry about what calls we totally missed and wonder if an important chat will be clipped mid-sentence, we also have to take the time to write down exactly what happened. So instead of saving us time, a simple call may take up twice as much time, and accomplish nothing.

A year later and things are no better. Shame on this "high-tech" group for touting its new technology without having the old-fashioned service to back it up. We’re shopping for a new system and right now two soup cans with a string tied between them is the front runner.

Thanks to Dandy Stevenson for her guest commentary.