[SGVLUG] Oh, the pain, the agony -- "online chat" support...

[Dan Borne]

It must have been more efficient for them to use a stupid bot than to run 20
kb of web pages off of a server, how depressing it is the way the world is
turning and just more evidence why I *should* switch off of my ATT
connexion.

I assume that you have fixed the problem without their (wonderful) help.

Cheers,

2009/1/9 Emerson, Tom (*IC) <Tom.Emerson at wbconsultant.com>

>  For a while now, my DSL was down (which is/was a good thing -- kept me
> from being up late at night for a while...)  I finally got around to
> investigating, and after pacbell/sbc/att/whomever "fixed" my phone/DSL line,
> I fired up my server(s), including my e-mail server (picks up mail via POP
> and makes it available as IMAP) and soon enough I was getting an e-mail from
> Yahoo telling me to "enable SSL" in my outlook express client...
>
> Ummm -- yeah, right -- I use fetchmail, and a quick search of the web for
> "fetchmail" and "ssl" gave me the instructions on what to do.  Now that I've
> done that, it appears that AT&T's certificate is "not trusted" -- I suspect
> it is simply because I don't have their root CA's certificate [VERY
> likely...] but I thought I'd give their support a whirl since they started
> it.
>
> So, checking the e-mail, I see it says "don't reply -- this came from a
> bot" [or words to that effect], so it's to the support web pages I go...
>
> The support pages (at some point) popped up a box that said "e-mail support
> is no longer available for high-speed DSL users, use online chat instead"
>
> [grrrr] ok, start at the beginning again, get the "chat" client fired up,
> and I "notify" them that their SSL cert is invalid -- here is the "chat"
> that ensued...
> <!-- div { line-height: 18px; }-->
> Please wait while we find an agent to assist you...
> Thank you for contacting AT&T Internet Services, my name is Aaron
> McQuillan. One moment while I review your information.
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Hi, Tom Emerson! I hope you are doing fine.
> *Aaron McQuillan:* As I understand your concern, I see that you are having
> issues with your email SSL update. Is that correct?
> *tom emerson:* hello. I've been getting an e-mail urging me to switch to
> SSL for POP; I've done that, and in my logs I see that my system cannot
> validate your SSL certificate
> *Aaron McQuillan:* I understand your question and I'm glad to assist you
> with your inquiry.
> *tom emerson:* osnut:/etc # fetchmail -v -f /etc/fetchmailrc
> fetchmail: 6.2.3 querying pop.att.yahoo.com (protocol POP3) at Fri Jan 9
> 17:14:57 2009: poll started
> fetchmail: Issuer Organization: Equifax
> fetchmail: Unknown Issuer CommonName
> fetchmail: Server CommonName: pop.att.yahoo.com
> fetchmail: pop.att.yahoo.com key fingerprint:
> 66:89:36:BA:15:CD:9B:DA:BE:39:02:34:5C:0B:C1:30
> fetchmail: Warning: server certificate verification: unable to get local
> issu
> *Aaron McQuillan:* How do you normally check your emails? Is it through
> AT&T Yahoo! email on the web or through other means like Outlook perhaps?
> *tom emerson:* I run my own e-mail server at home. I've configured it to
> use Fetchmail to pull e-mails from your system and make them available via
> imap
> *tom emerson:* since fetchmail was previously configured for "regular" pop
> e-mail [and my DSL was down for a while] I was unaware of the recent push to
> go to SSL until this week. Now that I've enabled it, I'm getting the
> error/warning shown above
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Are you getting any sending / receiving error?
> *tom emerson:* Here is the efetchmail: Warning: server certificate
> verification: unable to get local issuer certificate
> fetchmail: Issuer Organization: Equifax
> fetchmail: Unknown Issuer CommonName
> fetchmail: Server CommonName: pop.att.yahoo.com
> fetchmail: Warning: server certificate verification: certificate not
> trusted
> rror message:
> *tom emerson:* whups, that pasted funny -- here it is a little clearer:
> fetchmail: Warning: server certificate verification: unable to get local
> issuer certificate
> fetchmail: Issuer Organization: Equifax
> fetchmail: Unknown Issuer CommonName
> fetchmail: Server CommonName: pop.att.yahoo.com
> fetchmail: Warning: server certificate verification: certificate not
> trusted
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Thank you.
> *Aaron McQuillan:* I can give you the servers and ports used by AT&T.
> *tom emerson:* and that will help me how?
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Incoming mail (POP3) is pop.att.yahoo.com and Outgoing
> mail (SMTP) is smtp.att.yahoo.com.
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Outgoing mail (SMTP) port is 465 and the box next to
> This server requires a secure connection (SSL) is checked.
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Incoming mail (POP3) it should be port 995 and the box
> next to This server requires a secure connection (SSL) is checked.
> *tom emerson:* fetchmail is configured via a plain text file -- there are
> no "boxes to check"
> *Aaron McQuillan:* As much as I want to assist you but we only have
> limited resources for this kind of issue. We have a special department with
> specially trained agents who handles this unique issue of yours and we call
> them the ConnecTech / Support+ Department.
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Tom Emerson, Fetchmail is a product that AT&T Internet
> Services does not support, I can offer you AT&T ConnecTech / Support+
> (866-294-3464), a fee-based technical support service that can assist you.
> If you'd like, I can refer you to AT&T ConnecTech / Support+ to explain more
> about the service and to resolve your issue, or we have some information
> about many of these common products on the Member Facing Support Site at *
> **http://help.sbcglobal.net* <http://help.sbcglobal.net>. Another option
> is to contact Fetchmail directly. If you'd like I can provide you that
> contact information.
> *tom emerson:* sure, please let me know how to contact fetchmail directly.
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Ok.
> **
> *[note: INCREDIBLY long pause here...]*
>
> *Aaron McQuillan:* I believe you can find the contact number of Fetchmail
> thru fetchmail.com
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Is there anything else I can help you with?
> *tom emerson:* hmm.. fetchmail is open source software, "fetchmail.com"
> goes to a generic search page -- fwiw, I was using the page at ***
> http://fetchmail.berlios.de/fetchmail-FAQ.html#K5*<http://fetchmail.berlios.de/fetchmail-FAQ.html#K5>to configure my system
> *Aaron McQuillan:* I am sorry but I do not have the number here for
> Fetchmail.
> *tom emerson:* that's OK -- I think I have what I need for the moment --
> say hello to your aunt Eliza for me
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Will there be anything else?
> *tom emerson:* no
> *Aaron McQuillan:* Thank you for using AT&T Self Support Tool. I attempted
> to speak with you but there was no response from your side, if you have any
> further queries, please feel free to connect back to us. We will be more
> than happy to assist you.***** [image: Picture (Metafile)]*
>
> *Since the "tech" didn't get the Eliza reference, I graded his Turing test
> with an "F"...*
>
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