Les, it is very unfortunate, but, that is the way company's want their customer service to work. They don't want to bother the techs, with problems that the receptionist or first person you talk to can solve. They only have a set number of techs, and the techs have complained for years about all of the junk calls they've been getting. Some companies now have it set up, so that it cost you money to talk to the tech. This has been explained to me by a company I deal with, I will be dumping them as soon as I can find someone to replace them. They are set up so that it cost you around six dollars to just call them, it's an automated system. They charge you the money, then ask which department you want to talk to. I was very upset with this service, and I sent them an e-mail stating so, and demanded that they contact me by phone or I was dropping them right away. They did call me, and that is when they explained how their CS operated.
Len