i heart robots

so recently, I've been enamored with the Blackberry Pearl. Ooooooh so pretty. Thin, almost-qwerty keypad, email, shiny, nice little roller ball thing, camera, and a flat back for me to bedazzle it with. Personally, I think it's the true grown up sidekick.

However, it's only available on t-mobile, and I'm stuck with Cingular. Woooooeee is me! But I wasn't about to just give up. So I go to the Cingular website to figure out when my contract is up because I would actually consider jumping ship for the Pearl. I don't think I've ever considered jumping ship before - so that says a lot!

However, it's not exactly clear how to find that information on the Cingular website. And trust me, if you have Cingular, you're not going to want to ever call them. So I click on this thing in the right column called "Ask Cingular" their online interactive agent, thinking it's going to be one of those human manned customer service chat things.

Let me just say I was very pleasantly surprised. Here's my conversation (I'm "Guest"):

Ask Cingular: Welcome! I'm Ask Cingular, an automated service agent available 24/7 to answer your general billing and payment related questions. Please understand Ask Cingular is not Click to Chat with a live Representative, but a automated knowledge resource. Some questions directly related to your wireless account may be best answered in a dialogue with a Representative, and we may ask you to call Customer Service for a resolution.

You can ask me things like:
"What are my options for paying my bill?"
"How do I add a feature?"

Type your question or topic in the space below and click Send.

Guest: Hi

Ask Cingular: Hello! How can I help you?

Guest: when did my contract begin?

Ask Cingular: Finding Your Contract End Date

To find your contract end date, click on Profile in the left navigation. Your profile information will appear. Then, click on User Information in the left navigation to view your contract end date.

Guest: how much does it cost to break my contract?

Ask Cingular: Early Termination Fee

Customers who cancel their contract with Cingular Wireless while still under contract will pay an Early Termination Fee for each wireless telephone number associated with the service.

An Early Termination Fee is not charged if you cancel service within 30 of activation. Please call customer service at 1-800-331-0500 for the Early Termination Fee amount.

There. Successfully found the information I was looking for. Gold star for effectiveness. But just to screw around some more, I continue talking to my new-found friend (I'm still "Guest"):

Guest: i love this chat thing

Ask Cingular: Thank you! I'm happy to help you.

Guest: are you a real person?

Ask Cingular: I'm a robot.

Guest: are you cute?

Ask Cingular: How to Contact Cingular Customer Service

To speak with a customer representative please call customer service at 1-800-331-0500 or 611 on your wireless phone.

The hours of operation are:

Monday through Friday 7:00am – 9:00pm
Saturday 9:00am – 6:00pm

If you are roaming internationally, you can contact us by dialing +1-916-843-4685.

Guest: where are you?

Ask Cingular: I'm actually a computer, but I'm housed in a high-tech hosting facility in California!

Guest: cool!

Ask Cingular: I'm glad you think that's cool.

And another gold star for tickling me pink.