It had been a busy couple of weeks in preparation for a client presentation.  I flew to San Francisco to complete the documentation / presentation with the technical lead on the project.  Handlery Union Square hotel was within walking distance of where we were to meet so I stayed there.  The hotel seemed nice enough, big room, good chair and desk to work at and very convenient location so I was quite happy with the choice.  

I had arrived a little before 9:00 p.m. but proceeded to work until around 12:30.  No problem I thought, as I only need to get up at 7:30.  I discovered there was something wrong with the alarm clock (one of the buttons wasn't working) so I walked over to phone the front desk for a wake up call.  I noticed a sign about their automated wake up call system where I was able to set the time through the phone.  Very easy to use, I set the time for 7:30.  Time for a good night's sleep before another busy day.

5:15 the phone rings.  It was the automated wake up call !!!!!! 

I phoned down to the front desk. "I just received a wake up call but it was supposed to be at 7:30".  The immediate reply was "I didn't call you and I make all the wake up calls".  I proceeded to explain that it was the automated system I set for 7:30, the computerized voice confirmed this but it called me at 5:15.  There was no apology, no "I'll get someone to look at" just again "ya because I didn't call you".  I was too tired to fight, "can I have a wake-up call for 7:30 please".   Okay, I did receive the 7:30 call.  

When I was checking out, I told the lady at the front desk what had happened.  Her reply was a laughing "Oh, never trust the technology, you should just call down for a wake-up call next time".  There was no, "sorry we'll take a look at it", "sorry, I haven't heard of any other problems, l have someone test the system" .... it probably was a simple matter of resetting the clock on the server.  So much for good customer experience.