Embarq Customer Service: FAIL

This is why customer service personnel should 1) be located in the country whose population they are serving, or at least 2) human, awake, and able to respond to requests from potential customers.

I am online tonight shopping for a local land-based telephone service.  After spending twenty minutes looking around the Embarq website at their various plans, I still have not found out how they define “local” as in “Local phone service” which is included in their basic package.  I know, it should be in the FAQ section, or somewhere else linked directly from the page describing that as included in that package, but it is not.

So I find their Customer Service page and, conveniently, they have a Sales Chat link.  I fill in my question, and submit it.  This is what follows:

Scott Schulz
Initial Question/Comment: Looking at your service, but unable to find out what constitutes Local service. How is that defined?

6:19:08 PM System System
Jill @ EMBARQ has joined this session!

6:19:08 PM System System
Connected with Jill @ EMBARQ

6:19:08 PM System System
Phone Number: 919xxxxxxx

6:19:08 PM System System
Hello, thank you for contacting Embarq Customer Service. Please give me one moment to pull up your account information.

6:19:21 PM Customer Scott Schulz
I do not yet have an account

6:22:33 PM AgentJill @ EMBARQ
Can I please verify you on the account with the last four digits of your social security number or the password on your account?

6:22:46 PM Customer Scott Schulz
I do not yet have an account

6:27:08 PM Agent Jill @ EMBARQ
It seems that you have been idle for more than two minutes. I apologize for any inconvenience, but if there is no response in the next 2 minutes, this session will end. Thank you for your cooperation.

6:27:34 PM Customer Scott Schulz
I do not yet have an account, I am shopping for one

Jill @ EMBARQ
Thank you for connecting with Embarq! If you require further assistance, feel free to contact us again. You may chat live with an Embarq agent 8am to 8pm Eastern time Monday through Friday and 11am to 8pm Eastern time on Saturday. In a moment, you will be asked to take a short survey to rate your satisfaction with Embarq. Your feedback is important to us and we would appreciate you taking the time to respond. Have a great day Scott!

6:29:58 PM System System
Jill @ EMBARQ has left this session!

6:29:58 PM System System
The session has ended!

So much for pre-sales support… and so much for using Embarq as a carrier.