D&C GLug - Home Page

[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]

Re: [LUG] IPCop with 3G modem as a backup connection

 

Shaun Orchard wrote:
> Out of interest, what reseller are you with?
>
> If it's UKFSN, I requested a MAC using the UKFSN control panel, and 
> about an hour later clicked on the page again. My MAC was there.
>
> The e-mail address associated with my account doesn't work so I don't 
> know if that would ever work, but at least I got my MAC using the 
> above method.
>
> Shaun
>
> 2009/2/26 Rob Beard <rob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
>
>     That's not good, I'd have thought they would at least give you a Mac
>     code, but as you say you're going to Virgin so I guess it's not really
>     needed and they can just cease the connection. I still haven't
>     received
>     my Mac either, I think it must have got lost in the ether.
>
>     Rob
>
>
>
It finally arrived. Yes, you are right, I don't need the MAC code. But 
they don't need to cease the connection. They did that days ago. I was 
just curious to see how long it would take.

Neither UkFsn or EntaNet seem geared up for customer service.

I've been very pissed off about the whole thing. I've cheered myself up 
by writing to the MD of EntaNet. Enjoy.

----
Jason Tsai
EntaNet
Stafford Park 6
Telford
Shropshire
TF3 3AT

Dear Jason


I'm writing to you to bring some issues with your customer service to 
your attention. I was, until recently, a customer of yours. I became so 
frustrated after 17 days of failure to get my internet connection 
working that I have now cancelled my direct debit. I am moving to cable, 
as I want nothing more to do with EntaNet or BT. I am appalled at the 
way I have been treated.


I was informed that there would be an equipment upgrade at the exchange 
on 09-Feb-2009. Since then the connection has been down for long 
periods, and off completely since 17-Feb-2009.


There are a number of problems with your current tech support. I have 
often phoned, to find out what the status of the problem is. As far as I 
can see, unless I continually phone to see what is happening, nobody 
does anything. I have seen no evidence of anyone doing anything to fix 
the problem without my constant enquiries. Often, when I phone, I am put 
on hold as the person looks into the problem. Something they clearly 
hadn't bothered doing before, and wouldn't have done if I hadn't phoned. 
I've since discovered (I usually hang up after 15m or so) that your 
staff are themselves on hold to BT. It is pointless wasting your 
customers' time in this way, and a poor use of your own staff.


I have seen this model elsewhere. It is basically dysfunctional. It 
consists of an event driven system, entirely driven by complaints. 
Firstly nothing happens. A customer reports a fault. Nothing happens. 
The customer enquires the status of the fault. Only then will anyone 
take any action, usually involving leaving the customer on hold for long 
periods of time. It seems almost impossible to get anyone to phone back. 
No-one will follow up the result, or act upon it. They simply wait until 
the next customer “enquiry” to nudge the system along again.


I eventually went out and bought a mobile broadband unit, so I could get 
some connectivity. This meant that I could use email. I told one of your 
staff this, and they sent me an email the following morning, asking me 
to ensure that my ADSL modem was switched on, as BT couldn't see it. I 
replied straight away that it had been on all the time, and was syncing. 
Nothing happened. I phoned to find out the status in the evening and 
discovered that no-one had even read the email. It was in the queue. So 
the simple information that might have allowed BT to realise that they 
are probably looking at the wrong line was never passed back to them. 
Again, a complaint event is the only thing that moves the process on.


At first I was hoping that things could be resolved quickly. However, as 
the days wore on, and I became ground down by the uselessness of your 
staff, I realised that at EntaNet things moved at their own pace. Which 
is to say nobody would do anything unless I phoned up and asked what was 
happening. It is not technical support, but entirely reactive fire 
fighting. And the fire is always out of control.


Do you not have some process in place to fix problems that have gone on 
for over a certain length of time? Are there people whose job it is to 
find out what is going on? Do you not think that reporting back to 
customers would give them at least the impression that something was 
being done, even if nothing was? Wouldn't it be better to send a text to 
customers giving them updates, instead of having a queue full of irate 
people, taking up all your staff's time? Do your staff ever use their 
own initiative to solve problems? Do they ever attempt to resolve 
problems pro-actively, without waiting for the next complaint? None of 
these things are difficult. It just needs to be properly managed. What 
you have in place at the moment is farcical.


I asked for a copy of your complaints procedure, which, surprisingly, I 
was sent without having to ask a further 10 times. However, we had 
already fallen by stage 2, which involved a tech supervisor phoning me 
back. I had already asked a number of times, and no-one did phone back. 
So, I replied to the email, with my complaint, saying “please consider 
this a stage 3 complaint”. I was eventually sent a curt reply by one of 
your staff saying that I must write to the tech supervisor in writing. 
What would be the point of that? They are the same useless people who 
hadn't phoned back. You put your customers round and round in a loop of 
frustration and pointless waiting on hold, to be told that someone would 
do something that they then don't do.


So I thought I would write to you. You have a complaints system that 
fails to allow people to complain, and a “service” that is woefully 
inadequate. How cosy it must be to be sheltered from all those angry 
customers. You probably have the illusion that everything is fine. How 
comforting to know that nobody complains. But that is just because your 
complaints systems doesn't work either.


I suspect that most of the technical problems in my case were caused by 
BT, but, as no-one in your organisation seems to be the slightest bit 
interested in addressing them, they go unfixed. I have come to the 
conclusion that you probably make all your profits on 0870 numbers and 
the ISP thing is just a way to drum up business. Your literature 
laughingly talks about your mission being “to provide the best 
communications services in the UK ”. If that is the best, then God help us.


I would like an acknowledgement of the bad treatment I have had, I want 
a refund for the lack of service, and compensation for the time and 
money I've spent on phoning your useless support service. I consider the 
contract to have ended the day you disconnected my service back on 
09-Feb-2009. In case there is any doubt, perhaps you will regard this 
letter as formal notice that the contract is terminated.


It seems strange, in these financially difficult times, that your staff 
are so uninterested in providing a service, and that your company seems 
content to treat its customers with such contempt. You should be deeply 
ashamed of the way things are run at present. It is not a service, it is 
a joke.


Sincerely




-- 
The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG
http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list
FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html