problem with phone company

[charley]

hi i got a question for anyone who might have had the same problem. there was a problem with a phone line about a quarter mile away. i have 2 phone lines one for my computer. i went 3 days before i finaly got my service back. before this happened i was connecting at 44000 and now the best i get is 29333. i called (sprint) and they said they could not do anything unless it was a
9 or less. can anyone belive this. i had nothing to do with the problem and it was not my line problem. my whole area was without service for 2 days. i have connected at 44ooo since 97. are there anything ligal i can do. to go from a 44 to a 29 is a big difference to me. does any one have a suggestion or do i have to live with there screw up.

[email protected]

 

[SavvyLady]

Harrass them daily that you are experiencing random static

that way when they say I don't hear any static you can honestly say well its not doing it right now!

( for those that don't understand a joke when they see one... this was )

Savvy

check w/ others if you know who they are and see if they too are having the same problem

 

[Max19]

Harassment is illegal. I guarantee if you harass your phone company daily, eventually, they'll just disconnect you. They have no obligation to provide you with any service.

If you've already called several times and sworn at them, harassed them, or were rude to them, call and apologize. Talk to them like you want them to talk to you, like a rational adult. Tell them what the problem is, that you used to connect at xx speed, and now you connect at xx speed. Ask them what happened. Ask what you can BOTH do to resolve the problem.

 

[Rollin' Rog]

I have moved to the Moderator's forum several posts to this thread which had nothing to do with the issue posted by the thread starter. Please, no more of them!

 

[Dark Star]

charley,

Yes, I understand exactly what the problem is.
First and foremost you are the customer and your dial tone provider whoever that is mine is Verizon and I also work Tech support for Verizon.......I deal with this quite a bit sometimes more than I want to, but here is the whole enchilada.

You call me and you are my customer you pay your bills on time and you are now a valuable customer....are you with me so far? Good!!!!
When you call me you tell me that you have problems with your phone lines, you do not want to mention computers or PCs, only that you have a problem with your line.
I will pull up everything I need in the way of information on you right down to how many lines when and where the number of "physical drops" to your home and I will even see that you have a "wire maintenance contract" (few people do not) once I verify this I will say........

......."I'm sorry Mr. Charley we will back ring your line in a few minutes and conduct a continuity test I will then call you back and verify with you that indeed there is or there is not a problem with your lines. (The PUC mandates we provide the dial tone service that you are paying for. whatever it takes, and expense is not an issue)
I call you back and say Mr. Charley there is a problem with that line and I apologize profusely then I say "sir we will have a repairman out to your home to check the "physical lines" by 12:00 noon tomorrow, Is there anything else that I can be of assistance with at this time?" and you get my name Mr. Charlie, Okay?.....ask for it if I do not give it to you Okay?

Oh, and Charley, complain all you need to call it harrass or bug me or continually call me if you like until we provide you with the excellent service that you are entitled to receive, and if I can't help to your satisfaction Mr. Charlie you need only speak to my supervisor who will see to it that you receive the service that you are entitled to.

Believe me Charley you do not know just how important it is to us to make sure that you are a happy customer we have the PUC to answer to and they are the ones that approve or deny our requests for rate increases and the last thing we want is Charlie telling them that we did not provide him excellent dial tone in all lines at all times. Were going to trip over ourselves to be sure that Charlie is happy no matter what it takes, that is what our job is Charlie.

So call us ask us check back on us call us back and harrass us if that is what it's called, bug the s**t out of us until we get it right because you are entitled to have the quality of service that you pay for.

BTW, we cannot discontinue your service for any reason other than non-payment it is the law mandated by the PUC and we have to adhere to it.

DS

 

[hewee]

Dark Star,

I have Pacbell as my ISP and had lots of trouble getting online and get speeds down a low a 400 and every time I called I got no where.

Then I called Pacbell but for the phone and a man came out and fixed the line and all was ok after that. What gets me is when I called Pacbell you are really just talking to a computer and it ask you what phone number you have trouble with and it ask you to wait as it test the line. Then if it finds trouble it ask if you want a repair man to come out. Then if you say yes it gives you a date. If you don't want that date them you get a real person to talk to so you can set up a repair date.

So why could my ISP have not run the same test on my line that I did when I called Pacbell on the phone when they are both the same company?

Now it SBC (Pacbell)

Does not SBC own Verizon now?

 

[SavvyLady]

Thanks guys... that was my point even though I said harrass as a joke.



Savvy

 

[Dark Star]

hewee,

We were little 'ol GTE (Get Tired Everyday LOL) then came the mergers first we merged with Contel then with South Bell Atlantic it is one merge after another my e-mail is @GTE.net some are @ Verizon.net.

We've converted some systems and still use other systems the old GTE prehistoric stuff is gone now, but I saw an old GTE service van last week, I did a tripple take on that beast. It's all about Verizon now but things are sorta kinda in different levels or phases of merging together.

WE refer to it as " Oh he is an ex-Con (ex Contel employee LOL) while I've not met anyone from the Mothership.......yet. They don't tell us much because they don't know much. We are talking about three major service providers under one banner and while that works on paper the Bell Atlantic people have their agendas and so on and so on.

In the field of comunications things move at light speed, I always suggest that with an automated "press this if you want this, press this if you want that" situation you best think of your phone as an old rotary phone (R-80) stay on the line and don't press anything is your fastest way in to a live human being......
the moment you start pressing buttons you go into "the loop" and then you and your call get routed accordingly, you can bypass the wait by staying on the line and waiting for that live voice that will save you a misrouting or a long wait.

They'll probably kill me for telling you this but do it while you can because just as soon as the powers that be allow it (The PUC) there will be no choice but to play the push #1 for yada, yada, push #2 for whatever and #3 for whatever else.
When you get thru to a live person get a name and state your concern if you don't get the help you feel you are entitled to receive then ask to please speak to a supervisor..........it should not be that way but it is sometimes.
Once you have a supervisor you get what it is you ask for the phone Companies answer to the PUC and they are best served when you are a happy camper..........You are the customer do not loose sight of that fact.

DS

 

[hewee]

Well the you are NOT part of SBC if your under South Bell Atlantic.
SBC are the other BELLS.
http://www.sbc.com/

So what is up with them being out here?
You ask me the Bell break up of the 80's that made all these smaller companies are that are or have gone under are being taken over again by the Big Boys that had it all 20 years ago.

I have done as you said when calling and just not press any numbers so you can get a real person.
But what you say that later we will not be able to do that sucks. You know I had to call AT&T and I think they do that now. I had a very very hard time wanting to make a change in the service.
Press buttons can be ok and fast but if the choice you get to pick from is not what you need then you go no where. Plus I had to wait to hear Languages before I could hear it in English so I knew what button to press. I have had them cut you off and you have to start over again too. What a pain

 

[Dark Star]

hewee,

You are right about AT&T they got permission or approval from the PUC to bypass having to provide you with a live human being.
I might be wrong about this but as a trade off for them they have to give you the ability to:

1) Make your own payment arrangements pushing buttons
2) Deduct calls from your bill you claim not to have made pushing buttons
3) Generally take care of your own wants and needs by pushing buttons

This is costing them big time, but they figure it cuts on payroll and that saves them even more, It won't be long before they we everybody has that system......Live people to talk to are quite expensive to provide.

Like I said I'm not too sure about the details but I do know they had gave up something to not have that live rep.

DS

 

[hewee]

Dark Star,

I knew it but wish I knew what 246 buttons I pressed last time so I could do it again the next time.
But then again the first thing you get is "the menu has changed please listen to the new changes" ........and so on.

1) Make your own payment arrangements pushing buttons

Get this with the Pacbell bill.

2) Deduct calls from your bill you claim not to have made pushing buttons

Cool I can get other to push the button and the tell them I never called. Only did the talking but hey they (the computer) will not ask me that.

3) Generally take care of your own wants and needs by pushing buttons
They did a bad job of taking care of my wants and needs on this one here.

They are saving lots of money from this and using it to buy up the cable companys and on top of that up the rates. No lost on there end.

 

[deuce]

I guess this is way off from Charlie's question... whatever.
Charlie I would suggest you look into broadband. It is very cheap nowadays and often not much more (if at all) than dailup... and should you choose to go that [broadband] route then you will a.) save the trouble of trying to gain your 15kbps back b.) enjoy the benits of increasing your connection by more than 14 times (at least) and pay little or no more $$ for it c.) enjoy not needing a second line (which can sometimes pay for the broadband itself and then come back and pay you a few dollars each month) d.) is just worth it because broadband just plain kicks butt. Even in Argentina this is true where everything is expensive and taked over 50% and you still can money off of this deal. If you are only using your second line for internet then go for it. Dialup with a second line is an average $20 for your ISP plus an average $20 for your line. That amounts to $40 per month. The going rate for DSL is anywhere between $14.95/month and a few hundred/month.

Hewee I'm sure if you claim you didn't make those calls many times (like more times than you can count on one hand) than they pay attention and will figure out you really are making those calls and prosecute you and make some more money. The reason the company might not lose a whole lot of money on that is because I figure the only people who will use it won't take advantage of it because they are the ones it is directed toward. (the ones who actually didn't make the calls) Since for it to save you any real money you have to do it numerous times and they will figure it out.

DS... what do you think of this experience (since you are tech support for a phone company) that happened when I was trying to find out why they accedentally cancelled service, still charged me and supplied no service, then 2 months later fixed the problem and credited for the amount charged and then revoked the credit. (the very last is what we wanted to find out) This was with quest and excell (long dist. not NSP) communications and after speaking to a supervior from billing, supervisor from some customer service and the some head hancho guy for about 2 hours and counting, (all on the same line, all from quest) then all four of us decided to call the long dist co for the third time and put them on the line. We got a hold of a cust. service rep who spoke in slight slang and broken english after waiting 15 min and the quest people explained everthing that was going on and asked that he help out and that we didn't care why everything happened at this point but just wanted to reinstate the credit... and he got confused and hung up. (he new who he was talking to and didn't ask us to repeat... just said "uhhh... ummm... duhh... click") The cust. service rep from quest got really pissed off and said she wasn't going home that day until she made sure a recomendation to review his performance and fire him was in place, and so we called back and waited 15 min and finally got to talk with a supervisor whom of course didn't really care at all and blew us off as well, only he didn't hang up right away. The quest people then said they would hang up with me and work it out and call back when they solved the problem so then I was off the line. Well I guess that shows a lot for each companys' PR skills, respectfully. Are they allowed to do that? (hang up when they get confused) Did I have anything to go to PUC with? It was a little while ago and so I don't care about it now but was just curious should the situation arise again.

 

[hewee]

deuce_mn ,

I would never do that. I am the only one that even uses this line here so.
Years ago when it was easier to get to real person I did call about a call to Canada and said I never called anyone there.
I then had it so ni call could ever be made outside the USA. Guess what? Later I was looking at info. on my ATI video and seen a phone number and you know ATI is in Canada and I did make that call. So I called AT&T and said I did make the call and I wanted to pay for it but they said no that once they take it off then they can't put it back on and to forget about it but thank you for telling us. I found out to call Canada is the same as making calls in the US and you don't need to dial any added numbers to get out of the USA witch I thought you did.

So I am a good boy really.

 

[Dark Star]

deuce,

I believe that your credit due was lost in the shuffle, that is most unfortunate what is very weird there is that you got it and then they took it back...........never seen that happen before.
As to PUC complaints it ain't like you can just refuse to pay and call the PUC and say "AT&T or whoever is messed up and they did this or that"
#1 you must pay whatever charges AT&t or whoever says that you owe and is not willing to budge on.....
#2 you must document with date and times and names your calls and attempts to resolve the issues
#3 be willing to wait for the resolve, this can take months

Now having said that I can tell you that customers that loose their cool are usually way off base in their reasoning. Your local "dial tone provider" will go the extra mile to see to it that you are a happy camper, however when we pull up a bill and start to see a pattern of "late pays" "billing arrangements" write offs for "calls claimed not made" and an overall pattern of continued "working the system" adjustments and continious customer abuse, it really then depends on what kind of mood you catch the rep in when you call in for more "adjustments" to your bill.

I hate the fact that we've all moved into the "sell, sell, sell" era and that is counterproductive when a customer is calling in to complain about a charge on their bill and you see that they are justified in their claims and then whithin the scope of the conversation with the customer "The Company" demands that the rep attempts to sell a service or an additional feature to this customer who is already POd to begin with..............
............great! lets further add more charges to Mr, Smiths bill so we can further bury him into debt why don't we?

Kinda like............ yes I'd like the 99cent cheeseburger and a small order of fries please, would you like to have a #3 that comes with a drink? Okay fine.....Would you like to supersize that?.......errr Okay fine, Okay that's a #3 with a Coke that'll be $ 4.57 at the window please.............Geeeeeeeeeez $2 bucks just went to $5 bucks what did you get extra here? a Coke with a ton of ice and 8 more french fries..........Oh, I gotta get that #3 again what a good deal that is.

Sorry I just got on my soap box again........Point is Mike just to be fair here as far as a dial tone provider goes your local carrier can only do so much for you as far as long distance charges that is a whole different enchilada, and on top of it all we have 800# that are not toll free because they convert to 900# and add to your long distance charges...........Deregulation, some good some bad.

DS

 

[littlemar]

Calling for phone repairs and getting only an automated answering thingy. Please press 1 for yes and 2 for no. Was asked can you make calls from the phone with the problem "2". Can you receive calls from the phone with the problem "2" again. The very next question - are you using this phone to make this call? Duh, let's see I can't receive or make calls, what do you think. I started laughing since I just couldn't believe this after the no answers. Are machines great or what????

How's this for customer service?