Worst Tech Support I've Ever Had

[cak46]

Been a while since I've been around, but this is a story that just needs to be told. 

I live in the NorthEast where RR just took over my area under the wonderful and delightful deal made for the purchase of Adelphia..............  My connection had been down for at least three days that I'm aware of.  Tuesday, I call TW to have them fix the problem.  Two and a half hours later, I'm still listening to their advertising in tech support queue hell.......  I finally hang up.  Wednesday I try a few times to get through, about a half hour each, before calling it quits.  Today, I finally get a tech, HOOORAH.  He tells me they screwed up on the transfer on many of the adelphia customers and they need to send a signal down the line to fix it and that it will take about an hour for the code to get to the modem because their server is backed up (Must be constipated, I suppose... :haha:). 

I say, ok, lets do it......  Two hours later, I try the connection and not suprising, still no connection..... :evil6:  I call again, wait an hour and 47 minutes just to be disconnected by their phone system because it's overloaded by all of the incoming calls for support for their sub-standard system...........  Now, rather pissed  , I call back again and wait about another 45 minutes before getting through.  The tech sends the codes again, and I'm up and running  Yaaay!  at right around 1000Kbs........... :cry2:  I miss Adelphia.....  The only good thing to come out of this is they gave me a two week credit due to their ineptness.

So, if you're one of the poor saps, like me, that are stuck with TW and are having trouble in the NorthEast, their conversion of Adelphia customers could be causing part of your problems......

Can anyone beat this????

[basic]

cak,i feel your pain,my question is has anyone ever got good tech support?

I know i haven't,thats why i google.

[Sparticus]

I would write them and see if you could get anything free from it

[tommie gorman]

I would write them and see if you could get anything free from it

I think he did get something. 

The only good thing to come out of this is they gave me a two week credit due to their ineptness.

[cak46]

cak,i feel your pain,my question is has anyone ever got good tech support?

I know i haven't,thats why i google.

Hi Basic,  Thanks for your thoughts.  I didn't have much trouble with Adelphia tech support.  They were responsive most of the time.  HP's product support, though, is a whole different ballgame.  I just cannot believe that TW would implement such a far reaching change without doing their homework on it first. 

[Shug7272]

Been a while since I've been around, but this is a story that just needs to be told. 

I live in the NorthEast where RR just took over my area under the wonderful and delightful deal made for the purchase of Adelphia..............  My connection had been down for at least three days that I'm aware of.  Tuesday, I call TW to have them fix the problem.  Two and a half hours later, I'm still listening to their advertising in tech support queue hell.......  I finally hang up.  Wednesday I try a few times to get through, about a half hour each, before calling it quits.  Today, I finally get a tech, HOOORAH.  He tells me they screwed up on the transfer on many of the adelphia customers and they need to send a signal down the line to fix it and that it will take about an hour for the code to get to the modem because their server is backed up (Must be constipated, I suppose... :haha:). 

I say, ok, lets do it......  Two hours later, I try the connection and not suprising, still no connection..... :evil6:  I call again, wait an hour and 47 minutes just to be disconnected by their phone system because it's overloaded by all of the incoming calls for support for their sub-standard system...........  Now, rather pissed  , I call back again and wait about another 45 minutes before getting through.  The tech sends the codes again, and I'm up and running  Yaaay!  at right around 1000Kbs........... :cry2:  I miss Adelphia.....  The only good thing to come out of this is they gave me a two week credit due to their ineptness.

So, if you're one of the poor saps, like me, that are stuck with TW and are having trouble in the NorthEast, their conversion of Adelphia customers could be causing part of your problems......

Can anyone beat this????

:2funny: Funny read man, have you ever dealt with AOL. 

[ispgeek]

Okay...Okay....I need to set some things straight here.  First of all the support people you had with your old company are the very ones you have now....nothing has changed except the call volume and thats due to the always unforseen issues that come up in situations like this.  No matter how much you prepare for something there are always things that go wrong.  You don't just hit a switch and like magic, everyone is on a new network so give these guys a break.  The RR support team in Canada is designed to handle overflow calls and since the change they have been buried which has had a most undesireable affect on the other MSO's who also utilize the RR helpdesk for overflow....so we're all affected by YOUR conversion.  Be patient and don't give the people on the other end of the phone a hard time....they are people just like you and in fact probably live down the street from you in many cases so cut em some slack for the next 60 days or so while all the issues get worked out.  You will be very happy in the long run but for now we all suffer during the conversion process.  YOU do not know the complexities of a network conversion of this size and cannot appreciate the hard work behind the scenes to just keep it running while the NOC gets it right....

[ghostmaster]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You should call Hughes Tech support, its like that ALL of the time, no matter what!!

Then again, they are in India, and are payed less than farm help......

[dlewis23]

everyone should give bellsouths tech support a call they are the worst by far, no one compares with them.

[cak46]

:2funny: Funny read man, have you ever dealt with AOL. 

Thanks Shug.  No, never had the pleasure of dealing with AOL:)  Just did a survey for TW and reiterated my displeasure. 

ISPGeek:

I'm an IT professional and have been in networking and programming for over 10 years.  You have quite alot of assumptions in your response.  What happens when you ASS-U-ME too much?  (Makes an ASS Out of (U)you and ME.....

I understand that problems occur and that it takes alot for a conversion of this magnitude.  I'm a bit perplexed that you assume no one knows as much as you about IT/Networks, etc..  Further, you assume (incorrectly)  that I treated the staff of RR with less than professional courtesy.  You also assume that I did not know that the support staff, are in essense, the same people.  The staff are not the problem here and you are right, they get the brunt of it in these situations.  The decisionmakers who implemented the changeover without notifying customers of potential problems are the real culprits.  I was told by one of the techs that I did get through to that they were aware that the problem I had was going to be an issue, but they had predicted incorrectly how far-reaching the impact of the problem was going to be.  If I implement anything on my networks, I make damn sure there are no unforseen issues that will occur and if there is a known issue that my end users will experience, I have the common courtesy to send them an email prior to the implementation informing them that an issue will occur.  Further, I send an email also if I have no unforeseen expectations of problems, again, common courtesy.  I'm aware that the implementation affected all other users of RR and this is why other users should complain to RR and get credits as well.  This whole situation is just another example of poor  customer service by large corporations.

My undies get in a bunch when people try to defend the flawed actions of large multi-national corporations driven by their bottom line, not their customer service.  Would it have hurt TW-RR to send an email to the Adelphia customers explaining that there may be down time and they expect problems to occur with the changeover from Adelphia to RR?  Also, would it have been a big burden and costly for TW-RR to inform Adelphia customers when the implementation was to occur?  There is no information coming from TW-RR at all throughout this changeover and this is simply not acceptable for me as an end user who is paying for a service, in my view.  YOU need to understand that customer service should be first and foremost in any corporations eyes and should be first and foremost for each staff member.  But, then again, the majority of Adelphia customers in the NorthEast only had Adelphia available for cable speeds, so I guess that TW-RR CAN just ignore customer service, since we are a "captured audience", so to speak.

I'm sorry, ISPGeek, but the TW-RR decisionmaking process is flawed in my view.  If you are a decision maker there, you may want to help alleviate this type of thing from occurring again by looking at it from the customers perspective.  If you are frontline support, I feel for you because I know there are many out there that blame the front-line techs. 

Simply, there is no excuse for poor customer service at any level of a corporation.  Peace.

[Shug7272]

I agree with all of the above (for the most part) especially the last sentance.

[dlewis23]

I agree with all of the above (for the most part) especially the last sentance.

same

[ispgeek]

Thanks Shug.  No, never had the pleasure of dealing with AOL:)  Just did a survey for TW and reiterated my displeasure. 

ISPGeek:

I'm an IT professional and have been in networking and programming for over 10 years.  You have quite alot of assumptions in your response.  What happens when you ASS-U-ME too much?  (Makes an ASS Out of (U)you and ME.....

I understand that problems occur and that it takes alot for a conversion of this magnitude.  I'm a bit perplexed that you assume no one knows as much as you about IT/Networks, etc..  Further, you assume (incorrectly)  that I treated the staff of RR with less than professional courtesy.  You also assume that I did not know that the support staff, are in essense, the same people.  The staff are not the problem here and you are right, they get the brunt of it in these situations.  The decisionmakers who implemented the changeover without notifying customers of potential problems are the real culprits.  I was told by one of the techs that I did get through to that they were aware that the problem I had was going to be an issue, but they had predicted incorrectly how far-reaching the impact of the problem was going to be.  If I implement anything on my networks, I make damn sure there are no unforseen issues that will occur and if there is a known issue that my end users will experience, I have the common courtesy to send them an email prior to the implementation informing them that an issue will occur.  Further, I send an email also if I have no unforeseen expectations of problems, again, common courtesy.  I'm aware that the implementation affected all other users of RR and this is why other users should complain to RR and get credits as well.  This whole situation is just another example of poor  customer service by large corporations.

My undies get in a bunch when people try to defend the flawed actions of large multi-national corporations driven by their bottom line, not their customer service.  Would it have hurt TW-RR to send an email to the Adelphia customers explaining that there may be down time and they expect problems to occur with the changeover from Adelphia to RR?  Also, would it have been a big burden and costly for TW-RR to inform Adelphia customers when the implementation was to occur?  There is no information coming from TW-RR at all throughout this changeover and this is simply not acceptable for me as an end user who is paying for a service, in my view.  YOU need to understand that customer service should be first and foremost in any corporations eyes and should be first and foremost for each staff member.  But, then again, the majority of Adelphia customers in the NorthEast only had Adelphia available for cable speeds, so I guess that TW-RR CAN just ignore customer service, since we are a "captured audience", so to speak.

I'm sorry, ISPGeek, but the TW-RR decisionmaking process is flawed in my view.  If you are a decision maker there, you may want to help alleviate this type of thing from occurring again by looking at it from the customers perspective.  If you are frontline support, I feel for you because I know there are many out there that blame the front-line techs. 

Simply, there is no excuse for poor customer service at any level of a corporation.  Peace.

I do not at all disagree that things can and should have been handled better.  From there we part ways 180 deg...

You accuse me of making assumptions.  It is fair to assume by your first rant about how incompetent the staff that you encountered were that you were probably not the nicest person to deal with.  It is also fair to assume since we get people like you all the time...who's first statement in the call is  "I'm a network engineer...blah blah blah and you don't know what you're talking about" that you clearly have not been treating your customer service professionals with the respect they deserve.  You've done it here with me...you don't know me from Adam but you sure did grab the moment to come out swingin didn't ya.  I sir have been an IT professional for 22 years 11 months and about 8 days (took me a bit to compute that..honestly I don't keep count normally), long before you were probably even a concept so please...do not lecture me about responsibilty of the company.  I have created and managed more technical support departments than you can count on all your digits combined.  The facts are you do not have even a glimmer of a concept of what it takes to convert a cable based network of this size...in your wildest of dreams you will never work on such a network most likely.  So please....the next time you decide to come out swinging...make sure there is something there to swing at.  Nobody was attacking you.  There have been many complaints lately and some justifiable...some not. 

There is no doubt that communication probably should have been better....

You seem to forget all of the people that managed your cable company before are no doubt the ones who are still managing your cable company now.  They just don't come down one day and clean house and start over...it's impossible to do in a cable company environment. No matter how hard TW tries to prepare them...if they are unreceptive or refuse get with the big picture things like this can happen....Don't just assume that TW is to blame for it....my hunch is the communication problems with your company existed long before TW took control of them and now everyone is paying the price.

All of this is moot because neither YOU or I work for your company and neither one of us make the decisions there....and thats probably a good thing for them.... because if things really are as bad as you claim to be...if I were there heads would be rolling right about now...

[cak46]

I do not at all disagree that things can and should have been handled better.  From there we part ways 180 deg...

You accuse me of making assumptions.  It is fair to assume by your first rant about how incompetent the staff that you encountered were that you were probably not the nicest person to deal with.  It is also fair to assume since we get people like you all the time...who's first statement in the call is  "I'm a network engineer...blah blah blah and you don't know what you're talking about" that you clearly have not been treating your customer service professionals with the respect they deserve.  You've done it here with me...you don't know me from Adam but you sure did grab the moment to come out swingin didn't ya.  I sir have been an IT professional for 22 years 11 months and about 8 days (took me a bit to compute that..honestly I don't keep count normally), long before you were probably even a concept so please...do not lecture me about responsibilty of the company.  I have created and managed more technical support departments than you can count on all your digits combined.  The facts are you do not have even a glimmer of a concept of what it takes to convert a cable based network of this size...in your wildest of dreams you will never work on such a network most likely.  So please....the next time you decide to come out swinging...make sure there is something there to swing at.  Nobody was attacking you.  There have been many complaints lately and some justifiable...some not. 

There is no doubt that communication probably should have been better....

You seem to forget all of the people that managed your cable company before are no doubt the ones who are still managing your cable company now.  They just don't come down one day and clean house and start over...it's impossible to do in a cable company environment. No matter how hard TW tries to prepare them...if they are unreceptive or refuse get with the big picture things like this can happen....Don't just assume that TW is to blame for it....my hunch is the communication problems with your company existed long before TW took control of them and now everyone is paying the price.

All of this is moot because neither YOU or I work for your company and neither one of us make the decisions there....and thats probably a good thing for them.... because if things really are as bad as you claim to be...if I were there heads would be rolling right about now...

I did not come out swinging, but if you wish, I will.  Just let me know......

    I never said the people I spoke with were incompetent.  Quote:  "It is fair to assume by your first rant about how incompetent the staff that you encountered were that you were probably not the nicest person to deal with."  And to use your own words, "You don't know me from Adam"  They, contrary to your assumption, were very helpful.  The ineptness was pointed to the people who decided to provide poor customer service, whoever they are. 

The only assumption that could be gleaned about you from my response is that you may work for TW.  You may or may not work for TW, but at least my assumption was partially correct....

But in your response, like before, the assumptions abound.  All I can say is WOW! 

Quote:  "It is also fair to assume since we get people like you all the time...who's first statement in the call is  "I'm a network engineer...blah blah blah and you don't know what you're talking about" that you clearly have not been treating your customer service professionals with the respect they deserve".... "I sir have been an IT professional for 22 years 11 months and about 8 days (took me a bit to compute that..honestly I don't keep count normally), long before you were probably even a concept so please...do not lecture me about responsibilty of the company.  I have created and managed more technical support departments than you can count on all your digits combined.  The facts are you do not have even a glimmer of a concept of what it takes to convert a cable based network of this size...in your wildest of dreams you will never work on such a network most likely."

    You can directly flame me all you wish, but your argument has no standing on the issue of providing poor customer service, such as TW did concerning this implementation.  The way you try to diminish the real issue by attacking me in your latest response astounds me, since you have been in this business for 22+ years. 

    I'm sorry, but I do not like to be "set straight" by anyone who uses personal attacks such as that you have just written. And by the way, I would not want to work on such a network, since I would just be one of the faceless millions.

[ispgeek]

Knock off the personal attacks. Your not getting any more warnings from me

[Sparticus]

:haha:

[Doomsday]

I rather not deal with Tech Support. I've had to call my ISP alot when i was having issues with signal dropping on my cable modem. You know you've called your ISP too much when they pickup the phone and say your name and you know their name, plus their last name.

[dlewis23]

I rather not deal with Tech Support. I've had to call my ISP alot when i was having issues with signal dropping on my cable modem. You know you've called your ISP too much when they pickup the phone and say your name and you know their name, plus their last name.

yea thats calling your ISP too much.  :haha:

[cak46]

I rather not deal with Tech Support. I've had to call my ISP alot when i was having issues with signal dropping on my cable modem. You know you've called your ISP too much when they pickup the phone and say your name and you know their name, plus their last name.

Doomsday:  That is way too much!   Did they give you any sort of creidt on your bill for the trouble? 

[Swimmer]

alright everybody is wrong.. the worst tech/customer support comes from our lovely friends at the wireless phone companies...

I personally would rather deal with an ISP than have to call Cingular..  They have you by the balls no matter what you say unlike ISPs where you can just leave...

[water]

Hey! My husband is the customer service manager for a wireless company! 

I'm offended by that!

[cak46]

alright everybody is wrong.. the worst tech/customer support comes from our lovely friends at the wireless phone companies...

I personally would rather deal with an ISP than have to call Cingular..  They have you by the balls no matter what you say unlike ISPs where you can just leave...

You may be right!  The last time I called US Cellular, they charged me for calling their customer service line... 

[Doomsday]

Doomsday:  That is way too much!   Did they give you any sort of creidt on your bill for the trouble? 

You bet they did,can't remember how much however but since i called them last the signal hasn't dropped since.

[dlewis23]

alright everybody is wrong.. the worst tech/customer support comes from our lovely friends at the wireless phone companies...

I personally would rather deal with an ISP than have to call Cingular..  They have you by the balls no matter what you say unlike ISPs where you can just leave...

You may be right!  The last time I called US Cellular, they charged me for calling their customer service line... 

damn your guys cell phone companies suck. Ive called sprint a few times for tech support and never had a problem, they were very nice and helped me with the problem.

[Shug7272]

You bet they did,can't remember how much however but since i called them last the signal hasn't dropped since.

You GO girl.