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Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Went to Lincoln last week (Hunting Giant Rats Ha-Ha) so before going I turned off the Internet broadband router because it run’s hot, and I didn’t want a fire. When I got back I didn’t work, everything flashing but no internet so I rang my ISP to get it sorted and this is the response I got

First I rang the number for internet connection problems which is charged at $1.00 a minute, and got an operator from a call centre in Scotland with a broad Glaswegian accent, which I had trouble understanding. So after about 10 minutes of questions and answers “Click” the line went dead, I rang the same number again and got a lady from a call centre in India and trying to understand her was worse than a Scottish accent, anyway after a while she told me to hang up my land line connection and she would check the line and ring me back on my mobile phone, which never happened, this call was 15 minutes in length so I had run up a phone bill of $25.00 for nothing. Try a gain and success someone I could understand who after checking the line and going through the setup again finally concluded my router was dead and a new one would cost £60.00, plus another call cost of $24.00 she then gave me a technical fault number, and told someone would ring me back in 72 hours to replace my router, or I could ring this number quoting the fault number the next day for a faster service.

The next day I rang the service number and was in a queue which lasted 32 minutes $32.00 before someone answered and ordered a new router for me but I would have to pay the postage on the item $7.00.

The natural thing to do after all this would be to tell them to shove the router up there own a$$, and go somewhere else. But after being without an internet connection for 6 days I was getting withdrawal symptoms so I let it go ahead and three days later I’m back on line.

So after all this it cost me $148.00. Next time I will go somewhere else, but until then beware of Sky Internet there robbing ba$tards!!

Al

JustMatt · Member

I am having a hard time wrapping my head around being forced to pay $1 a minute for tech support on a service that I am already paying for. I had issues with my cable modem after some brown-outs a week or two ago. Fortunately I was able to fix it after much cursing and threats of taking the cable modem out back and "Office Space'ing" it. Realistically, if they want to charge you $1/min, they should be their responsibility to figure out the minutes you were on hold and being assisted by a CSR. Being charged $32 for sitting and waiting is such a kick in the nads.

I am guessing that the UK is similar to the US as far as local ISP monopolies go? If not, I would do everything possible to switch to a different provider.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Wow! Pay to be on hold to resolve a problem caused by the faulty hardware they provide as part of the "service"!

Then- to have the calls shuffled all over the globe to lower-wage districts- obviously the "support" is designed to be a profit generator. That is not customer service, that's just thievery!

Start with researching the alternatives now so you're ready when something like this occurs again (I have another host provider sitting in wait for the next time the service this website is hosted on goes tits up).

Good luck either way- it sucks when things don't work as they should- but then charging you for the privilege of fixing their problem really is nasty.

packrat · Senior Member

I'm sorry you had to go through all that ##*(&&!! that sux---I've been through it( except I didn't have to pay for it) and it STILL sux!! I'd be mad as hell if they charged me that $1.00 a minute...Like someone already said...I'd be looking everywhere for another provider..that charge is plain robbery.... I do hope you get it all sorted out.

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

After giving it a bit of thought I considered the way I was treated as outside any laws regarding trading standards in the UK , so I have sent off an email saying that I intent to take it up with my local Trading Standards Officer as I was treated unfairly through no fault of my own, and they are making money by using underhand practices which includes dropping the call half way through, asking you to hold on while they check something and saying the queue is 10 minutes when its 32 minutes.

So we will see what happens. Evil or Very Mad

Al

yourdaddyjoe · Supporting Member

Was the call routed to India???? You intanet workie berry berry gud... Please hold...

broommaster2000 · Moderator

But Al, don't you know that callcenters are DALEKS? They try to take over the world but need more funding. Mr. Green

Fun fact: Did you guys know that the British Army used a Dalek against the Germans during the Battle of Britain?

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

If my ISP pulled something like that I would go all wireless. It's about the same price both ways here. Actually I would drop my cable and phone and go to all cell. It would be about 10 dollars more a month, But I hear their customer service is top notch. So, more power to competition!!! Clap Clap

donec · Senior Member

I was getting such bad service via Uverse from AT&T for phone, TV and broadband that I decided to change. I dropped the TV and went to an antenna with Tivo for pausing, program guide and recording. Found I actually get much better reception and most of the shows I like. Switched to a 4G broadband via Clear with a hotspot for other computers works great. For the phone I went to a standard land line via AT&T but no long distance, the only frill is the call waiting. I then signed up with Google voice for long distance and messaging. This change has saved me about $50.00 per month and the customer service via Clear is very good.

I feel for you Al and understand how sometimes you may want to change but the moment may not be right. But I would be looking for a way and time to change even if it cost a little more as such service almost never gets better as service is obviously not one of their concerns.

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Update to my router and call cost problem.

I sent an email to my ISP complaining about the costs incurred in getting a replacement router, and after considering my complaint they have waved the phone costs, so I only paid $60/00 for a new router, which I think is reasonable.

But the saga was not over yet I keep getting drop outs during the evenings when traffic is at its heaviest. so I gave technical support a call and explained the problem, straight away I am put through to a technician who immediately arranged for a field engineer to call the following morning and sort out my problem.

9am the next morning he arrives and fit’s a ADSL filter box on the input line, the changes the wires up the pole and the feed back to the exchange so that I have a clean line all the way. This seems to have cured the problem.

This evening the phone rang and it was a lady from my ISP asking if everything was all right and if there the problem came back they would change my connection card in the exchange for a new one.

So it pays to complain.

So I think $60.00 for a new router and a clean line is a good buy, and I’m a happy Bunny now. Very Happy

Al

PS: I wonder if they read this forum? Laughing

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Sure would scare the hell out of em. Mr. Green

Still, isn't the modem supposed to be provided by the company? Or was it outside warranty or something.

When we changed from KPN to Tele2 (which was my dads decision, not mine, also included hilarious adventures with our internet suppliers) we also got a bad modem but it was immediately replaced. When a couple of months later it stopped working we got another replacement after a phonecall (by mobile phone, I'll have you know, because we have internet and phone via internet).

All the while cable is much cheaper and better organized but my dad doesn't want to go trough the trouble again.

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

The router was supplied free by the ISP but it was out of warranty, the problem we have over here is that most phone lines are owned by British Telecom, so I pay BT for the line and the ISP for the internet connection which is alright until you want to move ISPs. Evil or Very Mad

Al