October 31, 2004

Do You Get What You Pay For?

As Chuck reported some time ago, we went for a very long time with free internet service. Then Chuck's morals got the better of him and he signed us up for "new" service.

The thing is, when our service was free it worked like a charm. We'd have occasional outages (typically when it rained) but we'd go down for a minute for so every few months; otherwise it was smooth as silk. OK, maybe not the fastest connection on the block, but certainly adequate.

So now we pay for our service. And when we pay for it we want ripping fast, dependable, service. But Chuck is on the phone to them, at least once a day, because our service is down. Or so slow it may as well be down.

Finally, they sent a technician out last week. The tech did some kind of voodoo dance and whatnot. We were assured things would be better.

Alas not.

Then yesterday, after we went down again, and Chuck called again, tech support told him to go and exchange the modem for another one--a different brand. The tech support guy said we had the Volkswagon of modems and to exchange it for the Ferrari. We went to the cable company (fodder for an entry in and of itself) and they told us they only supply this one type of modem (the VW-type, not the Ferrari) and that the tech support was probably talking about another service provider (??????????.....ummm.....excuse me??????????).

We get home and Chuck plugs in the new modem, talks to tech support, they wave their magic wands, and poof and we're up again.

Until this morning. When we went down again.

So Chuck called again. Apparently there were configuration issues or something. So we're back up. For now.

But we always get back up after the call. It's the fact that he has to call every stinkin day.

At least when it was free it worked.

Posted by beth at October 31, 2004 12:29 PM
Comments

Sounds like it's about time to demand some free service for all the days that you've been down. The squeeky wheel gets the oil. Threaten to go elsewhere and they'll be groveling in no time.

Gotta love America!

Posted by: LoxyFady at October 31, 2004 01:34 PM

Yes, well, fortunately we're not down for days at a time, just for a while EVERY SINGLE DAY. To this point, Chuck has been he one calling. They don't want to hear from me. It will not be pretty. But that day is coming soon.

Posted by: beth at October 31, 2004 03:34 PM

Sounds like Charter Communications, our local cable company. Their "service" (if it can be called that) stinks and the purpose of the "customer service department" seems to have escaped them completely. But alas they have a monopoly in our area so what to do?

Posted by: Square1 at November 1, 2004 06:05 AM

If we want cable modem service then our provider is the only game in town as well. It's not exactly free market. We're not good candidates for DSL (we're too far from the box )which would open up a whole other world of possibilities. Oh well.

Posted by: beth at November 1, 2004 08:41 AM

You have my total sympathy. I had a nightmare with my company, was down for about a month without any service at all.

The ultimate solution will be for ISPs to fall under the jurisdiction of the PUC. Until someone holds a gun to their head, ISPs will manage to lose a certain % of customers because they don't know what they are doing. As long as you fall into the statistical majority, life is great ...

Posted by: Jim at November 1, 2004 09:09 AM