boater012
04-07-2006, 12:54 PM
So heres the story: My girlfriend works for a marketing company tat uses the internet almost exclusivly to run their business on. The company just moved into a new building that was supposed to supply them with internet as part of their rent. The connection was slow because they had too many people on it at the same time. The owner called my girlfriend and asked her to call and get their own high speed connection for their office. She calls AT&T/SBC (same co. here in cali) on tuesday of last week and tells them that she has 5 computers and 3 vonage routers. ( Im standing next to her when she does so)All of which need to be able to run at the same time without a slow down.
AT&T sends her a modem and some filters for the phone signal, a cat5 cable and a power supply for the modem. She recieves it on Tuesday of this week and Her boss calls me and asks me to hook it all up because she is just swamped right now. ( partly because the whole company has to quit working 3-4 times a day and go reset the current modem thats in the building now). ( Im not working much right now but thats another story) So I hook it all up and follow the instructions to the T. I hook the connection to one of the computers and it works great. very fast connection and no slow down whatsoever. Here comes the tricky part: as soon as I try to hook up the router for the office the internet no longer works. so I call AT&T and ask what the problem is with hooking up the router.
They tell me that I need to go ahead and run all the wiring and hook all of the computers up through the routers. Also to hook up all of the vonage modems as well, Then call back! So I hook it all up and call them back. They tell me they need to reset the line and that it will take anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours. I call her boss and let him know whats going on and he tells me to just wait it out and make sure it works right before I leave. So I wait until ten That night ( 5 hours) and it still doesnt function properly no internet at any computer!!! (tuesday night)
I call it a night and head back to help them figure it out the next day. ( wednesay) I get there 2 hours before they open and still no internet at any computer. I spend those two hours redoing all of the wiring to hook them back up to the connection at the office so they can work for the day. I call AT&T back and they tell me to unplug everything and they will provision the line and make sure its working properly, also that I should call back in a couple hours and they'll let me know if it was working properly or not. 2 hours later I call them back and they tell me the line is good and everything should work the way its supposed to now!
I wait until they are done for the day (wednesday evening) and hook all the computers back up to the new AT&T modem and then call them back to reset the line. Again im told 30 minutes to 4 hours and that I should call back if it didnt work within 5. I call them back and I am told that we ordered single user service. I say not true we ordered this connction to be able to run 5 computers and 3 vonage modems all at the same time. The guy tells me that he cant do anything about it and ill have to get another modem and a separate phone line for data only.
I ask to be transferred to his boss. she comes on and tells me the same thing but no one has a clue how much more this other service is supposed to cost the company. ( they were originally told they were running a special for new businesses for $50.00 a month.) I let them know I need this resolved as soon as possible and I tell the woman im now talking to that I need some sort of answer that evening. She puts me on hold and calls her boss at home who tells me that he'll call me back on thursday morning at ten and he will make it right.
I cal him at 10:30 and he tells me hes working on it. (thursday morning) to call back at 12:00 noon and he'll give me an update! I wait patiently and call back at 12:18 I ask for him and im told hes on a conference call with the girl who took my order and that he'll be right with me. 20 minutes of being on hold and he comes on the line to tell me that he confirmed with the girl that we indeed ordered a connection that would support 5 computers and 3 vonage routers. He apologizes for the mistake and says that the connecton we need is $400.00 a month. He tells me they are trying to get ahold of someone to try and make it right with the company. He asks me to call back in two hours. When I call back in two hours he puts me on a 3-way call with someone from their technical dept named Hubert to try and figure out how to connect to the internet with what we have. They offer to give me a fixed ip address and then they tell me what the connection speed will be if I do this! 384 kbps split 8 ways!!
you can liken 5 computers and 3 vonages running on that connection to a motorcycle trying to pull a semi trailer fully loaded up the grape vine. I tell the tech what im running and he just sighs and says well you can run one computer off of that speed and thats it!!! Once again im told to call back in two hours. I very nicely tell the man that I cant wait any longer for an answer than that! ( per the owners instruction). I call back in two more hours, its now 4 oclock, and im told hes on a call again and he'll be right with me. Another 20 minutes of being on hold and he comes on to tell me that he needs another day to get ahold of someone that can make a decision on this.
I tell him that now im pissed off and rightfully so. I give him an example: we ordered a car from the dealer that would seat eight and agreed to pay x amount of dollars for it. When we get the vehicle it will only seat one person. when we complain to the dealer they try to convince us that the one seater will in fact seat eight!!! FOR TWO DAYS. if we want a vehicle to seat 8 rather than one we will have to pay 8 times the amount we originally agreed on, and we have to wait 30 days to get it!
I ask him what he would do if he was faced with that situation and he tells me its unacceptable and that he understands, but that anyone who can help is on vacation right now, And ill have to wait for an answer for at least another day or two!!! So was I out of line by telling the guy I was done and would taking the companies business elsewhere??????
I know this is a long read but if I had left out any part the story wouldn't make sense. The owner of the company is beside himslef over this and doesnt want anything to dowith it now. He has asked me to just handle it!
I for one feel that someone in a corporation that big should be on hand that can take care of customer issues at all times. Is that too much to ask???
AT&T sends her a modem and some filters for the phone signal, a cat5 cable and a power supply for the modem. She recieves it on Tuesday of this week and Her boss calls me and asks me to hook it all up because she is just swamped right now. ( partly because the whole company has to quit working 3-4 times a day and go reset the current modem thats in the building now). ( Im not working much right now but thats another story) So I hook it all up and follow the instructions to the T. I hook the connection to one of the computers and it works great. very fast connection and no slow down whatsoever. Here comes the tricky part: as soon as I try to hook up the router for the office the internet no longer works. so I call AT&T and ask what the problem is with hooking up the router.
They tell me that I need to go ahead and run all the wiring and hook all of the computers up through the routers. Also to hook up all of the vonage modems as well, Then call back! So I hook it all up and call them back. They tell me they need to reset the line and that it will take anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours. I call her boss and let him know whats going on and he tells me to just wait it out and make sure it works right before I leave. So I wait until ten That night ( 5 hours) and it still doesnt function properly no internet at any computer!!! (tuesday night)
I call it a night and head back to help them figure it out the next day. ( wednesay) I get there 2 hours before they open and still no internet at any computer. I spend those two hours redoing all of the wiring to hook them back up to the connection at the office so they can work for the day. I call AT&T back and they tell me to unplug everything and they will provision the line and make sure its working properly, also that I should call back in a couple hours and they'll let me know if it was working properly or not. 2 hours later I call them back and they tell me the line is good and everything should work the way its supposed to now!
I wait until they are done for the day (wednesday evening) and hook all the computers back up to the new AT&T modem and then call them back to reset the line. Again im told 30 minutes to 4 hours and that I should call back if it didnt work within 5. I call them back and I am told that we ordered single user service. I say not true we ordered this connction to be able to run 5 computers and 3 vonage modems all at the same time. The guy tells me that he cant do anything about it and ill have to get another modem and a separate phone line for data only.
I ask to be transferred to his boss. she comes on and tells me the same thing but no one has a clue how much more this other service is supposed to cost the company. ( they were originally told they were running a special for new businesses for $50.00 a month.) I let them know I need this resolved as soon as possible and I tell the woman im now talking to that I need some sort of answer that evening. She puts me on hold and calls her boss at home who tells me that he'll call me back on thursday morning at ten and he will make it right.
I cal him at 10:30 and he tells me hes working on it. (thursday morning) to call back at 12:00 noon and he'll give me an update! I wait patiently and call back at 12:18 I ask for him and im told hes on a conference call with the girl who took my order and that he'll be right with me. 20 minutes of being on hold and he comes on the line to tell me that he confirmed with the girl that we indeed ordered a connection that would support 5 computers and 3 vonage routers. He apologizes for the mistake and says that the connecton we need is $400.00 a month. He tells me they are trying to get ahold of someone to try and make it right with the company. He asks me to call back in two hours. When I call back in two hours he puts me on a 3-way call with someone from their technical dept named Hubert to try and figure out how to connect to the internet with what we have. They offer to give me a fixed ip address and then they tell me what the connection speed will be if I do this! 384 kbps split 8 ways!!
you can liken 5 computers and 3 vonages running on that connection to a motorcycle trying to pull a semi trailer fully loaded up the grape vine. I tell the tech what im running and he just sighs and says well you can run one computer off of that speed and thats it!!! Once again im told to call back in two hours. I very nicely tell the man that I cant wait any longer for an answer than that! ( per the owners instruction). I call back in two more hours, its now 4 oclock, and im told hes on a call again and he'll be right with me. Another 20 minutes of being on hold and he comes on to tell me that he needs another day to get ahold of someone that can make a decision on this.
I tell him that now im pissed off and rightfully so. I give him an example: we ordered a car from the dealer that would seat eight and agreed to pay x amount of dollars for it. When we get the vehicle it will only seat one person. when we complain to the dealer they try to convince us that the one seater will in fact seat eight!!! FOR TWO DAYS. if we want a vehicle to seat 8 rather than one we will have to pay 8 times the amount we originally agreed on, and we have to wait 30 days to get it!
I ask him what he would do if he was faced with that situation and he tells me its unacceptable and that he understands, but that anyone who can help is on vacation right now, And ill have to wait for an answer for at least another day or two!!! So was I out of line by telling the guy I was done and would taking the companies business elsewhere??????
I know this is a long read but if I had left out any part the story wouldn't make sense. The owner of the company is beside himslef over this and doesnt want anything to dowith it now. He has asked me to just handle it!
I for one feel that someone in a corporation that big should be on hand that can take care of customer issues at all times. Is that too much to ask???