Grrrr.... multimedia companies can be so annoying

Grendeel · June 16, 2009, 10:16:36 AM

This is my rant about my satellite(bundled with phone and Internet) provider. Bell Canada (sympatico)

I lost almost all of my satellite stations over a week ago. I called in to find out what the issue was. After numerous tests, they determinded my signal was being blocked and offered to send someone out to reslove the issue (via moving the satellite). Since its been 2 years since the dish was installed, they were going to charge me for this. For me, this was a tree issue and i was going to try and resolve it myself first.

I went outside and there was a tree coming precariously close to blocking my dish. I went ahead and started trimming this tree. Halfway through i noticed the actual angle my dish was pointing at. Turns out, it probably wasn't the tree i was trimming at all. It was this gigantic tree in a neighbours yard blocking it. This got me really annoyed for 2 reasons. 1. The idiot installation technician put the dish 5 feet off the ground (building is 40 ft). 2. I questioned this technician about the neighbours tree when the dish was first installled (his response was ..it will never be an issue). This is an issue i can never resolve myself, so i call my provider again.

Same process happens. She attempts to run me through all the steps we did before. I interupt her and explain i have done this already and it should be in the notes from the previous call. Her response was "there is no notes on that call". Being annoyed, i run through all the steps we did before, only to determine my signal was being blocked.....again. True to form I'm offered a technician, at my expense, to come out and resolve the issue. At this point i started raising my voice and being forceful and direct

I explain the situation to her. Why should i pay to move this dish? It will only eventually become an issue again later on in life. I can get cable where los (wow term

) will never be an issue again. As well, there is deals where installation is free for new customers. Why should i have to pay for the installation technicians incompetence via putting the satellite 5 ft off the ground and behind a tree that will cause problems in the future. Her response: "I'm sorry but your warranty has run out and its our policy to charge for the service of the technician".

This is where our "consumer buying power" comes into play. "OK, if thats the way you want it, since I'm not getting any premium stations or specialty channels, lets start by cancelling them ($45). Then i let her know that i will probably being switching to cable and take my internet over as well. I further ask her "My business with you is ~$2000 a year. Do you really think its smart business to lose that over a small charge of the technician coming to move the dish, especially when the original technicians incompetence caused this issue"? She then proceeds to interupt me and try and explain why i shouldn't do this....blah blah blah. I restate "I'm not paying for your technicians incompetence, lets go ahead and cancel some services please". Her response: "just a minute while i talk to my supervisor". Finally, i get to where i wanted to be...that is someone who can make a decision outside policy.

After a few minutes, she comes back with a statement "As a long time customer, we value your business, and will be sending a technician to move the dish. This will be a one time, free of cost, exception to our policy". The technician is coming out tommorrow (crosses fingers) and all will be good. It took over a week but eventually i got what i wanted

Rant over

Drygioni · June 16, 2009, 10:43:04 AM

When I bought my house I went with Bell (satellite). After years of being with Cogeco (cable)

Everyday think of changing back. I liked the idea of their PVR at first over VOD. Everytime I have a service issue its a pain. Storms shut down service, and I get days with just really poor connections.

Lyte · June 16, 2009, 11:55:15 AM

Who ever said a good hissy fit can't get you things? Just kidding!!! Glad you got it worked out.

Fleecy · June 16, 2009, 03:26:44 PM

bleh that sucks... But yeah the squeaky wheel always gets the oil... I'm glad it worked out.

I work in a call center, I can pretty well bet if you had asked for a supervisor before the whole ordeal with this second chick you may have gotten better service... oh and by the way... there is usually a couple levels before you are at an actual supervisor level. There is usually a front line rep, an escalation rep then a call center supervisor... above that you've got a manager and usually a Director.

However it is standard for call centers to wait for the threat to disconnect or never shop at the store though. The most common one we hear at the one I work at is BBB or the Attorney General's Office.

Kothnok · June 16, 2009, 04:00:31 PM

> I can pretty well bet if you had asked for a supervisor before the whole ordeal...
I did that recently with Charter and the operator promptly hung up on me.
My next phone call started with "I would like to file a complaint against the last operator I just had...".

Grendeel · June 16, 2009, 04:40:15 PM

You must work at the nicer caller centre Fleecy

I used to just ask for supervisors immediately, however this usually didn't work out to well. Ive had a whole litany of responses from "its gonna take up to an hour" to "a supervisor isn't available" to "a supervisor will return your call anywhere from 24-48 hours" to (astonishing to me) "we dont have supervisors, I'm your guy and that's as high as we go"

Ive found that the best way to deal with it is let them run through their standard "white page" procedures to deal with the issue then get the supervisor after....or better termed as what you said, the escalation rep. I know the call centre i worked for wouldn't take the call transfer until the proper "white page" procedures were done first.

Fleecy · June 16, 2009, 05:00:20 PM

Before Cy and I bought our house, we had Bell Sympatico High Speed Internet well we were paying a lot for service we weren't getting... they sent a few techs out only to tell us that everything was fine, over and over... Cy called them and complained, he complained several times because of our crappy connection... till finally they told us that we couldn't get the High Speed service in the apartment we were in because we weren't close enough to their towers or some crap like that...

He kept calling requesting their supervisor, then when he finally got one he got a number he could contact them at. Well he "squeaked" enough they ended up sending him a check for $200.00...

Grendeel · June 16, 2009, 05:22:48 PM

Nice to know how the system works and "squeak" to take advantage of it

I too had that response about being in proximity of the hub centre. I was paying for a 6 MB line which was the highest speed. I was complaining about the constant DCs while playing wow. They transferred me to an experienced wow player technician. This guy told me that in order to obtain the high speed, they have to max out the useage of the line to ~100%. He also told me that if i was outside the 4km range of the hub, then this would cause my random dcs (cant recover from lost data at ~100% capacity).

Since ive been complaining about the dcs for over a year and never had this response, it ws news to me. So we dropped down in speed to 3 MB. Usually i had lat of 250-300 in game with random dcs. Now i have 150-200 lat with no dcs. Whether this is a plausible reason or not i dont know. Whatever was done, it has been performing wonderfully for 3 weeks now.

KittyPurple · June 16, 2009, 06:04:33 PM

There is a big difference between data rate and latency, but they are commonly confused as both are the "speed" of your connection. I've yet to come up with a good metaphor to explain it to the non-computer-savvy...

Kothnok · June 16, 2009, 06:43:44 PM

Latency = the delay you notice over very long distance phone calls, or the difference between lightning and the sound of it's thunder.

Zario · June 16, 2009, 09:31:50 PM

Solution: Become a faceless cog in the giant machine that is corporate america. Collect your 401k match and special rate dedicated business class 6 mbps internet for $20/month. Be happy

Zario · June 16, 2009, 09:46:10 PM

Yay fleecy, I work with a financial call center. I'm a fully licensed broker and started front line, then escalation. Now I do transfer agent ops stuff and project management.

Hierarchy of most knowledgeable people in a call center generally went:
-inbound rep, series 7 & 65 licenses
--inbound rep boss, aka FINRA series 24 licensed principal
---escalation team <------------beyond this point you have very little chance of getting a different answer by going higher
----escalation team boss, also series 24 principal
-----service manager, some sort of vp title, also licensed.

The whole unsubstantiated complaint thing won't work with a securities firm. You're going to complain to the SEC? FINRA? Ok, don't forget postage is $0.44. We're not going to break securities laws and absorb a $5k loss because you don't know how to read a statement or file your taxes properly. Ha.