It has now been 42 days since my T1 problems have started. ECC has been in business for 16 years and for the last 15 years has had a T1 line. In the 15 years the T1 provider company has changed due to acquisition but I have essentially stayed with the same company for the entire 15 years (Planetcom, Epoch, Netifice and now Megapath) through each of these transitions.
In the past the support has been excellent – if there was a problem with the line the support person usually called me to let me know there was a problem before I even knew the network was down. I relied on this level of service.
The last 42 days have been a trial and an experience on what not to do with customer service. In a past lifetime I was a user support specialist for Scientific and Engineering computing for the Navy at Carderock and supported everything from PC’s and Mac’s to a Cray and VAX’s (young people won’t know what these are) so I know a little a bit about user support.
The saga started on March 7th with the network down. I called Megapath, gave the support person my client number and was immediately told “That is not a valid client number”. I said “yes it is”, and he said “No Maam it isn’t, look on your bill to find the client number”. After about 5 minutes of arguing he finally said ‘Oh yes you are right, here it is’. I have gone through this argument almost 2 to 3 times a day fro 42 days, including today. So much for being an old reliable customer they make it hard for myself and support personnel to find me.
Also, on day 2 I was contacted by Megapath sales office about renewing my service and getting a bonded T1 for reliability. I told them yes lets do it and I signed a contract for 2 year extension and to get another line pulled for a bonded T1. I regret this decision because in the last 15 days I have been told by Megapath support du jour, “Your line hasn’t been installed yet”, including today. Verizon was right on top of this and installed 3 new T1 lines (I am not sure why 3 lines were installed only 1 was ordered – and I agreed to pay to get one installed – I haven’t got the bill yet so I am holding my breath). At this time the install is slated for Tuesday, April 19 (Day 44).
On day 29 (by this time I have to admit I was not as patient as I should have been) the support person du jour reiterating that my problem was an inside wiring problem and it would cost to have a Covad (Megapath recently purchased Covad) person come out and troubleshoot the problem. I told the support person du jour – “I don’t care I need it fixed”. The Covad support person was supposed to arrive between noon and 4 on Day 31. Five o’clock rolls around and no Covad. I called – pretty mad – and Megapath support said “I don’t know what happened but they can’t come today” the earliest I can get them their was Day 33. I said that was unacceptable because I had been waiting and it was now Day 31 and I had a trip planned leaving Day 33. The support person said he would see what he could do. The Covad support person was scheduled for Day 32 between noon and 4 again. Five o’clock rolls around and no support person. Finally he arrives at 6 :30. He looked like he was 16 with a backpack and untied tennis shoes – I still had confidence my problem would be solved. We explained the problem he looked at the wiring and said “Nothin I can do”. I said “You have to be able to do something”. “No I will put it in my report” – and he was gone!
Day 33 all was quiet and I thought — wow maybe the report worked? Day 34 started it all again! On Day 35 I started Twittering in earnest when the support du jour said when I asked “Who do I call to get this escalated” and was told “I don’t know – call the sales number”. I took his advice, called the sales office, who obviously couldn’t help me, put me on hold and sent me back to the support number to be put on hold again. I have tweeted everyday since – I know my followers on Twitter, Linked-in and Facebook are probably tired of my constant ‘tweets’ about poor customer support.
On day 39 I was finally escalated to 2nd tier support. I don’t know if it was the tweets or me calling the ‘Sales Retention Office’ threatening to cancel my service. Second line support was more helpful. Mike gave me his direct number so I didn’t have to go through the phone maze to get to the final support number. You can’t believe having a real person to call helped my anxiety level. Mike was very courteous and helpful.
Mike also said that it was probably and inside wiring problem and that it would cost to get a person out here. I stated that ‘They had already come and did you get ‘the report’”? I have to admit I am not proud of my behavior – he was trying to help but I had been through this for 39 days. I finally had a ‘brilliant idea’ take a video of the flashing lights on the DTE (Date Terminal Equipment) to prove it was a line problem and not an inside wiring problem. Sending a video definitely worked. It turned out that DTE terminology has gone out of ‘vogue’ in the last 15 years. It is now called a ‘Smart Jack”.
Mike called Verizon who was supposed to be here in 2 two hours. The fellow from Verizon, Tony, showed up and I was so relieved. He wasn’t here to fix my problem he was here to install the new card in the Smart Jack and get the circuit up for the bonded T1 line. Tony was so nice and professional, he called Verizon and got the trouble ticket and immediately found the problem. It was a bad repeater on the line. They had to get one of the bucket truck out to fix repeater. My line was down for 7 hours and 30 minutes that day (the longest stretch) but it was fixed on day 39 (or so I thought).
Day 40 and 41 no problems – I sighed a sigh relief. Today is Day 42 and this morning the network was down again. I called support who said ‘That isn’t one of our client numbers”, then asked me to recycle the router — which I do everyday to placate support du jour. Told the support person it isn’t the router it is the ‘Smart Jack’ — see I can be trained too — and please call Verizon.
So on Day 42 while I am sitting here on hold with Megapath listening to the music from “O” I decided I would write about my experience. Note to other customer support organizations, please put calming music on your hold line. I have over 500 minutes on hold listening to the intense climatic music of “O” and it isn’t the type of music that puts a person in a ‘Zen” state – quite the opposite – it makes one agitated and nervous!
And the saga continues!
