Magnet "Talk to" forum ... very poor response from Magnet

ToadVine

Hi

I posted a thread on the "Talk to" Magnet forum here. I am very disappointed with the response I've got from Magnet.

My first post was April 2nd. No response from Magnet.

My next post was on April 6th. Gary from magnet got back to me April 7th asking me to pm him my details. I did this on April 8th, giving Gary my phone number and asking that someone phone me back to help with my issue..

There was no response to my pm, but Rory posted on April 9th asking if my issue was resolved.

I responded on April 10th saying that it was not resolved and that I had still not been contacted by anyone from Magnet.

April 12th Rory posted asking me to pm him my details. I pm'ed him my details and asked for someone from Magnet to call me back asap. Gary posted a response and said someone from magnet would call me back.

As of 2pm April 13th I have had no response from Magnet.

I am not a moaner and I rarely complain. However I am very dissatisfied with the way Magnet have responded to my query. I asked a question 11 days ago and I still have not had a satisfactory answer or any direct contact from Magnet ... despite sending two pm's to magnet reps and asking for a callback.

I believe this reflects badly on magnet, but I also think it could reflect badly on boards.ie if a simple request from a customer (me!) is handled so poorly. I also notice the Magnet.ie homepage has a direct link to boards.ie.

I am not criticizing boards.ie ... I am simply saying that the poor way magnet have dealt with this has the potential to reflect badly on this site.

I'm with magnet, and I had to use the forum to resolve an issue I was having. It took a while, but it got sorted.
Having read your thread, why are you constantly asking someone to call you when you're dealing with them on a discussion forum? This I don't understand.
Secondly, you were getting (around) 1.88mps d/l speed. gary wrote back yesterday explaining that you are on a 2mb line. So, that's what you get. You however, thought you were on a 5mb line. Check your bill. it will tell you exactly what you're on.

Magnet have been very polite in your questions. While I understand it's frustrating that problems don't get solved in a quicker time, there is only the two reps on here (iirc) and in my mind, they do a bang up job for the amount of time they'r actually online.

ToadVine

Papa Smut wrote: »

I'm with magnet, and I had to use the forum to resolve an issue I was having. It took a while, but it got sorted.
Having read your thread, why are you constantly asking someone to call you when you're dealing with them on a discussion forum? This I don't understand.
Secondly, you were getting (around) 1.88mps d/l speed. gary wrote back yesterday explaining that you are on a 2mb line. So, that's what you get. You however, thought you were on a 5mb line. Check your bill. it will tell you exactly what you're on.

Magnet have been very polite in your questions. While I understand it's frustrating that problems don't get solved in a quicker time, there is only the two reps on here (iirc) and in my mind, they do a bang up job for the amount of time they'r actually online.

It is 11 days since I raised an issue on the magnet "talk to" forum. You might be happy with that level of response. I certainly am not.

My is still not resolved. I have still not received any callback from magnet.

I dont expect my broadband issue to be resolved in feedback... I thought that's what the "talk to" forums were for. I am informing the site admins that imho this is not reflecting well on boards.ie.

And a side issue ... I did not give Magnet permission to reveal details of my account on a public board. To do this was extremely unprofessional ... especially when I have asked a number of times for a simple callback.

ToadVine

ToadVine wrote: »

It is 11 days since I raised an issue on the magnet "talk to" forum. You might be happy with that level of response. I certainly am not.

My is still not resolved. I have still not received any callback from magnet.

I dont expect my broadband issue to be resolved in feedback... I thought that's what the "talk to" forums were for. I am informing the site admins that imho this is not reflecting well on boards.ie.

And a side issue ... I did not give Magnet permission to reveal details of my account on a public board. To do this was extremely unprofessional ... especially when I have asked a number of times for a simple callback.

But can you not understand, your issue IS resolved?

You have a 2mb line, which you are getting the correct speeds for. You incorrectly thought you had a 5mb line.

Promblem solved

ToadVine

Papa Smut wrote: »

But can you not understand, your issue IS resolved?

You have a 2mb line, which you are getting the correct speeds for. You incorrectly thought you had a 5mb line.

Promblem solved

With respect Papa, my issue is not resolved. I have 2mbps speeds ... I have a 5mbps contract. There is obviously something gone wrong somewhere.

I have been asking for a simple callback from Magnet to get this sorted since April 2nd.

What is the point of Magnet being on the talk to forums if they cant even call me back to sort this out?

ToadVine

ToadVine wrote: »

With respect Papa, my issue is not resolved. I have 2mbps speeds ... I have a 5mbps contract. There is obviously something gone wrong somewhere.

I have been asking for a simple callback from Magnet to get this sorted since April 2nd.

What is the point of Magnet being on the talk to forums if they cant even call me back to sort this out?

Cool.


But can you not see the irony of asking a company to Telephone you, when you are using their "talk to forum"?

My situation got sorted with magnet after dealing with them via pm. They rang me after my problem was sorted to see if everything was ok.

It sounds to me like you just want to speak with someone.

The phone number is 1890 809 000

LoLth

Hi,

While I do appreciate your concern for boards.ie's reputation in this and how it could be affected, any issues that you ahve with the quality of service received on a "talk to" forum, is really a matter for the rednames on that forum. We cant tell Magnet to respond quicker to you, nor can we nudge them into resolving your issue - honestly, I would if I could but, its not my place to do so. As long as they dont breach their agreement with boards or encourage behaviour/material that would contravene the boards.ie terms and conditions of use then how htey treat the people talking to them is their own concern.

I'm not dismissing your concerns (and I can see your point where you have a speedtest.net report saying you have 2.14mb upload speed, which is unusual for a 2mb line, its actually pretty good for a 5mb line tbh) but apart from noting your complaint and giving my sympathies I dont know that there is very much I can do for you. Have you tried calling magnet customer care? have you tried emailing their support desk or accounts department to get to the bottom of this discrepancy? Havign a talk to forum is handy and useful, but its not a replacement for a company's own in-built support mechanism.

http://www.magnet.ie/index.php/Support/support.html

ToadVine

Papa Smut wrote: »

But can you not see the irony of asking a company to Telephone you, when you are using their "talk to forum"?

My situation got sorted with magnet after dealing with them via pm. They rang me after my problem was sorted to see if everything was ok.

It sounds to me like you just want to speak with someone.

The phone number is 1890 809 000

I would be happy to deal with them via pm ... unfortunately I have only one pm from Rory which he sent to me yesterday. One pm in 11 days!!!

I have already called 1890 809000 ... my problem was not resolved ... after ages on hold they told me to unplug my bb cable, wait for 5 minutes, and plug back in. This did not work.

I am not in a position to keep calling the 1890 number. I thought the "talk to" forums would be a good way to get my problem sorted. Why have any presence on boards.ie if the advice is to call 1890 809 000? That seems a bit strange tbh

My feedback (for what it's worth) is that if boards.ie makes forum space available to a commercial organisation like Magnet to talk to customers, any issues raised should be dealt with in a timely manner. I have been asking a simple question for over 11 days now. In that time I have requested a callback many times. In 11 days I have received one single pm from a Magnet rep and no callback.

This incident reflects badly on Magnet, and could reflect badly on boards.ie.

ToadVine

LoLth wrote: »

I'm not dismissing your concerns (and I can see your point where you have a speedtest.net report saying you have 2.14mb upload speed, which is unusual for a 2mb line, its actually pretty good for a 5mb line tbh) but apart from noting your complaint and giving my sympathies I dont know that there is very much I can do for you. Have you tried calling magnet customer care? have you tried emailing their support desk or accounts department to get to the bottom of this discrepancy? Havign a talk to forum is handy and useful, but its not a replacement for a company's own in-built support mechanism.

I have a 5mb uncontended line ... I should be getting speeds close to 5mbps. But I cant get this clarified because I can get no response from Magnet through boards.ie.

OK ... I take the point that I can call Magnet customer care and email Magnet support. However, if that is the advice why bother having a Magnet presence on the "talk to" forums?

Fanny Cradock

I don't mean this as a snotty suggestion, but complaining to Boards seems analogous to phoning up the Yellow Pages and complaining that a company listed in their directory is providing crappy service. While you might have a perfectly legitimate complaint about the quality of the product and the customer service, I'm not sure Boards can or should do anything.

ToadVine

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I don't mean this as a snotty suggestion, but complaining to Boards seems analogous to phoning up the Yellow Pages and complaining that a company listed in their directory is providing crappy service. While you might have a perfectly legitimate complaint about the quality of the product and the customer service, I'm not sure Boards can or should do anything.

You may have misunderstood my point.

To clarify ... I am not saying boards.ie can/should do anything about this.

I am simply providing feedback that a forum provided to Magnet by boards.ie (which is linked to on the Magnet.ie homepage btw), takes over 11 days (and counting) to deal with the simplest of requests.

I am also providing feedback that in my opinion this kind of sloppy and lazy attitude to customers from magnet has the potential to reflect poorly on boards.ie.

ToadVine

I'm not going to post again in this thread.

I've given feedback which I hope provides boards.ie with information.

I'm now off to phone Magnet directly. I wont be using the "talk to" forums again.

Fanny Cradock

ToadVine wrote: »

You may have misunderstood my point.

I don't think so, but I hope you get it sorted nevertheless.

LoLth

ToadVine wrote: »

I have a 5mb uncontended line ... I should be getting speeds close to 5mbps. But I cant get this clarified because I can get no response from Magnet through boards.ie.

OK ... I take the point that I can call Magnet customer care and email Magnet support. However, if that is the advice why bother having a Magnet presence on the "talk to" forums?

yes, an uncontended line means you get pretty much what it says on the tin wihtout much variance. I was actually agreeing with you, by saying that the reported upload speed is too high for most 2mb broadband packages so it certianly looks like you have a 5mb line HOWEVER , if magnet are reportign that you have a 2mb line then maybe that is the cause of the slowness and you should contact their accounts department to get it straightened out.

As for why we have a talk to forum if the advise is to call them: companies ask to have a talk to forum hosted to expand their point of contact or improve their customer service. In this case, you are unhappy with the service you received on the forum so the only alternative I can recommend is that you call them through their normal support channels. I cant force them to resolve your issue.

The talk to forums have resolved a lot of issues for a lot of customers successfully since they were set up. You case , unfortunately, seems to be the exception to the rule and so, much as you hate to hear it, I suggest you try an alternative method of contact and see if it helps get the issue resolved for you.

The talk to forums are a courtesy provided by the company with the help of boards.ie. I honestly dont know if the same SLAs and resolution procedures apply on the talk to forum as would be in place on their ticketed systems.

If you can get an issue resolved here without the hassle of phoning and emailing, then great. if not, then give the alternative a try.

I will bring up your point about how the talk to forums could reflect on boards.ie with the other admins so your feedback isnt being ignored. Feedback, good or bad, is always appreciated (unless i'm hungover!) and if you feel I'm arguing against your feedback its only because I want to be sure that this is actually your opinion and not an over reaction to a recent event.

Darragh

ToadVine wrote: »

My feedback (for what it's worth) is that if boards.ie makes forum space available to a commercial organisation like Magnet to talk to customers, any issues raised should be dealt with in a timely manner. I have been asking a simple question for over 11 days now. In that time I have requested a callback many times. In 11 days I have received one single pm from a Magnet rep and no callback.

This incident reflects badly on Magnet, and could reflect badly on boards.ie.

I take your point - thanks for letting us know. I'll follow up with Rory - however, I will say that not all problems are easy to deal with straight away and that not all issues can be sorted either on a Talk to forum or over the phone.

I hope your issue gets resolved one way or the other.

Eoin

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I don't mean this as a snotty suggestion, but complaining to Boards seems analogous to phoning up the Yellow Pages and complaining that a company listed in their directory is providing crappy service. While you might have a perfectly legitimate complaint about the quality of the product and the customer service, I'm not sure Boards can or should do anything.

Boards.ie isn't a directory listing; it's a community.

This case might not be a good example; but if a company's commercial reps were not adding any value to the site at all, then it would be nice to think that the community spirit would prevail over the commercial aspects, and they would be asked to reconsider if they should use boards.ie as a medium.

Overheal

ToadVine wrote: »

And a side issue ... I did not give Magnet permission to reveal details of my account on a public board. To do this was extremely unprofessional ... especially when I have asked a number of times for a simple callback.

You're taking offense that Magnet said you had a 2mbps line on a Public Forum even though you said you had 5 and just re-iterated that you have a contract for 5... I dont see the issue.

Anyway thats your problem. Its a communication issue (the irony) not a technical issue. You claim to have a 5mbps contract; magnet disagrees. Its up to both parties to clarify which position is True.

ToadVine

Thank you for all the replies folks ... much appreciated, and I hope my feedback was of some little use.

I'm happy to report that Magnet called today and my issue is now resolved.

Maybe the "talk to" forums work in their own mysterious ways after all :D:D

Fanny Cradock

eoin wrote: »

Boards.ie isn't a directory listing; it's a community.

This case might not be a good example; but if a company's commercial reps were not adding any value to the site at all, then it would be nice to think that the community spirit would prevail over the commercial aspects, and they would be asked to reconsider if they should use boards.ie as a medium.

I largely agree, but I still don't think it is necessarily up to the admins or whoever to chase up companies who have an official presence on Boards. If company X has crappy customer service then they have crappy customer service, and one hopes they will be known for it.

Anyway, I'm glad to see that everything is now in order.

Cabaal

In defense of Magnet there forum exists to resolve issues via a written medium, if you want to talk to Magnet then I'd suggest calling their support line as the forum doesn't exist as some sort of call back facility.

Your thread suggests you've perhaps rang their support line once and followed some very basic troubleshooting steps, did you call them back as is normally required when 'basic' troubleshooting does not resolve an issue (regardless of ISP).

In relation to PM'ing details, well yes you did PM them your details but if you look at the thread you sent them to a different member of staff to the second PM. They need your details to locate anything on their system and can't do it from your boards username.