I don't understand this?

KKkitty

From time to time I read complaints on the Talk To forums here. Why are companies like Eir and phone companies so shoddy at times? Why are they supplying broadband that's below par? Why is that if through no fault of the customer that a phone malfunctions and the phone company would rather send it for repairs instead of replacing it? It doesn't paint these places in a good light and I certainly wouldn't have any dealings with some companies from what I've read here.

biko

You don't understand





clickbait titles?




I think you do

KKkitty

biko wrote: »

You don't understand





clickbait titles?




I think you do

Why do these companies do it though? It seems stupid to me. Surely for a business to succeed they should have everything geared towards the customer and their happiness with products.

mad muffin

I've got Vodafone simply broad band. Fibre to the cabinet. For almost three years ive had flawless 60/20. Then last month my internet goes down.

After it not coming back for a few hours, I get in touch with them. It comes back, but now my profile has been lowered. I was on 35/7.

Not exactly happy with that I get in touch again. They say it might be the DSL cable but we have to lower your profile again. Now it's 28/6. I change it and get back to them.

No difference. But we are going to have to lower your profile again. Now I'm on 25/4. At this point I'm ready to tear my hair out.

Get back to them. Tech says could be the modem. Sends off a new one. No difference. Was told if it makes no difference an engineer will be sent out.

Get back to them. Nothing's wrong. No engineer. But we need to lower your profile again. Now I'm on 22/3. I'm like wtf!!!!

In between lowering my profile, some techs said they'd raise it back and monitor it. They never do. Also they keep telling me I could never have had 60 down as the max my line can handle is 40.

The only reason I stay is because they are the only ones in my area that do broad band only.

Esel

I don't understand this thread title....

Spider Web

Think of the number of customers using the service with no issues compared to the number of complaints.

And the good or run of the mill experiences aren't going to be posted about on social media. Sometimes when I see those social media complaints (which can be quite aggressive at times - as if it's the Boards or Twitter guy's fault) I can't help thinking there could be more than meets the eye. You can't be sure the whole story is always being given.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

mezzz

i don't know what a mortgage is

Cee-Jay-Cee

Because they don't honestly give a fcuk. Once you've signed up that's it, you no longer matter and it's all about getting the next customer.

They make their T&C's so convoluted and complicated that no one ever bothers to fight them on it so they win everytime.

You as the customer are a piece of shít. They don't care about you and so long as you keep paying your bill, they'll keep treating you like shít.

KKkitty

Spider Web wrote: »

Think of the number of customers using the service with no issues compared to the number of complaints.

And the good or run of the mill experiences aren't going to be posted about on social media. Sometimes when I see those social media complaints (which can be quite aggressive at times - as if it's the Boards or Twitter guy's fault) I can't help thinking there could be more than meets the eye. You can't be sure the whole story is always being given.

This is one thing I hate. The customer representative is a very minor cog in the wheel of any business. They're the ones taking all the flack from disgruntled customers. I agree about the fact that you'll never hear good reports only bad ones.

Spider Web

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Because they don't honestly give a fcuk. Once you've signed up that's it, you no longer matter and it's all about getting the next customer.

They make their T&C's so convoluted and complicated that no one ever bothers to fight them on it so they win everytime.

You as the customer are a piece of shít. They don't care about you and so long as you keep paying your bill, they'll keep treating you like shít.

Pretty (very) hyperbolic.

Ubbquittious

mad muffin wrote: »

I've got Vodafone simply broad band. Fibre to the cabinet. For almost three years ive had flawless 60/20. Then last month my internet goes down.

After it not coming back for a few hours, I get in touch with them. It comes back, but now my profile has been lowered. I was on 35/7.

Not exactly happy with that I get in touch again. They say it might be the DSL cable but we have to lower your profile again. Now it's 28/6. I change it and get back to them.

No difference. But we are going to have to lower your profile again. Now I'm on 25/4. At this point I'm ready to tear my hair out.

Get back to them. Tech says could be the modem. Sends off a new one. No difference. Was told if it makes no difference an engineer will be sent out.

Get back to them. Nothing's wrong. No engineer. But we need to lower your profile again. Now I'm on 22/3. I'm like wtf!!!!

In between lowering my profile, some techs said they'd raise it back and monitor it. They never do. Also they keep telling me I could never have had 60 down as the max my line can handle is 40.

The only reason I stay is because they are the only ones in my area that do broad band only.

Vodafone are only reselling their broadband. The only aim of their game is to spend as little time on you as possible because spending time on you and the 1000s of other customers massively eats into their already slim margins.

The good news is it shouldn't cost them anything to send someone out to replace the line or part of it because that job will be assigned to open eir and it will be one of their lads who calls out. If you explain that you've gone from 60/20 to 22/3 and insist badly enough they might do it. You might even be better off with vodafone because eircom themselves do have an incentive to not fix your line.

I had part of my own line replaced before the VDSL days but it took persistence

Junkyard Tom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyc1aMtnHJo

freshpopcorn

We've stand eir/eircom broadband with the last ten years. We never really had an issue with it. Apart from the modem breaking.
When you do a speed test online it says the download speed is 5.3Mbps and upload is 0.4. I have know idea if this is slow but it's fast enough for us. I'm sure it would be slow for a lot!

mad muffin

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Vodafone are only reselling their broadband. The only aim of their game is to spend as little time on you as possible because spending time on you and the 1000s of other customers massively eats into their already slim margins.

The good news is it shouldn't cost them anything to send someone out to replace the line or part of it because that job will be assigned to open eir and it will be one of their lads who calls out. If you explain that you've gone from 60/20 to 22/3 and insist badly enough they might do it. You might even be better off with vodafone because eircom themselves do have an incentive to not fix your line.

I had part of my own line replaced before the VDSL days but it took persistence

I must've called them 10 times by now. Not including the post on the talk to Vodafone forum.

Ubbquittious

mad muffin wrote: »

I must've called them 10 times by now. Not including the post on the talk to Vodafone forum.

That can happen. Any lad who'll pick up the phone to you is hoping for the quick fix like changing the profile. It's quite possible that your line has been re-tested by open eir and that vodafone can't increase it beyond that limit. You can try to convince them to bring it up whatever they say is the maximum (easy fix, they shouldn't protest too much) and if your connection starts faltering then insist that it isn't a matter of a profile change and don't let them change it back down

Bout 20 years ago we were promised great things when d'EU brought in this telecoms deregulation nonsense but the end result is many low-margin middlemen who don't really have any incentive to spend any time fixing a problem. Any fella with a laptop and a few quid in a startup incubator can become a broadband supplier now.

I can see a day where the same fella with the laptop will be able to pretend-buy a trillion litres of water from IW and resell it through their own network at a slim margin and a slightly different marketing package in return for listening to the customers moaning. The proper solution to end the messing would be to get onto the local politician to agitate for an Ixit. After we leave the EU we can bring back Telecom Eireann and you'll pay double for your broadband but at least it will work.

hatrickpatrick

Phone companies only screw their customers over if they believe they can get away with it - the answer to OP's question is, not enough people escalate these disputes and create a genuine headache for the company.

I was automatically signed up to an extortionate roaming plan (which charges you daily even if you NEVER use your phone while abroad) and when I complained, they admitted that it was automatic, but claimed it was legal because they warn you about it on day one and give you the choice to opt out. Now, I never got any such notification and only became aware of this when I tried to use my phone for the first time and my entire €20 top up had been drained even though I hadn't used the phone at all during the trip. AFTER I complained here, I suddenly and conveniently received a text message "Welcome to Spain", informing me of the daily charge - this after three weeks there, losing all my credit, and complaining.

The key thing about this incident was that as soon as I produced evidence of the mis-dated text and made it abundantly clear that I would be forwarding the complaint to ComReg within 24 hours without a resolution, they almost immediately backpedalled, apologised profusely and restored my mis-appropriated phone credit.

The point is, most people just give up after being given the run around for several days and pass-the-parcel'd from one company division to another, with hours of sh!te on-hold music and mysterious mid-call disconnects in between. But if you adopt a no-bullsh!t "I have evidence and it's going straight to the relevant legal authority if you don't resolve this" attitude early on, you'd be amazed at how quickly companies get their sh!t together and right whatever wrongs they have committed against you.

This wasn't my first experience of not-backing-down assertiveness cutting through the rote-learned "get rid of an annoying angry customer" script and resolving an issue, and I'm certain it won't be my last.

deco nate

Isn't congestion still an issue, that's why your BB drops.

MadDog76

I've been with Sky for TV & Broadband for almost 6 years and never had issues until lately so I decided to give them a ring to sort out my problem (which wasn't, or shouldn't have been, difficult for them to do!) and was met with a stone wall of the call not being answered or being left on hold for 45 minutes before giving up or being hung up on or being passed from Agent to Agent because they don't deal "with that aspect of the business" or being promised callbacks that never came and on and on etc. .......... so after countless ignored emails, phone calls I was just about to give up until I accidentally discovered the Talk To Forum and gave that a go ......... and, eventually, it worked!!
Public embarrassment seems to get these companies moving a bit ......... what I don't understand is why they (the companies on Talk To) would subject themselves to this public embarrassment though?

I don't feel any sympathy for the Representatives of these companies either who bear the the brunt of customers anger, it's their job to help customers and if they can't help then they should complain to their supervisors/managers about how flexible they're allowed be when solving a customers issues instead of just trying to fob you off before moving on to the next unhappy customer.

And I don't get why people criticise posters/customers who complain to/about these companies on the Talk To Forum .......... that's what it's there for, that's it's sole purpose!
I'm not going to randomly post how great Sky is on the Talk To Forum no more than Sky are going to randomly ring me up and offer me a discount for being a loyal customer .......... my thanks and appreciation for a good service from one of these companies comes in the form of the bill being paid every month!!

jimmycrackcorm

KKkitty wrote: »

From time to time I read complaints on the Talk To forums here. Why are companies like Eir and phone companies so shoddy at times? Why are they supplying broadband that's below par? Why is that if through no fault of the customer that a phone malfunctions and the phone company would rather send it for repairs instead of replacing it? It doesn't paint these places in a good light and I certainly wouldn't have any dealings with some companies from what I've read here.

I've had NTL / UPC / Virgin media broadband since they put it in my estate so long ago that I can't remember.

So I've no clue what you're complaining about, but I will praise Eir for providing the competition to ensure VM do better offers.

Ubbquittious

deco nate wrote: »

Isn't congestion still an issue, that's why your BB drops.

The line should stay synchronised if that's the case.

Sky/Vodafone aren't really screwing their fixed broadband customers, you're just not worth much to them due to the sheer volume of middlemen and your problem is harder to fix because even if they escalate the problem one of the middlemen can easily reject it and send you back to square 1.

If it's feasible you could switch to a fixed wireless provider (not a 4G network) or UPC or whatever they're called now. Leave the telephone network behind because it will get worse before it gets better.

Spider Web

MadDog76 wrote: »

I don't feel any sympathy for the Representatives of these companies either who bear the the brunt of customers anger, it's their job to help customers and if they can't help then they should complain to their supervisors/managers about how flexible they're allowed be when solving a customers issues instead of just trying to fob you off before moving on to the next unhappy customer.

They do consult with their managers - they are not always able to do more. Why would you be OK with them getting abuse? That's ****ty.

There is a massive misunderstanding in relation to customer service - nobody wants customers to be unhappy.

"Public embarrassment" isn't the reason for social media being a way to resolve things - it's just that it's nowhere near as busy as phone and email!

And no, people don't have to post about positive experiences on social media, but when people note that they only see negative stuff about a company, they should bear in mind that it's only the negative stuff that gets aired - the positive or standard stuff won't be, so they're not seeing the full picture.

MadDog76

Spider Web wrote: »

They do consult with their managers - they are not always able to do more. Why would you be OK with them getting abuse? That's ****ty.

There is a massive misunderstanding in relation to customer service - nobody wants customers to be unhappy.

"Public embarrassment" isn't the reason for social media being a way to resolve things - it's just that it's nowhere near as busy as phone and email!

And no, people don't have to post about positive experiences on social media, but when people note that they only see negative stuff about a company, they should bear in mind that it's only the negative stuff that gets aired - the positive or standard stuff won't be, so they're not seeing the full picture.

By doing more I mean providing the agreed upon service ........... why would you be ok with a customer paying for a service they're not receiving whilst the Representatives of that company just try to fob off said paying dissatisfied customer? That's ****ty.

If they don't want unhappy customers then they should make the customers happy by providing the agreed upon service.

Public embarrassment on Social Media got me a decent level of customer service versus days and days of frustrating phone calls ......... if I'd gotten even one callback from a competent Rep then I would never have needed to post my grievance on a public forum.

We are seeing the full picture on Social Media regarding how these companies treat their customers when a negative issue does arise though ...........

KKkitty

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I've had NTL / UPC / Virgin media broadband since they put it in my estate so long ago that I can't remember.

So I've no clue what you're complaining about, but I will praise Eir for providing the competition to ensure VM do better offers.

If every company didn't have competition feck knows what services would be like. It's oneupmanship at its highest. No company out there really cares about their customers. You're just a cash cow to them.

baylah17

I don't know what a tracker mortgage is!

circadian

I've had nothing but solid support from Three and UPC on those forums.