Broadband works, too bad nothing else does.

We’d be upset with Richard for being so damned smug, except the Carphone Warehouse got him the end.

What evil lurks in the heart of ISPs? Richard knows. More hell from LLU.

I moved to TalkTalk in November last year, signed up for the broadband package and went live on the day indicated – how smug am I??

Umm, not very – they sent me a letter (that’ll be from our friend Steve Rescorta, allegedly) notifying me they would be “upgrading” my service on 4 October and I’ve had NO landline service since (completely dead line).

Their 0870 numbers have digested my PAYG credit and I can’t call their “free from talktalk line” numbers for obvious reasons, so I’ve made numerous visits to their shops so far, and had their sales folk call customer services for me.

Alas, getting nowhere – I’ve called, I’ve written (email & snail) and I’ve visited….

They kindly arranged to forward incoming landline calls to my mobile – “it’ll take 10 hours to be activated” according to Zak at their Richmond shop – that was on 11 October, so I chased them re this and today they did forward my incoming calls, but in true TalkTalk fashion, they forwarded the calls to someone elses number, I joke not.

Apologies to the lady concerned, but they did take my number from their system – yes, they did call me back on it once to tell me my line wasn’t working(!?!)

If you can spare a moment, and have the inclination, drop in to a high street shop and take the matter up with their sales staff – save’s money, helps the shop staff realise they work for a bunch on muppets they work for, reduces sales and other customers can benefit from your experiences. Ensure the “escalate” your query when they log it on their system – most sales staff I’ve encountered don’t type too fast, so ensure you get them to take down ALL the details.

What are the benefits of moving to TalkTalk you might ask, well, “the call cost savings, sir” according to Pete in their “Faults Department”, yes, quiet, especially when you have no service on your line.

Kappy isn’t very happy….

Well, I can just say “all of the above!”. I have never experienced such useless customer service and technical support. CSR 1st line just read from a script and have no idea how to fix anything. They don’t even know what telephone number to give for 2nd line and the one I got was no longer in use. I bought a brand new IMAC along with a wireless router and since 24th October (yesm you guessed it, my upgrade date) I have had nothing but problems with connectivity. I am having to reset the router 4 to 5 times per day, no matter what time a day it is. MTU has to be below 1450 to work, have to change from dynamic to static DNS ip addresses. When I finally got through to 2nd line…an entire week later!…they said they cannot do anything as they do not have diagnostic tools. They had to excalate to the OPAL? group who would do a diagnostic on my line and exchange. If the customer service team were not so incompetent I would almost say “teething probles” but because of their incompetence I am seriously considering paying more for an ISP who can do something right! I am giveing them the week to check the line and exchange and come up with a good excuse why, in this day an age, they cannot provide decent service.

The inevitable return to BT for Ray . (Maybe that’s how BT wants it…?)

TT Customer service an absolute joke. As with most people broadband and Netgear 834 was fine until the upgrade via LLU. Lost phone line for 10 days and Netgear just won’t work anymore but TT Speedtouch works OK. Sent letter to TT High level complaints 2 weeks ago demanding explanation and compensation for complete loss of service but no reply so far. I wouldn’t even bother with”customer service”. I’m going back to BT and TT can stick their cancellation fee where the sun don’t shine!

It is indeed, the dark time of ADSL.

Technorati Tags: Talk Talk, CArphone Warehouse, free broadband, broadband, ADSL, DSL, LLU

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KANA “enhances” customer service

You guys have been busy! I’ve been going through my GMail account in an attempt to get some order to it all by sorting things into labels. One of those is ‘customer service.’ When one of you writes in with the all too common tale of being met with vast incompetence and disinterest, then it gets put there. Makes answering questions and putting posts up easier, you see. Other e-mails with different labels are also put into those categories.

Like this one, a Google Alert for the Carphone Warehouse:

KANA Software, Inc., a provider of multi-channel customer service announced Tuesday that The Carphone Warehouse, the global independent retailer of mobile phones and services has selected KANA IQ to provide a consistent, high-quality customer experience across channels.

The retailer will leverage the KANA solution to create a single source of accurate, relevant and timely information. The solution is expected to increase both customer and employee retention while reducing service delivery costs.

The Carphone Warehouse was searching for a solution to transform its approach to customer service by developing a central knowledge repository accessible to employees and customers across multiple support channels, including email, telephone and the Web.

What fundamentally terrifies me about this press release is the idea that they currently do not have a central knowledge repository (hey corporate, unblock us. We can do that for you!)

But wait, that’s not where the spine tingling terror ends!

The solution will also lower training times and improve employee satisfaction by providing them with the information required to do their jobs well.

So, the employees don’t have the information they need to do their jobs well?

That’s hardly surprising.

Have a read through Dave B’s comment.

I have numerous problems with TalkTalk.

I signed up with TalkTalk for my business. They did not make me aware that they were not providing a business service. However, they were happy to take the money from my Business account and to sign me up in my Business Name.

I was told I would go live in September 2006. They cut off my existing broadband (with BT) in June 2006 with no notification to me. I spent several days trying to talk to someone to get my business up and running. This eventually happened and they sent me their equipment and devices. Since then my broadband has failed at least 6/7 times a day, I have had to reboot my machine 3/4 times a day and have spent most of my working day getting broaband to work or being on the phone trying to contact them.

This month (October 2006) I again had problems connecting and was without service for 10 days, several days of which I had no phone service either.

For the last 2 days I have had brief access to my broadband and again have no ppone service either. TalkTalk’s attitude to customer service is appalling. Their standard response is we will get around to it within 30 days as per our terms and conditions.

I am now having to look at a switch of providers that will offer a good service. Yes it will cost me more, but, quality of service will be better.

I am having very little joy in getting TalkTalk to “Talk” to me.

I shouldn’t have to reboot my machine 3/4 times a day, the line should not drop 7/8 times a day.

Their Customer Service should be Customer focussed not TalkTalk focussed.

Thanks Dave B (He also has a website)
Read the rest of the bluster at TMCNet

Technorati Tags: Carphone Warehouse, ADSL, DSL, customer service, bad customer service, KANA

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