Top 10 Broadband Gripes
Number 5: Fix it right the first time
(old news - 03:34PM Thursday Mar 31 2005)
We're counting down what we believe to be the top ten problems that beset the United States broadband industry, one issue at a time. Gripe Number Five: Fix it right the first time - and quickly. How many of you find that your new connection is unreliable: you face horrible packet loss, and schedule an appointment - often taking entire day off work - to have a technician troubleshoot your connection. Said technician only seems to visit when your connection is working properly. He'll often test your line levels, maybe replace a cable or a splitter, and be on his way. That evening, you'll discover your problem has not been resolved. Often users will schedule one or two more visits (if they can get yet more time off work). If the packet loss issue is moderate, often they'll deal with it. If it's severe, they'll likely give up and switch (if they even have such an option). Our reviews are filled with users who needed to repeatedly call their cable operator, and have missed work to schedule multiple visits in order to have lines replaced (even happy customers aren't exempt from the phenomenon). Identify the problem correctly and repair it the first time. If users can show log evidence of ridiculous packet-loss, and you know it's because of faulty lines, replace them. Don't send your tech through the motions hoping customers will tire of taking days off work and just live with it. Offer service credits if you cannot resolve the problem or you miss appointment windows. And while we're on the subject of days off work: how about offering a half an hour appointment window for all home visits, if necessary, for a premium fee? or easy evenings and weekends appointment options? Computerized scheduling systems could still keep your vans moving efficiently from job to job. Previously in this series:
#10 : Get out of the slow lane!
#9 : Stop hiding additional fees
#8 : Improved plans are not just for new customers
#7 : Treat technical support more seriously
#6 : Stop trying to kill the messengers
|
 ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC | Saturday Appointments TW here in Charlotte has offered to come out on Saturdays for me on a number of occassions to address issues.
Usually, though, by the time Saturday rolls around the issue has cleared itself up. | |
|  | 
Matt
Gone playing Dragon Age Origins
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
 ·North State Commun..
| Re: Saturday Appointments said by ke4pym  :TW here in Charlotte has offered to come out on Saturdays for me on a number of occassions to address issues. Usually, though, by the time Saturday rolls around the issue has cleared itself up. Same here in Greensboro. I even had a tech out at 6am on a SUNDAY for a cable TV issue.
That is why I like Time Warner here so much. If you have an issue, they will have a tech out the VERY NEXT DAY, 7 days a week!
I even got an entire months credit for service one time, ALL my services, internet, phone and cable tv, simply because I kept killing DVR boxes and it took them a few visits to figure out why. I actually eneded up positive 83 dollars an hour x 3 for those visits.  | |
| | | 
Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
Road Runner
PC gaming GAMES
PC gaming Tech
2 edits | Re: Saturday Appointments The problem with Time Warner (I've had them at three locations in three cities), is you need to relentlessly harp on them to repair lines.
It took me three months, nine technician visits, and my own assigned Time Warner Case-Worker to get them to replace a line in Queens- which was unshielded and getting a local cab company radio interference. (100% packet loss at nights)
I can't remember how many times I had to call.
The second location it only took a month and four tech visits to run a new line to an apartment complex and replace faulty basement wiring....
The third has been ok so far. However most people can't take that much time off work, or won't be as persistent as I was. | |
| | | | DMWCincy
join:2004-04-27
Fairfield, OH | Re: Saturday Appointments Guess it sucks where you are at but I only had to call once and Time Warner(in Cincinnati, Ohio) was out to me with in a few days. They had to make a new run from my house to the pole but it didn't take them too long. No harping needed. | |
| | | | 
rtcpenguin
Premium
join:2001-01-21
Fairfax, VA
 ·Cox HSI
| A friend of mine had Time Warner cable and those morons installed a ground line about 3 inches below the surface. He roto-tilled his lawn and that pretty much destroyed that line.
--
All gods are homemade, and it is we who pull their strings, and so give them the power to pull ours. -Aldous Huxley | »www.wikipedia.org | |
| | 
Butthead88
@shawcable.net
| Time Slots re wow about offering a half an hour appointment window for all home visits, if necessary, for a premium fee
working in the industry.. this is simply wishfull thinking.. it is not possibal mostly due to the fact you don't know what needs to be done.... say it needs a re-wire that takes 2 hours, what happens to the other 5 slots that got bumped because of it?
Here we have 2 hour window's and we also do saturday/sunday's | |
| | 
Pake
If you can read this.... RUN
join:2001-02-22
Huntersville, NC
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: Saturday Appointments Sounds like back when I had Crudelphia Powerstink. Was great when it was Prestige Cable doing it, but once bought out, I was having constant problems.
The greatest part was having 2 friends less than 2 miles away each on their service. When our connections weren't working, we'd call them one after another. When told it was our connection and the lines were fine, we would say "Look up the last time so and so called. You'll notice that I'm not the only one, so fix it now."
I usually counted on having at least 2 full days of no service a week from them.
My friend has TW and lives over in Concord. His service is pretty crappy. They refused to acknowledge the problem was a crappy modem they sent him and after having been disconnected and demonstrating to the guy how it was the modem that kept crapping out, only then did they give him a new one. It's like cable companies refuse to believe the modems they sent you and their service is problem-free and it's always your computer. Always the same old "Turn off your computer, unplug the modem and turn it off. Wait 15 seconds and turn everything on." | |
| 
diehardspeed
Premium
join:2003-05-14
Salt Lake City, UT
2 edits | Same answer I gave for the Tech Support gripe. I am sick of going through 3 or more techs / reps who all tell me they fixed the problem only to find that nothing has changed!
I can't even get a tech to actually come to my house because they say NOTHING is wrong!
There needs to be a way to single out the good techs and get rid of the bad but most will only work on a 1st name basis with you so you can never get the same person again
 | |
| | 
one_bored_si
join:2003-03-10
Montebello, CA | Re: Same answer I gave for the Tech Support gripe. Ya right, thats as likely as getting the same customer service rep when you call in. That call can go to any 3rd world or 2nd world tech support center. | |
| | | barky
Premium
join:2001-03-17
San Diego, CA |  Re: Same answer I gave for the Tech Support gripe.
| |
| wb6dao
join:2004-02-23
Hacienda Heights, CA
| Fix it right the first time I had the same attitude until last Monday. My Adelphia (Hacienda Heights, CA) speed was getting slower and slower. Called customer support "the signal to your modem is -17db, too low". They made me an appointment for Monday 1-3 PM.
Having been through this process 4 or 5 times before with Adelphia, I asked, "will the technician be able to fix the problem? Will he have a spare modem, etc?" I was told absolutely...
He showed up at 1:30 and stated that the wiring was not proper (no direct wire from the modem to the first splitter about 100'). I then braced for the "need to schedule the wiring crew out", but it never came, he did the wiring, which included having to order more coax to be delivered to our house. Gave me a new modem, configured it, tested, and was done by 3!
Maybe Adelphia has changed their service call procedure! I hope, sure did a good job for me this time. | |
| | | | | Thaler
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA
| Re: Fix it right the first time The billing lady was surprised that I asked for a credit since my internet only worked for a couple hours a day.(dont think I ever got it)She was like "why we know of the problem and are fixing it." LOL, sounds quite typical of broadband customer service. Maybe you should have just mailed them a check for the services rendered (ie. 25% of the bill, for the "couple hours a day" it worked) and see if they get the picture. | |
| | | | 
Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY
·Qwest.net
| Re: Fix it right the first time I remember years ago before I got cable tv the trailer court I lived in at the time had all kinds of problems with the cable feed, they just wouldn't fix it. After one of Cheyenne's infamous wind storms, gusts to over a hundred mile per hour, I started getting HBO and other cable channels. I called them up to complain about it because it was interfering with the TV coming in on my antenna. It sounded like the Daytona 500 that is how fast they got out there and fixed it, which also fixed the problem the trailer court was having.
--
Low voltage Tech's are wimps, Real tech's use 45 pound filament transformers, plate voltages no less then 2400 volts with at least 10 amp's lighting 8877 triodes...BPL I'm coming to get you. | |
| burger2000
join:2001-06-25
Madison, WI
1 edit | From a Cable Guy I take modem trouble calls seriously. Many times I will follow up after technicians who just changed fitting or splitters and got out of there. My repeat rate is one of the lowest in our management area. My supervisor feels I do some of the best work in our area. Enough of that...
We have a tool in Charter that tracks modems and gives an accurate history of what the modem is doing. If I pull up to a modem service call and there is an aerial service drop, you can pretty much expect it will be new when I leave. If you have RG59 or old 6 or 6 that has been bunched up and pulled strait again, it will be new after I leave (depending on if it's possible to replace). If I don't feel confident I have resolved the problem I will tell you that I follow up in 4 days to verify the modem history. If it is not working properly you will hear back from my supervisor. I'm to the point where I don't even care what cable is bad. If there is any question the spool is coming out of my truck.
Now on the management side of this modem calls CONTINUALLY make me late. I'm given 50 minutes to perform one service call and I can count on two hands how many modem calls have taken less than 30 minutes in the past 6 months. This takes time to do the work. Management is on my side when I run behind but the quota is for 9 jobs a day.
30 minute time frames are counterproductive. So you can expect me there from 1pm to 1:30pm. The work may take 15 minutes or 3 hours. Also if you want your time frame at 1:30 and my previous job ended at 11:40 that's almost one hour I'm twiddling my thumbs listening to the radio in a park (excluding lunch). Your cable bill pays my salary; it's just not cost effective. If you need a 30 minute window request a 30 minute call ahead before the trouble call. There you be 30 minute window.
There are also many times, such as MDUs and rental property, that fixing it the first time or quickly just is not possible. Please be patient in this case. A lot of times interior wiring is bad and that is landlord owned and falls under their responsibility. Rarely do they do anything about it though.
In conclusion training teaches us 90% of cable problems are caused by fittings. The technician that changes fitting and splitters and calls it a day doesn't have the experience to fall back on. You can have great signal levels but still have a problem. | |
| |
Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: From a Cable Guy I really do think 90% of this problem is a technician/training quality issue.
You sound like a great technician. Unfortunately I wonder how many techs a user has to go through before they get someone like you who does their job correctly? | |
| | acidradio
join:2004-04-14
Minneapolis, MN
| Lack of communication? When I first tried to get cable from TWC in Minneapolis, it was a catastrophe. Before this, my house had never had cable before, and therefore was not wired for it. I explained this fact to TWC. So they send out a tech who basically tells me "You know, this house has never been wired for cable, we need to get a line dropped!", even though TWC knows this already. So he says he will request that and a line digging crew will come out and do it.
I never hear from TWC. Call them to ask about it, they say they will send out a tech to drop me a line (nearest cable ped is across the street, so it had to be buried under the street and up the front yard). They send out another tech who also tells me "You know, this house has never been wired for cable, we need to get a line dropped!" I figure this has been a mistake, which happens. Call again, they send out another tech, who also tells me "You know, this house has never been wired for cable, we need to get a line dropped!" I have 5 techs come out and tell me the same thing. And none of them are equipped to bury a cable under the street. None of the file notes from any of the other techs ever seemed to end up in the records so all the techs who showed up thought they were walking into a basic reconnection job.
I just gave up on it, it was ridiculous. Then I decide to pursue it again. I made countless calls to TWC and get the same clueless responses. After weeks, I convinced a rep to let me talk to their engineering dept., who rarely talks directly with the customers. They finally explain that they had been waiting on a permit from the city to dig under the street and all this was out of their hands until that gets approved. It would have been very nice if someone would have put in a customer service notes page that this was the situation. Absolutely terrible communications! Even worse was the fact that the city took around 90 days to approve a fairly run-of-the-mill cable dig.
Then one day, 5 months after my initial request for service, my brother wakes me up in jubilation for the fact that a crew was burying a cable under the street and up the yard! When I made the request for the install into the house (which amazingly happened like the next day), an army of cable guys descended on my house and wired it up! Now that I have them, TWC works well and has been very trouble-free. But 150 days for an initial install? Absolutely lousy! | |
| | | |
|
|
·
Re: Fix it right the first time
Well here in Alabama after I got hooked in Oct 2004 to TWC it took them about 3 months to fix my packet loss issue. The thing is after the first call they new what the problem was(old equipment down the road). Finally after the 6th visit the tech told me we would have to live with it til the new year when the new equipment arrives and they can change it out. Towards the middle of January they replaced everything and has worked ever since.
I had a few people that lived in the park before I moved in and had the same problems. They were pretty much told to move to Dothan and they wouldnt have those problems.
·