Decent Product, Horrible Service
Written: Aug 20 '00 (Updated Aug 27 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: good bandwidth and throughput when the line works
Cons: horrible, horrible service, extremely unreliable connection
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| johnturner313's Full Review: Ameritech SpeedPath ADSL |
Our Ameritech DSL line was installed in May. The installation experience was average (I've been through a couple hundred telecom installations) and the installation timeline was reasonable.
Since May, the DSL line has gone out several times, for no apparent reason. On every occasion except one, the line came back on its own after a period ranging from 20 minutes to 4 or 5 hours. I called Ameritech the first time the line went down, and was extremely disappointed with the attitude of their call center people (who I'm pretty sure aren't even Ameritech employees, they are probably outsourced). On subsequent occasions, when the line went down, I chose not to call, as internet connectivity wasn't all that critical. After awhile, the line would come back on its own.
Until the week before last. On Thursday, Aug 10, the line went down in the late afternoon. Figuring the norm, I didn't worry about it until the next day (Friday). I called the support line and was put on hold for approx. 20 minutes. Then, I spent another 15 minutes while the service rep tried to find my account information on their computer. He could not search by name, phone number, location/address, or even IP address (a dedicated IP address was part of the package). He could only search on something called the "username" or the "billing code". I had neither of these, in fact these pieces of information had never been given to me. After 15 minutes of "try this, try that" the guy manages to find my account record. To prevent a future mishap, I took down both the username and the billing code in case I needed it for future calls.
He promised me 72 hour resolution time (a horrible thing for a company to promise...3 days before someone will pay attention to my problem? Ridiculous!!). On Monday (3 days later) I called. Under my billing code (which I now had) they had no record of my call on Friday. I had to go through the whole process and explanation again. Not only that, but even though the rep had my info on her screen, she made me give her all the info again! I even think she was actually writing it down on a piece of paper, because she kept saying that she was going to "go over to the ticket computer and get me a trouble ticket number" once she got all my information. After being on hold more than 10 minutes, she comes back to tell me that she couldn't get access to the trouble ticket system (apparently there was a line of people waiting to use it...Ameritech must just have a single screen and keyboard for everyone to use) and she promised to call me back with a ticket number.
Tuesday: no call, no ticket. I call, and get disconnected 4 times trying to go through the menu system. I give up. Wednesday: I call, and after much grief (and dictating my information to them all over again) and much on-hold muzak, I get an actual trouble ticket number with a pledged 24 hour resolution time. I make sure they have my cell phone number and my direct phone number, and I instruct them to call anytime day or night.
Thursday, 24 hours later. No call from Ameritech. Line is still down. It's been a full week of no DSL. I call. I am told that the ticket was closed because I was unavailable when they called. They never called either of my numbers. I instruct the person on the phone to get me a supervisor. The supervisor can't help me, and says I have to wait another 72 hours. I ask for the next supervisor. This guy gets on the phone, and finally gives me a new ticket number and promises a tech onsite by end of day Thursday. Tech comes out an hour later (very nice) and tells me (quote): "Boy, somebody really knows how to make some noise around here". I just grin. This tech is not an Ameritech technician, but an outsourced tech. Tech checks the line, and informs me it is a central office issue, and promises to have an actual Ameritech technician onsite the next day.
Friday: Ameritech tech comes out, spends all of 30 seconds onsite, and informs me that there is something wrong at the central switch, and that he will open up another ticket.
As of today, the line is still not up. It has been nine days, with no resolution in sight.
08/26/2000 UPDATE: the problem with our DSL line was finally resolved this past Thursday, a full 2 weeks after the initial problem. Scary part is, nobody seems to know how it got resolved.
On a more critical note, the attitudes shown by call center employees after my initial review were absolutely horrible. When I informed one call center rep that the Ameritech tech who had come out on site had said it was a central switch issue, and that I could literally see the central switch building from my window (I can), the rep suggested that I hang up, go down to the central switch building and bang on the door to see if anyone there could help me (unbelievable!). The next person I talked with was extremely snippy and snide. She actually called me back, but only to tell me that there was nothing that tech support could do, and if I wasn't happy with that, I would have to lodge a complaint with something called "the Executive Review Board" whatever that is.
My last phone experience with Ameritech prior to the line fixing itself was surreal, to say the least. Tech Support called to tell me that there was continuity on the line, and as far as they were concerned, that was it (even though I had no network access). Then, we discovered that the reason there was no net access was because the IP address we were getting from Ameritech was dynamic, not static (we pay for static). I called to get our static IP back. Tech Support insisted that they could not help me, and that I needed to talk to Billing. I get transferred to Billing, and Billing tells me that they can't help me, that I need to talk with Sales (Sales? WTF?). Sales tells me that I need to talk with Tech Support, and around and around we go.
I can't wait until the day comes when I can get the communications services I want without ever dealing with Ameritech or ever giving Ameritech one penny of my money.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
johnturner313
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Member: John Turner
Location: Detroit, MI
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 3 members
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