OK - this is kind of a rant... but it's also a true story of abysmal customer service (I'll try to keep the 'ranty-ness factor' as low as possible).
<lj-cut text="Cut for your sanity - proceed at your own risk">The Fortress has 2 physical phone lines - it always has had. One has always been the house phoneline, and the other has always been the phoneline which has simply been the direct connection for the Security Alarm System. This has always been an issue because of paying for two phone lines (in essence double the charge for something which could be achieved with one line - in my opinion). Telstra charges/services had been spotty at best and so a few years ago I changed to Optus, which seemed to correct all the issues with the phone-service/s. Of course there was still the issue of having 2 physical lines being paid for - which is something that needed to be resolved.
Back around April/May(?) 2007 (the exact date eludes me), I contacted Optus, asking them to put everything onto one account, so there would be only one bill. They promised to look into the issue. A couple of months later, they contacted me saying that they were going to change the phone line/s over to something called Optus Direct, which would have the dual effect of clarity of service, decreased costs, and an upgerade in ADSL service to ADSL2. When I asked if this was also in answer to my request of a couple of months before, they said no... but that this would resolve the issue, along with giving the other benefits. This, of course, would mean a reduction in total charges for the 2 lines, and (allegedly) a faster and 'cleaner' ADSL2+ service. (Note: that I had ADSL as well as the house phone service with Optus for a year beforehand - but a very slow and spotty service at best... something that they never resolved.).
So... the changeover happened sometime around August(?) 2007, with no increase in vocal clarity, and only a marginal (if any) increase in ADSL(2+?) speed. This is beside the fact that I contrinued to receive 2 accounts for both phone lines. The promised merge of accounts/bills still didn't happen. Several phone calls later (obviously to operators in an overseas location) resulted simply in a repeat of the same information. (I must note that I have needed to talk to 2 sets of operators each time as each phone-line is on a different system, and each operator doesn't have access to the other system.) I even suggested to them, at this stage, that the simple solution would be to have a technician come in, wire a new extension from the general House-line into the alarm system, thus making the separate 'Alarm-line' redundant. The operator/s obviously didn't have the xpertise to comment on a technical issue(?) and so a technician would call me back... eventually. In essence, they would 'look into' the problem and call back with a result. Nothing eventuated. 2 physical lines remained, 2 sets of full expenses continued. Repeated requests to have this rectified were met with the same response from different operators, that they would look into the issue and someone would call me back. This takes me through to December/January(?) where, prompted by the receipt of 2 accounts, I called again to ask for the 2nd physical line to be merged into the house-phone and/or the accounts merged so that both could be paid through one bill, making the accounting easier, or simply have the 2nd line disconnected after an extension was wired into the original house phone line. It was here that I finally received the first real explanation, which was hinted at by the 2 lines being on separate systems. The 'House-line' is (since the 'upgrade') on an Optus Direct line and the 'Alarm-line' is on a Telstra-leased line. Thus, the Alarm-line cannot be merged (at the exchange) into the House-line. This is something I understand, as the 2 lines are owned by separate networks. When asked about my alternative suggestion of having an extension being wired into the House-line for use of the alarm (along with the cessation of the separate 'Alarm-line', in that order of course to ensure a continuity of service), the operator then said that a technician would call me back with a solution/date for this to be achieved.
Fast-forward to May/June(?) 2008 where (after about 10 more phone calls regarding the 2 lines/bills/accounts) I spoke to another set of operators (remember that I need to speak to 2 operators per call because of ther 2 separate systems, and they can't transfer me, so they have to email each other to call me [which happens with a considerable delay, and not every operator makes notes on the account - regardless of policy]) who simply repeated the original findings: 'the Alarm-line cannot be merged (at the exchange) into the House-line because they are both owned by separate networks'. There has been no news on the requested/suggested additional extension to the House-line to accommodate the alarm [even though the original suggestion was made, by me, back around August(?) last year].
Last week I (again) spoke to a couple of (different) operators who assured me that they were going to facilitate the resolution of the problem, and that they would be handling the entire problem directly for a speedy resolution. For that matter they were even looking into having a credit put onto the House-lin account equal to the line rental of the 'Alarm-line' from the month of my 'extension suggestion' (back around August? 2007). Of course, this morning, whilst a technician from the Security Company was performing his yearly checks and service on the alarm system, Optus turned off the second line.
We'll fade out here so that the (somewhat amusing to a by-stander) tirade to the Optus operators (with appropriate notations by me that the individual operator is not to blame for the problem, unless thay have been one of the ones I have spoken to in the past year) can be glossed over.
Suffice to say that with 15 minutes the line was re-activated. However, the issue of having the extension put onto the House-line, and the Alarm-line disconnected (in that order), still could not be confirmed/achieved as operators connected with the 2 separate systems could not talk to, not transfer alls to, each other and had to have each one email the other to call me for details. At this stage I have 3 names of people who are handling the problem, or say that they are, and they are supposed to be calling me back sometime before the 28th of this month to have this problem finally resolved.</lj-cut>
Of course, this doesn't even address the other issue of the ADSL2+ speed, which is... er... not 'super-fast' at all.
Is it kosher to bill Optus for the time/stress taken in all of these calls to achieve something which (to my mind) should be a fairly straight-forward issue? Probably not - but if I do, and enclose a copy of this story, maybe they'll get the hint.
< sigh >
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