Absolutely seething with anger...
The customer support of my ISP ( RippleCom.ie ) is a COMPLETE joke. This morning I sent a complaint about my connection being terrible this past weekend... and what does the CS I'm in contact with do?
The fucker terminates my connection WITHOUT MY CONSENT! Not even the courtesy to suggest switching ISP, he just had the audacity to flat out cancel my subscription to the ISP - going on how it'd be the ideal 'solution' for both parties...!! :grr:
Snippet of emails:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Me
The connection for the last week was somewhat acceptable, not ideal, but this last weekend it was completely unusable. The connection was rife with drop outs with the connection stability, and I don't mean every so often - I'm talking about every 3-5 seconds, nonstop.
Doing a PingTest.net I was yielding the lowest grade of an F with a very high amount of jitter and packet loss.
I couldn't use Skype at all, Videos kept stopping, and I didn't even bother to play a game online knowing the connection was acting up like this.
Again, I am paying €45 a month for this kind of quality of service ? It is rare for me to use the PC with someone else on a laptop to browse or watch anything simultaneously, even at low 360p quality, without having such a big impact on the already limited quality of connection.
I could compare it to the days of dial up where someone couldn't use the phone [laptop] if I was online on the PC... at least then my connection was more stable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RippleCom CS
At this stage it is apparent that we are unable to supply you with a reliable and proper service that we strive to give to our customers. Unfortunately we cannot improve the connection due to the interference and the best course of action is to cancel your service with us with immediate effect and to credit you back the last 30 days in lieu of notice.
This is unfortunately the only direction we can take as it is an unacceptable service you are getting from the mast.
I will process the credits now, and will have an engineer out to remove all the Ripplecom equipment.
You service will cease at midnight tonight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Me
I DID NOT request for a cancellation of service. My options in my current location are limited - it's either with you, or mobile 3G broadband... which is honestly not a viable option for me due to their very limited cap.
When I started out with your services 2 years ago, the connection was great - it only started degrading since last year AFTER the storms, and have numerous times queried if this could have damaged the device out on the roof yet had no answer to that and still don't.
Broadband is incredibly essential for me and it would not be an option for me to not have access to it - primarily due to my regular usage of it for work and conferencing on Skype.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RippleCom CS
There is nothing at all wrong with the equipment, the signal is perfect. Unfortunately it's solely to do with interference in the air and we cannot fix this as you are on an Unlicensed Network , where anyone can broadcast.
Our senior network engineer has tested your connection and he confirms the equipment is working 100%.
The ONLY option in these cases , is the termination of service. This is the LAST resort on our side as we do not like to lose customers, but where we have no option , it is the right thing to do for both parties.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Me
Well then I would appreciate you to not cancel my subscription until such a time where I request myself to do so.
A connection is better than no connection at all...
Quote:
Originally Posted by RippleCom CS
The company policy is that if we cannot provide an acceptable service and there is nothing we can do to rectify issues that a customer is having, then we cancel the service and offer the credit in Lieu of the 30 days notice.
I apologise once again , but we cannot stand over your connection and we are not in the business of supplying a poor service that we cannot fix to everyones satisfaction.
Please take this email as confirmation that your service will cease at midnight tonight.
Piece of shits....!! :grr: :grr: :grr:
:grr: :grr:
:grr:
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
So I've had this problem as well but they did provide me good help.
So I've been having my old modem for a long while now and I've had this problem where the modem restarted itself on strange moments and where the internet connection sometimes was really slow and so I've decided to call the KPN Asking for their advice and if they where able to help me and they actually looked at my signal line and told my that my signal was pretty poor and the main reason would be that i was still using that old modem.
So they gave me a new modem which is the : Arcadyan VGV7519 some of you know them and some of you don't and told me that if i installed this one that everything would work et cetera and my internet connection indeed was faster than the internet connection i had with the old modem but they also told me that the problem occured in their central and they where able to fix this problem.
So the point here is I've almost had the same problem as you did but here the people who worked there where able to help me out with this problem and where able to provide me a brand new router all for free and now I'm having my internet as good as fast again as the results here:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/2955909308.png
But anyway let's stop talking about me and just say that this is one of the stupidest ISP Companies you can probably find obviously not being capeable of helping a customer out that's obviously paying for his internet and so it's a shame!
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
Bahahahahahaha - WHAT?!?!
There has to be a telecommunications ombudsman you can contact, i would forward this to them ASAP and file a formal complaint.
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
Someone needs to go to a seminar on customer service, this is by far the WORST service I have ever seen.
Ignore the guy writing the emails, he may just being some asshole employee doing things his own way. Call the ISP and ask to directly speak to administration, if they aren't there, ask when they will be back. If you can't get anything done with the people on the bottom, go to the top, at least that's what I would do.
(P.S. If they are any sort of company at all they will still give you 30 days free due to this humiliating confusion).
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
BTW it won't all be deleted immediately, your account details and your jumpering at the exchange will still take a few days to go through, as long as it's within 24 hours you should be able to get everything restored.
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
Wucas.
I'll have to agree even though when you call them then you would probably get the support team who are obviously unable to help you because they don t know how to solve the problem as well that some may be some students that try to earn money and do not care about anything and they wod just give stupid advice.
But it's been a hard time trying to get a ticket to be send to the technical center / administration for me as well so they where finally able to look in the central for the problem and then i had to wait 3 work days for them to process this problem and it finally got fixed.
Good guy gaise.
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
Got into contact for complaints, the Head of Sales responded:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Me
Dear RippleCom,
After my contact with Customer Support, namely a "Kevin Long", with regards to my connection issues this past weekend, he has taken it upon himself to cancel my subscription without my consent nor the courtesy to suggest it. Apparently his ideal solution is to leave me without broadband (in my area I'm severely limited to Ripple, or 3G Mobile)... and would effectively take effect come this midnight. I have asked him numerous times not to do so, and he still went ahead with it!
Broadband is absolutely necessary for my work, and I am incredibly annoyed for this to happen when I've got an upcoming event this Wednesday.
So with that being said, I would like to request for my connection to be reinstated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Head of Sales
Thank you for your email,
I have reviewed your account and can see the multiple issues that you have flagged over many months.
Ripplecom has a business imperative to ensure that when we deliver a service, we deliver it well and to our customers satisfaction (which does not appear to be the case here).
We provide our services using wireless technology and sometimes we cannot provide services that meet our customers’ expectations, even though we attempt to do so using every means at our disposal. Obviously we cannot alter the topology of Ireland or the Laws of Physics.
In your particular case, it is obvious that we have not met the service levels that you demand on an ongoing basis.
This is unsatisfactory for both parties involved and there is no point in Ripplecom continuing to provide a service that you are unhappy with.
Kevin took the logical step of cancelling your service and giving you 30 days credit as this was the best possible course of action that he could take.
We cannot improve the current level of service despite our best efforts and the deployment of high-gain radio equipment on your roof. The service level that we can provide does not meet your needs and therefore the best course of action is to terminate the contract.
However, in light of your email and in order not to cause you any inconvenience this coming Wednesday, we will cease your service in 30 days time and this email serves as official notice of same.
As a gesture of goodwill, no further invoices will be issued on your account and you will not have to pay for the service from 22nd September onwards.
I regret that we did not meet the service levels that you desired and I wish you the very best
Quote:
Originally Posted by Me
Dear RippleCom,
While I appreciate the prompt reply, and good will gesture - I still do NOT want to be completely void of a broadband connection overall. In my current circumstance I do not have the luxury of acquiring broadband services elsewhere other than 3G mobile broadband via a dongle - and those would yield an even worst quality connection, nevermind their data caps are severely limiting... as occasionally I have reached the current 70GB cap numerous times.
While my connection has not been ideal, it is far better to be with a connection than without... and hereby request for you to reinstate my connection and continual service, as I do not want to be left without one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Head of Sales
We have made every effort to supply a service which meets with your satisfaction to no avail, despite our best efforts
I am afraid that we cannot agree to supplying a service that you feel is substandard going forward, this would ultimately be detrimental to both parties.
Therefore we have issued a 30 day notice of our cancellation to you.
If we were able to amend the service so that it met with your satisfaction, we would do so.
As we cannot do so, we cannot continue to supply same.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Me
Dear Mr Regan,
Are you proposing that myself being left without broadband overall is the 'satisfactory' decision to go with ? I am left with little options other than RippleCom, or 3G Mobile - and I'd take yourself over 3G any day, since they got small data caps. I do not have the luxury to choose from a wide variety of options like DSL, Fiber, Cable, etc., if I could this wouldn't be that much of an issue.
But it is, since broadband is crucial for me. I need it for my work and studies. More so because I have an exam come mid October and I have a lot of study material online.
Granted, my connection is not the best - but, as I've said already, it is better than no connection at all. And it beats 3G. So with that in mind, I kindly request for your cancellation to not go ahead and have myself remain as a customer of your services.
That was yesterday - not a single response since...
How the fuck does a company with such a quality of service and support even stay afloat !?
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
I feel bad now for complaining about Virgin Media, that's just bang out of order that.
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
They were probably sick of you pestering them to fix it. To be fair from a business standpoint is better to keep the 90% of customers who you don't have to support and are basically a cash cow, help as much of the last 10% as possible, and just let go of the fringe customers who you can't help and won't stop asking. Though legally I'm not sure if they can just cancel your contract, they basically have a monopoly from what you are saying, and I'm pretty sure they means they can't not accept people as customers? RZ needs more lawyers!
Do you know anyone within a few miles, with direct LoS? You could ask if they'd be willing to let you pay for their connection, and stick on some long range directional wifi.
24dBi Grid Parabolic WiFi Antenna 2.4Ghz Directional
Something like that is 8mile range for instance, with speeds of up to 150mbps.
Or possibly a Sat connection? I believe those prices have been falling, but the speeds are still a bit shit to be fair.
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
Ireland internet rules!!!
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
Did you sign any form of agreement or contract? Just as a person can be fined for breaking a contract, they can be fined as well. Don't take the 30 day credit, find your agreement and threaten a lawsuit, and if they still do not listen maybe find a lawyer and tell him your case. Discrimination, false advertising, the list goes on and on, I am sure that you could win the case very easily, maybe getting more out of this than you even put into it in the first place.
With this type of attitude you can push them a little harder, don't just back down because they are being imbeciles.
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wucas
Did you sign any form of agreement or contract? Just as a person can be fined for breaking a contract, they can be fined as well. Don't take the 30 day credit, find your agreement and threaten a lawsuit, and if they still do not listen maybe find a lawyer and tell him your case. Discrimination, false advertising, the list goes on and on, I am sure that you could win the case very easily, maybe getting more out of this than you even put into it in the first place.
With this type of attitude you can push them a little harder, don't just back down because they are being imbeciles.
You can bet I'm looking at all possible options atm, just waiting for a response from ComReg.
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
Paying $60 for an unstable 3-5 second connection is absurd, and I can't fathom why you think a company would allow that or think it's ok.
You can't get upset because a business won't lower their quality of service standards simply because it doesn't suit you. If they had, you or anyone for that matter could come back and say they're shitty because they made you pay for a shitty service they refuse to fix. After they repeatedly said they couldn't.
They probably just showed you the door because you aren't worth the trouble. Which is an optimal choice from a business standpoint. I do sometimes.
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
I got to appreciate my internet here sometimes. Cause if we complain as such, the service center "balls will shrink" as in they most of the time give in and provide us a month free and a upgrade. This service has a stubborn and rare terms. If I would you, I talk over the phone, call the manager, call another high if there is. And give him the FLARING OF HIS LIFE!
Re: Absolutely seething with anger...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Supicioso
Paying $60 for an unstable 3-5 second connection is absurd, and I can't fathom why you think a company would allow that or think it's ok.
You can't get upset because a business won't lower their quality of service standards simply because it doesn't suit you. If they had, you or anyone for that matter could come back and say they're shitty because they made you pay for a shitty service they refuse to fix. After they repeatedly said they couldn't.
They probably just showed you the door because you aren't worth the trouble. Which is an optimal choice from a business standpoint. I do sometimes.
It was just the weekend that it was really bad...
And that's just easy for you to say that, ain't it? With regards to me paying them - did I state that I do NOT have a lot of options for broadband in my area... it's either with them, a Fixed wireless broadband, 3G... or Satellite...
