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Last post Author Topic: Centurylink is on CracK  (Read 18964 times)

KynloStephen66515

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Re: Centurylink is on CracK
« Reply #25 on: September 01, 2011, 03:44 PM »
(see attachment in previous post)
Hmm...

Shibboleet.

Make a note of it.

Just in case it really isn't a joke.  ;D

Now to call tech support and try ever variation of pronunciation until it either works, or they transfer me to a mental institution.  ;D ;D

Stoic Joker

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Re: Centurylink is on CracK
« Reply #26 on: September 01, 2011, 05:29 PM »
Hi Stoic Joker,

This is Joey with CenturyLink.  I'm sorrry to read about the trouble you've had with your service.  We would certainly be happy to look into this issue for you.  Can you email us at [email protected] with your name, account information and reference your post here on donationcoder.com?  Thanks.

Joey H
Manager, @CenturyLinkHelp Team
[email protected]
-CenturyLinkHelp (August 31, 2011, 02:28 PM)

Greetings,
   I'd wondered if/when you guys would show up ... Nice to know you're paying attention. However, do I want to grind through the entire sad sordid tale with someone picked at random from a general mailing address that's dumped into a distribution list? No. I really don't have time for that.

Now if you wish to contact me directly...being that you appear to understand the situation already... :) Do please feel free to provide contact info via the boards PM system.

Thank you,

Stoic Joker, A+, MCSA, MCTS

40hz

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Re: Centurylink is on CracK
« Reply #27 on: September 02, 2011, 05:25 AM »
In some respects it's rather sad that you can't call a company's customer service line (and get a useful response) - but once you complain about them in a forum, their "reputation protection" bots come out of the woodwork.

I'm seeing more and more of this lately.  :down:

If you have the time and resources to be constantly watching the entire web for references to your company name, why can't you make a similar effort to get a responsive support and service department into place?
 :-\

« Last Edit: September 02, 2011, 05:33 AM by 40hz »

Stoic Joker

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Re: Centurylink is on CracK
« Reply #28 on: September 02, 2011, 06:29 AM »
If you have the time and resources to be constantly watching the entire web for references to your company name, why can't you make a similar effort to get a responsive support and service department into place?

Now that, is a damn fine question.

Red Gear Software, who now owns TaxWorks has an excellent support staff. I had to call them twice this week while migrating client data to new hardware (compatability issues). I gave the first person I talked to a clear description of the problem ... And they responded with a clear and correct solution to said problem(s). That is how Tech Support is supposed to work.

iphigenie

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Re: Centurylink is on CracK
« Reply #29 on: September 04, 2011, 03:14 AM »
If you have the time and resources to be constantly watching the entire web for references to your company name, why can't you make a similar effort to get a responsive support and service department into place?

Now that, is a damn fine question.

Red Gear Software, who now owns TaxWorks has an excellent support staff. I had to call them twice this week while migrating client data to new hardware (compatability issues). I gave the first person I talked to a clear description of the problem ... And they responded with a clear and correct solution to said problem(s). That is how Tech Support is supposed to work.

That is not quite a fair comparison but the point is, good support is hard to scale.
It is much easier to give good support to a fairly homogeneous customer base where you can make some assumptions on the knowledge level of the client and the number and type of requests are going to be more predictable. In this case, tax software. You call them with a precise question about their product.

It is very different for a cable company or ISP - the diversity of clients and the diversity of problems - and the number of customers - would make it hard to give good support consistently - you just cant have enough knowledgeable and empowered people manning the phones. You cant assume or predict much about the customer. And you cannot recruit the people you need, even if you did pay for them. Whereas in a smaller business it can be rewarding to do support, so you can recruit and train some good people (or it can be a rotation), it's a different chalenge if you need 40 people around the clock... can't attract the people you'd need.

At that size of company and kind of client base, the focus really should be on operations - have everything smoothly running all the time. Always do checks and tests and monitoring so that people don't have to call support in the first place. Then you might need less people on the support lines and you could train and empower them again...

Anyway, the problem you encountered was sloppy operations - people didnt check that the settings were correct and al customers reconnected after whatever they did. Support didnt have the tools to check this. Operations, not suport, were the problem. It is very hard for support, even good support, to figure out problems of the "oh, we didnt do what we were supposed to do or what the log claims we did" kind. Operations should catch that, not support

And there your point is super valid... you have the resources to monitor what is said about the company, you should have the resources to monitor your services and check that work was done correctly
« Last Edit: September 04, 2011, 03:23 AM by iphigenie »

iphigenie

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Re: Centurylink is on CracK
« Reply #30 on: September 04, 2011, 03:18 AM »
Although when you are involved with an internet technology business, you cannot win the support game.

Seriously, i ran a web technology/ecommerce agency. So we built sites, operated servers, hosted sites, and email pop accounts to go with them, and managed domains... But mostly it was ecommerce websites and payment gateways.

Our support team was trained on investigating issues around ecommerce, payments, domains, email etc. It didn't prevent customers calling for every internet related problem ever, and blaming us for every email problem ever (like receiving an email too big for their client or computer to cope with. Or having installed Norton which blocked email...). And often being rude about it.... even when it was something that had nothing to do with our services (we host your website, not your email and we arent your ISP...)

*sigh*

Stoic Joker

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Re: Centurylink is on CracK
« Reply #31 on: September 04, 2011, 09:24 AM »
Our support team was trained on investigating issues around ecommerce, payments, domains, email etc. It didn't prevent customers calling for every internet related problem ever, and blaming us for every email problem ever (like receiving an email too big for their client or computer to cope with. Or having installed Norton which blocked email...). And often being rude about it.... even when it was something that had nothing to do with our services (we host your website, not your email and we arent your ISP...)


LOL, Understood. The thing is that back a few years (and name changes) they had a business support option that allow experienced users to bypass the flowchart monkeys, a talk to a tech that actually could understand/fix the issue. This is what I always used back them and sorely miss now.

nosh

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Re: Centurylink is on CracK
« Reply #32 on: October 09, 2011, 10:36 PM »
If you have the time and resources to be constantly watching the entire web for references to your company name, why can't you make a similar effort to get a responsive support and service department into place?

Vodafone bots in action:

Quote Originally Posted by nosh View Post
Guys, guess what? Vodafone has no security when it comes to recovering a PUK code. I needed to recover my PUK and I called up the helpline 9820098200. The system just asked me to enter the no. for which I wanted to recover PUK and read out the PUK. I expected to speak to a person who'd verify my authenticity by asking for some personal details before giving me the PUK, after all you need the PUK if you've done something like entering the incorrect pin thrice on a locked phone.


Next time you want to hack into someone's locked phone, remember, Vodafone will be glad to help you out! Because the other option of having you speak to a human being (who actually needs to be paid a salary!!!) is just too unbearable!

Is this standard policy for other operators too?
Hello Sir/Madam,

Thanks for writing to us. We are sorry for the inconvenience faced. Please share your number with us at Vodafone India - Complaints - Requests - Enquires we'll get back to you with assistance at the earliest.

Regards,
Vodafone Customer Care

J-Mac

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Re: Centurylink is on CracK
« Reply #33 on: October 10, 2011, 12:49 AM »
You COULD have Comcast... At least your ISP wasn’t voted the Worst Company in America!

Jim