Thank you for your recent e-mail inquiry to Qwest. I apologize for the delay in responding to your e-mail. I apologize for your frustration but you must call 1-866-283-0043 for assistance with your VoIP service.
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Qwest’s email reply to a customer whose VoIP phone service was down. Phone Service Out? Call Customer Service, of Course at nytimes.com
Qwest’s email reply to a customer whose VoIP phone service was down. Phone Service Out? Call Customer Service, of Course at nytimes.com
Dave Aronson
on 21 Dec 10I can just imagine the AFLAC Duck struck dumb at that one. So very Yogi Berra-ish….
Rodrigo Goytacaz
on 21 Dec 10Well, that’s something very common. Or when you forget to pay the internet bill, they shut it down and them you call them and they go like: “Oh ok Sir, please go to www.myispprovider.com/billing and you can grab a copy of it to pay online, or do you want me to send you a copy to your email address?” #fail and very common.
pestaa
on 21 Dec 10It happens backwards too. “You can learn more about our internet connection services on our website.” Oh thanks so much.
Anonymous Coward
on 21 Dec 10I use to work at a Fortune 100 company that sent an email out 10 minutes before alerting everyone maintenance was to be performed on it’s emails servers which would take them offline.
Question: how many people do you really think got that email prior to the mail servers being taken offline?
David Andersen
on 21 Dec 10Qwest is magnificently impervious to all good service practices. I’m sure this is where the airlines send their staff for continuing education.
Anonymous Cow
on 21 Dec 10Commuting home, I once heard a call center op – obviously working for a telco provider – talking to the guy sitting next to him on the train: “I just had a guy on the (VoIP) phone and told them that he had to reboot his modem in order to make the Internet connection work. The problem was solved within seconds and I made my train on time…”.
Steve
on 21 Dec 10I used to work for a telecom firm, I provisioned non optical circuits, and tested circuits T1 to OC192.
The big telecom providers have terrible customer service, especially for their business customers. They’re plagued by unions in some areas, being understaffed others, and straight out not giving a crap. Hold times working with large metro areas (Atlanta, Detroit, etc) could be up to 8 Hours, but then they can report ticket response times of < 60 minutes, when you finally create one after waiting all day. Typically, you had to escalate 2 times (2 more hours) before you can speak with trained staff. You were redirected countless times, because “we don’t handle that issue/area” due to all the mergers/acquisitions.
Of the ones I worked with, TDS had the best customer service. They lacked in other areas, but their technicians are responsible for supporting their own circuits. This created accountability for issues, something not really present with Qwest, VZ, AT&T, etc. etc.
EH
on 22 Dec 10Some time ago I was forced to conclude that good customer service must be incompatible with the business models required to survive at the size of a Qwest or other consumer-infrastructure company. They simply aren’t capable.
Daniel
on 22 Dec 10Reminds me of my ISP. My connection was down, so I called them to ask what was happening. Their first suggestion? I should check the network status on their website…
...then I explained the issue a lot slower and a bit louder.
Brian Jones
on 22 Dec 10It’s not a huge deal to ask a customer to call a toll free number when their VoIP is down, considering most people have cell phones. It’s possible to troubleshoot issues through email or chat, but you can only do so much.
Vitor Malta Pierucci
on 22 Dec 10I’ve just sent a message to a mobile phone company in Brazil, saying that I’m living abroad and that I need a password that I can’t receive in a SMS, the standard procedure (since I’m in another country). The answer was: “Dear Vitor, thank you for contacting us, we’ll send your password by SMS”. Fail.
perk
on 28 Dec 10A local phone, cable and isp named Cable One has the same procedure in a phone outage, you call an 888 number. The problem is that the 888 number autoroutes to the local office which is usually experiencing the same VOIP outage you are, hence a fast-busy from your cell phone.
The only solution? You have to look up the main office in Phoenix, and call that LOCAL number ( not the 888 number ), and you can get a human or two that will thank you for reporting the previously unknown outage.
Very funny. They haven’t changed this in 5 years of outages.
This discussion is closed.