Thursday Morning Connectivity

Over the past several days, we've been having problems with internet connectivity.  It drops of-line several times a day. My personal, teenage grandson tech support suspects that the problem is the internet modem, which we've had for about eight years.  With two teenagers in the house, who each drag hard o that modem, I suspect that my tech support is correct, but before I spend the money, I want another opinion, so I call the company tech line.  The conversation goes like this:

Them: "Thanks for calling.  What's the problem."
Me: "Internet connectivity."
Then: "Let's reset the modem."
Me: I've done that four times today."
Them: "Let's do it again"

We reset the modem.

Them: "It looks good from here."
Me: "Okay, if my modem is fine, why does my internet keep dropping?"
Them: "The modem is fine."
Me: "Okay, if the modem is fine, is the problem on your end, or my end?"
Them: "The modem is fine."
Me: "Great, let me speak with your supervisor." 
Them: "We don't have a supervisor here."
Me: :You don't have a boss?  Am I speaking to the CEO?"
Them: "No, I am not the CEO."
ME: :Great!  You work for someone. Put him on the horn."

Needless to say, I didn't speak to a supervisor.  But I'm retired now and my internet provider (Suddenlink Communications), has a business office/plant operation just a few miles up the street.  My plan this morning is to drop by and give the lady at the front desk an opportunity to trot the manager out and let him explain to me what the problem is.

Finally Friday, More Winter Edition

Regular readers will know that PawPaw missed a few days blogging, and we can blame Suddenlink Communications for the lack of service.  A month of so ago, PawPaw took on a bundle with Suddenlink, our local cable provider.  I've got HDTV, internet, and phone, all wrapped into one seamless bundle.  

On Wednesday, we had a little ice storm.  A piddling little quarter-inch of ice, and Suddenlink went belly-up.  No service at all.  PawPaw couldn't watch TV, nor surf the internets, or even make a phone call on the bundled service that Suddenlink provides.  Calls to the service center were amusing.  They'd tell me that we were having an outage (which I knew) and that we were having an ice storm (which I also knew).  What they couldn't tell me was what, exactly, the problem was and when I could expect a restoration of service.  The Suddenlink call center in Tyler, TX is worthless.  PawPaw was out of service from daylight Wednesday until sometime today.  Several calls over the course of two days always had the same answer.  We were in an ice storm, and our service was out.  

While I was at work today, I googled around and got the name of the Regional Vice President for this area.  I wrote him a two page letter telling him that they suck at customer service and that their managers here have their heads firmly up the fundament.  If I were he, I would take a buggy-whip and proceed to the Tyler call center, where I'd whip everyone in attendance and send them fleeing up the road.  He probably won't go that far, but a wholesale firing would certainly be in order.

But it seems like we have service restored for the moment.  Hopefully it will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Friday Nite

Came in from work today, and SuddenLink was down.  No TV, no intertubes.  So, I called and reported an outage.  They told me "technicians" were working on it.

I know what the problem was without them telling me.  We had that big front come through today, it brought wind and much needed rain.  Of course, Suddenlink cheaps out on paying trimming crews, so anytime the wind blows, Suddenlink has outages.  I mean, c'mon.  This is Louisiana.  It rains in Louisiana.  The wind blows.  This isn't anything new.

I'm right in the middle of that map and it looks like we're in for more weather.  But, the TV is on now, and the intertubes seem to be working.

Suddenlink sucks, plain and simple.  On a rainy Friday afternoon, having a service outage is totally unacceptable.  Trim the limbs when the sun is shining and they won't fall on your lines when the wind is blowing.  It's pretty simple, but these bozos can't figure it out.

Suddenlink Still Sucks.

I awoke this morning to a dark house. That's not unusual, but a quick look outside showed it to be truly dark. The electricity was out. No problem, I got up, let the dog out and began my day, contemplating how long I might be without juice, then saw a CLECO truck roll down the road. About 7:30 the lights blinked on twice. Then off twice. I decided to go see Milady at the hospital and brought her a cup of coffee and a newspaper.

About 10:00 I called the house and got the answering machine, which told me that the electricity was working, so I came home to do laundry. I got the laundry going, then came in to surf the web. HA! That wasn't likely. I turned on the TV and got a neat message that our service couldn't be found, but that I should call Suddenlink and tell them.

So, I called Suddenlink. Waited about 20 minutes for a nice fellow named Robert to come on the phone.

Me: "Hey, Robert, it's a good thing that I don't have my phone bundled on Suddenlink service."

Robert: "Uuuh, why's that, sir?"

Me: "Well, Robert, if I had a Suddenlink phone I couldn't call to tell you that my service is out."

Then I proceeded to chew on Robert's butt for a while. He couldn't tell me why my service was out, but he thought it might have something to do with the weather.

Weather is something we have every day. Some of it is good, some of it is bad. Weather is no reason to have bad service. Yeah, we got a little ice this morning, but if those Suddenlink folks had realized that we have ice occasionally, maybe they should have been trimming lines all summer. Make sure that the trees can't get into the lines. They're not proactive, they're reactive, which is another reason that Suddenlink sucks.

You all might remember the post I did earlier on Suddenlink service? A young lady, Tina, in comments told me that she worked for Suddenlink and asked me to email her with my concerns. I wrote her a long email detailing my feelings about their service, and she has yet to respond to my critique. Yet another reason that Suddenlink's customer service sucks.

If Suddenlink was really interested in customer service, then when my service was out, they'd call me before I had a chance to call them. They'd tell me what caused the problem, what steps they were taking to solve the problem, and when I could expect to have my service resumed. That would be good customer service.

SuddenLink Sucks

SuddenLink communications is the most aggravating outfit I've ever dealt with. I came home from the hospital tonight to find that my television is out. Oh, I get basic cable, but the channels I normally watch are infected with the Blue Screen of Death.

So, I get out the phone book and call Suddenlink. No answer on the phone. None at all. So, I go to their website and look for a customer service number. None listed.

I finally go to another website and find a service number. Let me repeat that. I've got to go to another website, one not affiliated with Suddenlink to find a service number. While I'm there, I complete a customer service survey, and give them zeros across the board.

I guess I'll call the Public Service Commissioner tomorrow morning.

If I had the extra money, I'd buy a billboard that says: Suddenlink Sucks!