100M Pay more for 100mb but get a worse service

Tim Deegan · 02-12-2011, 03:44

At about midnight my internet went down. So i thought oh well, this happens occasionally, so I'll leave it an hour or so.

Then after leaving it for two hours it still didn't work. So I did all the usual, rebooted bothe the modem and my PC. But it still didn't work.

So I called VM, and obviously went through to an overseas call centre. They actually told me that if I only had 50mb, then they could help me, but as I have 100mb, then that department is closed.

So basically I pay more for 100mb, but get a worse service than if I had 50mb

General Maximus · 02-12-2011, 08:42

i would complain dude, regardless of what speed you are on there is nothing to stop them from pinging your modem and seeing if their is connectivity and trace it back from there to see what the problem is. For all they know there might be a network outage affecting all tiers and you are the first person to ring up about it.

Tim Deegan · 02-12-2011, 11:11

Well it'sactually working again now. But I will complain, as I'm due to get the Tivo box on the 16th. Although after this I'm in two minds if I should go ahaead or leave VM completely.

Tim Deegan · 04-12-2011, 23:56

Update:
I spoke to a manager in retentions, who agreed with me that if I pay a premium rate, then I should get a premium service. He is supposed to be finding out why I didn't, and should be calling me back tomorrow.

I still have an engineer booked for tomorrow, because I think the problem was something to do with the frost the other night. Especially as I can never get more than 75mb on a speed test. So I recon it could be a dodgy connection, possibly made worse by damp/ice.

Digital Fanatic · 05-12-2011, 00:04

I'm sure 100mb calls have only been dealt with by 2nd line, they work 8am - midnight 365 days. This is moving to all broadband agents shortly.. the person you spoke to should have tried to help though.

Masque might know more about this.

Tim Deegan · 05-12-2011, 08:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

I'm sure 100mb calls have only been dealt with by 2nd line, they work 8am - midnight 365 days. This is moving to all broadband agents shortly.. the person you spoke to should have tried to help though.

Masque might know more about this.

It was after midnight, and they point blank refused to help. They said they couldn't because it was for the 100mb team.

I think this is disgusting that you pay for premium service but get second rate.

Digital Fanatic · 05-12-2011, 11:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Deegan

It was after midnight, and they point blank refused to help. They said they couldn't because it was for the 100mb team.

I think this is disgusting that you pay for premium service but get second rate.

Well, when you do call in you speak to 2nd line in Liverpool between 8am-midnight so speak to the best people in the business to help you. The tools and knowledge they have at their disposal are second to none, but if you call between midnight and 8am then they aren't available.

As I say further training is being given to 1st line to handle these calls very shortly.

Tim Deegan · 05-12-2011, 11:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

Well, when you do call in you speak to 2nd line in Liverpool between 8am-midnight so speak to the best people in the business to help you. The tools and knowledge they have at their disposal are second to none, but if you call between midnight and 8am then they aren't available.

As I say further training is being given to 1st line to handle these calls very shortly.

You are completely missing the point. If I was on 50mb I would have received 24 hour technical support. But because I pay more for a premium service, then for some reason I get a worse service, and don't get 24 hour support.

Digital Fanatic · 05-12-2011, 11:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Deegan

You are completely missing the point. If I was on 50mb I would have received 24 hour technical support. But because I pay more for a premium service, then for some reason I get a worse service, and don't get 24 hour support.

And you've missed mine... let's just leave it there.

Tim Deegan · 05-12-2011, 12:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

And you've missed mine... let's just leave it there.

You don't have a point. You are trying to avoid the whole issue, which is the fact that I pay more, but receive less.

General Maximus · 05-12-2011, 19:34

you should consider yourself lucky that you can get 75mbit on a speedtest, I can't get more than 36

Tim Deegan · 06-12-2011, 10:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus

you should consider yourself lucky that you can get 75mbit on a speedtest, I can't get more than 36

And you are supposed to be on 100???

---------- Post added at 10:47 ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 ----------

A quick update:

The manager from retentions left a message on my voicemail last night, saying that he had received a reply to his e-mail. But all he said was what I already know, and what I was complaining about (that because I pay more for a premium service, I actually get a lower standard of service than if I paid less). I've tried calling back this moring, but it just puts me on hold immediately and plays music (not even a menu).

The engineer came out yesterday morning, and said that the problem isn't with my modem, PC, or the cable between my house and the box in the street. However he did say that there is obviously a problem on the network, and that he would report it.

So I have just called this morning to find out if they are sorting the problem, only to be told that there is no problem on the network (I was actually told by the engineer yesterday that there are often faults on the network that aren't reported). Anyway the operator in Glasgow said that he has pinged down the line, and that there is no problem at all. So I said that the engineer had checked the log for my modem, and it had rebooted due to losing connection at about 7am yesterday morning. But the operator in Glasgow said there was no fault at 7am yesterday, and that he couldn't go back as far as early hours of Friday morning (when there was no connection at all for most of the night). He also said that the engineer hadn't reported a fault on the network.

So it sounds like one of three things is possible:

The equipment used to test doesn't actually work
The engineer was lying.
The operator in Glasgow is lying.

So I am now waiting for a callback from a manager.

General Maximus · 06-12-2011, 17:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Deegan

And you are supposed to be on 100???

long story which i won't go in to but I have got somebody ringing me from the CEO's office tomorrow so hopefully it will all get sorted

pinging your modem doesnt tell you anything (or near enough). It establishes that there is connectivity between two devices and it will tell you what the latency is but it isnt going to identify any intermittant issues or noise on the network

RB2004 · 06-12-2011, 18:30

Sorry to tell you but engineers frequently lie to fob you off.

I had 4 engineers tell me in 6 years they moved my line up on the tap.. But there is only 1 tap in the pit.

I was also told on 2 occasions my signal levels were fine and that they couldn't do anything.. Also same engineers told me that would call networks but failed to.

In the end it cost me money to rectify my own services as I no longer trusted the engineers. Lost so much faith and fed up with long waits for engineers to the extent that the other day I had to open my superhub up and resolder the cable connector back onto the circuit board as I knocked the superhub and it fell out the back. Found it to be badly soldered in first place.. But it gote back online and actually marginally improved my signal levels.

Better than waiting a week without services for another lying engineer

Tim Deegan · 07-12-2011, 10:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus

long story which i won't go in to but I have got somebody ringing me from the CEO's office tomorrow so hopefully it will all get sorted

Good luck!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus

pinging your modem doesnt tell you anything (or near enough). It establishes that there is connectivity between two devices and it will tell you what the latency is but it isnt going to identify any intermittant issues or noise on the network

Yesterday afternoon I actually had calls from both the engineer, and the guy who is supposed to be the top bloke in the 100mb team.

The engineer told me that there is a fault of some sort in my area (a few surrounding towns). And that he experiences these on a regular basis due to his work in the area. He has reported the problems, and they are looking into it at the moment (even though technical support in Glasgow said that there were no reports of problems in my area).

Both the engineer and the guy from the 100mb team told me that there are some faults that can't be detected by pinging the line.

The guy from the 100mb team suggested that I call him back in a few days, once the engineers have solved the network problem.

So as I suspected there is a training need at technical support, because they either try to fob you off, or they don't actually know the truth.