Getting the Worst out of Broadband Helpdesks
The Web was like treacle last night, so much so I decided to ask consensus from a forum I moderate. 50/50 split. Which left me wondering how I could determine where the fault lay: at my end, across the country or even one of the transatlantic backbones. I tried rerouting Explorer through a few of my ISP's proxies. Made no odds.
Connectivity Outage
To make matters worse, NTL were due to undertake email server maintenance at around 11pm but would also be tinkering with their servers/routers, whatever, and I was advised on their server status board I could expect a brief period of connectivity outage at some point during the night. The brief period lasted from midnight until 4:30 the next morning.
Customer Support
These guys have had interminable challenges with their SMTP servers which they seem unable to resolve. At one point during a particularly protracted period when email was sporadic at best, neither receiving or sending for hours at a time, I become badly frustrated and rang customer support.
Here's a transcript...
Ring-ring, ring-ring...Please press loads of buttons whilst we irritate you and bounce you around the place...
Eventually get an alleged Customer Care rep.
Me — Hello, can I have a discount on my service charge because, well, basically, it's deteriorated to the point of infuriation. Your smtp server has packed up for hours on end, repeatedly over the last month or so and it's disrupting my business, which I run from my home office.
NTL — Have you reported the fault to technical support?
Me — No, there's no point. They are aware of the problem as they've posted it on your 'Server Status' section on your website.
NTL — You have to ring technical support first and report the fault.
Me — Oh. So they will be in a position to offer me a discount against my monthly bill for poor service?
NTL — No. They can't do that. You have to ring customer support.
Me — I'm doing that now. Do I get a discount?
NTL — Well, we can upgrade you to a 1Megabit line free of charge for a month.
Me — Will that help repair your smtp service and allow me to send and receive emails properly?
NTL — I don't know, sir, you'll have to ring technical support.
Me — Let me get this straight: you can't give me any form of credit against my account for poor, often non-existent service until I ring technical support and they confirm that there is a problem with your smtp server — which they have already posted, frequently, on almost a daily basis — on your own support website. And you are offering me something in return for my troubles which will in fact do nothing to alleviate them?
NTL — I'm sorry you feel that way, sir.
Me — So. If I now go to technical support, waste their time by querying a fault flag they have already raised, I can come back here and get a discount?
NTL — Well, it could be your modem at fault. They play up quite a lot.
Me — The modem is fine, it has nothing to do with your smtp server. Are you now telling that the modems you issue are also unreliable?
NTL — I didn't say that, sir.
Technical Support
So I was patched through to technical support, whose auto-queue message advised that the wait would be considerable since there was a problem with their mail server and many people were complaining about the fault. I had to waste 20 minutes until some battle-weary guy answered the phone. He was Welsh and his name was Mario (?) but at least we both had a good laugh at the expense of the customer care twit responsible for bogging down NTL's technical support team with unnecessary calls.
