Covad, how do I hate thee, let me count the ways...
Ok...so here I am at work with a connection that doesn't suck...most of the time.
Anyway, this is what happened with Covad I put it in a link if you don't want to read the whole thing.
-insert wavy lines for flash-back-
Saturday evening the DSL was SLOW I mean modem slow. The DSL bridge is setup to step the speed down in case of line noise or disconnects. To remedy this, all you have to do is power-cycle the device. Anyway, I shut the thing off and waited about 10min and turned it back on...that was the last time the connection came back up. I fooled with it for a while and then decided to leave it unplugged overnight (thinking Covad was having issues). The next day I get up and turn the thing back on...surprise, no DSL connection. Now I've had enough and give Covad a call. The first dude is friendly and helpful he does what's called "re-provisioning" on my DSL line and the DSL connection comes up. Happily seeing the DSL light is now on I hang up the phone. Ten seconds later I find that while the DSL light is on I can't get anywhere, there is NO traffic passing through the device. Immediately I call them back and I go through some troubleshooting with another dude. The whole time my router kept getting an error that it was dialing but no one was answering. I told this to the guy, but in the end he said he would not support me because I was running a "non-standard" device. At this point I had to leave the house so I told the dude I would hook my notebook right to the DSL bridge and install the PPPoE stuff to do some real troubleshooting. He agreed that was a good plan I and hung up.
After I got home I hooked up the notebook and called Covad for the 3rd fucking time. This is where it gets ugly. Upon configuring PPPoE I found Windows was getting the same error as my router...the other computer was not answering. This being the case I was sure it was a problem on their end. I told this to the dude on the phone (Dominic was his name) and he asked if I was running the Covad approved software. I was like "What?!". He told me that he would not give ANY help unless I had the Covad CD installed on my machine. Trying to control myself I explained that I'm in the process of moving and that I had packed that CD. I also questioned why his co-workers were willing to help me and he was not. He fell silent for a long time and all he could say back was that he would not support me. I mean he would not even tell me ANYTHING about my connection. I was so fucking pissed because the all the CD does is configure the SAME shit as I had already configured on my PC. He was too fucking stupid to realize this. In a fit of rage I told him that I wanted to cancel my account and that I was going to tell billing that HE (and I mentioned him by name) was the reason I was canceling. He didn't say a word and transferred me to billing.
Lets take a look at how Dominic failed both Covad and the customer:
Failed to be professional and polite to the customer
Failed to transfer the customer to his manager as requested
Failed to keep my business
Failed to deliver even the minimal support one would expect from half-ass first level phone support
Perhaps the worst thing about this waste of skin is that he just doesn't care about his job, me, or the company. I don't know ANYONE who would let a customer cancel an account with the intent on telling everyone it was a direct result of one employee. I mean if that's the way you feel about your job, you should be shoveling shit or something that doesn't require customer interaction. I plan on writing a letter to Covad to let them know the name of the guy and what a failure their "support" model is. Until them I will be on my dad's dial up. Which is cool because I'll save some bucks until I move...whereupon I will have to get a cable modem because DSL in not an option at the new place.
Anyway, this is what happened with Covad I put it in a link if you don't want to read the whole thing.
-insert wavy lines for flash-back-
Saturday evening the DSL was SLOW I mean modem slow. The DSL bridge is setup to step the speed down in case of line noise or disconnects. To remedy this, all you have to do is power-cycle the device. Anyway, I shut the thing off and waited about 10min and turned it back on...that was the last time the connection came back up. I fooled with it for a while and then decided to leave it unplugged overnight (thinking Covad was having issues). The next day I get up and turn the thing back on...surprise, no DSL connection. Now I've had enough and give Covad a call. The first dude is friendly and helpful he does what's called "re-provisioning" on my DSL line and the DSL connection comes up. Happily seeing the DSL light is now on I hang up the phone. Ten seconds later I find that while the DSL light is on I can't get anywhere, there is NO traffic passing through the device. Immediately I call them back and I go through some troubleshooting with another dude. The whole time my router kept getting an error that it was dialing but no one was answering. I told this to the guy, but in the end he said he would not support me because I was running a "non-standard" device. At this point I had to leave the house so I told the dude I would hook my notebook right to the DSL bridge and install the PPPoE stuff to do some real troubleshooting. He agreed that was a good plan I and hung up.
After I got home I hooked up the notebook and called Covad for the 3rd fucking time. This is where it gets ugly. Upon configuring PPPoE I found Windows was getting the same error as my router...the other computer was not answering. This being the case I was sure it was a problem on their end. I told this to the dude on the phone (Dominic was his name) and he asked if I was running the Covad approved software. I was like "What?!". He told me that he would not give ANY help unless I had the Covad CD installed on my machine. Trying to control myself I explained that I'm in the process of moving and that I had packed that CD. I also questioned why his co-workers were willing to help me and he was not. He fell silent for a long time and all he could say back was that he would not support me. I mean he would not even tell me ANYTHING about my connection. I was so fucking pissed because the all the CD does is configure the SAME shit as I had already configured on my PC. He was too fucking stupid to realize this. In a fit of rage I told him that I wanted to cancel my account and that I was going to tell billing that HE (and I mentioned him by name) was the reason I was canceling. He didn't say a word and transferred me to billing.
Lets take a look at how Dominic failed both Covad and the customer:
Failed to be professional and polite to the customer
Failed to transfer the customer to his manager as requested
Failed to keep my business
Failed to deliver even the minimal support one would expect from half-ass first level phone support
Perhaps the worst thing about this waste of skin is that he just doesn't care about his job, me, or the company. I don't know ANYONE who would let a customer cancel an account with the intent on telling everyone it was a direct result of one employee. I mean if that's the way you feel about your job, you should be shoveling shit or something that doesn't require customer interaction. I plan on writing a letter to Covad to let them know the name of the guy and what a failure their "support" model is. Until them I will be on my dad's dial up. Which is cool because I'll save some bucks until I move...whereupon I will have to get a cable modem because DSL in not an option at the new place.