OT Broadband costs

[Art Todesco]

Apparently all cable/telcos have weird plans. Mine, Frontier, after a year, automatically puts you on what I call, the retail plan ... full price. I call them and they magically fix it. If you don't call, you pay and pay. Also, most of these companies have what they call, a retention department. It is usually just a subset of their call center. If you complain and make noise about leaving, they hand you over to a retention droid that is allowed to make deeper changes than the regular person. They never tell you about the retention department. So that's a good place to start. BTW, most cable companies will sell you a data only plan for your internet connection. Cable internet will usually be much higher speed than DSL. And of course, there is satellite which is usually more expensive and has data limits. I once told them right out, if they didn't fix my problem I would cancel all there stuff, even though that would entail a more expensive internet package via satellite and they jumped in with a good priced plan.

[KenK]

ItsJoanNotJoann wrote in news:90457a49-2874- [e-mail]:

That/s why I prefer to use email. But the companies often don't answer it nowadays, or insist on you giving them a phone number and then use that instead of email. I suspect just to make it more difficult to keep meticulous records.

[Don Y]

Note that most customer service calls are recorded nowadays.

Rather, I think it is probably because it is usually easier to get all the "missing details" via a brief telephone exchange than to play "email tag" -- especially if there is any subtlety in the information sought.

If you had to rely on users to report the necessary detail to resolve an issue, you'd invariably end up "solving" the wrong problem. Company wonks tend to speak whatever "language"/jargon is appropriate for their business. That often doesn't map easily onto colloquial English (and, folks often are inept at doing that "translation").

In an interactive exchange, you can fine-tune the other party's understanding of the issue being discussed:

"When you say your phone is 'broke', do you mean it now lies in a pile of several small pieces? Or, that there is no sound coming from the earpiece? Or, that the other party can't hear what

*you* are saying? Or, that the 'dial' doesn't work? Or, ..."

E.g., in a conversation, I can ask, "While you don't hear any

*dialtone*, do you hear a faint 'click' when you toggle the cradle switch on/off hook? (i.e., is there *battery* present on the line)" This is not the sort of detail that folks would *offer* in a report of "no dialtone". [There's a good reason why customer service "scripts" exist. Unfortunately, too often, the droids cling to those scripts and abandon all independent thought!]

[RealPerson]

And that dont include all the time they place you ON HOLD during a phone call. I just contacted a manufacturer for help regarding a piece of machinery. Their website has a link which says "If you need help, click here to ask". I got a long form, requiring all sorts of personal info, before I could even ask the question. I did all of that, waited 3 days for a reply, and got a reply which told me to call my local dealer, with a link to "locate a local dealer". And they also had a link to buy an owners manual.

Needless to say, I was pissed. I had already been to my local dealer who said they could not answer my question. What a waste of time filling out all that crap on that form, and I suppose I'll get all sorts of spam from them for the rest of my life now. (Of course I have a special email address just for contacting businesses).

[Tekkie®]

Don Y posted for all of us...

I usually decline the recording if it's automated. I usually give approval to live person because aren't getting anywhere without it. I called Verizon once and after I got "your call call is being recorded for training and business purposes" I repeated the same exact lines to her and she said I can't do that. She would refuse the call. After about 5 different calls I used my inside source and completed my business.

Yeah, it isn't. A large company tried that with me. I moved up to the supervisor and said "Well, you record all calls so play it back to me and we'll find out what you think I said and what I actually said." After some clicks and bongo bongo he came back and said it was unavailable at this time. I said you really don't have the recording do you? Crickets. I won.

I will take names and times to memorialize things but names don't really mean squat because one call center may have a Latisha and another may have a completely different Latisha.

Only the very well integrated centers will have the notes in a call that gets passed on to the other call takers. Strangely I never seem to have problems with these business'.

[KenK]

[e-mail] wrote in news:kh3t1bp0ag93m6ais60o88tvakb0o5cmva@

4ax.com:

You don't have to cancel, just mention it. After a phone conversation yesterday, supposedly I now have a much lower DSL rate. The November bill will tell all!