ISP Punishes Client (clear red flags to watch for)

[Choppie]

NOTE: Please be advised, if you have blood pressure issues, do not read this.

1) Longtime client/friend. Started having issues with internet speeds, modem WiFi behaving squirrelly, intermittent connections with her NEW Linux MINT computer I had just built/installed for her. She said she was having the same WiFi connection issues for months. Making contact with her “ISP” several times, (won’t mention the name of the most common ISP in South Florida), she told me they gave her the runaround, relentlessly trying to extract information from her regarding (how many computers/devices and people) will connecting to the internet in her house. Trying to upgrade her to stupid speeds that she doesn’t need, never addressing her WiFi issue. (which in fairness isn’t the ISP’s responsibility)

2) Her modem is located on the wall above a fireplace and behind an LED TV. Her computer is at the other side of the house in a spare bedroom/office. WiFi signal is extremely restricted because of this. (no I had no hand in this setup). The husband had gutted the house down to the framing and I told him “you need to pull CAT6 everywhere and have your modem in that closet just off the kitchen so I can setup a 16 port POE switch and router”.

3) She wanted the modem from the ISP out! I bought her a ARRIS SURFboard SB8200 DOCSIS 3.1 Multi‑Gig modem and Araknis router, switch, and two WAPs. While she was on the phone with the ISP having their modem removed and activating her new modem, I was setting up the other gear.

4) While I was setting her up with quad9 DNS and programming the two WAPs I had realized she had been on the phone with them over an hour. (NOTE: It takes 15 min MAX to activate a modem.) She had been placed on hold several times, was told they don’t see the modem (red flag 1) Then she told them a third time, she got the modem from amazon and then the lady told her (you never told me that), they were on speaker phone and I made sure I told her that). After another 20 min on hold, she came back and said she will have to transfer her to the support dep. (red flag 2)


5) Big red flag 3! She was told that she had to sign an agreement which will be sent to her on her phone! I told her NO, that’s not required to activate a modem. The tech insisted stating its the only way to activate the modem! I know this is not true! She then read off some account information to her and asked her to say yes to agree to the (REMOVAL OF THE ISP MODEM).

6) Another 30 min passed and finally the modem was online and her network devices started populating on OVRC cloud management that I use.

7) One week later (her internet was DOWN) as reported on my OVRC account. She said her neighbor saw some one digging in both their back yards. I told her maybe some maintenance was being done on the ISP side of things, told her to be patient. One day later, still no internet, she calls the ISP and they tell her.

YOU CALLED AND HAD YOUR INTERNET SERVICE CANCELED and you will have to setup a NEW account which was double the price, no other options! She was furious and forced them to give her the same account options she had before with the threat of going with HotWire.

After another full day, no service, she called again and was told NO, the last person did nothing, did not reactivate an account for her…..the nice, different tech had her modem activated in 10 min, with no up-selling.

Advice: If you are trying to do something that you KNOW should take less than 15 min (with an ISP), and it’s actually taking 3 hours, you are being played with! Hang up and call back in 10 min to get another tech.

Total time to activate a modem; 4 days!

 

[Blues]

I will say working with very possibly the same horrific company I have had to do the agreement things to remove ISP provided modems it is to reflect a change in the bill even if the modem was provided at no cost to remove it from the account it does have an agreement thing to show the new statement w/o the modem. I rarely have this though as typically they won't remove it until it is returned but I have seen it when the modem is so dated the don't even want it.

This is also why I only involve the client to provide the required authorization for the provider to speak and work with me.

 

[britechguy]

I only involve the client to provide the required authorization for the provider to speak and work with me.

You and me both. And very often that's after someone calls me who's lost their mind even trying to deal with the provider themself.

 

[Choppie]

I will say working with very possibly the same horrific company I have had to do the agreement things to remove ISP provided modems it is to reflect a change in the bill even if the modem was provided at no cost to remove it from the account it does have an agreement thing to show the new statement w/o the modem. I rarely have this though as typically they won't remove it until it is returned but I have seen it when the modem is so dated the don't even want it.

This is also why I only involve the client to provide the required authorization for the provider to speak and work with me.

I've swapped out about 50 ISP modems, this was the only time (one time) that the client was hassled to this degree. Every case, client said, "I have my guy here, I authorize you to talk with him". What's the model, MAC, and the SN of "your" modem....thank you. I see your modem, give me a min to send your modem a signal to provision it.............boom.....done........! Is there anything else....blah blah blah....

Not including the 30 min tourture of automated prompts, once the tech was on the line....15 min max time to complete task. No mention of any agreements.

In all fairness, maybe the client had some such process once they returned the modem, I have no idea regarding this.

In the future, I plan to punch a hole through the brick and concrete and run a CAT6 DB around the side of the house to her office.

Thank's for the input guys, this forum is awesome...