
After eight weeks of being deprived of broadband following a change of address (3m up to the next floor in the same building) my broadband internet access has finally been restored.
I'd switched from Metronet (a great little indie pay-as-you-go outfit, recently acquired by über-awful Plusnet) because they'd tried to extort a £60 ($100) reconnection fee and make me wait for (in hindsight, just) two weeks.
Mad Max
So I chose Madasafish - funky marketing, great reviews, 8mb MAX ADSL, and cheaper than the competition - BUT - a customer service team in a developing country, without a great deal of expertise in problem solving.
Weeks passed, with each call informing me that it was BT's fault (a system one), and the problem was being escalated. So many times was this repeated that I was eventually prompted to reply to one of the Madasafish team, "Escalated to what level? Surely it must've reached God, by now".
Call-centre class
Madasafish has one asset in the form of a customer services supervisor called Shanelle, who has a calming influence on distraught customers and a dedication to following up - even when forced to repeat bad news to a (potentially very nasty) customer. Having a name that sounds like a fashion label helps a lot - people inevitably drop their guard (and usually their cash) at the sound of a designer brand. Eventually, she was even more disappointed by my inability to connect than even I was.
Hopefully, she'll be hired by a boss who'll make it possible for her to press a button and make things happen. Someone like the amazing Mr Veerwayen, whose finger is on the British Telecom button. Even while most of us are sleeping.
While you were sleeping
I came across Mr Veerwayen, who is CEO of BT, on a weblog that told of an unresolved complaint to the firm that he'd had fixed (as if by magic) and had replied to the complaint within minutes (by Blackberry). Naturally, I believed none of this.
So, more out of a sense of 'let's see if this is for real' I emailed him (at around midnight last night), and to my surprise and delight, received the following email at 05:51 hours:-
Simonand now, less than 24 hours later, I have ADSL.
First of all, this must be very frustrating
Second, the customer contact is a matter for the ISP
This is a delicate matter, it is the new regulation
Clearly you should be able to get the service through them
I will ask Mick Wayman, Customer Service Director of BT Wholesale to look into this, and see what can be done in assisting your ISP to serve you better
Ben
Go Dutch!
So, here are three observations, transmitted using MAX broadband, supplied by BT via their retailer Madasafish:-
- Always escalate your own complaint; don't wait for anyone else to do it.
- Any company that has a CEO who answers its customers personally, signing with his first name, deserves your business. I would recommend BT - on the strength of this one experience - to anyone.
- We need someone running this country who comes from a country where people have an aversion to bulls**t. That nearest country would undoubtedly be Holland.
So thank you, BT, and Ben, for sorting that out. I should have listened to my mother, who told me to choose your company from the start. Mothers, huh? Annoyingly right, most of the time.
Be like dad - keep Mum!
Of course, my mother is convinced that all this is due to the fact that Walthamstow's telephone exchange must be creaking under the weight of all the additional surveillance installed since our local terrorist cell was unearthed in August.
Last year, she told me she was convinced that the local Arab caf�s were full of plotters and I laughed. This year, our locale was all over the international news, and from the French Riviera we saw our neighbourhood on CNN.
Life is full of surprises. Now I have broadband MAX, I'll be even more prepared.
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