I first foray'ed into VOIP land about two years ago.
At the time, I was an unhappy landline customer who objected to forking over over $50/month for a dial tone. So I happily ponied up $18/month for Lingo's VOIP solution. It was spotty at first, and took probably most of a year to settle down, and then they jacked up the price above $20/month. So, after the year's contract was up, I jumped over to SunRocket for a mere $199/year.
Well, that took like five months to convince them that they could port the number and another five months (or so it seemed) for them to actually port it and then continue to mess it up. So, I didn't think much when the red light was blinking on the router - I simply reset it and hoped for it to reload the configuration. Little did I know that the company had decided to shut down a few days earlier.
By and by, the liquidators enlightened us that we had a choice of two preferred providers - Packet 8 and TeleBlend. Since TB was cheaper (buyer beware), I went with TB. I even gave them a credit card to charge (which they did not). Additionally, TB actually continued to service the servers/equipment from SR, so, in my estimation, it was the better choice.
Today, about a week after no inbound calls, I see that an opinion has been rendered that the community should stay away from TB. Great choice, self!!!
Oh, I did sign up with a landline provider when I learned that SR was kaput! Sage Telecom. Only after signing up did I realize that they may not have been the best price point. I called AT&T (horrors) this week, to learn that a plain jane, local, touch tone service, would be $11/month BEFORE TAXES. Wonder what that would be after taxes. Sage was $25 before taxes and about $49 after taxes, so, I'm back to the landline prices. More I learned - AT&T also has a $31+tax monthly service, but they waive installation charges of $38.35 for that, and it takes 5 business days to turn on that service. Of course, I could switch down to the $11+tax monthly service once the $31 monthly service was activated but they did not mention if there would be a service charge to CHANGE SERVICE.
So, the jury's still out.
VOIP - dunno
LandLine - dunno
Me - SOL
Friday, August 10, 2007
Customer Dis-Service, Tech follow-up
Well, more searching on the Internet, and supposedly the 'problem' with the receiver 'seeing' the satellites is that the switch is a 'Pro' version and the receiver cannot work with 'Pro' equipment. One problem I have with this analyis is that I have another receiver which is the same model and it is able to receive a signal connecting to the same cable.
Oh well, more troubleshooting to come...
Oh well, more troubleshooting to come...
Monday, July 30, 2007
Customer Dis-Service
Well, I had the distinct pleasure of calling for tech support today. There was an older Dish Network receiver at the church that was gathering dust and the channels we wanted to see were finally back on the air, I thought I'd make another run at the receiver. After hooking it all up, the 'pointing dish' screen showed signal strength 0. After more troubleshooting, I also discovered that the Check Switch/View Switch screen showed no satellites or transponders.
Ah, a quick call to Dish Network. Well, they knew less than I did, and went through the process of walking me through the screen to point the dish. After a set of tests, the script directed them to either send a technician or to activate the receiver as an additional receiver on my personal account (NOT). She also stated that the receiver was deactivated and that the card was not the one for the receiver. She suggested I call the third satellite provider who originally activated the receiver. FWIW, the card, if it is not the correct one for the receiver, would show a screen that says that the card is invalid. So, reality is what one perceives. She sees what her system says, I see what the receiver says. We're likely both correct because she probably sees the card number that was likely sent out as a replacement.
Calling the original satellite company was no help either, because they could not activate the receiver (lifetime subscription) while the software was out of date (and the receiver is unable to see the satellites due to some issue I'm still working through).
Guess I'm going to have to drag out the spare dish and set it up on the driveway to check out this receiver.
Ah, a quick call to Dish Network. Well, they knew less than I did, and went through the process of walking me through the screen to point the dish. After a set of tests, the script directed them to either send a technician or to activate the receiver as an additional receiver on my personal account (NOT). She also stated that the receiver was deactivated and that the card was not the one for the receiver. She suggested I call the third satellite provider who originally activated the receiver. FWIW, the card, if it is not the correct one for the receiver, would show a screen that says that the card is invalid. So, reality is what one perceives. She sees what her system says, I see what the receiver says. We're likely both correct because she probably sees the card number that was likely sent out as a replacement.
Calling the original satellite company was no help either, because they could not activate the receiver (lifetime subscription) while the software was out of date (and the receiver is unable to see the satellites due to some issue I'm still working through).
Guess I'm going to have to drag out the spare dish and set it up on the driveway to check out this receiver.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Identity Thefts whilst having pancakes
Okay, this is old news http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15941448/, but why not?
If these folks were serious, they should have thought about offering free valet parking instead. I mean, why not? In exchange, you have the car of your customer and they can't make off without paying the bill, eh? Yeah, the customer could sue you if their house got broken into if the house keys were included with the keys handed over, but, to any marketing saavy person, you could even offer discounted pancakes in exchange for free valet parking. I mean, take a look at the items that are not moving - the unpopular items on your menu, and discount those. You'll get to keep your loyal customers, and for those who want to make off without paying the bill, they'll have to come back for their keys.
Heh, heh!
If these folks were serious, they should have thought about offering free valet parking instead. I mean, why not? In exchange, you have the car of your customer and they can't make off without paying the bill, eh? Yeah, the customer could sue you if their house got broken into if the house keys were included with the keys handed over, but, to any marketing saavy person, you could even offer discounted pancakes in exchange for free valet parking. I mean, take a look at the items that are not moving - the unpopular items on your menu, and discount those. You'll get to keep your loyal customers, and for those who want to make off without paying the bill, they'll have to come back for their keys.
Heh, heh!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)