Tech Support/Customer Care Having a Laugh (again)

Uncle Peter · 30-06-2008, 18:56

Fell victim to the outage in the Warrington/Stoke area early today so I gave TS a ring just after everything went pear shaped to report the potential fault or at least check if an area fault had been reported. This was around 6PM

Got through to chap, usual questions:

sync light - check,
ready light - check,
can you access the VM homepage? No, that's why I am ringing and in any case your own service status message states that some users may have difficulty accessing it.

The guy seemed to be baffled at this point as to why I was unable to browse any website, check mail etc at which point I was told that my internet wasn't working because I hadn't paid my bill. Heated conversation with customer care followed at which point the drone conceded that my bill had indeed been paid in full as it always is. I just gave up in the end as I'm running out of brick walls to bash my head against.

30-06-2008, 19:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter

Fell victim to the outage in the Warrington/Stoke area early today so I gave TS a ring just after everything went pear shaped to report the potential fault or at least check if an area fault had been reported. This was around 6PM

Got through to chap, usual questions:

sync light - check,
ready light - check,
can you access the VM homepage? No, that's why I am ringing and in any case your own service status message states that some users may have difficulty accessing it.

The guy seemed to be baffled at this point as to why I was unable to browse any website, check mail etc at which point I was told that my internet wasn't working because I hadn't paid my bill. Heated conversation with customer care followed at which point the drone conceded that my bill had indeed been paid in full as it always is. I just gave up in the end as I'm running out of brick walls to bash my head against.

I am sorry you come across an agent like that, we are not all like that!

Before mentioning anything about your bill I do hope he asked some personal verification questions to ensure that he was actually talking to the Account Holder, otherwise that was a breach of DPA.

WHISTLED · 30-06-2008, 19:37

Quote:

Before mentioning anything about your bill I do hope he asked some personal verification questions to ensure that he was actually talking to the Account Holder, otherwise that was a breach of DPA.

Whats that got to do with anything? Why even bring that up?

30-06-2008, 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by WHISTLED

Whats that got to do with anything? Why even bring that up?

Because bringing up the issue of a possible unpaid bill has nothing to do with any troubleshooting that should have been taking place.

Because the Tech told that the OP had not paid his bill, he cannot mention anything like that without first clearing DPA with the OP.

If the is a problem with a bill it is best to transfer the caller to the relevant department and not to get involved with account details.

It seems more likely the Tech was clutching at straws by saying the bill was unpaid, and we know from the OP that his bil was paid up to date.

moaningmags · 30-06-2008, 21:46

Besides all of this the tech should have known about email, webspace, and virginmedia homepage problems tonight.

Welshchris · 30-06-2008, 22:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by whydoIneedatech

Because bringing up the issue of a possible unpaid bill has nothing to do with any troubleshooting that should have been taking place.

Because the Tech told that the OP had not paid his bill, he cannot mention anything like that without first clearing DPA with the OP.

If the is a problem with a bill it is best to transfer the caller to the relevant department and not to get involved with account details.

It seems more likely the Tech was clutching at straws by saying the bill was unpaid, and we know from the OP that his bil was paid up to date.

a member of ur chief execs office used to ring here all the time and chat to my partner when i was the account holder and out of all the times he range cos my problem went on from Nov 2007 - March 2008 he rang atleast 10+ times only once he ever asked for account details.

r00t · 30-06-2008, 22:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welshchris

a member of ur chief execs office used to ring here all the time and chat to my partner when i was the account holder and out of all the times he range cos my problem went on from Nov 2007 - March 2008 he rang atleast 10+ times only once he ever asked for account details.

Means nothing Chris.

One rule for one and one rule for another. Thats VM

30-06-2008, 22:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welshchris

a member of ur chief execs office used to ring here all the time and chat to my partner when i was the account holder and out of all the times he range cos my problem went on from Nov 2007 - March 2008 he rang atleast 10+ times only once he ever asked for account details.

Well he did ask once and probably felt that was enough

Uncle Peter · 30-06-2008, 22:46

This is the third time I have called to report or enquire about a potential area fault and basically been fobbed off. While it's probably not the agent's fault that he/she has not been aware of any potential area wide issues it is not right to assume there's a problem with the customer's account or equipment. Last time I called about this type of problem I was told that I'd require an engineer visit: the actual problem was CMTS side and affecting a whole area.

Tonight's problem actually came up on the system status phone messages 5 minutes before it was fixed, I make that nearly 2 hours after the problem occured. If there was an effective communication and referral mechanism between tech support and the network operations people it would save both VM and customers a lot of wasted time.

webcrawler2050 · 30-06-2008, 23:53

Just get used to it. VM are going down the pan, they are just back to their old NTL ways (pants) but with a "better" name.

01-07-2008, 05:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter

This is the third time I have called to report or enquire about a potential area fault and basically been fobbed off. While it's probably not the agent's fault that he/she has not been aware of any potential area wide issues it is not right to assume there's a problem with the customer's account or equipment. Last time I called about this type of problem I was told that I'd require an engineer visit: the actual problem was CMTS side and affecting a whole area.

Tonight's problem actually came up on the system status phone messages 5 minutes before it was fixed, I make that nearly 2 hours after the problem occured. If there was an effective communication and referral mechanism between tech support and the network operations people it would save both VM and customers a lot of wasted time.

The tools we have at our disposal and our experience should stop the likes of your experience happening.

Was your Tech a UK based one or do you think he was based Offshore.

handyman · 01-07-2008, 08:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by whydoIneedatech

I am sorry you come across an agent like that, we are not all like that!

Before mentioning anything about your bill I do hope he asked some personal verification questions to ensure that he was actually talking to the Account Holder, otherwise that was a breach of DPA.

Do you actually know what the dpa covers? Providing tech support does not fall foul of that. You only need to cover dpa if you are making changes to the account.

If some one called up and said their modem was not working and you helped them reinstall their drivers etc then you are not giving confidential account information over the phone.

I wish some people would not spout out rubbish some times. What your describing is Virgins methods of tech support that have zero to do with dpa and at times zero to do with helping the customer.

http://www.aimhigher.ac.uk/practitio...fact_sheet.pdf

As for the numpty techies, trust me I worked there for 3 years and there are plenty. No doubt many more now that most of the tech support is based in a country that does not have cable broadband.

ceedee · 01-07-2008, 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by handyman

Do you actually know what the dpa covers? Providing tech support does not fall foul of that. You only need to cover dpa if you are making changes to the account.

Your post suggests that you haven't bothered reading the thread AND you haven't a clue what the DPA is about!

Uncle Peter · 01-07-2008, 10:49

To clear things up: I spoke to the offshore team and yes the customer care rep did ask the relevant security questions. Not sure what this has to do with tech support's inability to accept that a customer's problem may actually be due to an unreported area fault.

kstone · 01-07-2008, 11:43

20Meg, V+ , phoneline 55+ quid a month.

Tech Support with VM... Priceless

Mines been down and flakey for about a Month.
I have been told it is....

My Modems broken
My Set top box is too hot
My Set top Box has crashed and needs restarting
Theres Local outage in the area
Bad Cable inside my House
Bad cable outside my house
Rolling out new software

I even had one guys say to me 'I'm just downloading new software to your box and getting a drink of water'

He then hung up.

Beyond Clueless...