CJ Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 As some of you may know, I run a printing company with 9 outlets. Recently we have been experiencing problems with our email and internet access and this has culminated in my busiest location being down sice Friday evening. I spoke to the ISP today and they say that as they are a reseller for BT, they are in the hands of them. Apparently, BT say that they will get it fixed within 5 working days. WTF - 5 working days!!! If it not fixed by Monday, my ISP will then push the account manager to get things done. So no guarantee that it will be fixed anytime soon then. For all you IT people out there, I am sure this is normal practice but for someone like me whose business revolves around service and customer satisfaction, it stinks! OK, rant over - other than to say if anyone is interested in providing a better service than the crock of shit we are currently with, please PM me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Walker Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 BT and customer service, not normally something that goes together. When we moved (500 yards down the road) it took them 2 weeks to transfer the lines, ADSL etc etc when I first spoke to them they said same day. I had to phone them 40 times during the time to resolve the problems. Gaz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveRex Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Try getting dedicated leased lines with guaranteed up time I don't think I can rememeber a time when our service has been down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeordieSteve Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 BT are a disgrace (sorry Tom). Had nothing but trouble with them. For such a mission critical service they should have some kind of alternative service in time of melt down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopite Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 hope it's all sorted soon col Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnK Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Do you not have a service level contract seeing as its business use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted August 25, 2005 Author Share Posted August 25, 2005 Do you not have a service level contract seeing as its business use? Our contract is with a compnay called Via Networks (or maybe Clara) and no, we dont have an SLA with them (much to my chagrin) and they in turn, dont have one with BT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted August 25, 2005 Author Share Posted August 25, 2005 Try getting dedicated leased lines with guaranteed up time I don't think I can rememeber a time when our service has been down Who is your ISP Dave? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sakura Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 I use Zen for my work ISP - they have been absolutely reliable with no down time at all in more than two years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted August 25, 2005 Author Share Posted August 25, 2005 I use Zen for my work ISP - they have been absolutely reliable with no down time at all in more than two years. I can certainly feel a change coming on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 BT cut my internet service for 'non payment' even though I was paying by Direct Debit and they had collected the money on the usual date. It took 22 days before my service was reconnected. I rang them every day but each time I would be put through to a different (but also indifferent) person and have to tell the whole bloody story over again. When they finally accepted that it was their mistake I was finally connected and offered a massive £25 compensation, which I told them to shove up their arse and moved to another provider ASAFP. BT, never again :shudder: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 I keep getting BT phoning me asking me if I want broadband at work. I'm getting real pissed off with telling them that I've had it for the last 3 years - and it's with BT! Talking about bad customer service - we're a Gold Customer 'cos I've installed 3 x ISDN30 circuits and 2M Broadband at Head Office and have another 15 sites country-wide each with ADSL or ISDN as well as extra lines. Despite this, BT will STILL only guarantee a fix within 4 working days. (They also have no plans to install SDSL in our area, so I've now installed a 2m leased line from Clara as well.) They offered an upgrade to Platinum for an extra exorbitant amount per year. I asked them what benefits it gave - "we'll also cover Bank Holidays as working days." WTF use is that to a business that's closed over Bank Holidays??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shovels Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 If your ADSL line is critical you need some kind of redundancy... You might want to look at getting a 2nd ADSL line installed and on the new line going through a different ISP. Sign up on a very low usuage package like Eclipse for instance, they do a £14.99 per month 1GB allowance. In the instance of the main line dropping out you can then switch very easily to the other ISP by changing sockets or you can get ADSL modems that can accept 2 ADSL lines simultaniously. PITA either way. Lots of ISP's have outages and unfortunately sometimes these can be in the backbone, so can effect lots of ISP's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith C Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Still all of limited benefit. BT do not offer SLA's on their standard ADSL lines, and as such you have little redress past getting a refund for the days you were (in retrospect) for downtime if the line goes down. Also, getting different ISP's to provide connectivity only protects you against a fault with the ISP, NOT against a general ADSL problem in the area. ADSL isn't intended for critical use, and BT know this, and want you to buy (far more expensive) leased lines from them instead. However, what I would recommend is getting backup ISDN lines installed. By that, I mean 'proper' ISDN, and not home highway, as I am pretty certain that ISDN can be covered by business-class SLA's. Of course, you pay for that, and that might grate when it's for something that you're not even using, but then I guess it depends just how important your site-to-site connectivity is. In addition, with the ISDN backup approach, if you get a decent ADSL router which can also do an ISDN connection in the event of failure (some of the Draytek models do), then it will auto-connect in the event of failure. Combine this with some site-to-site VPNs (again, the Drayteks do this) and other than the fact it will get a bit slower to transfer files between sites, you shouldn't even notice a drop in connectivity. Clara would have been powerless, as BT would have been giving them the foboff too. Something can always be done, it's just a question of how much you want to spend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Unfortuanely all ISP's are steaming piles of poo when it comes to cutomer service. dealing with the everyday is incredibly stressful and have been known to "go off on one" several times at them. hope you get it sorted soon buddy, but dont hold your breath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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