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Where did the customer service go?! Re: Home Internet

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  • Jul 22nd, 2014 1:15 am
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Newbie
May 22, 2010
22 posts
Saskatoon

Where did the customer service go?! Re: Home Internet

I moved to Ontario late June, and have been trying really, really hard to get Internet. First of all I noticed that no one offers students deals here!

Anyways, after much discussion, I go with Start for my apartment Internet. They told me they only work Monday to Saturday 8 - 5 PM, so only Saturday would work for me because I'm at work / university the whole day. They mess up my appointment for the first Saturday and call me to tell me it's on Thursday. Then when I call them back they were rude about it and told me I'd have to wait another 2 weeks because that Saturday is now all booked. That Saturday finally comes and the tech ( from Cogeco) comes while I'm in the washroom for a minute. Buzzes once to my phone, I run down and he's vanished. Now after hours of being on on the phone with them to see if there's anything they can do, I've been told it's my fault and they are no way responsible to help me out and will routinely book another one for me, like in another 2 WEEKS!

I ended up calling bell, didn't initially because I prefer to have cable. Told the lady my story and she said she can get someone Tuesday evening!

Cancelled start.ca 's order. Now they want me to mail them back the modem at my own cost. This was never mentioned to me before and I'd been thinking I'm just gonna drop it off when I cancel. I'm so angry at their service that even if mailing is cheap it's the last thing I want to do.

Wonder how companies function with such poor customer service.

Thoughts?
4 replies
Deal Addict
User avatar
Aug 17, 2005
1518 posts
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Plasma. wrote: I moved to Ontario late June, and have been trying really, really hard to get Internet. First of all I noticed that no one offers students deals here!

Anyways, after much discussion, I go with Start for my apartment Internet. They told me they only work Monday to Saturday 8 - 5 PM, so only Saturday would work for me because I'm at work / university the whole day. They mess up my appointment for the first Saturday and call me to tell me it's on Thursday. Then when I call them back they were rude about it and told me I'd have to wait another 2 weeks because that Saturday is now all booked. That Saturday finally comes and the tech ( from Cogeco) comes while I'm in the washroom for a minute. Buzzes once to my phone, I run down and he's vanished. Now after hours of being on on the phone with them to see if there's anything they can do, I've been told it's my fault and they are no way responsible to help me out and will routinely book another one for me, like in another 2 WEEKS!

I ended up calling bell, didn't initially because I prefer to have cable. Told the lady my story and she said she can get someone Tuesday evening!

Cancelled start.ca 's order. Now they want me to mail them back the modem at my own cost. This was never mentioned to me before and I'd been thinking I'm just gonna drop it off when I cancel. I'm so angry at their service that even if mailing is cheap it's the last thing I want to do.

Wonder how companies function with such poor customer service.

Thoughts?


The big question is, did you read what other customer saying about that ISP before you sign up with them, anyhow nowadays there is a slim chance to find a company with a good customer services it's all about money

oh well here is a very good website to read about all ISP in Canada and what the Customer are saying about them

http://www.canadianisp.ca/
Deal Expert
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Jul 22, 2006
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Moved to China, India and whatnot
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Dec 3, 2009
6029 posts
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Toronto
It's a good gig working in customer service or retail if you can get away without working evenings or Sundays this day in age.

Tough service window for you.
Deal Addict
Jan 20, 2007
1024 posts
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GTA
I've been with Rogers, Bell, and Cogeco previously (the infrastructure / 'last mile' providers)... also Sentex (kw/guelph region a *loong* time ago), Teksavvy (GTA), and Start.ca (Halton region) -- the TPIA's...

Typically the TPIA's had orders of magnitude better support than the main infrastructure providers..
(I think the Acanac/Distributel group would be one of the exceptions...)

But things like installations are tricky because they typically have to contract out third-party installers (which tend to be the bell/rogers/cogeco installers), and *they* don't make it easy for the TPIA's at all, to make it inconvenient for the customer and make the TPIA's look bad. If you comment/complain to those installers, they'll usually respond back with, "Well, you should have stayed with Bell/Rogers/Cogeco then!"

Not trying to defend what happened to you, but I've seen this first-hand, and I previously worked for an internet provider (a looooong time ago), and know how this game is played...

Once past installations, I've had zero issues with teksavvy when I was with them, and start.ca in the last 3-4 years. Their tech support has been top notch, and actually helpful. None of this, "uh, if you're not running windows and/or the hardware we sell, you're on your own" crap.

You should check out the ISP reviews on dslreports.com (search for teksavvy and start communications on that page). It's quite possible that your poor experience was actually sabatage and/or out of the hands of start.ca... (or it could have been a random bad case) I defintely don't think it was the norm however...

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