Incompetent staff at Orcon cancelled service unexpectedly

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Incompetent staff at Orcon cancelled service unexpectedly

badbadmonkey

28 posts

Geek

#189096 16-Dec-2015 19:39

I have decided to switch to Voyager, and boy am I going to be glad once shifted.

I gave Orcon their required 30 days notice yesterday, and confirmed very clearly that service would be cancelled on 14 Jan. We even discussed the time of day. To be very clear, there was no ambiguity in this and zero room for misunderstanding.

This evening, internet goes down, and a call to the Philippines confirms that yes sir your internet has been cancelled!

How long to sort? "24-48 hrs", or when our provisioning team gets around to it. In the meantime what's your mobile, and don't call us we'll call you.

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6434 posts

Uber Geek

#1451866 16-Dec-2015 20:02

did you get a confirmation in writing?

For things like this, I would never rely on the vagueries of a phone call - no matter how clear you think you have been, there is ALWAYS room for interpretation.

With an email, there is nothing open to interpretation.

also, it's been mentioned on here many times, but the right way to switch ISPs is like this

1) do NOT contact your current ISP yet.
2) contact your new ISP and place an order for when you want the broadband swtiched e.g. 20th Jan
3) your new ISP will get back to you within a day or two to confirm the date is locked in with Chorus. At this point, your new ISP will have an 'open service order' on your line, which means your curent ISP CANNOT place a disconnection by accident.
4) it is now safe to contact your current ISP via email, tell them that you are moving ISPs on the 20th Jan, and that you have already arranged for the switch with chorus, and they should consider this email your notice.

yitz

2082 posts

Uber Geek

#1451884 16-Dec-2015 20:41

^ That doesn't really stop them cancelling your account on their systems and dropping/rejecting PPP authentication leaving you with no internet access, which I suspect is the case here.

badbadmonkey

28 posts

Geek

#1451891 16-Dec-2015 21:01

Thanks Mantis for the comments. I actually proceeded on the basis of Voyager's advice on the phone. Anyway it doesn't absolve Orcon. There were no vagaries, specific dates were discussed and obviously I have to give 30 days notice by their own policy, why would it be disconnected immediately in any such scenario...

As yitz suggests. Modem is connecting to vdsl, the PPP account is what is failing to connect.

Mostly I am pissed with their pathetic response. They just f*ed up completely and disconnected a customer's [prepaid $95] service, and there is no rush or priority to fix at all. The tits should be offering to fund my mobile data until reconnected!

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#1451892 16-Dec-2015 21:03

yitz: ^ That doesn't really stop them cancelling your account on their systems and dropping/rejecting PPP authentication leaving you with no internet access, which I suspect is the case here.

That's true. But if that is what happened here then to get the op turned back on should take minutes, not 24-48 hours

badbadmonkey

28 posts

Geek

#1451894 16-Dec-2015 21:06

In the meantime I am consoling myself with the happy future memories of making sure nobody I know ever joins them!

Worse than Slingshot...

Just moved mother's UFB connection over from Orcon to 2D. Thank god.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1451919 16-Dec-2015 21:27

Moving ISPs is always a hassle. The hundreds of very similar threads on here are proof of that due to the way the processes work.

First off. The simple reality is you should *never* ever lodge a disconnection from an ISP before moving to a new one. This will be mentioned in most of those many hundreds of threads. The main reason for this is a S/O can't be lodged for a new connection while you have a disconnect in place, so it can never be a seamless transfer. You should always lodge a new connection first.

Yes many providers have a 30 day disconnection policy and you're paying twice but that's just one of the many things in life that sucks.

badbadmonkey

28 posts

Geek

#1451972 17-Dec-2015 00:19

I appreciate that but actually we're not talking about the transition itself being screwed up resulting in down time. The move to Voyager itself has nothing to do with this. What's happened is Orcon have just disconnected me 30 days before they were supposed to, period.

And were subsequently totally unhelpful in addressing the problem.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

badbadmonkey

28 posts

Geek

#1455611 22-Dec-2015 19:50

Internet is finally back up. It was down for 5 days.

I placed several calls to Orcon. The first is as reported above. Predictably the 24-48 hrs thing was rubbish, never mind the fact that I believe it was just the PPP account that was deactivated and could easily have been restored.

Voyager in the meantime reported that Orcon had placed a cancel request on the line with Chorus, scheduled for the 20th Dec (this was on the 18th, and it was preventing Voyager from doing anything)! This rather confirms the above. The line itself hadn't actually been cancelled so what Orcon's problem was in throwing the switch back on is beyond me.

The second call was to berate Orcon into removing this Chorus request so that Voyager could proceed. I have asked Voyager to bring up the transition to ASAP, and will tell Orcon where to go as far as their 30 days is concerned - since they breached their own service contract!

Nebbie

458 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#1455827 23-Dec-2015 09:38

badbadmonkey:
Voyager in the meantime reported that Orcon had placed a cancel request on the line with Chorus, scheduled for the 20th Dec (this was on the 18th, and it was preventing Voyager from doing anything!)

I've seen this many times not just with Orcon, Never cancel your old internet connection before moving to a new ISP the Open Service Order will stop them taking over your connection.
Good you got your internet up, 1 hour of no internet for me and the world is going to end....

---------------------------------------------------------------
Nebukadnessar

sbiddle

30853 posts

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Retired Mod

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1455830 23-Dec-2015 09:43

badbadmonkey:
Voyager in the meantime reported that Orcon had placed a cancel request on the line with Chorus, scheduled for the 20th Dec (this was on the 18th, and it was preventing Voyager from doing anything)! This rather confirms the above. The line itself hadn't actually been cancelled so what Orcon's problem was in throwing the switch back on is beyond me.

This is the reason why you should never contact your losing ISP before you lodge your new connection with the new one. Even if Orcon had lodged your disconnection for a month away your new ISP would not have been able to lodge a new connection until the disconnection service order had been actioned which would have resulted in downtime between providers.

badbadmonkey

28 posts

Geek

#1456226 23-Dec-2015 18:54

Yeah I get that guys and that was a mistake, but it's still a red herring. I don't want Orcon excused from their cock up.

I might have just been cancelling the connection for good, e.g. leaving the country - what happened is the morons terminated it immediately rather than the date instructed and agreed upon. Then, totally screwed up their response/fix.

The good news is I am now with Voyager.

toejam316

1466 posts

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Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1456233 23-Dec-2015 19:16

sbiddle: Moving ISPs is always a hassle. The hundreds of very similar threads on here are proof of that due to the way the processes work.

First off. The simple reality is you should *never* ever lodge a disconnection from an ISP before moving to a new one. This will be mentioned in most of those many hundreds of threads. The main reason for this is a S/O can't be lodged for a new connection while you have a disconnect in place, so it can never be a seamless transfer. You should always lodge a new connection first.

Yes many providers have a 30 day disconnection policy and you're paying twice but that's just one of the many things in life that sucks.

Depends on how you go about it - when I do it, I call up the billing department and say something along the lines of "Hello, this is notice that as of this date I have informed you that another RSP will be taking over my account. No action is required at this time, please note this on my account, but make no other changes." - it's usually worked out for me, with the only hiccup being Orcon immediately lighting up my connection and billing me on the completion of installation of my UFB services after we discussed on the phone that, no, the services will need to be lit up in 2 weeks at the end of my existing contract period. Luckily I only paid 2 weeks of crossover, instead of an extra month's service.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

dqq

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1458274 28-Dec-2015 21:44

The billing department are quite onto it.
When dealing with account issues I would recommend asking for someone from billing team
if you have to go through the usual help desk line.

badbadmonkey

28 posts

Geek

#1459037 30-Dec-2015 13:54

You must be having a laugh mate.

I am now connected with Voyager, and to be clear I had paid Orcon up until the switchover. I have no term obligations etc. I owe them nothing. Zero. Here is their last bill to me.

I know one shouldn't assume malice where incompetence is sufficient to explain it, but I wonder if they're not just taking the piss now.

Otherwise I rather object to the mod's removal of my comment in my OP...

dqq

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1459048 30-Dec-2015 14:16

It's generally an automated system, they usually don't know there is a problem until after the billing and you let them know. Happened to me and was fixed with a phone call.
Letting them know in advance that there will likely be a billing cockup usually doesn't get anything sorted either.

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