Spark Simply Sucks

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Inphinity

2780 posts

Uber Geek

#1416100 29-Oct-2015 13:22

Wheelbarrow01:
kingjj: // Rant Start
('upgrade' is often used in the place of 'fault' to sound good), email issues happen to the best ISP's from time to time (often for days on end affecting the majority of their customer base....).

// Rant Over

I can confirm that there is a major upgrade underway. Spark is progressively moving away from our traditional product ordering and customer management system (ICMS - a DOS based system which we have used since 1987) and migrating to a flash new Seibel based customer management product.

This migration for all our fibre customers started on 19/10. All fibre orders started prior to this date are progressively being manually migrated over to the new system. All fibre orders commenced after 19/10 are in the new system from the outset.

The new system has been designed to send automated emails to our customers at various milestones on the order journey, but some of these notifications are having teething issues and therefore in some instances, order confirmation emails have not been sent, or are at least quite delayed. This issue is being investigated with urgency so that a fix can be implemented.

The transition to the new customer management and product ordering system is a monumental piece of work - unprecidented in Spark's history. It represents a huge step-change in the way Spark processes new connections and manages our existing customers. Implementation of the new system has literally taken years and hundreds of thousands of man-hours to get to this point. I do understand the OP's frustration, and hope that their fibre connection journey going forward is more positive.

Ah, interesting. Having recently had a pretty frustrating experience with Spark around fibre products, I now wonder whether this change may have played a part, rather than my previous assumption of mistakes and misunderstandings.

gathixpower

39 posts

Geek

#1416123 29-Oct-2015 13:57

Definitely played a part, we've ordered a fibre plan upgrade over a week ago and received our new modem a week later with the plan still stuck at 30/10. The text message we received yesterday regarding the status also made very little sense.

"FM Spark. Order sent to LFC, no etr as yet. FM (not going to mention the rep's name). THKS"

Does that mean the order has only 'just' been sent to our local fibre company at the time of the txt, or does it mean the order is still in the stage where it was merely sent to the LFC.

I do hope the email updates are a little more comprehensive and less ambiguous.

Wheelbarrow01

1723 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Chorus

#1416161 29-Oct-2015 14:45

gathixpower: Definitely played a part, we've ordered a fibre plan upgrade over a week ago and received our new modem a week later with the plan still stuck at 30/10. The text message we received yesterday regarding the status also made very little sense.

"FM Spark. Order sent to LFC, no etr as yet. FM (not going to mention the rep's name). THKS"

Does that mean the order has only 'just' been sent to our local fibre company at the time of the txt, or does it mean the order is still in the stage where it was merely sent to the LFC.

I do hope the email updates are a little more comprehensive and less ambiguous.

I am very concerned that the message you have received was not meant for you at all. That is definitely not the language we use when communicating updates to our customers. Can you please PM me with your account number and/or order number if you have it, and I will try to get an update for you, whilst also investigating where that text message originated from.

Many thanks,
Simon

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

surfisup1000

5288 posts

Uber Geek

#1416164 29-Oct-2015 14:48

Wheelbarrow01:
gathixpower: Definitely played a part, we've ordered a fibre plan upgrade over a week ago and received our new modem a week later with the plan still stuck at 30/10. The text message we received yesterday regarding the status also made very little sense.

"FM Spark. Order sent to LFC, no etr as yet. FM (not going to mention the rep's name). THKS"

Does that mean the order has only 'just' been sent to our local fibre company at the time of the txt, or does it mean the order is still in the stage where it was merely sent to the LFC.

I do hope the email updates are a little more comprehensive and less ambiguous.

I am very concerned that the message you have received was not meant for you at all. That is definitely not the language we use when communicating updates to our customers. Can you please PM me with your account number and/or order number if you have it, and I will try to get an update for you, whilst also investigating where that text message originated from.

Many thanks,
Simon

Perhaps siebel was not the best choice of technologies :)

gathixpower

39 posts

Geek

#1416183 29-Oct-2015 15:24

I am very concerned that the message you have received was not meant for you at all. That is definitely not the language we use when communicating updates to our customers. Can you please PM me with your account number and/or order number if you have it, and I will try to get an update for you, whilst also investigating where that text message originated from.

Thanks Simon, I just PMed you with the details.

kingjj

1728 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1416226 29-Oct-2015 16:32

Wheelbarrow01:
kingjj: // Rant Start
('upgrade' is often used in the place of 'fault' to sound good), email issues happen to the best ISP's from time to time (often for days on end affecting the majority of their customer base....).

// Rant Over

I can confirm that there is a major upgrade underway. Spark is progressively moving away from our traditional product ordering and customer management system (ICMS - a DOS based system which we have used since 1987) and migrating to a flash new Seibel based customer management product.

This migration for all our fibre customers started on 19/10. All fibre orders started prior to this date are progressively being manually migrated over to the new system. All fibre orders commenced after 19/10 are in the new system from the outset.

The new system has been designed to send automated emails to our customers at various milestones on the order journey, but some of these notifications are having teething issues and therefore in some instances, order confirmation emails have not been sent, or are at least quite delayed. This issue is being investigated with urgency so that a fix can be implemented.

The transition to the new customer management and product ordering system is a monumental piece of work - unprecidented in Spark's history. It represents a huge step-change in the way Spark processes new connections and manages our existing customers. Implementation of the new system has literally taken years and hundreds of thousands of man-hours to get to this point. I do understand the OP's frustration, and hope that their fibre connection journey going forward is more positive.

Nice one Wheelbarrow01! It's great to see a provider posting such a detailed message. I should have phrased my statement better (I was rather grumpy from an early start).

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18659 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1416242 29-Oct-2015 16:58

Wheelbarrow01:
kingjj: // Rant Start
('upgrade' is often used in the place of 'fault' to sound good), email issues happen to the best ISP's from time to time (often for days on end affecting the majority of their customer base....).

// Rant Over

I can confirm that there is a major upgrade underway. Spark is progressively moving away from our traditional product ordering and customer management system (ICMS - a DOS based system which we have used since 1987) and migrating to a flash new Seibel based customer management product.

This migration for all our fibre customers started on 19/10. All fibre orders started prior to this date are progressively being manually migrated over to the new system. All fibre orders commenced after 19/10 are in the new system from the outset.

The new system has been designed to send automated emails to our customers at various milestones on the order journey, but some of these notifications are having teething issues and therefore in some instances, order confirmation emails have not been sent, or are at least quite delayed. This issue is being investigated with urgency so that a fix can be implemented.

The transition to the new customer management and product ordering system is a monumental piece of work - unprecidented in Spark's history. It represents a huge step-change in the way Spark processes new connections and manages our existing customers. Implementation of the new system has literally taken years and hundreds of thousands of man-hours to get to this point. I do understand the OP's frustration, and hope that their fibre connection journey going forward is more positive.

All well and good but then why can't you just tell people that from the beginning? Isn't Spark in the business of communication? So communicate. Issue a directive to every branch and tributary that if anyone gets in touch, from any point, in any capacity, for any reason, the first thing to tell them is that this upgrade is underway and if they experience any glitches at all, this might possibly have something to do with it. In my experience inadequate communion is the biggest complaint people have about corporate entities.

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