When is 24/7 not 24/7 ? When it is spark 24/7 tech support

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › When is 24/7 not 24/7 ? When it is spark 24/7 tech support

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#2066688 2-Aug-2018 08:21

hio77:

I'll simply respond on the 24/7 thing here.

That link seems to be only booking callbacks to business hub, this is why it's limited to 5pm at the latest.

This is a change that i haven't been across so i'll have to Check in as to why it says faults but directs to business hubs.

Our onshore, premium care center do finish up at 6pm However, our at home agents are on till 10pm.

they are back online from 6am. In the week hours between there, there is a specially trained team that offers the rest of the 24/7.

You may need to call directly into 126 to hit the team.

https://www.spark.co.nz/contactus/callback/ will allow you to book a faults callback still, be it residential offload.

There is smart routing that tries to push business customers to business queues regardless etc..

As mentioned in the other thread, If you have a genuine complaint, feel free to log it on our site https://store.spark.co.nz/forms/s/complaints - The support any spark affiliated person here provides is off their own back on their personal time, Please remember this.

> this is why it's limited to 5pm at the latest.

I appreciate the response. however:

I have an answer phone that accepts calls 24/7 and i then clear it during business hours.

I have email that accepts emails 24/7 but I clear them inside business hours.

I have an SMS capable phone that receives txts 24/7 .and I clear them during business hours.

I DO NOT have the audacity to advertise that constitutes 24/7 technical support. If I did I would fully expect to be harrassed, hassled and probably prosecuted for false claims and advertising.

Nil Einne

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#2067701 3-Aug-2018 19:24

But the difference is that as I understand it, Spark does offer 24/7 technical support. It's not available through all the various means they offer support, but it is available for customers who qualify. It sounds like it's possible a mistake was made so it was slightly confusing how to get the support on one part of their website, but the support was still there.

If you told me you offer 24/7 support. But then it turns out I couldn't SMS you, email you, or call your answer phone since you only checked those during business hours. Instead I had to call your special after hours number if I needed support at certain times and you made this clear when asked for details on the 24/7 support, you shouldn't "expect to be harrassed, hassled and probably prosecuted for false claims and advertising" since you did provide 24/7 support.

BTW about the 6pm thing you keep mentioning. It's impossible to know what happened there since you provide too little details and frankly I'm not that interested to find out. Assuming the line was really closed when it's supposed to stay until 8pm, I'm assuming that something went wrong. While it's a major pain from a customer POV, if it doesn't happen that often I think most people accept that crap happens, especially for home users. As I understand it, business customers still had access to their 24/7 support regardless so it seems a moot point anyway, you likely could have taken advantage of that.

If Spark's website and/or phone system was flawed so you couldn't work out how to access the 24/7 support I agree that's their fault and you're entitled to be aggregrieved. But it's a seperate issue from whether the support was available and so far I've seen no evidence it wasn't.

From some of your earlier posts, perhaps a seperate issue is you were calling on behalf of a customer rather than being a Spark business customer yourself. I'm not an expert but it seems resonable to me that anyone acting on behalf of the business needing the support, and with their permission, should have access to the support unless it was made clear that only certain people have access. However it's not clear to me, if you couldn't get access or if it was just confusion over how you access their support.

tdgeek

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#2067715 3-Aug-2018 19:41

nunz:

gehenna:

nunz:

Click the get started link. goes to business hub which has 25/7 tech support

Well they have the ability to schedule a business hours support call, which you can use 24/7 to arrange. That's pretty clear on the site.

Either you cant read english - or you are tolling. Which is it?

No he isn't tolling. Thats limited to a few bridges.

If Spark offers 25/7 support, thats innovative.

Ive been here a while, that @gehenna guy, and you. A bit different I'm sorry to say.

nunz

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#2069563 7-Aug-2018 21:56

Nil Einne:

But the difference is that as I understand it, Spark does offer 24/7 technical support. It's not available through all the various means they offer support, but it is available for customers who qualify. It sounds like it's possible a mistake was made so it was slightly confusing how to get the support on one part of their website, but the support was still there.

If you told me you offer 24/7 support. But then it turns out I couldn't SMS you, email you, or call your answer phone since you only checked those during business hours. Instead I had to call your special after hours number if I needed support at certain times and you made this clear when asked for details on the 24/7 support, you shouldn't "expect to be harrassed, hassled and probably prosecuted for false claims and advertising" since you did provide 24/7 support.

BTW about the 6pm thing you keep mentioning. It's impossible to know what happened there since you provide too little details and frankly I'm not that interested to find out. Assuming the line was really closed when it's supposed to stay until 8pm, I'm assuming that something went wrong. While it's a major pain from a customer POV, if it doesn't happen that often I think most people accept that crap happens, especially for home users. As I understand it, business customers still had access to their 24/7 support regardless so it seems a moot point anyway, you likely could have taken advantage of that.

If Spark's website and/or phone system was flawed so you couldn't work out how to access the 24/7 support I agree that's their fault and you're entitled to be aggregrieved. But it's a seperate issue from whether the support was available and so far I've seen no evidence it wasn't.

From some of your earlier posts, perhaps a seperate issue is you were calling on behalf of a customer rather than being a Spark business customer yourself. I'm not an expert but it seems resonable to me that anyone acting on behalf of the business needing the support, and with their permission, should have access to the support unless it was made clear that only certain people have access. However it's not clear to me, if you couldn't get access or if it was just confusion over how you access their support.

1 - Business customer paying for business services

2 - business web site at spark says 24/7 support - but spark say that only means you can book a call 24/7 but get help in business hours. that's deceptive / misleading.

3 - Dial 126 (business support) . message says open 8am to 8pm, Mon to Fri. Calling at 6pm shouldn't get the closed message and no support.

The issue, as stated at the top, is if you say 8am to 8pm - then provide 8am to 8pm. If you say 24/7 then provide 24/7 - not the ability to leave messages 24/7.

I didn't get to talk to 126 business or 24/7 or any other beggar as there was no support at 6pm despite my clients expectations - so its not about who has the support - its about the support not being there. The call at 6pm would not have been required if Spark has actually called back as promised or responded to the previous five calls, 3 chats and other contacts. Shocking service on this issue.

Further more - When my client pays for Active Sync services I would expect they get them. However they cant - as it is not provided. Mail sync doesn't work, it completely fails on phones, it provides folder lists and nothing more on every form of connection tried. Empty folders 100% of the time on tests run over 2 days.

After 8 days of not being able to get email working on Spark business mail services, we migrated them away. And that was a shocking job as sparks servers failed to deliver the stored mail.

The servers failed imap connections using.

Setting up imap accounts on five different machines including: oversea linux using imap command line, nz windows server 2012 on 800x800Mbps connection, windows 7 pc and windows 10 pcs on spark fibre and azure based exchange.
We have used command line imap, mail store home, outlook, thunderbird and also exchange import services and all of them have failed to make a clean copy of all three mail boxes tested. Resynching has no joy and we see ssl timeouts on source servers regularly.
In short, by performing a thorough count of source folders vs dest folders and counting mail per box we see failed sync on all attempts on all machines and clients. Tests happened over 4 days of testing.

The one bright spot was Vineet Pewal who actually took time to investigate and follow up. As I wrote to Vineet @ spark:

Again thanks for your help. It is appreciated. I would suggest feeding back to the mail team that without active sync working the imap offerings are not suitable for multi folder mail for business. Our folders are all 5gb or less. J's is only 1.5gb. It's not a size issue but server performance killing imap sync.

nunz

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#2069566 7-Aug-2018 21:59

tdgeek:

nunz:

gehenna:

nunz:

Click the get started link. goes to business hub which has 25/7 tech support

Well they have the ability to schedule a business hours support call, which you can use 24/7 to arrange. That's pretty clear on the site.

Either you cant read english - or you are tolling. Which is it?

No he isn't tolling. Thats limited to a few bridges.

If Spark offers 25/7 support, thats innovative.

Ive been here a while, that @gehenna guy, and you. A bit different I'm sorry to say.

Vive la difference I say. At least we aren't making random comments about other people.

dejadeadnz

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#2069581 7-Aug-2018 22:27

gehenna:

Well they have the ability to schedule a business hours support call, which you can use 24/7 to arrange. That's pretty clear on the site.

I have Fair Trading Act-based advert/business claims-vetting experience and agree with the above interpretation. Were I vetting that tagline, I certainly would advise whomever is proposing it that it's a bit lame to emphasise the notion that you can schedule a call 24/7 off a website of a major corporate (by definition a website is available 24/7). But I don't think there's deceptive and misleading conduct.

hio77

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#2069616 7-Aug-2018 22:39

nunz:

The one bright spot was Vineet Pewal who actually took time to investigate and follow up. As I wrote to Vineet @ spark:

Again thanks for your help. It is appreciated. I would suggest feeding back to the mail team that without active sync working the imap offerings are not suitable for multi folder mail for business. Our folders are all 5gb or less. J's is only 1.5gb. It's not a size issue but server performance killing imap sync.

Vineet is a great guy, used to be in my team.

Your experience is exactly how i always saw him when i was in the center, It's such a quality trait.

I'll be sure to pass that feedback through the vine!

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MadEngineer

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#2069623 7-Aug-2018 23:45

I thought that 24/7 thing with spark/geni was known for years.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

1101

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#2069688 8-Aug-2018 10:13

The question has to be asked...

What are the terms & conditions you agreed to when you signed up.
Do you sign up to an agreement that expressly gives 24/7 support ? If not , what are you complaining about.

Also, is information on a webpage, a page thats often buried a few layers deep, "advertising " a particular level of service.
Most rational people would see that support page as support information, not advertising .

Yes the info on a support page is wrong. It wont be the last time that info on a website is incorrect.

nunz

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#2070412 9-Aug-2018 09:25

1101:

The question has to be asked...

What are the terms & conditions you agreed to when you signed up.
Do you sign up to an agreement that expressly gives 24/7 support ? If not , what are you complaining about.

Also, is information on a webpage, a page thats often buried a few layers deep, "advertising " a particular level of service.
Most rational people would see that support page as support information, not advertising .

Yes the info on a support page is wrong. It wont be the last time that info on a website is incorrect.

Maybe - but add to that 126 claiming 8am to 8pm on their messages - then going home before six pm, and active sync being advertised as one of the items you purchase on business email (but dont get) and it starts to smell.

The comment about the fair trading act above - okay - a stupid interpretation IMHO, but a business service, purchased and paid for, that is not suitable for purpose, with the support and services around it not meeting stated levels of service or performance - that's a breach of a number of acts.

As for what was promised on sign up. Go through the sign up page, click the service promise link at the top of the sign up page. You will find this.

Business Service Promise

We are commited to helping you find your business edge.

We're here for you 24/7

We are always here when you need. Over the phone technical fault assistance is available 24/7.

That's technical fault assistance for business mail. Home support 0800 225598 does not offer support for business mail. Only bushiness support does. As they are only contactable until 5pm then that service PROMISE is a lie. That service promise is directly linked to the sign up page. This is a promise they advertise as part of their sign up. They lied!! over the phone ASSISTANCE does not mean leave a message, it means ASSISTANCE.

Nil Einne

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#2070561 9-Aug-2018 11:28

nunz:

1 - Business customer paying for business services

2 - business web site at spark says 24/7 support - but spark say that only means you can book a call 24/7 but get help in business hours. that's deceptive / misleading.

3 - Dial 126 (business support) . message says open 8am to 8pm, Mon to Fri. Calling at 6pm shouldn't get the closed message and no support.

The issue, as stated at the top, is if you say 8am to 8pm - then provide 8am to 8pm. If you say 24/7 then provide 24/7 - not the ability to leave messages 24/7.

<snipped>

Where did Spark say "that only means you can book a call 24/7 but get help in business hours"? AFAICT, all they have said is that the support was available 24/7 but only via certain methods and not via the method you were trying to use.

As I said in my earlier reply, I'm not sure what the 6pm thing was about, I presume that most likely something happened that closed the line early. As I also said, I think most consumers accept that sometimes stuff happens even if since this is a business support line it's a more serious case. More significantly, since AFAICT they still had support available after 6pm it seems largely a moot point.

I'll give you that I'm not sure if they had someone able to deal with whatever issue you had right away. (It sounds like they didn't although your complaint seems to switch from generic to specific randomly so I'm a bit confused.) For generic business support I'm assuming, and the thread seems to support my view, that most people accept that not every issue can be dealt with 24/7.

In other words, they have someone there to talk to you 24/7, which as far as I can tell they did, but all this person may be able to say is "sorry this question is not something there's anyone can help you with at the moment, we'll get back in touch when there is someone can" or "we've logged your fault and someone will get on to it as soon as they can schedule it when they are working". Especially if it's only a minor part of their service, not a clear cut fault per se and not mission critical. Although if the internet connection dies due to a fault with the last loop fibre or copper, I'm doubtful that Chorus sends technicians outside of business hours for all businesses.

Really I'd assume even with no experience that the stuff the 24/7 support is most equipped to handle is the typical low tier support i.e. 'have you tried turning it on and off?' or 'given that you have no power, most likely the reason your internet isn't working is because your relying on an ONT and a router which needs power and you have no UPS', as well as logging a fault request when there appears to be a genuine, simple and clear fault. Anything significantly more complicated I'd be pushing it. I've never run a business but if a business does require all possible issues can be dealt with right away I'm assuming they will ensure they have the right SLA and support guarantees as part of their contract, and it will be more than just saying 24/7 support.

nunz

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#2071502 10-Aug-2018 20:04

Nil Einne:

nunz:

1 - Business customer paying for business services

2 - business web site at spark says 24/7 support - but spark say that only means you can book a call 24/7 but get help in business hours. that's deceptive / misleading.

3 - Dial 126 (business support) . message says open 8am to 8pm, Mon to Fri. Calling at 6pm shouldn't get the closed message and no support.

The issue, as stated at the top, is if you say 8am to 8pm - then provide 8am to 8pm. If you say 24/7 then provide 24/7 - not the ability to leave messages 24/7.

<snipped>

Where did Spark say "that only means you can book a call 24/7 but get help in business hours"? AFAICT, all they have said is that the support was available 24/7 but only via certain methods and not via the method you were trying to use.

Telephone conversation. also seems to be what other posters say they show in their site.

Nil Einne:

As I said in my earlier reply, I'm not sure what the 6pm thing was about, I presume that most likely something happened that closed the line early. As I also said, I think most consumers accept that sometimes stuff happens even if since this is a business support line it's a more serious case. More significantly, since AFAICT they still had support available after 6pm it seems largely a moot point.

dial 126 - business support. Listen to the messages. At 6pm they were closed while their messages and information all state 126 support is 8-8 Weekdays.

Nil Einne:

I'll give you that I'm not sure if they had someone able to deal with whatever issue you had right away. (It sounds like they didn't although your complaint seems to switch from generic to specific randomly so I'm a bit confused.) For generic business support I'm assuming, and the thread seems to support my view, that most people accept that not every issue can be dealt with 24/7.

In other words, they have someone there to talk to you 24/7, which as far as I can tell they did, but all this person may be able to say is "sorry this question is not something there's anyone can help you with at the moment, we'll get back in touch when there is someone can" or "we've logged your fault and someone will get on to it as soon as they can schedule it when they are working". Especially if it's only a minor part of their service, not a clear cut fault per se and not mission critical. Although if the internet connection dies due to a fault with the last loop fibre or copper, I'm doubtful that Chorus sends technicians outside of business hours for all businesses.

They did not have someone to talk to us 24/7 - Their services all stated business support was closed. As as shown in the post above they claim technical assistance via telephone 24/7 for Spark business Mail support - which is the product that was failing.

Nil Einne:

Really I'd assume even with no experience that the stuff the 24/7 support is most equipped to handle is the typical low tier support i.e. 'have you tried turning it on and off?' or 'given that you have no power, most likely the reason your internet isn't working is because your relying on an ONT and a router which needs power and you have no UPS', as well as logging a fault request when there appears to be a genuine, simple and clear fault. Anything significantly more complicated I'd be pushing it. I've never run a business but if a business does require all possible issues can be dealt with right away I'm assuming they will ensure they have the right SLA and support guarantees as part of their contract, and it will be more than just saying 24/7 support.

Again see the previous post - sign up for spark business mail has a link called Service promise that promises 24/7 technical assistance via phone - which is not available. It is an out and out false statement.

gzt

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#2071547 10-Aug-2018 21:45

It's not one you mail or submit then they phone back to assist?

jaidevp

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#2071574 10-Aug-2018 23:15

If you go back to the first page and refer to the post by hio77 (Troy), you will find there is 24/7 fault service. When you call the business support number the IVR will mention after hours, and advise you the sales and billing queries helpdesk's are closed. However present you another set of IVR options for faults.

nunz

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#2071858 11-Aug-2018 18:37

jaidevp:

If you go back to the first page and refer to the post by hio77 (Troy), you will find there is 24/7 fault service. When you call the business support number the IVR will mention after hours, and advise you the sales and billing queries helpdesk's are closed. However present you another set of IVR options for faults.

Hio77 said: You may need to call directly into 126 to hit the team.

I'M SAYING that the 126 says it is closed at 6pm (but the message claims for it to be open until 8pm) There were no other options offered

Just tried it now - put in the phone numbers etc - got "Our help desk is currently closed ...Phone back then..."

Not 24/7

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