Spark is charging $150 for nothing!

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark is charging $150 for nothing!

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#1324467 14-Jun-2015 15:03

airfern: Thanks for your comments guys, you have a deep technical expertise, but I still didn't get the personal answers for very simple questions from above: What would you personally do in this case?
Would you be fine to pay it, if they say "The link check up costed $300", still happy to pay? "$500" - still paying? "$1000" - just pay and move on, right?

Short answer:

I would pay the previously quoted fee, just like any other fee for a service that I had received.
The amount is irrelevant - you have agreed to pay for a service.

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andrewNZ

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#1324468 14-Jun-2015 15:07

The ISP hasn't been responsible for any of this! As has bee explained, this would have happened no matter who you were paying for your connection.

As for your gripes with speed, let me put them I perspective for you.
I pay spark the same amount of money you do, for the same service you do. At BEST I get 5.5Mb/s, but for most of the day I get under 3, and peak times usually under 0.5. My connection has degraded significantly over the last few years.

I pay my bill every month without complaining.

You are receiving a acceptable service, and you are being charged a fair rate.
I am receiving the best service available to me, and I am being charged a fair rate.

Do your self a favor and find something else to worry about.

tdgeek

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#1324469 14-Jun-2015 15:13

airfern: sbiddle, it's so funny, you're still trying to explain the technical side of the issue and absolutely ignoring the simple question on what would be your personal response to ISP downgraded service or its further actions in any similar scenario :)

Steve's last sentence is perhaps the key. If the Chorus tech found no fault to the ETP, the grey pillar at your home, there is no network fault. That appears to indicate a fault in your premises. Jackpoint, mouse chewing inside the walls, dampness, a raft of possibilities. A master splitter would take care of most if not all of those. So, it comes down to is it an ISP issue? The ISP doesn't own the network, nor inside your home, although as Sreve said if you have Wiring maintenance you are covered internally. As regards the tech visit, the conversation has gone it appears, to the fact that you asked for a tech visit, or for the fault to be checked and/or fixed, so they told Chorus to send one out. Thats how it seems.

airfern

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#1324473 14-Jun-2015 15:34

Well, I can see now. With such an extreme local consumer tolerance, New Zealand is a real Klondike for ISPs.
I should probably start my own ISP, as whatever quality of service is provided, there are still plenty of customers happy to pay the top price and stay calm :)

BarTender

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#1324474 14-Jun-2015 15:44

airfern:
tdgeek:
Road charges we pay in car rego. What about those who drive more on bad roads and others on good roads?
Pay TV. When we can't find much to watch this month?
When I had to wait 20 minutes at KFC?

The drivers on bad roads can either try to call roads maintaining organization and ask to fix it, or they just leave the place and move on to another city/country.
Same for TV, can't find much on local packages? - Move on to better or more attractive services. That's how Sky losing a lot of customers to Netflix, Quickflix, Lightbox, Neon...
Same for 20 minutes at KFC - just move on to BK,MC or whoever serves faster.
Same for Spark - leaving to another ISP now, because I'd like to pay for a working service and not to be involved into additional costs of delivery/maintenance/testing, etc.

You can actually do this right now. If you move houses there are well over 300k properties passed by the Fibre Companies ready to get fiber today.

If you move to Dunedin into the right area you can get 1000/500 UFB speeds today. In Whangarei Northpower have completed their build. Chorus have complted in Ashburton and many other places.

I see the analogy with Road User charges and roads a pretty accurate one. Not everyone in every area has a motorway at their doorstep. But there are some that do and it all depends on where you live. We all pay a flat fee (for petrol) cars to use the roads. You pay it on an Annual basis. Getting a wholesale broadband connection from Chorus at the regulated amount you pay the same as a RSP to them.

Thankfully there is a UFB build going on in this country, so if you are in a UFB area some day in theory you will be able to get it.

airfern: Well, I can see now. With such an extreme local consumer tolerance, New Zealand is a real Klondike for ISPs.
I should probably start my own ISP, as whatever quality of service is provided, there are still plenty of customers happy to pay the top price and stay calm :)

And I wish you well in your endeavor. Please be sure to come back here and update us on a monthly basis on how the deployment goes as I am sure we will all be extremely interested to know.

jeffnz

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#1324475 14-Jun-2015 15:52

airfern: sbiddle, it's so funny, you're still trying to explain the technical side of the issue and absolutely ignoring the simple question on what would be your personal response to ISP downgraded service or its further actions in any similar scenario :)

the thread topic is "spark is charging $150 for nothing" which they clearly aren't either you accept what people are saying here or you don't but at least be respectful to the expertise that is being offered.

Personally I think you are just soap boxing and won't accept any answer unless it matches your own.

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Bung

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#1324479 14-Jun-2015 16:08

tdgeek:That appears to indicate a fault in your premises.

Clearly rebutted by the fact that the speed came back without any changes to the OP's premises.
The script usually has the subscriber switching their equipment off and on. Would that be enough to get the network port to reset? If the faults are all customer related are port resets done just to appear to be doing something? Was the "fault" clearance after a power outage just coincidence? It can be frustrating when the speed change is still giving 10Mbps as AFAIK the front line script didn't see that as a fault requiring any action.

sbiddle

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#1324484 14-Jun-2015 16:23

airfern:
I should probably start my own ISP, as whatever quality of service is provided, there are still plenty of customers happy to pay the top price and stay calm :)

Go right ahead. I'd love to know how long you'll last when customers start refusing to pay the $150 that you're being charged by Chorus when you send a tech out.

airfern

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#1324490 14-Jun-2015 16:45

sbiddle: Go right ahead. I'd love to know how long you'll last when customers start refusing to pay the $150 that you're being charged by Chorus when you send a tech out.

I'll be fine, as there is only 1 of 100 or 1000, who refuse to pay. The rest of 99 or 999 will stay calm and pay. I will probably charge even $300, there are still many people happy to pay, as I see by the answers :)

jeffnz

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#1324502 14-Jun-2015 17:11

airfern:
sbiddle: Go right ahead. I'd love to know how long you'll last when customers start refusing to pay the $150 that you're being charged by Chorus when you send a tech out.

I'll be fine, as there is only 1 of 100 or 1000, who refuse to pay. The rest of 99 or 999 will stay calm and pay. I will probably charge even $300, there are still many people happy to pay, as I see by the answers :)

or maybe some of us understand there is a cost for requesting help and do our homework so there are no surprises.

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#1324505 14-Jun-2015 17:15

airfern:
sbiddle: Go right ahead. I'd love to know how long you'll last when customers start refusing to pay the $150 that you're being charged by Chorus when you send a tech out.

I'll be fine, as there is only 1 of 100 or 1000, who refuse to pay. The rest of 99 or 999 will stay calm and pay. I will probably charge even $300, there are still many people happy to pay, as I see by the answers :)

At this point I suggest that you take deep breath, read the Wiki definition of trolling, and then re-read all your posts in this thread.

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airfern

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#1324531 14-Jun-2015 18:53

Sideface: At this point I suggest that you take deep breath, read the Wiki definition of trolling, and then re-read all your posts in this thread.

I know what the troll is, so it will stay, unless you stop feeding it

Rikkitic

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#1324534 14-Jun-2015 19:02

This thread has moved a long way from the original subject. Is it perhaps time for a moderator to lock it?

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

surfisup1000

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#1324535 14-Jun-2015 19:03

andrewNZ: The ISP hasn't been responsible for any of this! As has bee explained, this would have happened no matter who you were paying for your connection.

As for your gripes with speed, let me put them I perspective for you.
I pay spark the same amount of money you do, for the same service you do. At BEST I get 5.5Mb/s, but for most of the day I get under 3, and peak times usually under 0.5. My connection has degraded significantly over the last few years.

I pay my bill every month without complaining.

You are receiving a acceptable service, and you are being charged a fair rate.
I am receiving the best service available to me, and I am being charged a fair rate.

Do your self a favor and find something else to worry about.

What would you do if all of your speeds suddenly halved for no reason?

Jase2985

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#1324557 14-Jun-2015 19:18

airfern: Thanks for your comments guys, you have a deep technical expertise, but I still didn't get the personal answers for very simple questions from above: What would you personally do in this case?
Would you be fine to pay it, if they say "The link check up costed $300", still happy to pay? "$500" - still paying? "$1000" - just pay and move on, right?

If i was confident that the fault wasn't in my premises and the degradation in my speed was enough to justify the cost, then yes i probably would pay it.

my line ranges from 48-68mbps, and i know why it does that, but if it were to drop below say 35 then i would be willing to pay if i knew the network was were the fault lay.

but its not the case, its costs 150 for the check and you pay if nothing is found.

Last time i called for a fault they sent 2 techs out and the spent 2 days and about 14 hours fixing the fault.

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