Question on Wiring Maintenance (Spark) over Fibre Landline

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maxeon

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#180967 28-Sep-2015 11:51

Question for someone in spark because I am unable to get an answer from anyone without being on hold for long period for the past two days.

I have paid for "Wiring & Maintenance" for over a decade and recently cancelled it because I am NOW on Voice over Fibre.

When I got my VoIP - landline, I have requested all my Jack points at home to be enabled so they work. I was told it will cost $45 to get this working.

The technician has installed a simple telephone wire from ONT to an existing Jack that is right beside ONT and then went outside and re-wired at the junction box so all jackpoints work.

As of friday my landline stopped working. I have plugged a phone directly to ONT and it was working. So, I presume the Loopback wiring installed by tech for $45 is broken. I have tried calling spark several times with no luck as the faults keep transfering me to Fibre team (because it is a fibre landline) and they keep sending it back to faults.

Can anyone here please help me which team should I be trying to contact and do I need to pay anything if I don't have Wiring and Maintenance in my contract? This is not really an internal wiring issue, I am suspecting the external junction box loop back is broken. All jacks inside the house is coming up blank when plugged in.

Any help is greatly appreciated, really tired of fobbing me around for the past couple of days.

raytaylor

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#1395669 28-Sep-2015 12:12

Personally I think this is a workmanship warranty issue and not a wiring and maintanance insurance product issue.
I think a scotchlok might not have been secured properly.

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maxeon

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#1395673 28-Sep-2015 12:14

raytaylor: Personally I think this is a workmanship warranty issue and not a wiring and maintanance insurance product issue.
I think a scotchlok might not have been secured properly.

I would assume that would be the case, but the problem description would sound like an internal wiring issue which is what I am trying to explain and being transferred across to teams and going no where. Is there an email fault logging system for spark?

maxeon

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#1396519 29-Sep-2015 12:02

Hold times are ridiculous for the past few days at Spark Faults to even bother about calling them.
Estimated Call Back time is 170 minutes. When I get a call back the agent puts me to fibre team and the wait time is another 2 hours there - beats the purpose of a call back.

Suggestion: Would be so good to see if there can be an Email Fault logging service on their website, so they can assign to the appropriate team and get someone to call me when they are free.

maxeon

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#1400048 5-Oct-2015 10:21

OMG .. this is going no where and tried multiple ways to contact Spark. I some how think their customer service / teams are short staffed? After a long discussions and holds and explanations and fobbing around I finally decided I will just take the "Wiring and Maintenance" add on and stand down for 30 days and call them again.

I spoke to someone online and explained the problem that I cannot get my Internal Jacks working although my Landline works directly connected from the Fibre ONT. He asked photos of my setup as he thinks it is caused due to the "White Box" being faulty. I explained, sent photos several times saying there is no "White Box" my ONT Pots line connects to a Phone Jack point that is beside it and then all Jacks go live.

He arranged for a "Call Back" - I got a call back and was told to hold 20 minutes, and explained a problem and the lady transferred me to faults. Faults person answered after 15 minutes hold and said he will put me to Fibre Faults. Fibre Faults answered and said I need the add on or I will be charged $139 for investigation of the fault because it sounds like an internal wiring issue.

Me: But, I paid $45 for having all jacks working?
Fibre Faults: Yes that is only covered till the ONT, if your phone is working when connected to ONT there is no issue with Fibre Landline.
Me: So what about the $45 ? it was meant to ensure all my jacks in the house were working?
Fibre Faults: Yes, they were working right? they just stopped working because of internal wiring issue - so you need the "Wiring and Maintenance" add on.
Me: Ok then I will take that.
Fibre Faults: Sure, I will transfer you to someone who will add it and there is a 30 day stand down period after you get that added.
Me: Ok, I should have done that a week ago - would have been 3 weeks now .. **Sigh**

So, anyone going to have a VOIP - ensure you keep your "Wiring & Maintenance" or face the run around if your jacks stop working.

sbiddle

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#1400062 5-Oct-2015 10:38

Quick question - why are you calling Spark? What relationship do you still have with them?

maxeon

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#1400071 5-Oct-2015 10:43

sbiddle: Quick question - why are you calling Spark? What relationship do you still have with them?

What do you mean? I pay spark for my fibre and VoIP.

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shk292

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#1400080 5-Oct-2015 10:46

Probably not the answer you want, but the easiest and cheapest solution might be to plug a DECT base unit into the ONT and then have handsets on charging bases wherever you need telephones. You can get a triple handset solution for less than $90

sbiddle

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#1400083 5-Oct-2015 10:49

maxeon:
sbiddle: Quick question - why are you calling Spark? What relationship do you still have with them?

What do you mean? I pay spark for my fibre and VoIP.

I assumed when you mentioned NOW that you were with NOW for your connection.

maxeon

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#1400110 5-Oct-2015 10:59

shk292: Probably not the answer you want, but the easiest and cheapest solution might be to plug a DECT base unit into the ONT and then have handsets on charging bases wherever you need telephones. You can get a triple handset solution for less than $90

Yes, that is exactly what I am doing now. But the DECT one I have is a three handset based but two are broken - it is on it's last leg now.

I bought another cordless phone recently because the handsets for the above are broken but because it is a different brand it only works if plugged into the jack.

maxeon

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#1400186 5-Oct-2015 11:57

Got escalated when i reported this to the online guys and they got someone to call me back and arrange the local fibre company to get the integrated wiring re-done and waive the fees ($45) now. Happy :)