Time to move on from Spark after my contract

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Time to move on from Spark after my contract

pseudogeek2009

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#195326 15-Apr-2016 19:46

Hi,

I have asked for a phone line on my fibre connection two weeks ago using the chat with Spark, and the next day Spark phone me to sort this out with Downer. I specifically told the person on the line there is no copper in my area and instead they still scheduled Downer to sort this out. Just yesterday Downer called and told me that they unable to sort this out as I don't have copper which I have already told Spark. So two weeks wasted so I tried Chat with Spark and the customer service person JB. I gave my account and asked that I need a phone line using fibre and told them the situation with Downer. Instead I have been told I have to sort this out tomorrow with the Broadband team and the conversation ended abruptly. I lost my cool with that person as I felt ending the conversation abruptly from them was rude, without explanation or admitting to the fault. Anyway I hate bad customer service hence why I will be quitting Spark after 4 years at the end of my contract. From talking to my colleagues, they are also thinking of moving away from Spark due to the bad customer service and probably get better support elsewhere.

Paul

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#1533709 15-Apr-2016 20:00

How long have you had UFB for? They're probably trying to schedule Downer for you to come and complete the internal wiring and hook the ONT ATA ports into your existing house wiring - and you're potentially confusing them greatly with what you're saying. This has nothing do with copper in your area.

pseudogeek2009

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#1533710 15-Apr-2016 20:04

Tell that to Downer. Downer just told me yesterday they can't do it as they said there are no copper lines in my area. There is some sort of miscommunication from them. Even when I phone Downer over a week ago she thought they only work with copper than Fibre.

Spark should have known this as they told me well over year ago when I requested for a phone line that copper is not available in my area and not likely there will be copper in my area in the near future. And at the time, they do not have voice calls on Fibre. I specifically told the Spark's person the situation with copper in my area and was hoping they would have convey the message to Downer. Instead I get this Downer tech calling me at 6pm and 8.30am two days in a row that he is outside my house when nobody is around instead of performing the task or checks as schedule for tomorrow (Saturday) arranged with Downer over a week ago. Now he has told my wife he can't perform the checks as there are no copper in the area and I have to contact Spark. In my opinion, Spark should have sorted this out instead and by using Chat with Spark (JB), my account number should have given enough details on what need to be done. I may have confused JB but Spark should have a record and by JB ending abruptly the chat, I got pissed off hence why I lost my cool as this is not what customer service is all about.

I have had UFB over 1 1/2 years and Spark did not have voice on Fibre when I subscribe to their service at the start. And prior to this I was with Spark for over three years moving away from crappy Orcon.

pseudogeek2009

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#1533730 15-Apr-2016 20:54

I will wait for my contract to end when the two years is up and move to BigPipe and pay for a VOIP service (2Talk). Had enough pains with Spark as clearly they have not clean up their act with the customer service. Plus I will inform my colleagues my intention so they knows who to move to than staying with Spark as BigPipe seems to have better service so far than Spark. Was considering WXC but Vodafone purchase them and not keen with anything relating to Vodafone.

Aredwood

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#1534650 18-Apr-2016 00:16

If you hate Spark that much you won't want to go with Bigpipe. As Spark Own Bigpipe. And since you don't like Orcon, That also eliminates Slingshot and Flip - Owned by same parent company as Orcon. So that pretty much leaves 2degrees as the only large ISP option for you. But also consider the small local ISPs in your area.

NonprayingMantis

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#1534652 18-Apr-2016 01:06

Aredwood:

If you hate Spark that much you won't want to go with Bigpipe. As Spark Own Bigpipe. And since you don't like Orcon, That also eliminates Slingshot and Flip - Owned by same parent company as Orcon. So that pretty much leaves 2degrees as the only large ISP option for you. But also consider the small local ISPs in your area.

same owner does not mean same service, as can plainly be seen from many threads on here about various ISPs service

robjg63

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#1534672 18-Apr-2016 07:34

You can still DIY your own voip with spark UFB. Why don't you just sign up with 2talk now and get the phone sorted.
Surely that's the end of the problem.

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sbiddle

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#1534676 18-Apr-2016 07:48

pseudogeek2009:

Tell that to Downer. Downer just told me yesterday they can't do it as they said there are no copper lines in my area. There is some sort of miscommunication from them. Even when I phone Downer over a week ago she thought they only work with copper than Fibre.

What exactly did you ask Spark for? Did you simply ask for a phoneline? Or a plan change from a Naked UFB plan to one with a phone?

Wheelbarrow01

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#1534921 18-Apr-2016 12:53

Hi pseudogeek2009,

There has clearly been a miscommunication regarding what you have requested. The fact that there is no copper in your area has nothing to do with getting a fibre voice service connected, so I don't know what the people from Downer mean.

If you are still willing to have Spark connect your fibre voice, can you please send me a private message with your Spark account number, and i will try to find out what has gone wrong - and will try to put it right for you.

Thanks,

Simon

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

Sheagae

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#1534927 18-Apr-2016 12:58

The Spark employees I have talked to deny Bigpipe being part of Spark or being owned by Spark. They then offered me a deal to stay with Spark rather than move to Bigpipe. I found that quite strange.

Wheelbarrow01

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#1534940 18-Apr-2016 13:22

Sheagae:

The Spark employees I have talked to deny Bigpipe being part of Spark or being owned by Spark. They then offered me a deal to stay with Spark rather than move to Bigpipe. I found that quite strange.

Hmmm, that's a bit concerning.

http://www.sparkventures.co.nz/#our-ventures - Bigpipe is definitely one of our ventures....

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

ajw

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#1534941 18-Apr-2016 13:22

Sheagae:

The Spark employees I have talked to deny Bigpipe being part of Spark or being owned by Spark. They then offered me a deal to stay with Spark rather than move to Bigpipe. I found that quite strange.

Big pipe is a subsidiary company of Spark. Also Skinny is a subsidiary company of Spark.

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BigPipeNZ

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#1534954 18-Apr-2016 13:43

Sheagae:

The Spark employees I have talked to deny Bigpipe being part of Spark or being owned by Spark. They then offered me a deal to stay with Spark rather than move to Bigpipe. I found that quite strange.

No big conspiracy here. They probably just don't know.

Spark is a pretty big company, and unlike say Lightbox or Morepork they aren't trying to sell Bigpipe alongside normal Spark products so the average person in the call centre or in a store likely wouldn't receive a whole lot of training about who we are or how we relate to Spark (they have to learn enough as it is).

Other than shared ownership, for all intents and purposes we do operate as a separate entity from Spark - different people, processes, decision making about what to do, different network equipment (apart from the obvious shared infrastructure common to most ISPs in NZ e.g. Southern Cross cable)

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Aredwood

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#1536044 19-Apr-2016 21:17

NonprayingMantis:

Aredwood:

If you hate Spark that much you won't want to go with Bigpipe. As Spark Own Bigpipe. And since you don't like Orcon, That also eliminates Slingshot and Flip - Owned by same parent company as Orcon. So that pretty much leaves 2degrees as the only large ISP option for you. But also consider the small local ISPs in your area.

same owner does not mean same service, as can plainly be seen from many threads on here about various ISPs service

Fully aware that Bigpipe provides a different service, over a different network, (excluding chorus / LFC networs of course) and uses email instead of phone as main support channel.

But since the OP said that they didn't want to sign up with WXC for the sole reason they are owned by Vodafone. If they now hate Spark they would also likely hate any subsidiary companies of Spark, such as Bigpipe. Sure it might have been a laugh if they had signed up to Bigpipe at the same time as promising never to give any money to Spark. Yet they would have been extremely annoyed when they would have found out who owns Bigpipe. And they would probably just churn their connection to another ISP. Extra churn doesn't help anyone. (except maybe Chorus)

pseudogeek2009

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#1536095 19-Apr-2016 22:21

sbiddle:

pseudogeek2009:

Tell that to Downer. Downer just told me yesterday they can't do it as they said there are no copper lines in my area. There is some sort of miscommunication from them. Even when I phone Downer over a week ago she thought they only work with copper than Fibre.

What exactly did you ask Spark for? Did you simply ask for a phoneline? Or a plan change from a Naked UFB plan to one with a phone?

I specifically asked for a landline/phone line on my UFB, and have told them about the situation with the copper in the area which they told me last year hence why they suggested voice on fiber. Anyway the Downer person showed up and apologize and connected the line up but the problem Spark has not setup the phone line. They already gave me a phone number over three weeks ago. The main thing I hate is poor customer service. I will probably do more research before changing ISP and plus I am still on the 2 year contract which will end in September.

Jase2985

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#1536185 20-Apr-2016 05:44

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