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d3mon

14 posts

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#198606 15-Jul-2016 19:09
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My uncle set up a new connection for Spark Broadband and Landline last month and to this date he still has NO SERVICE. His phone has no dial tone and we have booked for a technician 3 times already.

 

The first time the technician went to the wrong house because the customer service rep sent him to the WRONG suburb (same street name). The tech went to Eastbourne when we are in Lower Hutt Central. My uncle was also given his telephone number from this rep because he received no confirmation letter or anything apart from the Modem, which oddly was sent to the right address. The number Spark gave him has a dial code of 562 which is no where Lower Hutt central exchange. We suspected that they must have connected his broadband service to the wrong address (same street name but a different suburb) and we were right. They told him that they connected his broadband service and sent the technician to the other address, so they waived all the call out fees and transferred his account to another number which had an dial code of 569. They told him that a technician will be there next week to set it up. 

 

Finally we thought the problem will be fixed but nope. The first technician was a Chorus tech and they told him that its impossible to get Spark connected due to the location of the power pole outside his house. The tech recommended him to go with Vodafone as it was set up and ready to go. The next morning a tech specialist from Spark came over and told him that they need council consent and it would cost a lot of money to get Spark connected. My uncle told him that he is planning on switching to Vodafone and the Spark guy said he will make note of it on his report.

 

Several days later he got a bill for the service and calls he apparently made. Which is not even possible because he has no dial tone on his phone and the area code 562 is not even in the same exchange to where he lives. He is happy to pay the service fees as it was not entirely Sparks fault but he wants to complain about the calls because he is afraid of getting billed in the future for calls made from this number.

 

He's tired calling the help desk and they say they will look into it but they dont seem to understand the situation hes in. So i've come here to ask how can he get these call bills revoked. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wheelbarrow01
1723 posts

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  #1593321 15-Jul-2016 19:22
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Hi @d3mon,

 

Easy fix - please send me the account number and details of the correct address (as well as the address it was supposedly incorrectly connected to) and I will look into this for you - however it may not be until Monday. Can you also flick me a contact number for you?

 

Getting the incorrect billing stopped is the easy part, however I will need to do a bit of investigation to understand the pole problem at the correct address - it sounds like there could be an aerial tresspass issue with any new overhead fibre cable.

 

It is interesting that there are calls being made from the incorrectly connected number - this suggests that the occupant of the wrong address knowingly let it be connected, and are happy to use it knowing they are not being charged. Very dishonest as they would have to have let the original technician into their house. An honest person would have told him he has the wrong address and sent him on his way.

 

Thanks,

 

Simon

 

Digital Implementation Lead

 

Spark Broadband Provisioning





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




d3mon

14 posts

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  #1593329 15-Jul-2016 19:41
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I just spoke to online chat support on his behalf and they have removed the bill from his account.

 

Regarding the pole problem the chat support staff told us this:

 

Comments: there is no aerial lead to this
property and pole outside property has transformer on it, advised customer
that new pole needs to be installed for which there may be a cost, customer
decided to cancel this order  


Wheelbarrow01
1723 posts

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Chorus

  #1593344 15-Jul-2016 19:57
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d3mon:

 

I just spoke to online chat support on his behalf and they have removed the bill from his account.

 

Regarding the pole problem the chat support staff told us this:

 

Comments: there is no aerial lead to this
property and pole outside property has transformer on it, advised customer
that new pole needs to be installed for which there may be a cost, customer
decided to cancel this order  

 

 

I'm pleased the bill has been reversed, but can you please send me the details anyway so I can ensure the connection at the wrong address is actually being disconnected?

 

In regards to the pole, it sounds like the property is only serviced by Vodafone HFC cable (formerly Telstra/Saturn). This means there is most likely no underground Chorus duct from the street to the house, and clearly no aerial cable either. If that is the case, it could be that using Vodafone's cable service is your only option, but bear in mind that Vodafone fibre still requires Chorus network to run on, so you are likely to run into the same problem if you plan on requesting fibre from them.





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


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