Confused by sign up process

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Confused by sign up process

nunz

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#248376 23-Mar-2019 13:56

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone from Spark can help. I did try to ask business support but they are closed. I cant get help from business support until Monday. (24x7 business support? I think not!!)

Why is it you offer a $150 credit on a new account, with free modem and free static IP address, with only a $14.95 postage cost for the modem, then sting a sign up with a one off $260 fee? It seems like false advertising to me unless I've missed something.

Also how does one get an $82 20GB fibre plan when the only offer is a $99.85 plan.

And why do you promise 3-5 working day installs then only offer 8 weeks?

The promise:

The reality:

The 3-5 business day promise. But can only install in 8 weeks time

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#2203835 23-Mar-2019 14:16

Why are you even trying to sign up for Spark, considering your previous issues with them? There are lots of other ISPs, including ones that specialize in business connections, that you could sign up with instead.

The 8 week install time is probably a backlog of Chorus fibre installs. But even then, Spark should have updated their website. As AFAIK Chorus provide ISPs with details on average install wait time for different areas. To make it less likely that an ISP would run a promotion in an area that already has a long wait time.

michaelmurfy

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#2203839 23-Mar-2019 14:40

1) They don't state 24/7 business support, they state 24/7 technical fault assistance which has already been shown in your other threads.
2) Don't know where you're seeing the 20gb connection, I don't... Also not sure why you'd even want it.
3) "Additional charges may apply for non-standard installations."

Phone them on Monday if you're actually serious on signing up but as people have stated many times now to you there are other ISP's out there. It seems you have a deep hate for Spark and complain on every opportunity about them.

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sbiddle

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#2203842 23-Mar-2019 14:48

I had no problems selecting the $82.85 plan during the signup plan. You selected the fibre plan which is more expensive - the $82.85 is fixed wireless.

As for 3-5 day guaranteed install I can see no reference to that anywhere on the site, nor could any RSP guarantee that. You're not getting confused with the router delivery date are you?

nunz

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#2203860 23-Mar-2019 16:19

Aredwood: Why are you even trying to sign up for Spark, considering your previous issues with them? There are lots of other ISPs, including ones that specialize in business connections, that you could sign up with instead.

The 8 week install time is probably a backlog of Chorus fibre installs. But even then, Spark should have updated their website. As AFAIK Chorus provide ISPs with details on average install wait time for different areas. To make it less likely that an ISP would run a promotion in an area that already has a long wait time.

Whom would you suggest?

Vodafone are awful to deal with - their new Centre for Excellence is anything but. That was a 5 -7 hour epic getting the clients phones, internet and land lines working again and that's just this weeks pain.

2 Degrees - long waits on the line and since they stopped being snap their technical support has slipped drastically. Dont get me started on trying to deal with accounts.

Bigpipe - home user only.

Slingshot. Not a hope. Been there. Got burned twice.

Snap were awesome. Gone now.

Amuri net are awesome - but they are not business facing type of internet providers.

Orcon didn't do well in broadbandcompare ratings

Any suggestions?

nunz

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#2203863 23-Mar-2019 16:28

michaelmurfy:

1) They don't state 24/7 business support, they state 24/7 technical fault assistance which has already been shown in your other threads.
2) Don't know where you're seeing the 20gb connection, I don't... Also not sure why you'd even want it.
3) "Additional charges may apply for non-standard installations."

Phone them on Monday if you're actually serious on signing up but as people have stated many times now to you there are other ISP's out there. It seems you have a deep hate for Spark and complain on every opportunity about them.

Actually I've praised them highly when they have got it right. No hatred - just expect to get what it is I'm told will get. Here for example: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=225987

As for 20GB -that's the 200Gb plan as per the screen shots.

This is not a non standard installation - this is their bog standard on the internet sign up. They say one thing then give another. I believe that's covered off under NZ law. The fiber tap outside is about 10m from a big blank wall they can get through and there is a grassed verge up the side of the driveway. It doesn't get much easier.

nunz

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#2203864 23-Mar-2019 16:37

sbiddle: I had no problems selecting the $82.85 plan during the signup plan. You selected the fibre plan which is more expensive - the $82.85 is fixed wireless.

As for 3-5 day guaranteed install I can see no reference to that anywhere on the site, nor could any RSP guarantee that. You're not getting confused with the router delivery date are you?

The image at the top clearly shows $82.85 for 200GB broadband

The second image shows 3 to 5 business days in the left hand side summary box. If its not to hook up my broadband then whats it for?

The $150 credit has fallen completely off the offer once you start to pay up and a $260 fee has appeared instead. That's a price change of $370 plus GST

What exactly does it cost and what exactly does one get? The web site is very schizophrenic on the details.

nunz

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#2203865 23-Mar-2019 16:38

sbiddle: I had no problems selecting the $82.85 plan during the signup plan. You selected the fibre plan which is more expensive - the $82.85 is fixed wireless.

As for 3-5 day guaranteed install I can see no reference to that anywhere on the site, nor could any RSP guarantee that. You're not getting confused with the router delivery date are you?

Is fixed wireless available to business? No options for that in the mid city 8024 post code Christchurch address chosen. It would actually have suited us better.

Actually it gets worse. I put in the building that is on the street corner next to the one I want installed at and it does have wireless but 3 metres away doesn't.

Spark may need to talk to its developers.

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chevrolux

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#2203875 23-Mar-2019 17:17

nunz:
Aredwood: Why are you even trying to sign up for Spark, considering your previous issues with them? There are lots of other ISPs, including ones that specialize in business connections, that you could sign up with instead.

The 8 week install time is probably a backlog of Chorus fibre installs. But even then, Spark should have updated their website. As AFAIK Chorus provide ISPs with details on average install wait time for different areas. To make it less likely that an ISP would run a promotion in an area that already has a long wait time.

Whom would you suggest?

Vodafone are awful to deal with - their new Centre for Excellence is anything but. That was a 5 -7 hour epic getting the clients phones, internet and land lines working again and that's just this weeks pain.

2 Degrees - long waits on the line and since they stopped being snap their technical support has slipped drastically. Dont get me started on trying to deal with accounts.

Bigpipe - home user only.

Slingshot. Not a hope. Been there. Got burned twice.

Snap were awesome. Gone now.

Amuri net are awesome - but they are not business facing type of internet providers.

Orcon didn't do well in broadbandcompare ratings

Any suggestions?

Voyager, Solarix, DTS.

All business focused ISP (well a mix for Voyager now).

hio77

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#2203876 23-Mar-2019 17:18

I'll look at this on Monday.

I haven't ran through the business options in quite awhile. Store looks like my work though so it may overlap.

If that is so, I know exactly what the cause of this is.
Thanks for the feedback nunz.

If you click the fibre broadband card the prices will align.

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hio77

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#2203877 23-Mar-2019 17:20

nunz:
sbiddle: I had no problems selecting the $82.85 plan during the signup plan. You selected the fibre plan which is more expensive - the $82.85 is fixed wireless.

As for 3-5 day guaranteed install I can see no reference to that anywhere on the site, nor could any RSP guarantee that. You're not getting confused with the router delivery date are you?

Is fixed wireless available to business? No options for that in the mid city 8024 post code Christchurch address chosen. It would actually have suited us better.

Actually it gets worse. I put in the building that is on the street corner next to the one I want installed at and it does have wireless but 3 metres away doesn't.

Spark may need to talk to its developers.

Don't assume because the address next to it has wireless the next should.

Without looking at the details i'd highly suspect the avaliable address is right on the edge of where one band is expected to provide and the others.

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sbiddle

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#2203911 23-Mar-2019 19:10

nunz:

sbiddle: I had no problems selecting the $82.85 plan during the signup plan. You selected the fibre plan which is more expensive - the $82.85 is fixed wireless.

As for 3-5 day guaranteed install I can see no reference to that anywhere on the site, nor could any RSP guarantee that. You're not getting confused with the router delivery date are you?

The image at the top clearly shows $82.85 for 200GB broadband

The second image shows 3 to 5 business days in the left hand side summary box. If its not to hook up my broadband then whats it for?

I can't replicate your image or your issue. When I try any random addresses I get the same $82.85 and then have to select between wireless and fibre. You've got fibre selected so obviously aren't seeing the wireless option for some reason which is clearly address specific to the address you're selecting. In all the address tests I did it won't show this price if fixed wireless isn't available.

As for the little truck icon that's my assumption is that it's the shipping date of the hardware. You've already selected the preferred install date further up the screen (8th May) so I'm actually confused as to why you'd expect this to be date for the UFB install.

michaelmurfy

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#2203991 23-Mar-2019 22:11

2degrees is quite literally still Snap on the ISP side and support is great. They had teething issues at the start, but this has been since sorted. The only thing that happened with Snap was really their name changed, they're still essentially Snap behind the scenes.

nunz

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#2204129 24-Mar-2019 09:42

michaelmurfy:
2degrees is quite literally still Snap on the ISP side and support is great. They had teething issues at the start, but this has been since sorted. The only thing that happened with Snap was really their name changed, they're still essentially Snap behind the scenes.

That wasnt my experience. They put in a raft of non techs and the phone wait times went north of 20 mins.

Originally it was seperate to 2deg then seemed to merge help centres.

A simple request like let me talk to your supervisor was met with the standard bollocks of they arent here or they are in a meeting....no matter what time of day you called. We ended up walking all but two connections elsewhere after 12 months of pain.

Maybe it has changed but im not up to take that risk again. Ditto mobile phones. We were a snap /2 deg advocate but the experience we had and risk to clients guarentees we wont do it again.

Ditto vodafone. Too Much risk to clients

Spark upped their game with chat which has helped but sometimes getting them past the list and push back while they run tests is frustrating.

The best support i had was whoosh ... who had a special line for techs. We were installing during earthquakes in chch. Never had push back or delays. Pity the connections were low bandwidth.

nunz

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#2204133 24-Mar-2019 09:50

sbiddle:
nunz:

sbiddle: I had no problems selecting the $82.85 plan during the signup plan. You selected the fibre plan which is more expensive - the $82.85 is fixed wireless.

As for 3-5 day guaranteed install I can see no reference to that anywhere on the site, nor could any RSP guarantee that. You're not getting confused with the router delivery date are you?

The image at the top clearly shows $82.85 for 200GB broadband

The second image shows 3 to 5 business days in the left hand side summary box. If its not to hook up my broadband then whats it for?

I can't replicate your image or your issue. When I try any random addresses I get the same $82.85 and then have to select between wireless and fibre. You've got fibre selected so obviously aren't seeing the wireless option for some reason which is clearly address specific to the address you're selecting. In all the address tests I did it won't show this price if fixed wireless isn't available.

As for the little truck icon that's my assumption is that it's the shipping date of the hardware. You've already selected the preferred install date further up the screen (8th May) so I'm actually confused as to why you'd expect this to be date for the UFB install.

Try 9 disraeli street. Chch.

Retesting page. It maybe issues with updating options out of order. E.g the cards disappear and reappear if phone chosen and the js? In the background fires out of turn.
I suspect the code has multiple code controllers on field and possibly should all call the same subroutine as the events are tripping over each other.

I didnt set preferred date. Thats the earliest option ... 8 weeks away. Thats the combo box default.

As a ux experience .. the truck is confusing if its for delivery of modem and not the delivery of service as im ordering a service and the modem is incidental. The delivery truck should be for the item ordered not an incidental.

That still doesnt explain a $370 descrepency between offer and actual.

sbiddle

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#2204149 24-Mar-2019 10:29

nunz:

Try 9 disraeli street. Chch.

Retesting page. It maybe issues with updating options out of order. E.g the cards disappear and reappear if phone chosen and the js? In the background fires out of turn.
I suspect the code has multiple code controllers on field and possibly should all call the same subroutine as the events are tripping over each other.

I didnt set preferred date. Thats the earliest option ... 8 weeks away. Thats the combo box default.

As a ux experience .. the truck is confusing if its for delivery of modem and not the delivery of service as im ordering a service and the modem is incidental. The delivery truck should be for the item ordered not an incidental.

That still doesnt explain a $370 descrepency between offer and actual.

Looks like there is some sort of issue with that address which is showing wireless as an option.

No RSP gives a confirmed date for any type of install at the time of ordering simply because it's not possible. The ordering page makes that clear that the date you select is an estimate and it'll be confirmed afterwards.

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