Nearly 3.5 hours on hold with Spark Faults, what is your longest wait on hold?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Nearly 3.5 hours on hold with Spark Faults, what is your longest wait on hold?

mattwnz

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#251400 23-Jun-2019 23:51

So internet and phone went down this weekend. Nothing on the outage page about the outage, even though apparently it was a known outage in my area and it was showing up as an outage on live chat as an automated reply. however I couldn't access live chat due to my internet being down.

Waited nearly 3.5 hours on hold with faults. No message on the phone saying any outages either, only to check the outages webpage, which I had to get someone else to do, but it showed nothing. The hold message said it would only be just over an hour. There was also no option for a call back given. This is the longest I have ever had to wait. What is the longest anyone has had to wait on hold to an ISP? Now considering moving to another ISP once my contract is over, as the outage wasn't communicated properly, and the hold time was far too long and this isn't the first time outages haven't been communicated on their outage page when they should have been. It was a known outage as the person I finally spoke to said it was known, and they couldn't understand why it hadn't been listed on the outages page, as it had been down for many hours by that stage. . If I knew it was a widespread outage, I couldn't have needed to wait on hold and waste all that time. Which ISPs have good upto date network status pages and reasonable phone support these days?

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#2263118 24-Jun-2019 00:11

10 mins. Any more than that and I regard it as failing to provide service they promised.

Richard rich.ms

mattwnz

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#2263119 24-Jun-2019 00:17

richms:

10 mins. Any more than that and I regard it as failing to provide service they promised.

Many companies like the TSB bank will answer calls well under 10 minutes, however many of the large banks can be upto an hour I have found. . I normally give it up to an hour with ISPs, but in this case I had no internet and was needing it to my accounts and taxes today, and couldn't. It shows how sometimes how much we are too reliant on cloud computing.

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#2263120 24-Jun-2019 00:17

I'd recommend checking the Chorus outage page for outages that affect minor areas.

I also highly recommend using chat, they reply damn quick - Especially if you use the Check my broadband Feature (this guides it straight to the right folk)

Spark's outage page shows major outages only, Spark do the same for Major outages in terms of a voice message on the IVR.

I'd recommend downloading the myspark app, that would have allowed you to check for an outage directly affecting you with the click of a button.

I would also recommend going into myspark (or using the app) and adding your mobile to Connection Promise, this will automatically directly message you when we pickup an outage affecting your connection. (not to mention also add data to your Spark device)

Personally when i call the power company with an outage that's just happened, nothing grinds me gears more than to have to sit through every outage being read out only to hear..

a. It doesnt tell me an expected ETA (to be fair generally a provider wont know this, but often the reps have that detail)

b. 99.999% of the time, It excludes my area, on masses it in one of about 8 other areas depending on the size.

As such, I'm not really a fan of automated messages.

To be fair, Often the IVR itself will detect you have an outage, but i suspect it didn't have all the required details to identify You in this case..

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mattwnz

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#2263123 24-Jun-2019 00:28

hio77:

I'd recommend checking the Chorus outage page for outages that affect minor areas.

I also highly recommend using chat, they reply damn quick - Especially if you use the Check my broadband Feature (this guides it straight to the right folk)

Spark's outage page shows major outages only, Spark do the same for Major outages in terms of a voice message on the IVR.

I'd recommend downloading the myspark app, that would have allowed you to check for an outage directly affecting you with the click of a button.

I would also recommend going into myspark (or using the app) and adding your mobile to Connection Promise, this will automatically directly message you when we pickup an outage affecting your connection. (not to mention also add data to your Spark device)

Personally when i call the power company with an outage that's just happened, nothing grinds me gears more than to have to sit through every outage being read out only to hear..

a. It doesnt tell me an expected ETA (to be fair generally a provider wont know this, but often the reps have that detail)

b. 99.999% of the time, It excludes my area, on masses it in one of about 8 other areas depending on the size.

As such, I'm not really a fan of automated messages.

To be fair, Often the IVR itself will detect you have an outage, but i suspect it didn't have all the required details to identify You in this case..

I didn't have any internet though to check online, and had to phone someone to do it for me. Not only that but the phone message actually redirects me to go to the outages webpage, and not to chorus or any other system. The app also wouldn't have worked as no wifi due to the outage. . It would be best if there was a way to check outages on the phone via an automated phone message which is what other providers do. There was only one outage mentioned on the outages page, and the outages listed on online chat which listed mine was only 1 line. I would prefer to spend 5 minutes listening to a list of outage areas, than 3.5 hours on hold which was essentially the only way I could find out why it was down. I have checked chorus, and that doesn't even show that there was a recent outage in my area, so it is like it never happened.

But 3.5 hours hold time is unacceptable.

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#2263127 24-Jun-2019 04:51

hio77:
I would also recommend going into myspark (or using the app) and adding your mobile to Connection Promise, this will automatically directly message you when we pickup an outage affecting your connection. (not to mention also add data to your Spark device)

Personally when i call the power company with an outage that's just happened, nothing grinds me gears more than to have to sit through every outage being read out only to hear..

Thanks for alerting me to Connection Promise. I'm not sure why I read about it here 1st. I've found the web page where I can set it up but you mention the app and I don't see any mention of connection promise.

I've never had particularly long wait times but the last time I had an outage I used chat just because I'd not tried it. Quite impressed at how quick it went. Not impressed to find that the fault that wasn't on an outage map affected an area at least from Porirua to Foxton and that a modem that wouldn't connect for 8 hours mysteriously came right during the chat.

Power companies are different, if it affects more than you your neighbour's lights will also be out 😊

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#2263129 24-Jun-2019 05:24

hio77:

Spark's outage page shows major outages only

what defines a major outage? we have had an entire exchange out before and not a single mention on the spark page.

the same fault affecting 10 or more customers should be listsed on the outages/faults page, weather its a major or a minor fault, thats just customer service. it also reduces the number of people calling because they can look at the page and go "oh there is a known fault cool ill just wait.

i think ISP's dont like putting up faults on their fault pages because it makes them look inferior in comparison to their competitors.

but hey customer service aint what it used to be.

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#2263134 24-Jun-2019 06:49

I would just select the call back option. They usually call you back within the time frame indicated.

tdgeek

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#2263149 24-Jun-2019 07:41

Jase2985:

hio77:

Spark's outage page shows major outages only

what defines a major outage? we have had an entire exchange out before and not a single mention on the spark page.

the same fault affecting 10 or more customers should be listsed on the outages/faults page, weather its a major or a minor fault, thats just customer service. it also reduces the number of people calling because they can look at the page and go "oh there is a known fault cool ill just wait.

i think ISP's dont like putting up faults on their fault pages because it makes them look inferior in comparison to their competitors.

but hey customer service aint what it used to be.

Most of the faults are not ISP faults, as ISP's don't own the copper or fibre networks

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#2263151 24-Jun-2019 08:08

tdgeek:
Most of the faults are not ISP faults, as ISP's don't own the copper or fibre networks

They own the customer relationship. I don't expect the ISP to only report faults in their own hardware.

In 1971 long before computers, the Wellington fault room used to have trainee technicians looking for evidence that reported faults had any relationship like cable pairs or exchange equipment. If there was a fault in common equipment it was pointless arranging fault visits. Nearly 50 years on you'd think we'd be further ahead.

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#2263153 24-Jun-2019 08:14

Bung:
tdgeek:

Most of the faults are not ISP faults, as ISP's don't own the copper or fibre networks

They own the customer relationship. I don't expect the ISP to only report faults in their own hardware.

In 1971 long before computers, the Wellington fault room used to have trainee technicians looking for evidence that reported faults had any relationship like cable pairs or exchange equipment. If there was a fault in common equipment it was pointless arranging fault visits. Nearly 50 years on you'd think we'd be further ahead.

The point was, they arent ISP faults as the poster said

At any point in time, how many fault do you imagine exist? Say right now. Is it 0 or 3 or 33 or 53?

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#2263154 24-Jun-2019 08:16

And if you called in and asked the ETA and they said don't know what then?

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#2263299 24-Jun-2019 11:56

Jase2985:

hio77:

Spark's outage page shows major outages only

what defines a major outage? we have had an entire exchange out before and not a single mention on the spark page.

the same fault affecting 10 or more customers should be listsed on the outages/faults page, weather its a major or a minor fault, thats just customer service. it also reduces the number of people calling because they can look at the page and go "oh there is a known fault cool ill just wait.

i think ISP's dont like putting up faults on their fault pages because it makes them look inferior in comparison to their competitors.

but hey customer service aint what it used to be.

i currently see Way more outages than i can count on my hands and toes.... that would look pretty messey. Some of these affect single digits of customers.

In saying that, i'm more than happy to take the feedback back. If it could be done in a well presented way, I'd be keen to see that happen personally.

a major outage is defined by the network operations teams who's job it is to make that call.

I accept that the time spent on the phone isnt ideal. There isnt alot i can do for that factor though, i'd like to see it significantly drop.

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#2263316 24-Jun-2019 12:22

Bung:
Thanks for alerting me to Connection Promise. I'm not sure why I read about it here 1st. I've found the web page where I can set it up but you mention the app and I don't see any mention of connection promise.

The team are working on improving this :)

Best way of doing it is the following page.

That will take you to the whole check your connection, Depending on your location (device - store/app or desktop, myspark) it will route you to the right place.

You can manage Connection Promise itself here.

Alternatively in the app, Scroll across to your broadband plan and it should be the first tile saying "Manage connection promise"

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Bung

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#2263329 24-Jun-2019 12:47

MySpark via the pc mentioned Connection Promise and asked for the mobile number. The pc gets switched on rarely these days. There is no mention in the android Spark app . Maybe now that I've set a number it may appear later??

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#2263412 24-Jun-2019 13:55

mattwnz:

I didn't have any internet though to check online, and had to phone someone to do it for me. Not only that but the phone message actually redirects me to go to the outages webpage, and not to chorus or any other system. The app also wouldn't have worked as no wifi due to the outage. . It would be best if there was a way to check outages on the phone via an automated phone message which is what other providers do. There was only one outage mentioned on the outages page, and the outages listed on online chat which listed mine was only 1 line. I would prefer to spend 5 minutes listening to a list of outage areas, than 3.5 hours on hold which was essentially the only way I could find out why it was down. I have checked chorus, and that doesn't even show that there was a recent outage in my area, so it is like it never happened.

But 3.5 hours hold time is unacceptable.

And mobile data wasn't working too?

It's 2019. People need to look at other ways than picking up the phone to resolve issues.

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