[TelstraClear] My Internet and cable are down (Friday) - a tech can't make it until 25/7 :-(

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] My Internet and cable are down (Friday) - a tech can't make it until 25/7 :-(

lchiu7

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#8682 21-Jul-2006 09:20

Woke up this morning (Wellington) after a pretty stormy night to find cable TV and Internet down. Thinking back on the past few weeks thought it must have been a storm related issue.

Called TCL customer care to report a fault and surprisingly got through very quickly. The CSR wasn't able to ping my modem (both of them), power cycling did nothing so clearly it was a problem. Then she checked the folks around me on the same node and they are fine so it appears to be isolated to me. Since my phone is working, the cable to the house hasn't come down (checked visually) so possibly on the pole, the connection from the street feed to the cable going to my house has become disconnected.

But the kicker. When she went in to schedule a service call, the earliest time a tech can come out in next Tuesday! So the household will have no TV nor Internet for 4-5 days! I can understand a delay of this type if there is a major outage, but for one household?

Guess I will breaking out the modem again and seeing if my roof aerial is still working :-(

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Jama

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#42116 21-Jul-2006 09:57

That is a shocker! I could understand if you were a rural customer. I hope you get a good sized refund.

murrayim

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#42132 21-Jul-2006 11:06

Standard reply from Telstra Clear... They will only send a techie out 24 hours after you place the call... And I quess they dont work weekends...

Matt1

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#42177 21-Jul-2006 17:00

Yep. TelstraClear are useless at getting people out to you on time. Took us a week to get a temporary line installed and three weeks to get a permanent line after we moved house despite ringing them 5 weeks in advance of moving and again 2 weeks in advance to check! Basically, their network contractors are good and know what they're doing, but everything seems to get lost in the black hole that is TelstraClear's call centre. You can call multiple times and be assured that "it's all here on the computer" only to have absolutely nothing happen! Why are they so incredibly inept at doing anything? I advise trying to get a direct line to a manager in the network department or similar. That way, when it all goes wrong, you can actually talk to the same person and hold someone accountable.

lchiu7

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#42182 21-Jul-2006 17:08

Well I have been on the phone with several folks, escalated to the Operations Supervisor and now they think they can send somebody around tomorrow morning! I have been with them for over 4.5 years and spend over $200/month on phone, TV and Internet so perhaps somebody worked out that I am a valuable customer?

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freitasm

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#42196 21-Jul-2006 17:59

Matt1: Yep. TelstraClear are useless at getting people out to you on time. Took us a week to get a temporary line installed and three weeks to get a permanent line after we moved house despite ringing them 5 weeks in advance of moving and again 2 weeks in advance to check! Basically, their network contractors are good and know what they're doing, but everything seems to get lost in the black hole that is TelstraClear's call centre. You can call multiple times and be assured that "it's all here on the computer" only to have absolutely nothing happen! Why are they so incredibly inept at doing anything? I advise trying to get a direct line to a manager in the network department or similar. That way, when it all goes wrong, you can actually talk to the same person and hold someone accountable.

Which was exactly the opposite of my experience. I advised TCL of my move 6 weeks ahead, called 2 weeks ahead just to confirm, and the installer showed up exactly on the promised date and time.

I actually posted about this as a praise, back a couple of months ago, since it seems everyone only post about the bad things...

lchiu7

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#42208 21-Jul-2006 20:26

This is getting a bit strange. Since my phone service is still okay, I thought the problem might be on the pole on the street - the main feed on the street getting disconnected from the cable drop to my house (but the separate phone connection still okay). Then I turned on my other TV which still uses an analogue decoder and lo and behold there is a picture! Plus I have split my connection to the cable modem so I can record analogue on my PC and that works also.

Called up TCL again and they can ping my analogue decoder but not my digital decoder or modem. So I doubt it's a cabling problem - must be something else in the network. It's sort of hard to believe that overnight my cable modem and digital cable box go belly up!

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

lchiu7

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#42363 25-Jul-2006 10:12

Just an update in case others ever experience this problem. Tech came by on Saturday. Found all my signal levels to be way too low but was surprised I could still get analogue TV service. Thought it might be a transformer in the demarc but no, the signal going into the demarc was also low. Up on the pole and then found the signal on the street feed was also too low. So outside his area of control and has referred it to TCL network folks.

Interestingly, if I am the only person in my node who has complained and yet the problem is in the network, I must be the only person in the node who has either digital cable or cable modem service. The other TCL customers must be phone or analogue cable only. Think of the marketing opportunities TCL has missed out on!

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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jpwise

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#42534 26-Jul-2006 15:42

May be just low enough that having 4 decoders (analog, digital (+cablemodem), & cablemodem) was enough to drop it below the usable threshold.

Of course if the entire streets low, maybe they just got a new customer up the road which took you out. ;p

Jp.

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lchiu7

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#42547 26-Jul-2006 17:35

No idea what the problem was but two network techs came to the street today and fixed it. At least TCL credited me for one week's lost service and also threw in a credit for next month's phone rental

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

infused

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#43065 1-Aug-2006 14:39

TC have a 5 day wait for non business customers.

chiefie

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#43068 1-Aug-2006 15:22

infused: TC have a 5 day wait for non business customers.

Is this TC, TelstraClear?

I think we need to have a list of abbreviation.
I use:
TCL for TelstraClear Limited
TNZ for Telecom NZ
VFNZ for Vodafone NZ
Voda / VDFN for Vodafone

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lokinz

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#43071 1-Aug-2006 15:37

How about..

TCL = TelstraClear Ltd
TC = Telecon
VF = Vodafone

lchiu7

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#43073 1-Aug-2006 15:53

infused: TC have a 5 day wait for non business customers.

Maybe standard policy but if you press them you can do better. I complained on the Friday, was told initially that the earliest slot for a Tech was Tuesday but when I esclalated they got somebody around on Saturday morning. Alas the problem wasn't in the house but in the network so I didn't get resolution till Wednesday

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

infused

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#43074 1-Aug-2006 15:58

I ment Telstraclear, sorry for the confusion.

If you press most companies they will fit you in somewhere, i'm just saying normal policy is 5 days, which is pretty crappy service. Although, currently Telecom isn't doing much better.

Avenger

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#43131 2-Aug-2006 09:28

All phone companies are having trouble with finding tech, there a major shortage at present, Plus Telecom install techs going on strike want help either