Are Downer always so difficult to deal with?

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deyur

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#171515 21-Apr-2015 12:12

<rant>
Had a tech come by a couple of weeks ago to scope out a fibre install. I wasn't home, so he leaves a card saying I need to call Downer to organise a followup. I call them up a few days later and am told that there's no more scoping required, but I needed to fill out a consent form before they could go ahead with the install. But on the phone the CS rep says something to the effect of "the tech will bring a consent form on the day and you can fill it out on the spot". They've already got me slated for April 21st, and a tech will be by to perform the install in the morning. All sorted. I go ahead and book some leave to be around for the day.

Fast forward to today - I'm sitting at home twiddling my thumbs and wondering where the tech is. After waiting all morning I call up Downer and am told that the installation was cancelled because I hadn't sent through a completed consent form. Supposedly, when the tech came by he left a consent form with instructions for it to be filled and returned (he didn't). So when the CS rep told me "everything is good to go, see you on the 21st", she actually meant "your installation is about to be cancelled, enjoy wasting a day off".

In a wonderful twist of fate, I actually got the same CS rep when I called up today, whose response when I explained everything was "oh, yeah that's incorrect - the consent has to be signed before the install date is booked." So here I am, sitting at home doing nothing; about to book another day of leave because Downer won't narrow down the install time to anything smaller than an entire day.
</rant>

So yeah, I'm annoyed. But I'm curious - is the install process always this painful? I'm astonished that there's so much confusion over what seems like such a simple process. Surely by now things like "when a consent form is required" would be understood well enough that this kind of thing shouldn't happen.

Lias

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#1288782 21-Apr-2015 20:31

That by all accounts is an extremely pain free and easy UFB experience.

No I'm not kidding.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Wheelbarrow01

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#1288923 22-Apr-2015 08:22

OK, so from the sound of it, the scoper identified that there was some additional civil works required onsite for which a separate civil consent was required (this is not the same as high level owner consent).

Essentially, the scoper should have left with you a civil works consent form, which specifies the exact work that will take place onsite (eg 1 metre trench in grass from letterbox to front wall, hole drilled in wall and termination box fitted) This form can be signed by the owner of the property, or the person who requested the work as long as they indicate on the form that they have informed the owner (there is a clause for this).
The service company would have been waiting for that form to be signed and sent back to them. They would have cancelled the installation appointment in your case because they didn't receive the form from you in time.

From what you're saying, it would appear the scoper clearly did not leave a copy of the civil consent form for you, which is the root cause of your issue. The secondary cause is the misinformation conveyed to you when you contacted the service company.

Sometimes the service company will keep the appointment active, and the installation tech will begin work if the signed civil consent form is handed to him when he arrives, but it seems that in most cases the service companies require the form to be returned to them before the installation date otherwise they won't even send the tech out.

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