Full Flavour = Full Failure

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Full Flavour = Full Failure

twoshoes

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#177241 27-Jul-2015 16:16

Hello All,

I have been utilising Geekzone as a good source of information for a few years. I haven't felt the need to post as I feel I didn't have much worthwhile to add.

Perhaps this post will be worthwhile to some.

I have been with Full Flavour this year for my business broadband and my home broadband. They offered a reasonable deal and better yet, are a local company.

Our business needs the internet to function. All of our systems are in the cloud and we use VOIP.

Things started off very poorly from the outset. The install left us without internet and phones on three different occasions.

I received a note to ask why I hadn't paid my first invoices. I had not received any and had to chase them up for these. The invoice arrived and they then charged me twice.
The invoices were never itemised. I asked for itemised invoices in February and repeated requests were ignored. On May 27th I was given access to an online portal for self checking. Still not an itemised invoice. The online portal is difficult to navigate and it was here that I found out I had been overcharged for calls since the start of my contract.
I alerted Full Flavour and once again follow up emails on my part were needed. Finally a response:
"I've that you are indeed on a special rate of XXc / min and we've been overcharging you... Everything else OK with this month's invoice?"

No apology. Just a credit note to the tune of the 6 months worth of overcharging.

There have been outages and their support line goes to voicemail. Messages are left yet not replied to. I continually need to chase them for an answer.
On one occasion the voicemail greeting notified all customers to power the modem off an on to fix the issue.
When this did not fix the issue I sent an email saying:

"Rebooting multiple times during the afternoon does not fix the issue. Powering off and on does not fix the issue."

There one line reply was "Hi, please power off your modem and back on, that should fix the issue."

This is their attitude. They do not seem to care at all. I cannot recall a time in business where customer service has been so consistently poor. Communications go ignored and no responsibility is taken.

I notice they are on another drive for new business. My thoughts are their systems and service need serious refining before taking on more customer load.
I want Full Flavour to succeed. I enjoy championing small local companies. Perhaps mine is an isolated case. This is just a heads up to those of you thinking of using their service. For me they have brought me too much frustration and wasted hours.

SirHumphreyAppleby

2844 posts

Uber Geek

#1352760 27-Jul-2015 18:09

Judging by what I have read on this site, and also from experience, this is not an isolated incident.

Full Flavour still owe me almost $200. They even told me it was on its way.

myfullflavour

896 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Full Flavour

#1352837 27-Jul-2015 19:34

Hi Nigel,

Happy to address any further concerns you may have, though every issue you've raised recently I've dealt with personally and believed I had addressed to a satisfactory level.

Just to recap what we have done for you:

1) Written new software just for you in order to give you self-service access to call records
2) Accommodated your request to use your existing router which has extended to configuring and providing support for it.
3) Customised your voice system so you can get after-hours call notifications, rather than regular voicemail
4) At your request split your account into two for billing purposes even though this regularly voids your discount for our "home and work on one account discount"
5) Within 24 hours of being made aware your calls were charged at our standard rate instead of your special rate, issued a credit backdating all incorrect charges

I'm sorry, but from my perspective we've bent over backwards to serve you. Obviously you don't feel this way so I'll send you a quick email now, feel free to respond if there are still concerns outstanding for you.

Robert,

You've got your own thread dedicated to slandering us, even after issuing a credit back to you.
If you still have a query you may engage with me directly by email.

I note that every ISP has their share of unhappy customers and we're no exception. When a customer does have a poor experience, we do try our best to see through a positive resolution.

I'll add my 2c about the use of these forums however. Geekzone users getting help/responses from official reps or volunteers at ISPs on Geekzone is a privilege, not a right. I'm not against users seeking help on these forums, especially where resolution may help other customers, but using the forums as a form of indulging in self-pity when no real resolution is sought does no one any favours.

This will be my only response in this thread.

raytaylor

4014 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1352869 27-Jul-2015 20:14

This is interesting. A modem that constantly requires power cycling usually would indicate three things.
1) The modem needs replacing, its nat table is overloaded by p2p software or the more likely issue:
2) There is a problem with the line and it might be chorus copper or dslams at fault.
3) There is a problem with the internal wiring.
If 2 or 3 is the case, then it probably wouldnt matter what isp you are with.

However it does sound like the fault needs to be looked at closer and perhaps a ticket lodged with chorus for a callout. Problem is most ISP's dont like to get chorus involved unless absolutley necessary because no customer wants to pay for the chorus callout when they determine its the internal wiring at fault.

Ray Taylor

There is no place like localhost

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BarTender

3606 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1352994 28-Jul-2015 06:18

Sometimes it's better to recommend the customer moves elsewhere. The fact multiple systems were changed to accommodate the customer speaks volumes of their level of service IMHO.
Things go wrong and often they are outside the control of the ISP especially when it comes to fibre installation. I think it will take at least the next two years before the LFC systems and processes are bedded in

So I would like to hear the OPs side of not using the ISP provided router and the need for itemised billing. Since if it had to be written for you if I were in your situation I would be pretty happy about that.

twoshoes

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1353192 28-Jul-2015 10:32

Thank you for the replies.
Thanks Ray, the modems are fine. I use one Full Flavour one and one Cisco one I supplied. I hope I haven't made out that their network is a constant problem. It certainly isn't. Sorry for the confusion.

Bartender, you are correct. Often times the ISP often wears the heat when install problems arise.

In true gentlemanly fashion, Jesse and I have arranged a meet up in person to discuss the situation.
There is an obvious disconnect between how we both perceive the service side of things.

We will both learn from the experience.

axolotl

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1405698 14-Oct-2015 14:37

What was the outcome of this?

I was quite excited by the prospect of UFB and supporting a local company but after reading quite a few threads about bad customer service, broken promises re refunds etc I now have cold feet about signing up to Full Flavour. Hmm.