I quit before I started

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › I quit before I started

gundar

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#100671 16-Apr-2012 13:42

I spent some hours this weekend researching a good ISP who could deliver on one invoice all the things my little enterprises use. After some calls and reading, I decided Slingshot should be the provider of choice.

I can't sign up because Slingshot does not accept email addeses in the .co namespace, then I can't speak to a human because there are layers and layers of electronic menus, then finally, I decided to send an email to let them know I was on hold thinking that Godzilla had risen in Auckland and was stomping on call centres.

The best part of this experience - If you call from a mobile phone and the service automatically detects that you are calling from a mobile phone it says it will hang up and call you back. It then hangs up, no choice to you. Sometimes it calls back.

Seriously? WTF?

I did hang on forever this morning to tell them to please cancel my request and make sure ther are no transactions or fees as I wouldn't join even if I was paid to.

Customer service epic fail.

lucky015

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#610299 17-Apr-2012 02:40

.co? Columbia? Or do they have a blanket ban on anything .co such as .co.nz? It makes perfect sense not to allow an online connection request from Columbia.

As for waiting on hold its pretty much inevitable while calling any ISP, Slingshot are probably a little worse than most but not by much, Its just best to pick your time well and try again later if needed.

As for what you submitted on their online help system I fail to see how you intended to achieve anything.

chiefie

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#610307 17-Apr-2012 06:34

.CO is now quite commonly used as an alternative to .COM since that TLD is so scarcely available.

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lucky015

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#610733 17-Apr-2012 19:01

chiefie: .CO is now quite commonly used as an alternative to .COM since that TLD is so scarcely available.

Yes, People do use it somewhat improperly but it is still the dedicated TLD for Columbia.

Personally I wouldn't trust any company with a .co Domain and it is completely unreasonable to expect an ISP to do so without verification.

gundar

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#610772 17-Apr-2012 20:03

"Second-level domains (widgets.co) are intended for global use. Third level domains (widgets.com.co, org.co, net.co, gov.co), are intended for entities connected with Colombia." Source - Wikipedia

The post is a result of the frustration and my venting my spleen at the point of going thermo.

Anyhow, the Slingshot modem arrived this morning despite me being advised by the finance computer I was inelligable for an account due to my phone number being unrecognisable and my mobile account application being declined for an as yet unaccounted for reason (and of course, my calling to ensure no transaction goes ahead).

If you are reading this and you work for SlingShot, please PM me, I would like to offer my services as a BA to help you stop losing customers before they sign up and I am sure you are not giving away modems so somebody needs to please uplift this as I have no use for it and have no intention of paying for it.

Rant aside, seriously, call me if you really want some help - I think you need it.

scottr

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#611448 18-Apr-2012 20:32

Hi, modems are pre-configured and shipped as soon as your signup is submitted, accepted (passed internal validation) and processed, this is to ensure that you have the modem and are ready to go by the time your services are activated by Chorus. By the time you called back to cancel the connection the modem would've already been shipped and we can't 'unship' a sent modem. Send me a pm and i'll organise a courier bag to be sent to you so that it can be returned.

re: the .co email address issue, I'll look at removing whatever restricts that from signup.

gundar

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#611640 19-Apr-2012 08:23

Hi

A courier bag is on it's way.

The punch might have been to the gut, but to be fair, the signup was denied via a return mail on Saturday night to say credit criteria were not met even though I was prompted for my credit card info and funds are available (maybe signups should be handled by humans?). This turned out to actually be, if explained correctly, that Slingshot did not like my phone number.

Thanks

Gund

gundar

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#611962 19-Apr-2012 15:19

So that you know, my rant is not in vain and Slingshot are working to make sure this never happens again.

Gund

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Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

congruous

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#612694 21-Apr-2012 06:52

I have found their customer service to be absolutely awesome.

I have called them about 6 times so far and get through to a human within about 5 minutes, every time.

The customer service people have been really friendly and cool to talk to. I signed up for some services with my phone line and then decided I didn't want them anymore after a couple of weeks and they basically just credited back the charges.

Slingshot have been great and on par with Telecom's customer service, which I also rate as excellent.

Orcon on the other hand ...

:) :)

It's a shame you had this experience as I'm sure you would have been happy once connected.