grrrrrrr cybersmart

[Avenue]

scuse the rant, but I am getting so p!ssed off with cybersmart, I have to let off some steam!!

I asked them how long a line transfer would take, so that I could quit my old isp with enough time to switch over without any downtime.

They get back to me today- the last day of the month and say oh telkom cannot swap your line, because its still with axxess, and that I need to request them to migrate it back to telkom first, and the swap will now take a further 7 days- of which I will be without internet.

So I email to the help desk asking about this, and they have the nerve to tell me no, its my fault for not telling them in my first email that my circuit was with axxess, rather than telkom.

Im like- how the $%^ am I supposed to know thats important :wtf: this isnt my area of expertise, thats what I rely on your help desk for! if you know that this is a potential problem, then you should had enough common sense to point that out!!

I couldn't believe the cheek of putting the blame on me for this one


* the problem has been resolved to my satisfaction, see follow up below.

 

[Fudzy]

You didn't think to mention that? If you were moving away from Cybersmart to another ISP you'd have the same problem.

 

[Avenue]

You didn't think to mention that? If you were moving away from Cybersmart to another ISP you'd have the same problem.

like I said I didn't know that was an issue. if I purchase medical aid through a broker, I dont want them to come back to me at the end of the month and say oh sorry you are not covered for this month because you did not fill in xyz form and that its your fault because you should have told us that you have not filled in that form. I dont know what forms need to be filled in- if I did, I wouldnt need a broker.

I dont mind so much if the dude comes back to me and says look I F'ed up, I should have told you about this, but I didn't think about it... but to duck and dive and then put the blame on me, makes him loose all credibility.

 

[cavedog]

So many people complain about cybersmart......

 

[plazma]

So many people complain about cybersmart......

Yeah, and the majority are moronic. See above.

 

[laurie]

scuse the rant, but I am getting so p!ssed off with cybersmart, I have to let off some steam!!

I asked them how long a line transfer would take, so that I could quit my old isp with enough time to switch over without any downtime.

They get back to me today- the last day of the month and say oh telkom cannot swap your line, because its still with axxess, and that I need to request them to migrate it back to telkom first, and the swap will now take a further 7 days- of which I will be without internet.

So I email to the help desk asking about this, and they have the nerve to tell me no, its my fault for not telling them in my first email that my circuit was with axxess, rather than telkom.

Im like- how the $%^ am I supposed to know thats important :wtf: this isnt my area of expertise, thats what I rely on your help desk for! if you know that this is a potential problem, then you should had enough common sense to point that out!!

I couldn't believe the cheek of putting the blame on me for this one

You can still apply for the service , and the service will still work while you are waiting for the line transfer to happen. Once you push the apply button the account will be activated ( ie you can use it immediately) and the transfer request will be submitted . You will not get charged for the line until it is transferred so you need not worry about a double bill. I am surprised you were not told this either and I am hoping you recall who you spoke to so that his attitude and understanding can be corrected. Please email me, [email protected] and I will sort it out for you.


L

 

[plazma]

Hey Laurie, do you have some kind of a crawler that pops up whenever Cybersmart is mentioned here?

 

[Avenue]

Yeah, and the majority are moronic. See above.

and thats just a stupid thing to say- theres a difference between being a moron and not having the necessary knowledge.

You can still apply for the service , and the service will still work while you are waiting for the line transfer to happen. Once you push the apply button the account will be activated ( ie you can use it immediately) and the transfer request will be submitted . You will not get charged for the line until it is transferred so you need not worry about a double bill. I am surprised you were not told this either and I am hoping you recall who you spoke to so that his attitude and understanding can be corrected. Please email me, [email protected] and I will sort it out for you.


L

Thanks Laurie- I have emailed the entire help desk thread to your address FYI. Thanks for the feedback, I feel a lot more at ease now

 

[Pyro]

I had a similar problem, but from the other side of the fence. I wanted to transfer my line from Cybersmart to Webafrica. (Accepted the 4Mbps/16GB special before Cybersmart introduced their new prices).

I stated in my email to them exactly what I intend to do. (Ticket/log #1410007)

The process started on the 27th when I sent my first email mail.

A helpdesk agent came back to me with their updated offers... so I replied:

Hi Bonga,
I am aware of your new packages, but as I said in my initial mail, I am upgrading to 4Mbps.

My new ISP will be taking over the ADSL circuit (now 4Mbps).

If you made the 10GB/384K package public earlier, I would have stayed with CS, but my new package was already finalised by that time.

...

On the 8th I got a call from WA stating they can't transfer the line as Cybersmart (another ISP) still has the line.

Sent a mail at 2pm on the 8th to request this. Got a request for a fax at 10pm, and sent through a fax at 9am the next morning.

9am on the following morning I got a reply from them saying they couldn't find the fax, and asking from what number I sent it. I sent back a reply just before 3pm on the 10th giving them this info... then started waiting.

After not receiving I started asking for updates via mail without getting any responses...
12th @ 2pm
13th @ 1pm

I then called them on the 14th. The agent found the Fax quite quickly and after talking to someone else for a minute or so, came back and confirmed that they have now put through the request to Telkom, and it should be transferred in at most two weeks.

But then I get an email out of the blue on the 19th from Siyabonga again, requesting me to send another fax as he could not find the first.

After sending another fax, I got confirmation (again) that the line would be transferred at the end of the month.

...

So even though they should know that I can't transfer my line to another ISP while they hold onto the line, they only really started the process 2 weeks later And if the emails are to believed - only 3 weeks later.

...

In that sense I can understand why people are so unhappy about CS support

I loved the service CS provides, but after that whole experience, I'm not as sure that I want to return to them later the year The JHB POP should improve their network even more, and I hardly ever need support...

I'll re-evaluate things again if/when telkom announce their new line speeds later the year, as I'm unlikely to get more than 1 Mbps where I currently stay, but I'm not too happy about how Siyabonga handled this. Whether that's his fault, or a shortcoming in their logging system I do not know, but a week without any response is not acceptable.

I still wonder if the telephonic support actually put through the request as they reported...

 

[nitroyetevn]

I still wonder if the telephonic support actually put through the request as they reported...

On a side note, I often have this issue. It isn't that the tech support people are unhelpful, but they seem to fulfill the role of messenger/redirecter instead of actual support. If your connection isn't actually on, they run you through the motions, but if you have any technical problem that is more complicated, or simply a question that is technically inclined, the response is always the same: email your query to [email protected] . Sometimes, I even get the feeling that I'm just fed generic statements, because they either don't know themselves, or don't want to bother with details. For instance, the internet has been bad for most (everyone?) lately and I was aware of the various maintenance going on on our lines. Long (days) after the projected completion of the work, I phoned to ask if this was still what was causing the poor quality of my connection and if so, was there any further information released by the "powers that be" about when things might be back to normal. The response was "oh towards the end of the week maybe." I mean, what does that even mean? Either there's a day/group of days that have been announced, or the support person simply doesn't know. I won't be angry if they don't know, because after all, it isn't Cybersmart's fault. Yes, they do, in my opinion, have a responsibility to customers that extends further than copy-pasted uninformative emails, but I'd rather hear "We don't know at this time," than "umm, flip a coin? next Tues. is heads, next month is tails..." Would be a bit more professional...

Sorry for the long rant, but this isn't an isolated example of the technical support not really providing much technical support and I'm wondering if most experience this?

 

[adrianx]

Just like I said in another thread earlier, I think the bad guys (as usual) are Telkom. They downgraded my "Closer" package (which didn't include internet) the moment I moved my line over to Cybersmart. I went ahead and made long distance calls without realising that I had been downgraded to Closer 1.

 

[Pyro]

First line support doesn't always have all the facts relating to rare occurances like we had recently, so I can forgive that to some extent. It can be remedied by a simple 'current issues' type bulletin on their side, but I've seen the effect quite often from our support people at work as well.

They are often placed to handle basic issues and just capture the information for more complex problems to be passed on to some competent handler, or in this case refer you to an email address. You wouldn't be able to very effectively fix problems if your phone constantly keeps ringing.

My main gripe was firstly the 7 day delay for an answer because they couldn't find a fax that was definitely received on thier end, and secondly the way one hand seemingly not knowing what the other was doing.

 

[Avenue]

ok so I think its only fair that I give a follow up as I have been really impressed with the help Laurie from cybersmart has given me- following the above response- the support staff have been spoken to, and im pleased to say its the 1st of may and my account is still active. So thank you Laurie for sorting it all out, Im gald to see that cybersmart management does scour these forums and is willing to engage the public personally when problems do arise, that is pretty cool.

 

[Avenue]

First line support doesn't always have all the facts relating to rare occurances like we had recently, so I can forgive that to some extent. It can be remedied by a simple 'current issues' type bulletin on their side, but I've seen the effect quite often from our support people at work as well.

They are often placed to handle basic issues and just capture the information for more complex problems to be passed on to some competent handler, or in this case refer you to an email address. You wouldn't be able to very effectively fix problems if your phone constantly keeps ringing.

My main gripe was firstly the 7 day delay for an answer because they couldn't find a fax that was definitely received on thier end, and secondly the way one hand seemingly not knowing what the other was doing.

yeah I sometimes feel sorry for business owners- you can spend all your bucks setting up a business, and then have someone earning minimum wage and who really doesn't care, cause you to loose all your customers that you have worked so hard for.
like the other day I went to the steers drive thru- the chicky taking my order, gives me my food, charges me for everything, but doesn't ring up the coke- she is pocketing all the drink money. I reported her to the owner and of course he was pissed- and rightly so. the problem is, he fires her and the next will be just as bad.

 

[ponder]

ok so I think its only fair that I give a follow up as I have been really impressed with the help Laurie from cybersmart has given me- following the above response- the support staff have been spoken to, and im pleased to say its the 1st of may and my account is still active. So thank you Laurie for sorting it all out, Im gald to see that cybersmart management does scour these forums and is willing to engage the public personally when problems do arise, that is pretty cool.

If you ever do have any issues you can email Laurie directly and you will get a response.