iBurst no longer responding at HelloPeter?

R

Rustum

Expert Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2007
Messages
1,476
Reaction score
4
Location
Cape Town, SA
It seems iBurst has either withdrawn subscription from HelloPeter, or has let it lapsed. They're now listed as a company who doesn't respond. Pity the people complaining there without realising it...
 
@Rustum: It seems quite a few companies have withdrawn their subscription from Hellopeter, some of the noteworthy ones are Woolworths, Acer, British Airways and Toyota.

Personally I think it is commendable move. The model of pay to respond is ethically questionable and i think more companies should stand up and be counted...
 
If they no longer respond to queries via their own website, i doubt they would bother with another. Sent a query last week to them on incorrect billing and I'm still waiting for a reply
 
@RichW: I agree with you on the model - I've always thought it odd that people would pay a subscription to respond to their customers. I guess as more companies develop their own or better websites, they can deal with complaints on their own websites.

But I think also that HelloPeter created a lot of publicity so that companies originally felt compelled to pay a subscription, or HelloPeter realised that companies would pay to avoid bad publicity and started asking a subscription. I don't know the evolution of its economic model, but yes, as companies in general realise the importance of their own web presence, it may spell the end of HelloPeter.

Having said that, HelloPeter has been the place to go if you wanted to vent or even hope to get a response from a company. And while HelloPeter's model may be ethically challenged, the judgement would come against HelloPeter for asking money (but seeing it as an opportunity?) more so than against a company who paid the subscription. I doubt then that companies are withdrawing their subscription based on ethics; I think it's an economic decision in tandem with more savvy web presence.

HelloPeter is also a popular forum: the average customer knows about it more than they would about a specialist forum like MyBB. So one could also interpret withdrawal from HelloPeter as returning the head to the sand. I don't know.

The fact remains that company subscription to HelloPeter is/was a publicity/marketing move, so quietly withdrawing from it, while maintaining a presence on a specialist site (admittedly free), and especially if your own online support is not up to scratch, says something about a company's publicity/marketing nous.

Specifically regarding iBurst, when I made the original post, the storm over package migration was just gathering force. I noted that they had withdrawn from HelloPeter, but they were also very quiet here, before people ostensibly went on leave. They're still dead still about the migration fiasco. It looks like a tactic, waiting for the energy to dissipate...

Edit: Annual fee for HelloPeter, $37 => R270. Then there's an added fee depending on how many complaints come in, but no details provided.
 
Last edited:
HelloPeter has worked for me for Cell C and Unisa. IBurst no longer paying could be a reflection on their financial position...
 
RichW said:
@Rustum: It seems quite a few companies have withdrawn their subscription from Hellopeter, some of the noteworthy ones are Woolworths, Acer, British Airways and Toyota.

Personally I think it is commendable move. The model of pay to respond is ethically questionable and i think more companies should stand up and be counted...
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you. While it's conceptually a great idea, I think their business model is tantamount to extortion. It doesn't matter that the subscription fee isn't much, but it's the principle of the matter.

Moreoever, as with any forum for complaints (or anything, really), most of it is rubbish posted by idiots. Genuine complaints are lost in an avalanche of pointless time wasters.
 
Have to say that the total lack of comunication from Iburst is creating a "no care" image that could easily have been prevented by just regularly giving some feedback on their progress & what they are doing to fix problems.
 
Last edited:
I have a suspicion that iBurst no longer cares about it's residential users and actually wants to encourage them to leave.

This will move nicely into line with the company's stated objective of targeting the business market. (Good luck with that by the way... :D )

It will free up bandwidth on their congested towers allowing for expansion to more lucrative suckers.
 
Gekco said:
I have a suspicion that iBurst no longer cares about it's residential users and actually wants to encourage them to leave.

This will move nicely into line with the company's stated objective of targeting the business market. (Good luck with that by the way... :D )

It will free up bandwidth on their congested towers allowing for expansion to more lucrative suckers.
Click to expand...

deja vu

sentech
 
yeah it does have that sinkinf feeling to it.
 
@RichW @Rustum @Azimuth These are really interesting points, and judging by the direction of this conversation, i thought you may be interested in www.getclosure.co.za - we also deal with online complaints, but our service is free for both consumers and suppliers. The other main difference to hellopeter is that complaints are not published on getclosure; we deliver them directly to the companies to give them an opportunity to respond in a discreet environment and resolve the situation. This is a win-win situation for customers and suppliers. Check out our site and let me know what you think.
 
I've looked at getclosure. Have to agree that it's model is commendable, although of course it doesn't satisfy our naturally prurient bent.

As to whether it gets a company like iBurst to respond, does getclosure have any stats on that?
 
getclosure said:
@RichW @Rustum @Azimuth These are really interesting points, and judging by the direction of this conversation, i thought you may be interested in www.getclosure.co.za - we also deal with online complaints, but our service is free for both consumers and suppliers. The other main difference to hellopeter is that complaints are not published on getclosure; we deliver them directly to the companies to give them an opportunity to respond in a discreet environment and resolve the situation. This is a win-win situation for customers and suppliers. Check out our site and let me know what you think.
Click to expand...

RAS!
 
I think IBURST has realised that they crap and probably dont have enough agents to respond to all the complaints
 
@Rustum iBurst are one of 1171 suppliers that respond to complaints on getclosure. How they respond is out of our control, but we make sure that all complaints are directed to them promptly, and also send them reminders to respond.
 
Even in the days that IWorst did repond on Hellopeter, it was a cut and paste job.

Like" Hi (Whatever name you like) we are sorry for the inconvenience caused by (insert situation), be advised our technicians are working on the problem and it will be sorted (365 is the max) days.

Or we are aware of your problem and apologize for the inconvenience caused. ( Yea right :mad:) We are working on the issue and will be in contact soon( 2035 is also soon :cry:)

So nothing lost, nothing gained
 
I just remembered from way back ............. the reason IWorst is no longer responding on hellopeter.com is that their rep for hellopeter is currently the IBurst rep ..................................................

Hello xxxxxx,

Thank you for bringing your concern to our attention.

As discussed i have escalated this matter to our advanced support department.


Kind Regards,
Gcebile Rakharebe
[email protected]
Click to expand...

directly from hellopeter.com dating back to Oct 2009

:sick:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X