John Linton .....very frustrated and looking for alternative employment.
There is little 'joy' to be had from being involved in providing residential ADSL services but over the past few years there is even less 'joy' than usual. It's true that providing residential ADSL services provides a constant challenge and that, over the years, you develop a very interesting and enjoyable relationship with a percentage of your 'customers' whom you get to know by their given names via correspondence and other means. Some of your customers become friends despite the fact that a relationship may begin under far from friendly circumstances. The problem with any wholesale business is that, no matter how hard you try - at the 'end of the day' - your performance is often constrained by circumstances (and suppliers) that are completely beyond your ability to control. This, for instance, is the sort of letter I am seeing increasingly being sent to customers:
Dear Sir,
Thank you for sending the ticket reference number of this issue which helped me investigate it.
I have checked on this and to what the support engineer informed you on 5th November, the reason why you're experiencing slows speeds is because there are some network congestion issues at the exchange which is affecting most customers connected to that exchange.
The support engineer has informed you that issue would be fixed by 30th of November, relying on the estimation that was given to us by Telstra Wholesale. However we did request for an update today on this issue and it seems that it's going to take longer for it to be resolved.
As you may understand this is beyond Exetel's control at this point but I could offer you the following options
1. We have checked on the availability of another supplier infrastructure by way of a pre-qualification check and it seems thatADSL 2 via AAPT infrastructure is currently available. This option is given to you on a special basis, as these AAPT plans by normal procedure are not available to any of the other Exetel customers on Telstra plans.
However we do not guarantee the activation of this service because we have to submit the application in order to check the technical availability of the plan. Also there is bound to be 2-48 hours of downtime provided the service can be provisioned at the location. All things going well, the transfer should take no longer than 6 working days. Also, because the Telstra plan is to be cancelled whilst on contract the early cancellation fee which otherwise should apply will not be charged to you in this instance. Further we will not charge you for the plan change fee but there will be a new 12 month contract that would be initiated which is beyond our control because wholesale suppliers impose it as a minimum term. The plans available for this option are one of the plans here- :
http://www.exetel.com.au/a_plan_pricing_aapt.php
.
If you wish to go ahead with this option, please let me know and the plan that you'd like to go on, I will have this arranged for you.
2. Regrettably, if we are not able to comply with option 1, or if you do not wish to change plans, you could churn away to a different provider who better suits your needs and we will not impose the $100.00 early cancellation fee on you.
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, however I will personally assist you in having this issue completely resolved to the extent that we can.
Kind Regards
This situation ends up with a lost, and totally pissed off, customer and it makes Exetel look uncaring and incompetent. The carrier couldn't care less that they have caused this unhappiness and will never do anything about it. The wholesaler is judged, quite rightly, to be at fault and all of the people within the wholesaler, from the first engineer who took the call, through his/her supervisor and then on up the 'chain of command' till it reaches the very top of the company, are made to feel helpless and frustrated. Everyone loses, except the carrier, who caused the problem by their own greed and incompetence in the first place.
I would like another set of responsibilities whereby, if there is a problem, I can play a part in fixing it.
Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011
ABN 350 979 865 46