Have you missed me?
For more than a week, I haven't blogged but I haven't been away – so what was the problem?
We all lose our connection to the Internet from time to time and it's very frustrating. Usually switching off the PC and switching it back on seems to do the trick. Sometimes you just leave things a while and miraculously it sorts itself out. But what I've experienced in the last 10 days has been altogether different.
Now everything was working perfectly when I went to bed on last Friday night 1 May. Saturday morning 2 May, I just could not complete a connection to the Net. I spent much of the day trying everything I could think of. But nothing worked, so I called my Internet service provider Pipex.
Over the days to come, I was to become very familiar with their processes. The first line of 'support' is a call centre in the Philippines. Very soon, it became apparent they they could do nothing to help me, so I would always be transferred to the second line of 'support' which is in India. But I could never go directly through to the second line – I always had to answer all the security questions with the first line and then convince the first line that I had done everything I could at my end to resolve the fault and needed to speak to the second line. In turn, the second line staff would often speak to an engineer in the so-called Fault Management Team but I could never speak to a team member direct. I would always be assured that someone would call me back. For the first few days, they did; but later they often did not.
So my first call on Saturday was a frustrating event. Nothing I was told or advised solved the problem - but clearly that winking light in the ADSL aperture of my Speed Touch modem was a bad sign.
Sunday came and my IT guru and close friend Eric Lee came over and spent much of the day trying everything he could think of and calling Pipex twice. We decided it just had to be Pipex's problem and they agreed to investigate and call back. I couldn't send out my “Thought For The Week” or up-date my blogs or web site, but Eric fixed my iPhone so that I could receive and send e-mails (in the year and a half that I've had the phone I hadn't needed this function or known how to set it up). Over the days that followed, the iPhone proved a life-saver but at home it was less than ideal because we live on a hill and, while the signal is adequate for voice calls, it's weak for data such as e-mails or web sites.
Day three without a connection was a Bank Holiday Monday in the UK so I was fortunate to have experienced the problem on three non-working days. Twenty-four hours after agreeing to investigate, there was a call from Pipex's call centre. Once again, they tried to suggest that the fault could be with my modem or my internal wiring but, when I assured them that we been through all that, I was asked to disconnect my BT line for 10 minutes while they ran a line check. Ten minutes later, I had another call: at last they admitted that a fault had been found at the exchange and that a fault report would now be lodged with Openreach.
Day four (Tuesday) and, another 24 hours after my last conversation with Pipex, I had another call from them. I was told that BT had corrected the fault. The problem was that I STILL could not connect to the Internet. Yet again the guy from Pipex suggested that the problem could be with my modem but, under pressure from me, agreed to set up a visit from a Pipex engineer – but not for another two days.
I called Eric again. I'd been thinking of buying a wireless modem router, so we decided to go ahead and buy one now which would test whether the modem was the problem. We went and bought a Belkin N wireless modem router and he installed it – but STILL no Net connection could be achieved. I called Pipex again to explain that we had changed the modem (and for good measure the DSL filter) and the situation was unchanged, so I wondered about the benefit of an engineer visiting my home – but I was assured that this was necessary to locate the fault.
Day five (Wednesday) and there was a call from a Tiscali engineer to confirm Thursday's visit (Tiscali own Pipex).
Day six (Thursday): sure enough, first thing in the morning, the Tiscali engineer visited my home and sure enough he confirmed that there was nothing wrong in any of my equipment or wiring. Instead he said that there was a fault at BT''s end - which took us back to where we were three days ago. I gave them the morning and afternoon and rang Pipex again. I was asked to wait an hour for a call from someone who was working on the problem. The call never came ....
Day seven (Friday): we start again. Another call to Pipex; again I'm escalated to the second line; again they consult a engineer. Now I'm told that they are trying to make an appointment with an BT engineer and will call me back sometime today. After five hours, again no call. So once again, a call to Pipex; once again, I go thorough all identity checks and conversation with the first line; once again, inevitably, I'm put through to the second line; once again, I'm promised a call back – this time between 7-9 pm. For the third consecutive time, no call came.
Meanwhile today it was announced that the UK operations of Tiscali (including Pipex) is to be sold to TalkTalk (owned by Carphone Warehouse).
It's Saturday – a full week since I lost my connection – and I'm really annoyed but it turns out to be the most frustrating day yet. About 10.45 am, I again call Pipex but, this time, I tell the first line that there's no point in us having a conversation - I need to speak to the second line. I'm told that they can't put me through to the second line at the weekend – so I ask to speak to a supervisor. In the face of my explanations of failure to return calls in the past, she insists that, if an engineer does not call me in the next two hours, she will call me within that period. She is as good as her word – and advises me that I will get a call from the second line about 1.30 pm. Of course, I don't and, when I manage to re-establish contact with the same supervisor, she apologetically explains that the second line call has been rescheduled to 5-7 pm. For the fourth consecutive time, no call came.
It's Sunday and day nine in the saga. I call Pipex in the early morning and again in the early afternoon but, on both occasions, the friendly supervisor is not available. Late afternoon though, an engineer finally calls. He tells me that there is definitely not a fault at the exchange and, when I remind him that a Tiscali engineer has already visited my home, he accepts that there is not a fault at my end, so the fault must be with the BT line. He advises me that he will book a check by a BT engineer on Monday morning between 8 am – 1 pm which might involve the BT guy visiting my home (so I'll have to cancel two appointments).
Day ten (Monday): at 8.25 am the doorbell rings. It's the BT guy from Openreach. I was so thrilled I almost expected him to be riding a white horse as he came to my rescue. He immediately established that the fault was with a piece of Tiscali equipment at my local BT exchange in North Wembley. This would require the replacement of a faulty port which could be serving up to 100 customers. He advised that other Tiscali customers in the area had experienced problems too and he had just reconnected a customer who had been off-line for a week. At 10.15 am, he called me from the exchange and asked me to check my Internet connection. Everything was working perfectly!
How to summarize this experience?
When I'm holiday, I can happily go for a week or two without checking e-mails and web sites or up-dating my web site or blogs; but, in normal circumstances, it's really, really annoying, unsettling and disruptive.
Every Pipex call centre staff member to whom I spoke was patient and polite so the problem in achieving a quick resolution of my case was not down to individuals. Somehow the Pipex system or process is at fault: the protocols followed by the staff put too much emphasis on insisting that the fault is something on the customer's premises and then, when it is established that this is not the case, the dialogue between the first and second lines and that Pipex and BT just don't seem to work as they should.
The staff clearly have limited authority and limited knowledge. When I asked for a telephone number to register a complaint with Pipex on how my fault had been mishandled, the number I was given was not in use. When I explained this later to another member of staff, I was advised to send an e-mail – but, of course. my broadband connection was still down! When I asked a supervisor which alternative dispute resolution procedure Pipex was a member of, clearly she had no knowledge of the UK's ADR schemes.
In short: as a customer, I was trapped inside a Kafkaesque system in which the individuals were pleasant enough, but they did not have the ability to resolve my fault and the various elements of the fault correction system were too extended and insufficiently joined up.
I will now pursue compensation with Pipex. I have filed a complaint with the company and a report to Ofcom over the inadequacy of their customer service procedures.
