Anon | reply to Anon
PSN.net is not innocent in this I only partially agree with you. You are correct that SPatrick does not seem to recognize that PSN (nor any other ISP) is at the mercy of the local telco's timeline for line installation. No ISP can control that. His initial complaints should have been directed at his local telco. His argument is that his contract was exclusively with PSN, not the telco. So what? PSN went to the local telco on his behalf, and that is seemingly the cause of the delay. Would spatrick have had the same problem with a different ISP? Most likely; although another ISP may have a better working arrangement with the telco and be able to expedite the install - maybe not. Not enough info to tell.
PSN still handled the entire situation VERY poorly. They claimed, when DSLReports contacted them, that they would never cancel an order due to a poor review; yet that is exactly what they did do. Getting caught publicly in a lie is VERY bad for a company's image.
Cancelling an order of someone because they are complaining loudly sends a very bad message to the public. The company becomes seen as either having something to hide, or not wanting to work hard (ie: only 'easy' clients). I doubt either impression to be true, but that's how the action will be viewed.
The best way to handle problem clients is to offer to cancel and to offer a full refund with no obligation IF THE CLIENT WANTS IT. Of course, someone as unhappy with a company as spatrick would almost certainly have taken it. His only reason for not cancelling previously was having in writing that he would have to pay $250 in penalties if he did cancel.
Which brings up the question of why did spatrick have to pre-pay for an install, with a promise of a refund after the install, to the free installation? I'm yet to see an adequate explanation of that one.
In summary; I agree that spatrick would have most likely had similar delays with most other ISPs. I have GTE dsl, and that took 1-1/2 months to get thru the install; I fully understand that the ISP has little control over the telcos timeline. However, I believe that nearly all ISPs would have dealt more professionally with spatrick. PSN is fully to blame for their poor handling of the entire situation. |
