[AZ] cox phone support sucks!!! in Cox HSI

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:54:11 EDT

said by CoxTOC1 :

I can name one! Gentoo does not provide those tools unless you build them in (However I would hope that a Gentoo User would know about that).

Actually, Gentoo does provide ifconfig and ping by default. Traceroute would indeed have to be compiled. I have had several instances of systems issues on the Cox side where calling support was a complete waste of time. As soon as they hear "linux" they refuse to take any measure to investigate, even if I have rebooted my computer and reset the cable modem. I even got a "supervisor" once who claimed it HAD to be an issue with my computer; he also did not call me back, as he promised.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:34:11 EDT

joako : If its any condolences this seems to be the trend in tech support.

»HORRIBLE Phone support.

Embarq blamed me for their DSL line not providing a DHCP lease.
--
09:F9:11:02:9D:74:E3:5B:D8:41:56:C5:63:56:88:C0

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:15:15 EDT

bbeesley :

said by dvd536 :

I've never understood how cookies and cache can affect service if your modem isnt even coming online or is experiencing packetloss.

that is absolutely right...the issue for the tech on the phone is when a customer describes their issue in a technically vague manner.

how many times have we seen threads here where someone states "modem keeps going offline" but the modem is not loosing synch or going offline?...they are simply loosing a connection to a web or mail server and assuming that the modem is offline when this is happening.

so....it can be pretty tough for the phone tech to triage and troubleshoot unless they follow specific steps, eliminating the obvious, until they can systematically arrive at the root cause.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:39:59 EDT

CoxTech1 : You are correct. If it can be confirmed that the modem has either lost sync or taking packet loss the PC is definitely not the issue. The modem not synchronizing should be resolvable by Tier 1 usually by sending a technician if all the connections have been verified. A modem taking packet loss is typically referred to Tier 2 for further investigation but often requires a trouble call to resolve as well.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:37:47 EDT

dvd536 : I've never understood how cookies and cache can affect service if your modem isnt even coming online or is experiencing packetloss.
--
When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:41:34 EDT

zix_zix_zix : I'm going to unlurk for a moment to give you just kind a snapshot of what goes for a tier 1 since we're all trashing on phone support now. "lvl1" can check trends for your area although this info is practically useless since most or all of the issues are entered by "lvl1" ... that is, when they feel like entering it. There are useful comments, maybe 25% or less of the time, like "100% of node offline" but the other 3/4 are the chronic problems with internal tools and things that shouldn't have ever been typed there to begin with.

Also, you guys (most of you anyway) are the elite. As others have pointed out, you are generally not the ones calling in. Some of the subs that call can't even find the modem much less figure out how to check their own signals. So, if your Tier 1 tech is an idiot then remember this; chances are she/he is still smarter that 90% of the subscribers they'll ever talk to.

There are a lot of things COX provides that are are great tools to have but they are in no way equal to a competent and effective communicator on the other end of the line.

In fairness there is often (far too often) a serious lack of information and training given to (or absorbed by) a lot of T1's. Also, some of our brains turn into marshmallow because one can spend days or weeks spelling and respelling the outgoing mail server and power cycling before something that requires an ounce of brain power comes in to play.

As was said before, tier 1's are trained on Vista and macs (not so much "trained" as "lead" to some extremely limited resources that they're provided with). Even so there is NO excuse whatsoever for a tier 2 not being able to handle this type of call with a reasonable amount of aptitude.

I wanted you to know that there is someone that has been on the front lines for several years that loves to work with people that are competent and are smart enough to understand that when you're asked to clear your cache and cookies it isn't because we think that you never thought to do that before. This is just basic troubleshooting and, as the tech savvy kids you are, you all get that, right? sure, you do.

AND there is absolutely no check list or script I've ever been forced to adhere to other than the CPNI script (4 digit cox PIN or SSN4) but of course you ALL have it right, RIGHT?! If you think "bypassing your router" is a script then sorry, no. It's basic troubleshooting that, really, if you're smart, and you are, you've probably already done before calling in. because you know the drill? Of course you do.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:14:39 EDT

CoxTOC1 : Their is actually no way for us to tell that.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:17:34 EDT

Pist : The one thing i wish Cox would do is allow the lvl1 Tech to tell us if anyone else has called in from our neighborhood.

Most of the time its not anything on our end, its some where else and its a waste of time to setup a service call, no one likes waiting around for them to show up or wants to hear the same old line "line signals looks fine".

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:03:18 EDT

CoxTOC1 : If you could PM me your MAC address and the date that you called in I would like to see if I can track down the person that you talked to.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:55:41 EDT

sirghost : The person on the phone claimed to be tier2. So unless he was lying he needs to drop his personal opinions and attitude and deal with the issue at hand and use his training. I say personal opinion because I find it horrendous if it was because of the lack of training.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:49:30 EDT

CoxTOC1 : That would be correct their are only two tier 2 call centers.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:43:08 EDT

MarkRH : Well, I guess that would mean that the Cox center here is all T1 techs then? It's about three miles from where I live here in Oklahoma City.

My worst experience was with the sales department trying to get service going. Took like 5 calls before I got a hold of someone who managed to finally find my address in their system as one they serviced LOL. The Apartment complex office had Cox fliers all over the place.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:04:29 EDT

CoxTOC1 : Are you sure you were talking to a T2 rep? Every T2 rep at both the T2 centers have received training on both MAC and Vista. If you are not sure if you are talking to a T2 rep you can always ask what call center they are located in (the correct answer is Hampton Roads or San Diego).

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:42:09 EDT

sirghost : But the issue was, even the level 2 could not get me online nor see my modem and yet still balked at the idea of me using a mac or vista.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:28:27 EDT

maxpower : From my own experience, if you make it to level 2, and your modem is online, its usually a computer problem anyways.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:04:57 EDT

sirghost :

said by CoxTOC1 :

It's more along the lines of a few Tier 1 techs who hear MAC or Vista and panic.

And from my experience some level 2 folks.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:32:14 EDT

CoxTOC1 : It's more along the lines of a few Tier 1 techs who hear MAC or Vista and panic.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:17:31 EDT

BinRoanoke :

said by CoxTOC1 :

said by robertfl :

im very surprised.. i thought all ISP's were required to support vista.

and, they should support linux too.

-Rob

We do support Vista and MAC OS X (10.2 and up), If a tier 1 tech tells you that we don't please get their name and/or Employee ID and PM it to me.

Are there any 3rd Party sources for support, like a company like Alliance Data Systems? Where I used to work had a huge issue with ADS. My group took over the "support" for a device that they provided to users. If the device broke, the user would get in touch with ADS to get a new one, which would require a software setup to get it operational on their network. The agreement was that ADS would handle the downloads, but we would handle other first-line troubleshooting. We had a sheet that had the steps for what buttons to push on the device and in what order to do the download, but if we couldn't get it going, they were supposed to handle it. What was conveyed to the reps at ADS though was that they "no longer supported" that device, so when users would call us and if we'd tell them to call ADS, ADS would then in turn tell them to call us. Many times I had to get on the phone with the user and a rep from ADS at the same time and when the ADS person would say that the user would need to contact my group for help with it, I would end up saying:

"I am a part of that group. The download device is located in your building. We don't have access to it and your agreement with us was that you handled the downloads."

Sometimes there was continued denial that they had anything to do with it...but ultimately they did what they were supposed to do... Unfortunately sometimes it required getting stern with them and getting them to go ask a supervisor...

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:20:51 EDT

dg2 : One would think that it would be obvious - when the power goes out to three blocks all at once, and four times a year - that individual wiring is not likely to be the problem. :)

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:14:44 EDT

maxpower : I always wondered about how the electric company did things. Ive read some stories on here about them requiring that you have to pay for an electrician to come verify all your wiring and verify the problem at the meter before they will even try to help you. Luckily I have never had trouble with my electric co.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:11:38 EDT

dg2 :

said by BinRoanoke :

Anyway, the "warm body and a script" approach will not be acceptable for too much longer. To contrast against something, would you accept this type of conversation:

CSR: "Mega-Electric Company, how may I help you?"
You: "My power is out."
...
CSR: "That is because you may have tripped circuits."
You: "Look, I've already checked for that, and besides, all circuits tripping at one time is highly unlikely."
CSR: "Please check for tripped circuits and when you have done so, please contact us again. Thank you."

Funny you should mention that, because I had a similar conversation one night with the local electric cooperative. The same 30 houses would lose power about 4 times a year. The voice on the phone told me it was because the wiring in my house was bad. Turns out they had a defective buried conductor that kept burning itself out. Once they replaced that, the wiring in my house was fine. :)

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:29:01 EDT

CoxTOC1 : I can name one! Gentoo does not provide those tools unless you build them in (However I would hope that a Gentoo User would know about that).

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:06:24 EDT

Iggy_AZ : A little humor goes a long way.
Check this YouTube video

»youtube.com/watch?v=1LLTsSnGWMI&···=related

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:11:19 EDT

stanley_qaz : Actual support for Linux would be darned hard to provide as there are so many different versions of it out there and so many different ways of accessing the network settings in them.

Cox support for Linux users (not the operating system itself) is a pretty simple matter and should be simple enough to provide. I don't know of a single distribution that doesn't provide the basic networking tools like ifconfig, ping and traceroute that a first line tech support would need to be able to see if it was a Linux issue and not supported or a Cox issue which should be.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:11:02 EDT

CoxTOC1 :

said by robertfl :

im very surprised.. i thought all ISP's were required to support vista.

and, they should support linux too.

-Rob

We do support Vista and MAC OS X (10.2 and up), If a tier 1 tech tells you that we don't please get their name and/or Employee ID and PM it to me.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:35:58 EDT

maxpower :

and, they should support linux too.

-Rob

I disagree. It is still not popular enough of an OS.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:14:51 EDT

robertfl : im very surprised.. i thought all ISP's were required to support vista.

and, they should support linux too.

-Rob

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:27:36 EDT

dvd536 :

said by sirghost :

It is already resolved and was a down router or device in the neighborhood. My issue is that the techs ALWAYS jump on the operating system has being the issue when it is ANYTHING other than windows xp. I understand troubleshooting but to show outright discrimination of anything that is not windows xp is not good for a tech to do. Thanks for the offer of help though and I am glad the techs up here are not like the phone techs are when it comes to this.

The script cards haven't had vista added to them yet.
if you KNOW its not you, tell them you have xp.
--
When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:30:42 EDT

magicjimmy :

said by lambition :

You can access log on Webstar modem.

Goto
»192.168.100.1/_aslvl.asp

and change access level to "Access Level 2" and enter "W2402" for password.

Return to main page, then goto the log. (the modem automatically changes back to Level 1 in about 5 min. so you will have to do it every time.)

SWEET!!! About time somebody busted out the goodies for us Webstar users!!!

Thanks lambition!!!
--
...I'll go back in my cave now...

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:21:44 EDT

lambition : You can access log on Webstar modem.

Goto
»192.168.100.1/_aslvl.asp

and change access level to "Access Level 2" and enter "W2402" for password.

Return to main page, then goto the log. (the modem automatically changes back to Level 1 in about 5 min. so you will have to do it every time.)

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:13:47 EDT

lambition : Took me 2 weeks for me.
I told them I was using Linux, and the reply was COX do not support Linux. LOL

Got the problem solved through this forum instead of phone/chat support.

Many technical support ref. does not know much about technical stuffs other than what is written on their book.

Usually chat support is better. I use my EvDO connection to chat when internet is not working :)

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:07:59 EDT

robertfl : the chat i avoid because if they reset your modem, your done.

-rob

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:32:24 EDT

stanley_qaz : Lucky you... We couldn't even call our last issue in since we have Cox phone service. Had to burn cell minutes to contact them.

Wife has assured me next time they tell us our phone will be out for three days until they can get us a truck our phone will be working just fine the next day with Quest. She has one of their fliers stuck on the fridge.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:27:52 EDT

sirghost : i would have used chat, but alas, my cox connection could not get out past the neighborhood gateway to access the internet.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:35:36 EDT

BinRoanoke :

said by Fubar :

THe vast majority of people that know about PC's don't call in.

No, I use chat. Even then it depends on what time of day you try to get to someone in chat support as to the level of quality you're going to get. As I pointed out in some other thread (I think my thread about my issue), that person could not for the life of them understand that I did not want them to troubleshoot anything, that I only wanted them to tell me what the log file said. Since I have a WebSTAR, I'm prevented from viewing the log page. All I can get is a summary of my power levels and my firmware version.

You may be right, that perhaps *right now* a lot of people are unfamiliar with technology, but as time goes on, more people will become more tech saavy. There are still large numbers of older people (60+) who did not grow up with the technology that we have today. I had a chuckle with what my Mom was saying to a friend of hers, that when she tried to go to a web page it said that it was not available and perhaps it meant that it wasn't available from this area. I figure someone gave the wrong URL to her, and all that needs to be done is to go out to Google and search for the organization. The people that are technologically impaired won't be adaptive enough to know to do that unless they're shown several times (typically).

Another example was my Dad. The other night he beckoned me to help him get this message off the screen. It was a box that said that a reboot was needed and it had an OK button. He knows how to run an offset press, but that OK button just confused him something awful.

Anyway, the "warm body and a script" approach will not be acceptable for too much longer. To contrast against something, would you accept this type of conversation:

CSR: "Mega-Electric Company, how may I help you?"
You: "My power is out."
CSR: "Do you have a circuit breaker or a fuse box?"
You: "I have a circuit breaker."
CSR: "Have you checked for tripped circuits?"
You: "The power is out in the whole house."
CSR: "Please check to see if there are tripped circuits. You can identify a tripped circuit by some red showing up beside the switch or the switch indented in towards off."
You: "It is very unlikely that all circuits would trip at once."
CSR: "Please check for tripped circuits."
You: "I've switched the main off and back on and it made no change."
CSR: "That is because you may have tripped circuits."
You: "Look, I've already checked for that, and besides, all circuits tripping at one time is highly unlikely."
CSR: "Please check for tripped circuits and when you have done so, please contact us again. Thank you."

That is essentially what happened to me two times when I contacted Cox via chat support, where "checking for tripped circuits" equates to "disconnect your router and go straight from the modem and reboot". The two reps here on this forum, one person from chat support, and the field technician did not ask me to disconnect the router and go straight from the modem. The field tech replaced the line from the pole/tap to the grounding block, changed out the grounding block, replaced my modem, and referred the issue on to plant maintenance just to be sure. Things are much better, but I'm still giving it a few more days to declare the problem solved, but in all of that, I have never hooked my computer up directly to the modem. It wasn't a router issue, and that's where this person is right, that dealing with script readers who *ALSO* don't understand about computers / routers / modems is *VERY* frustrating when you run into them and you know the problem is not something your can control...that they need to do something, but they refuse to go beyond the script...

So, why not just follow the script? Time is money. I might do something once, but if I have to do it over and over and over, I get itchy, and rightfully so, IMO...

Anyway, support does need to be better. There are some good folks, but quite a few inexperienced reps as well...

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:19:54 EDT

joako : Yep...

ANy time I call cox they tell me "your signal level is fine, its green" and "i am sending you a signal, that should fix it"

And then they suggest if I keep having issues to go to the office (20 mile trip) to swap the equipment. No thanks. Done it before and its not the equipment, its the service.
--
09:F9:11:02:9D:74:E3:5B:D8:41:56:C5:63:56:88:C0

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:52:20 EDT

sirghost : Guys, it was not the issue with the script reading. all was fine and well. It is the comments of "you would not have these issues if you would just use windows xp instead of mac or vista.". Comments like that are completely useless imo. I also loved how that comment was from a level 2 guy. No, the first level guy I can fully understand him not wanting or knwing how to have me fiddle around in the mac os to check settings or what not. It was the tier 2 guys comments that piss me off and make me feel like because I choose not to use windows xp that I am somehow inferior and not worthy of real help.

That was my complaint here. The fact that it only took 3 hours to fix an issue on the company side of things in my neighborhood was outstanding service.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:44:13 EDT

robertfl : your tier 1 support needs to be better trained. not all problems are operating system related.

but at the same time, a lot of people are stupid.. very stupid when it comes to how to run an operating system.

and answers like "reinstall xp" are totally unacceptable.

i've spoken to some tier 1 people who sounded like they know what they are doing and went beyond the usual because they saw the packet loss on my modem.

and at the same time, having stuff like the cox automated troubleshooter is very stupid indeed and wastes time.

even the customer service reps told me it's a waste of time.

DUMP IT

-Rob
--
irc(dot)dishnuts(dot)net #skyscanner active prime time (US central time) (please be civil & polite)- interact with radio hosts 7 nights a week - websites at »www.dishnuts.net & »www.cband.info

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:34:59 EDT

dg2 : It's not necessarily a bias against anything other than XP. I've called in with plant issues, and been told I needed to reinstall XP. Needless to say I didn't, but waited three days and my problem mysteriously cleared itself away - about the time the Cox truck left that pole-mounted box down the street (right next to the utility construction site).

I realize they're fighting something of an uphill battle, but it might be helpful if the support folks were able to have a little more flexibility. Scripting (or allowing) them to declare that all problems require an OS re-install isn't really fair to them or to the customer. Occasionally you run across an end user that knows what he's doing, hidden amongst the ID10Ts. ;)

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:42:39 EDT

bbeesley :

said by Fubar :

And I bet the script works A LOT of the time.

Yep....our folks run through those steps because the majority of the time they are able to identify and resolve the issue more quickly.

At any rate, the best troubleshooting is done methodically, step by step, eliminating the obvious until you are left with the only possible solution....this is why they are trained as they are.

said by Fubar :

Also, remember your tone when you talk to them. As soon as you begin on a rant most are going to tune you out and not be willing to help as much.

I used to have supervisor way back in the day that continually reminded me that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

I know it is sometimes hard to be patient while the technician runs through the troubleshooting steps - nobody likes to be without service, myself included - but I too call our call center when I notice an outage and even though I could 'bypass' the steps, I always let them run through their process because letting the run through their checks really is the fastest way to get it resolved.

Just keep in mind that the person on the other end of the line genuinely wants to help and fix the issue....give 'em a chance, you just might be surprised.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:24:40 EDT

Fubar : You also need to remember that proabably 99% of the callers know nothing about PC's, Most probably infected with spyware/viruses, and call in for everything.

And I bet the script works A LOT of the time.

THe vast majority of people that know about PC's don't call in.

Also, remember your tone when you talk to them. As soon as you begin on a rant most are going to tune you out and not be willing to help as much.
Especially when you start ranting a router in the neighborhood is down, There are no routers in the neighborhood......

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:41:34 EDT

CoxTOC1 : MAC OS X (10.2 and up) and Vista (All versions I believe) are fully supported by our tier 1 and Tier 2 support.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:32:21 EDT

stanley_qaz : I feel a bit sorry for the first level phone guys as they HAVE to follow the script they are given, they get off it and they are going to catch grief from their supervisor.

If you want to help them (and yourself) out boot up a copy of XP, plug the computer directly into your modem and reboot both of them before you call. That gets you a simpler script to go through before you get bumped up the food chain a bit.

Even if it is a neighborhood outage the first line tech is gonna schedule a tech visit to look at your wires... They can't do anything else until a few more folks in your area call in with a problem and give Cox a clue it isn't just you.

For me this is really frustrating. I don't do Windows. I can see the single piece of coax from where it leaves my modem to where it goes underground and the ground over it all the way to the Cox box out by the street. But I have to deal with what the first level guy can do, no sense beating up on them.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:58:16 EDT

sirghost : It is already resolved and was a down router or device in the neighborhood. My issue is that the techs ALWAYS jump on the operating system has being the issue when it is ANYTHING other than windows xp. I understand troubleshooting but to show outright discrimination of anything that is not windows xp is not good for a tech to do. Thanks for the offer of help though and I am glad the techs up here are not like the phone techs are when it comes to this.

Re: [AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:52:57 EDT

CoxTech1 : Short of there being a declared outage, the telephone representative are required to troubleshoot and eliminate any possible PC issues prior to escallating. If you suspect something else to be the case feel free to PM me your cable modem MAC address and I'll be more than happy to check things from our end.

[AZ] cox phone support sucks!!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:42:49 EDT

sirghost : Why the hell when I call for help when there stuff is down do I get the run around when I use my MAC or use windows vista? They ALWAYS blame the computer when I say the OS is anything other than windows xp. Why the hell is that? Turns out the issue was a down router in the neighborhood like I told the idiot on the phone and it took them 3 hours to get it back up for me. Anyone else encounter this discrimination when calling support?