Selected ISP Support > Windstream > Paetec/ Windstream are to be avoided at any cost

Paetec/ Windstream are to be avoided at any cost

I deeply apologize for the issues you have had with PaeTec. Please feel free to send myself or Larissa a Private Message with your account information and contact info and we will make every effort to correct your troubles and hopefully improve your opinion of Windstream.

Aaron
Specialist II
Broadband Support
Tier II
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We're here to help! wci.broadbandhelp@windstream.com

Aaron thanks for taking the time to reply - I appreciate your willingness to help. But if I cant get resolution from the Manager of the NOC in Rochester when Im standing in the NOC - and Reggie Scales the VP of Western Region Sales listens to 20+ people in a hotel in Dallas describe EXACTLY the same thing in the Customer Advisory board year after year and does NOTHING.

We never get any emails on status of our support tickets and there is no system for the customer to look up ticket status or update it. Last year they kept saying they were implementing Altiris service desk »www.symantec.com/service-desk with a July go live. And Altiris would solve all the problems Well its a year later and no progress.

Its stunning to me that a company of your size has NO way for its customers to get alerts to ticket status or login and see history. I wonder if your investors know that.

You have an awfully tall task. At this point we are waiting out our contract. And while we do that I'm making sure that my experiences are documented in as many places as possible so that the next person like me sees the problems and has a chance to choose another vendor.

Sincerely,
Doug

PS Ive save d a copy of this in case it gets lost in DSL reports data recovery

reply to Silver_2000
I have to say, taking out Paetec's problems on Windstream really can't be that effective. Windstream literally just bought Paetec 6-8 months ago, and I guarantee they have not even fully integrated them yet. These issues can't be blamed on Windstream.

My company (a well-known Fortune 150) uses Windstream for T1s, T3/DS3, any any number of other circuit types at various locations around the country, and we generally have no issues with their support or service at all.
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user formerly known as 'bsc'

reply to Silver_2000
Windstream took the problems on when they bought Paetec. Like it or not. ( and Paetec has no section here since they dont exist )
You may be in a geographic location that has access to these tools. We dont.

Windstream certainly owns all the issues entered since the acquisition. I have a simple voice quality issue thats been lingering 5 months. In that time its been picked up and dropped by no less than 4 windstream employees... That shows a corporate policy of failing to own issues.

Since Windstream hasnt yet had time to fix the Paetec issues should we get a rebate till they do ? LOL

Glad someone is getting decent support

reply to Silver_2000
I just wanted to thank you for the heads up! I almost fell for windstream, but you saved the day, and my money. Sorry for your frustrations with this compnay, nothing new regarding crappy customer service.

Thanks for the note - at least something good is coming of this

reply to Silver_2000
Update
Yesterday morning our Fax lines went down - and we had trouble with our VOIP system as well. I wont go into all the details but I will rant that Windstream is taking 72 hours to send a technician to look at 2 dead analog ( POTS ) lines. Reported them yesterday and they wont be here until MAYBE tomorrow

They are simply getting the lines from ATT - I would have been much better off getting them direct from ATT - at least they wouldn't hold up the process for 3 days

AND announced today
Windstream is laying off management
»Windstream Announces Layoffs

Good riddance - throw ALL the bums out...

reply to Silver_2000
On July 25th I started trying to get Windstream to change the source IP address for one of our VPN tunnels. Its now August 13th and Ive YET to have ANYONE contact me to even get started on the 30 second change.

The sales rep tells me they have 10-14 BUSINESS days to act on these requests. - 3 Weeks to change an IP address ? Really ? Wow

More of the same from Paetec / Windstream

Please send me a detailed PM with all applicable information including your contact information and any ticket number you were given. I will have your information forwarded on to a Paetec trained agent for resolution.

Aaron
Specialist II
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We're here to help! wci.broadbandhelp@windstream.com

reply to Silver_2000
Aaron

I appreciate the offer to help but Ive now waited 14 business days for first contact on a Network change. According to the sales rep thats the Windstream SLA. The expected wait time . Now the wait begins for the issue to be shuffled from dept to dept for a few weeks.

Its my hope to get this resolved by 2013 ...

Ive worked in the IT industry for nearly 20 years and Ive NEVER seen a company set SLAs that are 14 business days to first contact for a network change. Not 14 days to resolution 14 days to the first time any windstream rep will contact you.

At this point I'm using this forum as a way to help inform prospective NEW Windstream customers of what they will expect.

If I had seen this before we signed our contract I would have chosen another vendor.

The good news about Windstream is the t1s are stable and the VPN network is pretty stable. The down side is that Windstream only resells the T1's so they cant take any credit for that.

Thanks again for your help

I can understand you frustration, a 14 day contact time is unacceptable. We are currently working to get a new process in place for the former Paetec areas/customers. As an IT professional I am sure you understand what is involved with changing and creating totally new processes. However it is incorrect and untrue to let everyone assume that this is an issue for all Windstream Business customers. There will always be issues and difficulties when acquiring a company and its existing customers. Please be assured that we are actively working to change many of the processes that were in place before the Paetec acquisition.

Aaron
Specialist II
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We're here to help! wci.broadbandhelp@windstream.com

I appreciate your reply. But the problems have been going on since 2010. I met with the Executives at Paetec in the corp offices and they promised a new ticketing system ( ServiceDesk) in August 2010 that would solve the issues of TX region tickets not being responded to. Those issues were blamed on delays in the McLeodUSA acquisition from 2008. Now we are 2 years after those meetings and nothing has changed. ( 4 years after mcleod acquisition ) To me a its a corporate culture. Do as little as possible and blame acquisitions.

In your opinion how long is long enough to fix documented customer service failures ? 2 years ? 4 Years ? 6 Years ?
THe good news is our contract is only 5 years - which means we wont have to wait 6 years or more for simple processes to be implemented.

As an update on most recent ticket we are now nearly 30 days from first request to change VPN IP address and its still not done. I have an Appt for Wed which will be the FIRST contact with the dept that can actually help. 25 days after the ticket was entered.

BTW - I have worked for companies that grew by 5x in size in 4 years - We solved those kinds of problems. Wasn't easy but we cared enough to keep our customers happy. And we invested in the processes to get them done.

In Sugar Land, it is the same. After 4 years with numerous clients in the area, I can honestly say that Windstream has been the worst ISP I have ever dealt with from response stand point and even tech stand point. Out of 20 Engineers they have, maybe 1 will know anything. That guy is swamped! I deal with Logix, AT&T, Comcast, CBeyond also. Since Windtream no longer has monopoly in the area, all clients I've had made the switch to Comcast; I have one client left to make that switch (contract ending).

I honestly wonder if management ever review their service level quality from clients. I wished they would survey their client base to really get an idea of the quality they provide or lack of.

Just look at their Facebook page, it was a mistake for them to make one. I looked back until the first of the year and I couldn't find one person saying anything nice about Windstream. Even when they were giving away free crap people told them somehow Windstream would find a way to make it crap. People getting .05 on a 12mbps connection and been that way for over a year.

reply to Silver_2000
We were mislead when we were sold PAETEC services, we were a happy Windstream customer before. We were told what we were getting would be better than what we had. What we have now, is not good enough to meet our needs, and is much worse than what we had and we are in a 5 year contract with PAETEC. We had a problem with our one analog phone line a few months ago, and Windstream and PAETEC gave me the run around for a week, refusing responsibility, I had to call AT&T and get them to tell me it wasn't their problem, then forward that info to a account rep for them to take responsibility and send someone out to fix it.

reply to Silver_2000
Hopefully these other replies will also help with Google rank and end up keeping prospective customers from making the same mistakes.

FYI
I now have a new account rep
I think they average about 3 months. Not sure if they quit or get fired ...

reply to Silver_2000
Update - My Sales Rep lasted less than 6 months - he is moving on AND

»Windstream Settles Bribery, Conspiracy Charges in Oklahoma

"Windstream Settles Bribery, Conspiracy Charges in Oklahoma
Pays $100,000 For Accusations of Bribing School Official
by Karl Bode 58 minutes ago tags: business · telco · Windstream
Windstream Communications has settled charges with the state of Oklahoma over allegations that the company bribed a state school superintendent in order to keep a business deal in place. Back in August Windstream was indicted for giving a school superintendent two all-session tickets to the 2007 NCAA basketball tournament in Atlanta, in addition to paying for his lodging and local entertainment needs.

This week Windstream announced they've settled with the state to dismiss those charges, though their announcement omits the fact they'll be paying a local school foundation $100,000 as part of the settlement.

"We are pleased to reach an agreement with the state of Oklahoma to dismiss these charges," said John Fletcher, executive vice president and general counsel for Windstream. "We have denied the charges from the beginning and cooperated fully with the investigation. As always, our focus remains on conducting our business with integrity."

Those familiar with telecom lobbying know that larger companies (especially AT&T, Verizon and Comcast) do significantly worse on the state and federal level daily with no repercussions whatsoever."

The fun continues - Wouldn't YOU want to do business with them ?

reply to Silver_2000

Re: Paetec/ Windstream are to be avoided at any cost