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W411
Premium Member
join:2009-10-07
Windsor, ON

W411

Premium Member

Re: Are there low volume times for Acanac DSL support?

7:05 pm - "due to very large volumes of calls, our queues estimate that wait times will be longer than one hour, please call back at a later time, call will now terminate"

I have time to leave the phone on speaker tonight, but I don't even have that option right now.

Here is another thought, and maybe I am just over simplifying here, but if the support department is regularly slammed with this kind of call volume on Mondays & Tuesday as Lynn has pointed out . . . wouldn't that justify additional support staff?
W411

W411

Premium Member

Does anyone else have better luck getting through to support via phone? I realize that Acanac states email support is always available even when the queues are not allowing calls to get through to their "call centre", but email is not a tool suitable for troubleshooting. Troubleshooting is a two way variable conversation depending on what information is asked and answered and that conversation via email would be painfully dragged out. In addition you would likely be dealing with multiple support technicians over the course of that conversation, or worse, waiting for that technician to return from vacation to continue a thread started the day before they left.
Lynn0
Premium Member
join:2011-08-11
Trenton, ON

Lynn0 to W411

Premium Member

to W411
said by W411:

Here is another thought, and maybe I am just over simplifying here, but if the support department is regularly slammed with this kind of call volume on Mondays & Tuesday as Lynn has pointed out . . . wouldn't that justify additional support staff?

I can tell you they are working on that now.
W411
Premium Member
join:2009-10-07
Windsor, ON

W411

Premium Member

10:00 pm - "due to very large volumes of calls, our queues estimate that wait times will be longer than one hour, please call back at a later time, call will now terminate"

If my customers couldn't get in touch with me, I would be setting the priority a little higher on it. If it has happened even 3 weeks in a row I would anticipate it for the following week, and this issue has been going on at least 6 months that I have documented here.
W411

W411

Premium Member

6:40 pm - "due to very large volumes of calls, our queues estimate that wait times will be longer than one hour, please call back at a later time, call will now terminate"

Maybe I should work for Acanac, I'm already putting in full time hours trying to get through to customer support.

Canaca
Premium Member
join:2007-03-05
Mississauga, ON

1 edit

Canaca

Premium Member

July, August and September are historically busy for us. We will be adding another 12 agents in the next two weeks in the hopes to reduce some of the wait times.

Once again we are going through a growth period and unfortunately this comes with some side effects.
W411
Premium Member
join:2009-10-07
Windsor, ON

W411

Premium Member

A "growth period" in business means an increase in overall infrastructure ie. customer base, hardware, software and support.

Acanac has clearly over extended customer base beyond support capabilities. If my company was historically busy in July, August & September, I suspect that I would do my hiring BEFORE that historically busy time, not halfway through it.

Canaca
Premium Member
join:2007-03-05
Mississauga, ON

Canaca

Premium Member

This is exactly what we did however with higher than anticipated growth it was not enough.

It's shaping up to be one of our busiest periods in the last 7 years.
W411
Premium Member
join:2009-10-07
Windsor, ON

W411

Premium Member

That would be a reasonable explanation if I didn't have records of the same issue with wait times of longer than 1 hour as far back as August of 2011. Just because Acanac doesn't keep information organized, doesn't mean your customers don't.

A little ironic that there seems to be more time and effort going into this thread on behalf of Acanac than I have ever witnessed for my connectivity issues.

Canaca
Premium Member
join:2007-03-05
Mississauga, ON

Canaca

Premium Member

We always try to do our best under the circumstances. Our track record since 2004 speaks for it's self. You don't become one of the largest independent ISP in Canada without doing something right.

Are we perfect? Absolutely not, however we are always striving to improve ourselves while still offering the best bang for the buck.
W411
Premium Member
join:2009-10-07
Windsor, ON

W411

Premium Member

Absolutely you are correct there, you don't become one of the largest indy ISPs without doing something right.

Acanac has a good sales pitch, unlimited bandwidth and low price for annual payments. That combined with the fact that most people would rather tolerate sub par services than change Internet providers/email addresses/take time off work to wait for new installations etc..

I am curious to know the ways Acanac is striving to improve . . . I think you meant to say expand?

One last thing, you are right again that the Acanac track record speaks for itself. Look at the posts here for the past 5 years, 2007 through most of 2009 was all technical questions about how to do things. Then you hit 2010 and beyond, the primary focus of posts leans more towards poor customer service. Again the irony here is the lack of customer support availability has forced people to look online for answers often coming here.

Look at the recent reviews for Acanac, another "track record speaking for itself".
W411

W411

Premium Member

oh and FYI just tried to call in to support:

7:18 pm - "due to very large volumes of calls, our queues estimate that wait times will be longer than one hour, please call back at a later time, call will now terminate"

Go Team Acanac!
Lynn0
Premium Member
join:2011-08-11
Trenton, ON

Lynn0

Premium Member

As my boss has stated above this is shaping up to be one of our busiest periods in the last 7 years and we are hiring more agents to help deal with the load of calls that are coming in.
W411
Premium Member
join:2009-10-07
Windsor, ON

W411

Premium Member

And as many customers repeatedly are stating in the forums, the inability to get through via telephone to of all things a communication service provider is not acceptable. We are stating facts, and while Acanac may state that they have inentions of making changes to increase the service availablity, they haven't corrected anything so far.

Incidentally I called the cable company that Acanac resells (Distributel) and was talking to support in about 3 minutes, at that same point I was getting the message via Acanac that wait times will be over 1 hour . . . what's wrong with this picture?
Lynn0
Premium Member
join:2011-08-11
Trenton, ON

Lynn0

Premium Member

said by W411 See ProfileAnd as many customers repeatedly are stating in the forums, the inability to get through via telephone to of all things a communication service provider is not acceptable. We are stating facts, and while Acanac may state that they have intentions of making changes to increase the service availability, they haven't corrected anything so far.

--We are trying and the only other thing I can tell you is if you are not satisfied with the service even though we are trying to improve as my boss said here, then you always have the option of cancelling. We are trying our best to get agents trained and ready for the phones .

Incidentally I called the cable company that Acanac resells (Distributel) and was talking to support in about 3 minutes, at that same point I was getting the message via Acanac that wait times will be over 1 hour . . . what's wrong with this picture?
[/BQUOTE :



-It might not have been as busy in Quebec. Distributel is our carrier in Quebec. Acanac has their phone lines and Distributel has theirs.

W411
Premium Member
join:2009-10-07
Windsor, ON

W411

Premium Member

People don't want to just hear you are trying, they want the results. That's a bit of a seedy move you are suggesting, when someone starts pointing out valid flaws in the way you are doing business you try to usher them quietly out the door with a cancellation instead of addressing the problems?

Here is a simple solution, if you can't support the number of users you currently have, stop taking on new customers. If you are saying that the current business model of Acanac can't sustain itself without a constantly increasing supply of new customers, then clearly increasing support is the least of your worries.

My other point is that Distributel also provides service to each location that you do, don't you think it makes more sense to buy services from a company that you can actually contact when there are problems?
Lynn0
Premium Member
join:2011-08-11
Trenton, ON

Lynn0

Premium Member

said by W411:

People don't want to just hear you are trying, they want the results. That's a bit of a seedy move you are suggesting, when someone starts pointing out valid flaws in the way you are doing business you try to usher them quietly out the door with a cancellation instead of addressing the problems?

--Flaws? I don't consider the company growing the way it has been a flaw. Every company experiences growth spurts and as the owner has already told you on here this is turning out to be busier than we usually are in the last 7 years for these months. We ARE trying to improve by hiring more agents so the choice is either wait for the improvements to take effect or cancel your service. I am in no way trying to sound harsh but that is the only two choices we have right now as we are trying our best. I only mentioned this(cancelling) because you do not seem happy with the explanation from one of our owners or from me. There is only so many choices here.

If you are saying that the current business model of Acanac can't sustain itself without a constantly increasing supply of new customers, then clearly increasing support is the least of your worries.

--We have no trouble sustaining this company with the customers we have.


Canaca
Premium Member
join:2007-03-05
Mississauga, ON

Canaca to W411

Premium Member

to W411
If you prefer to go with Disrtributel please go ahead. Please beware we are part of the Distributel group of companies and in the big picture makes no difference who you go with.

As for your other comment above your either growing or shrinking. If anyone tells you other wise they are most likely lying.
With that said growth comes with it's own problems however I will take them any-day of a shrinking company.

I will also like to add this is not something that just affects Acanac. When you have this type of growth you end up with these types of growing pains.

Finally we have one of the lowest attrition rates in the industry. This should prove to you and potential clients that on average we are doing something right.

Pillow
@blackberry.net

Pillow to Canaca

Anon

to Canaca
Acanac is one of the cheapest ISP with "unlimited" data which might be why it's so popular and not because they are good. I've been with you guys for 2 years because of your price and I HATE Rogers so you have me as a customer. If/when I find a cheaper ISP, I will move on.