dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
3469
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

2 edits

basssolo4u

Member

DSL Extreme Nightmare

DSL Extreme is the WORST BAR NONE! I regret having this service so very much. My service has had continual outages on a regular basis. When I call up I am on hold to India for usually 30 to 40 minutes each call and unfortunate for me I signed a one year contract in December that I cannot get out of unless I buy out of it at a tune of over $250. I feel extorted. Next December cannot come soon enough so I can get rid of this service. I am so disappointed in DSL Extreme. The customer service is the worst I have EVER experienced. I wish DSL Extreme had enough of a commitment to me the customer to allow me to discontinue the service without penalizing me. I will share my experience with everyone I can in hopes that they will not make the same mistake that I have.

dslx_gm
ISP Employee
join:2002-12-26
Chatsworth, CA

1 edit

dslx_gm

ISP Employee

Hi basssolo4u See Profile,

I am sorry to hear that you have experienced an issue with your connection. We would be happy to assist in trying to get your issue resolved and hopefully turn your experience around.

When your connection goes out do you lose sync on your modem or what occurs specifically? Have we dispatched a phone company technician to your location to check your line? Do you have a ticket open with our support team currently?

Please feel to send Nick (dslx_nick See Profile) who is one of our team leads a PM with your account information. He can assist in looking into your account and working with you directly to assist in getting your issue resolved.

Once again I sincerely apologize for any issue that you experienced and look forward to having our team here work with you to get your issue resolved.

Regards
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

basssolo4u

Member

Hello George,
Thank you for a reply. I have tried various modems and even after getting a new modem from DSL extreme the outages still occur. I disregard the tickets as they usually do not get handled. I just get robo emails and that's it. Best resolution I can get is if I am allowed to cancel my service as it has been a terrible experience from the beginning. I would really like out as I have had this going on for over a year.

dslx_gm
ISP Employee
join:2002-12-26
Chatsworth, CA

dslx_gm

ISP Employee

Hi basssolo4u,

We are happy to help in getting your issue resolved and your connection running properly. In sounds as though you renewed your contract with DSL Extreme back in December. Keeping in mind that in general when you sign a contract with DSL Extreme that in turn we sign a contract with the phone company, it is important for us to determine where the issue is and work to get it resolved. I am confident that if you work with our team that we can work to isolate your issue and get it resolved. Please do send a PM with your account information to dslx_nick See Profile and he would be happy to look into your issue and work to get it resolved.

Thanks
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

3 edits

basssolo4u

Member

Thanks again George. Please keep in mind that I have endured one year of DSL Extreme, poor technical support and sub-marginal customer service. I sincerely want OUT. I understand if your company is unwilling to allow me to cancel my agreement. Although it is up to your company to hold me to the contract or allow me to cancel, my intent is to leave DSL Extreme as soon as possible.

If it were only the connection that were the problem I would not be writing at this forum. It is from experiencing problems for over one year and having to deal with off-shore, unskilled phone agents reading scripts who are unable to trouble shoot, after being on hold for ever and the so called escalation to high level techs where no one knows when they will call back and a host of other symptoms. This is what has attributed to my needing to leave behind DSL Extreme.
Respectfully yours,
B -

dslx_gm
ISP Employee
join:2002-12-26
Chatsworth, CA

dslx_gm

ISP Employee

Hi basssolo4u,

We are always looking at our service levels and work hard to ensure that are clients are taken care of. We recently hired a group of technicians here in our Los Angeles offices and have plans to continue to expand our team in Los Angeles and ensure we are providing the best level of service. Some of our tier one calls are answered by our team in the Philippines and we do have some very qualified technicians at our offices there. We closely monitor our average hold times and those are consistently less than sixty seconds on average. Our service levels are important to us and these are all things that we watch closely every day and make changes to better service our clients where they make sense.

We of course can't let you out of your contract because you aren't happy with an interaction with a specific technician but we can guarantee that we will review your account and should there have been an issue work to coach and resolve any issues. Should you want to skip calling into our call center you can always open a ticket by going to »www.dslextreme.com/support/email or can always feel free to reach us here. We actively monitor the forums here and respond to clients. I don't think you will find many General Managers responding directly to clients at after 11:00 PM.

Again we apologize for any issues you experienced in the past and ask that you give us a chance to re-earn your trust. Please do feel free to reach out to Nick via PM and he can take a look at your account and ensure any technical issues are resolved.

Thanks
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

basssolo4u

Member

Hello George,
Thank you for your response. If it were one interaction I would not have adequate reason to want to leave the services. It is over a year of continual problems that has prompted my determination that I have no reason aside from the contract to stay. DSL Extreme HAS NOT EARNED MY BUSINESS. In addition I would be naive to expect that DSL Extreme has the commitment to customer service that would put the customer's situation first.

I signed up because of an attractive sounding radio ad on Leo LaPorte's radio program and unfortunately I bought a load of problems in the process.

Instead of minimizing my one year plus of problems and attempting to say it is an isolated interaction with a technician you might want to look at a what I have gone through in the one year plus which is a consistent broad failure on behalf of your company from the bottom up.

Does DSL Extreme care so little about the customer and need my money so bad that I have to be dragged through another 10 months of this?
Respectfully,
B -
bekfe10
join:2010-01-18
Dover, DE

bekfe10

Member

B-
I am seriously thinking about switching to DSL Extreme ad also following the newer posts about DSL extreme. You had them for a year to try and you renewed at a higher rate I believe; so, was the service good the first year and is going downhill the year after? Also, was this your first experience with DSL or have you had DSL before going with DSLX? Please look at my situation below to understand why I am asking those questions. I would also welcome inputs from any other member that was in a similar situation before switching to DSLX.

My situation: I have had the 1Mb VZ DSL plan (dry loop) for about 7 years now and my service has always been rock solid with no issues whatsoever, but I can't upgrade since FIOS is available in my neighborhood. I want to switch to DSLX basically to get the 3Mb plan for a bit more speed since getting FIOS alone would be too expensive. Now, I am grandfathered by VZ and would not be able to go back to my existing plan if DSLX does not work for me.
Thanks!

dslx_gm
ISP Employee
join:2002-12-26
Chatsworth, CA

dslx_gm

ISP Employee

Hi bekfe10,

Do you have access to your modem interface? Most modems will show your sync rates or line readings including the max sync rate that your line can support. That would be a good indicator of the sync rate that your line will be able to achieve. If you do have access and can post those here (I would recommend starting a new thread) we would be happy to take a look and provide you some feedback.

Thanks
bekfe10
join:2010-01-18
Dover, DE

bekfe10

Member

dslx_mg - I do not have access to the modem at this moment, but I will post the sync rates readings later.
Just so you know when I pre-qualify my address, DSLX says I can get 1.0 MB, 3.0 Mb, and 5.0 MB which were also available to me through Verizon when I could upgrade before the mandatory FIOS switch. Thanks!

dslx_gm
ISP Employee
join:2002-12-26
Chatsworth, CA

dslx_gm

ISP Employee

said by bekfe10:

dslx_mg - I do not have access to the modem at this moment, but I will post the sync rates readings later.
Just so you know when I pre-qualify my address, DSLX says I can get 1.0 MB, 3.0 Mb, and 5.0 MB which were also available to me through Verizon when I could upgrade before the mandatory FIOS switch. Thanks!

Thanks! You shouldn't have any issues then but the line readings are the best indicator of what the line can fully obtain. When you get a chance feel free to create a new thread and post those and we can give you some feedback.

Regards
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

basssolo4u to bekfe10

Member

to bekfe10
Hello bekfe,
This was my first experience at DSL Extreme. I originally did not have much interaction until I started having connectivity problems. Each time I would call I was put on hold for great periods of time. Not sure about the logs that George was talking about regarding short hold times. This just did NOT coincide with my personal experiences.
Each time I called including last week, I was always put on hold and I had NEVER spoken with any associate that was NOT located off shore. I really hope that you have better luck with your situation than I have. I realize that DSL Extreme would not be able to stay in business if all subscribers had the same issues as I or situations were consistently mishandled in the way mine has been. This is why I want to alert others to my situation and the likelihood of the same happening with them.

PLEASE think TWICE before entering a long term contract with this company. The first year will be a decent price coupled with incompetent OFFSHORE phone support and corporate managers that are too busy working to take care of your problems.

I hope that Leo LaPort really has no idea that the company he is sponsored by is so messed up. Good luck to you.
B -
bekfe10
join:2010-01-18
Dover, DE

bekfe10

Member

Hello B-

Thank you for the the explanation. I take it that this was your first experience with DSL overall. Sorry it was not the greatest! I think the main issue with DSLX is not having a grace period where people can actually try the service before committing for one year although that was not your case.

dslx_nick
ISP Employee
join:2011-12-24
Chatsworth, CA

dslx_nick to basssolo4u

ISP Employee

to basssolo4u
Hmmm.

I took a look at your account... and while I do see some tickets opened with our tech support department, I'm seeing a repeated pattern: you get through with our Tier 1 technician, then one of our Tier 2 technicians (who are all here in our Chatsworth, CA office btw) calls you later the same day, but the issue is already resolved by then. In each of these tickets, your modem was holding sync, but you were still having trouble getting online. I do see on some of the tickets, our Tier 2 technicians noted that you were already back online (we could see the connection from our end), but they weren't able to get ahold of you on the number provided so they left voice messages and sent emails to you.

Based on what I'm seeing here, including your current line readings, our recent authentication server logs, and what you've described, it looks like you are having intermittent routing trouble. I see that at one point, you contacted us for help in configuring your router - are you still using that same router? I would suggest bypassing the router and connecting the modem directly to your computer, and see if the connectivity continues to drop.

It definitely doesn't look like an issue with the line itself; in fact, your line could handle a 5Mbps connection, and we're only running it at 3Mbps. No strain that I'm seeing there.
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

basssolo4u

Member

Hello Nick,
Thank you for the response. By the time the tier 2 techs have responded which was usually 24 hours after initial contact the problem was resolved. Each time I called I had ONE computer connected directly with the modem. In regards to the allegation of needing help configuring my router, I would always have ONE computer connected directly to the modem to rule out any internal problem so my router is NOT a factor.

Each time I called the tier one techs were unable to help. I would wind up leaving my house and going elsewhere where I am able to connect to the internet. While doing this I am paying your company for a service that is intermittent at best.

BTW at present my connection is working but cannot be trusted as reliable. My intention is to switch to cable with Time/Warner as I know I can depend on them from past experience but I will have to wait until I am no longer bound to DSL Extreme.
Respectfully,
B -

dslx_nick
ISP Employee
join:2011-12-24
Chatsworth, CA

dslx_nick

ISP Employee

I'm sorry to contradict you, but I just double-checked *every single ticket* in your account. Every callback by our technicians was same-day. While there may have been months passing between tickets, none of the tickets show a callback by our technicians next-day or later.

Are you using a router right now? As I mentioned, I checked our recent authentication logs, and your connection has been disconnecting and reconnecting frequently; I'm seeing 20 disconnects on the 11th, 6 on the 12th, and already 6 today. Every one of those disconnections is recorded in our logs as type "User Request", which usually indicates the session was closed by the end-user's equipment (such as by shutting down the computer or router) rather than another cause (such as a loss of sync or a rejection by the server). If you are not using a router right now, yet you're still disconnecting sessions that frequently, then there's definitely something going on there that needs troubleshooting.
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

basssolo4u

Member

Thank you for your timely response Nick. IN all due respect Nick perhaps you should listen to recordings (if any are made) of what I am told in each session by DSL Extreme technicians. Each and every time I had been escalated I have asked, "When I would receive a call back from an upper level tech"? Each and every time I was told "As soon as they are able to get to you". In return I would ask "an Hour? a few hours? Today? and they would not be able to answer my question.

Your company would stand to improve and profit by listening and believing in the customer for a change.

It is rather hard to save your face and your rear at the same time.

The posts on behalf of DSL Extreme on this thread are more concerned with saving the company reputation then addressing the legitimate problems I have encountered.
Respectfully,
B -

dslx_nick
ISP Employee
join:2011-12-24
Chatsworth, CA

dslx_nick

ISP Employee

quote:
The posts on behalf of DSL Extreme on this thread are more concerned with saving the company reputation then addressing the legitimate problems I have encountered.
In all fairness, the two goals are not mutually exclusive. HOW do we save the company's reputation? By providing good customer service and making sure our customers are taken care of.

I can't change the past; all I can do is observe it, learn from mistakes, and carry on correct practices. With regards to our callback procedure, our Tier 2 technicians work the escalated tickets in the order that they are received, which makes it difficult to precisely predict the exact time of a callback, but our callbacks are usually made within 24 hours - and in your case, every single callback exceeded that goal, so it's a little distressing to hear misinformation being spread about the efforts our Tier 2 technicians make to help our customers. I'm sorry we could not provide more precise predictions on exactly when our Tier 2 technicians would be calling you back, but I believe they did a good job of getting back to you in a timely manner and am proud of them for doing so.

That said, you obviously are still having connection issues, as I have previously acknowledged and researched on your behalf in this thread. Both George and myself have offered assistance in troubleshooting the technical issue you are having. Most recently, I have pointed out the authentication disconnects we're seeing right now, which usually indicate an issue with the connecting device. So... ARE you using a router right now, or is the modem currently connected directly to the PC?
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

2 edits

basssolo4u

Member

As stated previously my connection is up and I am not presently having a technical issue with my connection, my problem is with being unable to leave DSL Extreme behind and carry on with my affairs using an Internet connection I can trust. I have been let down repeatedly to the point that I realize I am a fool for signing up for another year.

The efforts to discredit my grievances only amplify the need to repair the dysfunctionality within DSL Extreme.

In all fairness Nick, my NEED to leave DSL Extream is not based on when the service is working properly, but in fact when the "Wheels fall off the cart", which has happened all too often and including last week. Just like any relationship turned bad, it's time to leave while the pain is at a minimum.
Respectfully,
B -

dslx_nick
ISP Employee
join:2011-12-24
Chatsworth, CA

dslx_nick

ISP Employee

Don't misunderstand; I'm not trying to discredit the trouble you've had. You've had a good half-dozen tickets over the past year, which is proof enough of that, and I can see for myself the constant disconnect/reconnects which are occurring even now. However, I don't agree with being dishonest about our tech support and the hard work our techs provide.

You say you're not having a connection problem right now. I'm telling you, YOU DO, even if you may not realize it. You may not be at the location using the connection, or the connection might be dropping and reconnecting fast enough that it doesn't interrupt whatever you're doing. But, just like a mechanic that can see a growing pool of fluid under a vehicle, I can see symptoms of a problem. Your car may not show 'a problem' until it actually overheats due to low coolant after being driven for several hours, but if the problem's there, then it's there... and even if you're not being KEPT offline for an extended period right now, your line IS disconnecting frequently. 20 times in a single day is NOT normal! If you want to ignore those warning signs, you can do so - but I wouldn't. I'd fix the leak before it becomes a problem again.

I'm offering to help. Our Tier 2 technicians have been offering help all year. If you don't want to accept and use such help, that's up to you, but I wouldn't be able to disqualify your account based on any lack of effort by our tech support team.
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

1 edit

basssolo4u

Member

Hello Nick,
Thank you for your response. I have never refused help. Please tell me something . . . am I different than your average customer that I cannot spend a whole day for days at a time trying to work with techs to get on line when things should be working and I should already be on line?

Second to the last time that I called, (for instance) I was connected within a few minutes of my call with an OFF SHORE agent that did their best to help, but they could not even pull up account information on me as the system was down and I was asked to try back later. This was NOT an isolated experience.

Each of the many times I have been offered to get a call back from a "Tier 2" technician I had waited a few hours and each instance after a few hours I had to carry on with my life and go somewhere else where I could connect to take care of my online affairs.

When I can't get online from my house and have to go somewhere else I LOSE TIME and MONEY.

I realize these assistants in the Philippians and elsewhere are doing the very best they can and God bless them for working hard but, all possessed a common thread in lacking the training or authority to be able to help diagnose much of anything. Some of the "Techs" had a tough time speaking understandable English. By the way my ability to harness the Tagalog language is nonexistent.

So if it were you, would you do the same thing expecting different results, being promised that everything will be better?
basssolo4u

basssolo4u

Member

I have just been sent 2 different emails informing me that tickets have been created for me, one at 1:08 pm and another at 9:18 pm. Neither of them say anything in the way of message content except that I can log into my DSL Extreme account for more details. I log into the account and there is no information. Simply amazing.

dslx_nick
ISP Employee
join:2011-12-24
Chatsworth, CA

dslx_nick

ISP Employee

I created a ticket for you yesterday around 1pm to document my findings with regards to your account (we DO keep detailed notes of pretty much everything we do); as I didn't know before opening the ticket what to expect, it was a bit of a generic 'This is a ticket.' at the time. That's what you received the first email for.

I'm a little surprised that you received a second email after 9pm, however. I didn't open a second ticket for you then. Did it happen to reference a different ticket number, or the same ticket number as the first?
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

basssolo4u to bekfe10

Member

to bekfe10
Hello bekfe10,
My apologies to you as I misread your question regarding "I take it this is your first experience overall with DSL". I thought you were assuming that this was my first experience with DSL Extreme as a customer which it is.
As a matter of fact I have had DSL from Keyway Internet service in Ontario California at this very same house from 1996 to 2008 and they used the same copper wires provided by Verizon just as DSL Extreme is without any problems for 12 years. I moved away and discontinued the service. When I moved back I decided to give DSL Extreme a shot as Leo LaPort the Tech Guy spoke so very highly of them. I should have realized that he is doing a paid promotion by a sponsor. How stupid I was to buy into this.
basssolo4u

basssolo4u

Member

Wow . . . my second support ticket disappeared. I guess it must have been solved. I have not heard word one about either. What a system.
basssolo4u

2 edits

basssolo4u to dslx_nick

Member

to dslx_nick
Hello Nick,
It was a different ticket number than the first ticket. The first ticket had a note of when referenced online said "Tier 2" and that was all it said on my account CP. The one from 9:13pm California was a different number than the first time and just said

Ticket ID: 5275870
Time Created: 2/13/2013 9:13:23 PM
Issue: Re: New DSLExtreme Ticket[#5187744-2336#]
Resolution (if completed):

Please include the subject line in any replies concerning this issue.

Current customers can view ticket information online by visiting »www.dslextreme.com/members

Perhaps an explanation for the time being 9:13 our time was because maybe the ticket was being done from the Philippians where they are in a different time zone.

dslx_nick
ISP Employee
join:2011-12-24
Chatsworth, CA

dslx_nick

ISP Employee

No, that 5275870 ticket number does not exist at all. #5187744 is the one I opened for you, and I'm the only tech assigned to it - and we definitely have not had some 90,000 tickets opened in under 8 hours! Looks like a glitch in the ticket notification system; I'll have our programming department investigate and fix that, thanks for bringing it to our attention.
basssolo4u
join:2013-02-12

basssolo4u

Member

Hello Nick,
Thank your for your call. I have contacted the number you left and spoke with Mike. He went over settings with me for about 20 minutes. Have a decent evening.
Sincerely,
B -
basssolo4u

basssolo4u

Member

As a follow up to this thread, If I could get out from DSL Extreme I would do it right away, if not sooner. I know that a good deal of people are not happy with whoever they have but DSL Extreme has been a problem and renewing for me has been a huge mistake.

In the past 24 hours I have had 2 exchanges with DSL Extreme's SoCal tech support who did in-fact know what they are doing and were courteous and professional but after a year plus of sub standard service, multiple outages and unavailable tech support except for the call screeners they call tier one support, 24 hours of normality JUST DOES NOT make up for the past years worth of unnecessary complications.

Prior to signing up with DSL Extreme I lived 90 miles from my current location and had Charter cable internet. Charter had wonderful tech support and Charter knew what they were doing and got right to the problem and did not screw around with my time. In addition if there was any down time they would compensate for it. Although they are a large company IMHO they do customer support correct.

Unfortunately they do not service the area I moved back to so I chose DSL Extreme.

My focus still remains the same since making this post on Feb. 12th. I wish I had made a better choice than to renew my contract with DSL Extreme this past December. Since I made a bad decision I am bound to the agreement. DSL Extreme is unwilling to let me out of this contract unless I pay for the remainder of the year. Business must be really bad for DSL Extreme to not respect a reasonable request from a customer that they have failed to provide quality service for; therefore I have no choice except to bite the bullet and hold tight for 10 months.

In the meanwhile I will do everything I can to educate and warn others about the mistake I have made in hopes that they can learn from it.
Respectfully,
B -

dslx_nick
ISP Employee
join:2011-12-24
Chatsworth, CA

1 edit

dslx_nick

ISP Employee

In the past year, *every single time* you contacted our tech support with difficulty with your connection either our Tier 1 support got you back online immediately, or our Tier 2 support gave you a callback later the same day, noting that you were already back online but to call us back if you were still having difficulty - and as you never called us back shortly (if you don't call us until over a month later, we consider that a different incident), we believe each incident was resolved successfully.

If you do not consider that quality service, then that is your decision and you are welcome to your own opinion. I ask only that you do not misrepresent the facts, so that others may draw their own conclusions.

For what it's worth, since our technician configured the connection to be handled by the modem (rather than the router), we have not seen any further disconnects. It looks like it was indeed a problem with the router (or possibly the cord between the modem and router). Have you had any further connection difficulty on your end?