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Windstream DSL Investigation: South Carolina

Alright guys, I have sent several emails now regarding the Windstream DSL issue in our state and hope to hear back from some of the media contacts. Hoping you'll post your issues in this thread and a link back to your original post when time permits. Thanks and I hope this helps us all =)

reply to computerdoc
I'll be glad to help if you like. We can setup a call to chat. Though I am in GA, I'm fighting for everyone at this point. Glad to see someone stepping up for SC!

That would be great. I'm hoping many others from the South Carolina and the surrounding areas will chime in and post up. It will help us all in the end. The more attention we can gather the better. I'm hoping if nothing else we'll at least get a few articles written up and maybe in time a short news story. One of our local news stations here (channel 7 News) has "7 on your side" stories and I think this would be a perfect fit.

IM me when you get a chance, it would be great to chat about this in more detail. And please anyone in SC having issues, take just a few minutes to post your experience with Windstream in here and a link to your thread if one exists. Thanks guys!!!

reply to computerdoc
»I'm about to lose it

The countless years we have had issues with Windstream is unbelievable. Words cannot describe the frustration and bitterness we hold for this company. The best information I can provide would be through my post on this site. However, we still have some of our personal notes at home. While they have finally started to get the ball rolling in our location, you still have the sense of waking up in the morning and praying your internet is working so you can get to work. It seems maybe I'm the first of 50,000 that have been "fixed" even though we still have minor issues here and there. I still hold sympathy for the ones struggling with these same issues that have been given no ETR, no help.. no hope. While the $10 a month credit was nice, it doesn't make of for the service, or lack there of. Most of us would still be paying ~$35 a month with the credit and only getting 1/10th of the advertised speeds. That is, if we actually had service that wasn't dropping every 15 minutes. During the past 3 years or longer 56k (dial-up) would've been more reliable, more consistant, and more of a value for getting what you pay for.

reply to computerdoc
Why can't this go national. I would love to see a national investigation. I see reports from WS customers in Iowa, Arizona, Kentucky, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Ohio, Georgia, and Texas. 12 states having a problem with the same company.

reply to Bodybagger
Well said! The $10 credit still has my 3MB plan over $40 a month for dial up like speeds. That is ridiculous! Worse yet is the constant lack of communication between the techs and engineers in the field and lastly the managers that are supposed to be "MANAGING" operations. They always come back with "There are no new updates or "We can't get in touch with those people."

Never have I dealt with a company that states they can't reach their own staff. Never have I dealt with a company with such poor project management. Why make an ETR if you have zero chance in reaching it successfully? I'm still waiting to hear why mine wasn't met this month...again.

Wouldn't that be an obvious answer? The leniency they give themselves and their engineers on projects is mind blowing. Any other respectable company expects their employees to keep to their deadlines, deliver what is promised within reason and strive for outstanding customer service in all areas of service...Windstream does zero of the above for an alarming amount of paying customers, including myself.

Thanks for posting your summary of time with Windstream and linking your post Bodybagger ! I'm still busy contacting whoever I can so this widespread issue can get the attention it deserves in our state as well. FIX YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE WINDSTREAM...you are driving your business and its reputation into the ground quite quickly.

reply to Otro
At the rate Windstream is going it probably will. Start a similar thread for OH. The more active the community gets on this the more attention the matter will receive.

Look at the facts, Windstream has one of the top 10 worst CEO's and now have been found to be the worst in providing advertised broadband speeds. Well done Jeffery Gardner, well done.

reply to Otro
Just my thoughts. I would continue state by state. First both the consumer protection people and the news listen closer. It's a home town type of story for a station that does a whistle blowing segment or likes that type of news.
I think the next one will probably be as hard as 1st on was to organize. But the third and so forth will have it easier at least with the media. Point the the other states. Someone will pick it up national. My experience bringing things to the national media has been zero. I understand why, more so now, since a couple corporations own nearly all the media, those at the top at Windstream would be considered piers and you don't rat out piers.
Local stories I have had about 50/50 success on stories much less than this (how many effected).
I worked in TV a lot time at the engineer dept, but you learn how the others operate and still watch a fair share of national, cable and local news, a bad habit, lol. For the last 10 years and some, the new works are owned as I said above. They avoid news that isn't comfortable for the owners and their friends. But it something starts going viral on twitter, and or Facebook, then a few blogs, showing how many states have covered this on local news, it slowly becomes more and more mainstream. But seriously I doubt it gets covered nationally unless you can tie this to other ISPs (which you can).
The state level will get things done.
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| Speedstream 4200 Modem - 3m/384 plan | W98-W2KSP4-XPSP2 - All AMD | Buffalo WHR G54S with Tomato 1.18 | 3 downstream switches feeding 6 total clients (no wireless) | Including the Data port on the side of my neck |

reply to Otro
There is plenty that all can do. Unfortunately, my experience is that when push comes to shove and you actually confront people and ask them to do the simple work of filing a complaint with their state's consumer protection division, many somehow cannot seem to get that simple task done. Yet the same person somehow has plenty of time to rant online. See the predicament? Too many chiefs. Not enough Indians so to speak.
A lot of work needs to be done before you jump that far. The media won't even listen to you unless you have solid proof (excellent documentation) to back yourself up. And that takes time. I know this first hand.
The problem is, many jump on to this wanting to vent (and rightfully so). But few actually want to put up the time and effort to document all this and then present it to any and all who will listen.
And, even fewer actually want to follow through in joint efforts. Some are afraid to be known for doing this. Others think nothing will actually come of it. Again, I know all this first hand.
I've been preparing to launch a national, coordinated campaign. But I need the few like Computerdoc and Bodybagger to join with me because they have shown they are willing to stay in the fight. So far, most of the ones I have talked to or offered to help have backed down once we talk over the phone and they hear what all I have had to do and have faced.
I'm glad these 2 guys are willing to join up. I need all the guys who have done similar to Computerdoc and Bodybagger to get involved and become a part of the national effort I am working on.
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-- DawsonvilleG

Stand and Fight! -- »How to fight to get what you are paying for

reply to computerdoc
I dont' mean to high jack this thread, but I've tried BBB, FTC, FCC, PUCO, and Ohio Attorney General. No one at any of these want to help and I don't know where else to file complaints.

.......As to your reply about not enough indians, I'm here, I'll help with what ever I can.

reply to computerdoc
I have contacted everyone and their brother and never hear back from any of them. DawsonvilleG here and the rest of you are all I have to work with. Don't assume all the posters here aren't doing anything. Many of us are but for some reason we get ignored. You would think government agencies would be required to at least acknowledge our formal complaints?

The only thing that I won't do is be filmed for television about WS. I also don't have a Facebook but that's not needed for this to be resolved anyway.

I am not even sure that Georgia is going to get help at this point. I'm worried it's all promises to shut us up.

reply to Otro

reply to DawsonvilleG
I work at Windstream in Customer Service and Sales.

My experience working at Windstream is that they forbid us giving credits to customers in latent areas. Their accounts are tagged as being latent and our broadband help desk is not allowed to send techs for service calls in these areas. When I read the notes that are on these tagged accounts, it shows that the equipment is overutilized at 99%+. The equipment is designed to run at 80%, but we are continually selling to these areas and when someone wants to disconnect, instead of disconnecting them, our loyalty department (who gets dinged for not saving a customer) will put them in "broadband always on" at $16 per month and put a credit on for a year and hope that the customers don't notice the increase on their bill a year later. In other words, we are still giving them internet when they are not using it and it takes up space for people who actually will.

There are thousands of accounts like this. I see them every day and only about 4% of our customer base actually calls into the center. Our sales quotas are such that some are selling internet packages to the elderly and to people who don't even have computers because it is "the same price as the unlimited long distance plan" and "gives you the price for life guarantee". What they don't know is that the promotion ends and they end up paying more as well as taxes on something they don't need or want.

These people don't NEED or WANT the internet and it is taking away from people like myself who DO. If we don't make our sales quotas, we loose our jobs. In a small community like where I live, jobs that pay as well as Windstream are nonexistent. So.... we truck on.

What I find to be funny is that we don't want to give customers credit for bad service or outtages, but we have contests and get extra bonuses and eat ALL the time on Windstream's dollar. I've worked for some major corporations out of Atlanta and it is one fat cushy job working at the call center. I've gained 20lbs just working there for 7 months. :-/ We are sending employees to Disney and on trips to Colorado and in general do not want for extra money and bonuses.

The only department that has a lick of sense are our field techs and their area managers. The support departments as well as the assignment and planners (people who build DRS records and dispatch work to the field) are atrocious and consistently lie to customer service reps who in turn relay that information to customers who are just wanting service installed. We aren't given any information as to when something is to be fixed or upgraded.

The worst of it all is that we formed 2 teams in each of our 3 call centers to handle calls from customers whose accounts have been tagged as "latent". They are instructed to tell the customers, SORRY... your service runs on copper and there is nothing we can do. And no credits are to be given. What a joke.

Any way, not sure if any of this information is helpful to you and your community, I just felt the need to relay that to someone. Feel free to pass this information along to whomever you think it will benefit.

This is great info, I really appreciate you sharing this! Inside information such as this will be crucial in building a case, story and hopefully an investigation.

Everything you stated is spot on with my experience with Windstream. Sounds like the support department and planners are of the highest evil in spreading misinformation around causing stress not only to us the customers but the CSR's that have to relay the web of lies.

That's outrageous they don't disconnect customers when they terminate their internet service. The fact that this eating up bandwidth is idiotic when there is already a over utilization issue at hand. What are these guys thinking?

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to post this. If you have any other interesting information that might be helpful don't hesitate to share more =)

reply to computerdoc
WSEmpl thank you for posting. I have stated before that it must be tough to work for WS but we all need jobs.

reply to computerdoc
I think I need to clarify what I said earlier. If I offended anyone, I apologize. With that let me just say this...
I was not speaking to those who have been in the battle with us. I assume most understood what I was trying to say. I thought I was very clear about whom I was referring to. The fact is this: If I listened to each person who said "Don't do that", "What you are doing will not matter", "You are wasting your time" etc., I would be no where right now. So to those who have denied the naysayers and kept on fighting, I salute you. To those who keep telling me and anyone else who has been fighting to give up for one reason or another… I simply don’t have much time to listen to that. We are making a difference! We are going to continue to make a difference.
In reference to the Facebook comment: “that’s not needed for this to be resolved anyway”, I respectfully disagree. That has been invaluable to us. The guy who started that was just like many of us. He had filed many complaints. He had called many times. But he refused to give up. He brainstormed and came up with that idea. Right now as I type this, that group is 153 strong! I’m not knocking here. This forum ROCKS! The truth is, this forum and FB are 2 very different tools. Both are invaluable. But to say one is not needed is incorrect. Look at what we are up against. We need all the tools we can get. No one made anyone join the FB group. And no one made anyone join this forum. To each his own. But if anyone says to me DSL Reports is not needed, I’m going to respectfully disagree. Just like I will do the same about any other helpful tool that has been leveraged. Enough about that. Time to move on to other things…
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-- DawsonvilleG

Stand and Fight! -- »How to fight to get what you are paying for

reply to computerdoc
To WSEmpl,

Wow! I cannot thank you enough for having the courage to share that with all of us. That was awesome. I agree with you that the frontline field techs and their managers have been great. And I know there is only so much they can do. I can't imagine what it is like for them to continually get an earful from dis-satisfied customers whom they can only help to a small degree. I also can't imagine being in your shoes. I would find it very hard to sleep at night knowing all that because my conscious would eat me up. Know that we are not battling you. We appreciate what you have said here and welcome anything else you have to add. Hang in there!
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-- DawsonvilleG

Stand and Fight! -- »How to fight to get what you are paying for

reply to WSEmpl
Great informatoin. Every company has their "little secrets" and I'm glad that someone can come along and have the courage to bring them out on it.

On a side note.. I would be careful of what you say around your office. Businesses are really stupid now about what people post online about their jobs, coworkers, bosses, etc. Our freedom of speech is meaningless when it comes to outing a business for incompetence.

Everyone here really appreciates your info you have shared with us! Just be careful of you personal info.