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GeorgeBurger
join:2011-12-30

GeorgeBurger to TypeS

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to TypeS

Re: vMedia - I've made a huge mistake, full story.

TypeS you are absolutely right, it is a carry-over from internet policy which requires some advance notice to make sure we are not billed for the departing customer by the underlying provider. That consideration is not applicable in the TV context, and we have now discontinued that policy.

Fergless
Premium Member
join:2008-04-19
Toronto, ON

Fergless to GeorgeBurger

Premium Member

to GeorgeBurger
said by GeorgeBurger:

This is quite the little pile on, two anonymous posters, a competitor, and a person who is one of that competitor's biggest fans, judging by his voluminous postings on that board.

My appreciation to our long-standing customers and more balanced observers, for injecting some perspective into the proceedings in my absence.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I was not piling on you George. Simply replying to a fellow DSLR member, something that needed to be cleared up, and it was.

Not sure who our biggest fan might be either:)

Have a good weekend.
Rawrmageddon
join:2013-08-17

Rawrmageddon to GeorgeBurger

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to GeorgeBurger
said by GeorgeBurger:

This is quite a lengthy post, and because the writer reached out to me on IM, I have given the writer a candid response there. The gist of it is that there were definitely issues with the delivery of the service, most of which were caused by matters outside our control, but which we tried to remedy. However there are some pretty relevant omissions in this "detailed" account of events, not the least of which is that our notes show no complaints about our TV service other than the fact that TV has commercials.Not a lot we can do about that.There were definitely issues with some customers surrounding our move to a direct TPIA relationship with Cogeco, which we sought to remedy as quickly as possible, and where we offered credits where appropriate, including here. We are sorry things did not work out, but the extensive notes on the file show many communications with our team, accommodations provided or offered which are not referred to here, and generally sincere and reasonable efforts to fix the issues. We are sorry they did not satisfy you, and we wish you all the best.

said by GeorgeBurger:

Not wishing to comment on the customer in question, credits are offered while we try to work through the issues.Nothing I wrote is inconsistent with that.

Evidentially you didn't get the gist of my complaints. The delivery of service was fine which is why my score for service while provided is an 8 out of 10. It appears you neglected to read most of my post which focuses on the customer service i received every time i had to call. As for the TV you bring up that i didn't like commercials and theres nothing you can do about them, understandable except for the fact i also bring up audio/video sync issues. Lastly you state i make no mention of credits given, please see the section titled The next two weeks as the last sentence of that section clearly notes you offered 1 free month for my troubles. As mentioned the issues were not with the service received while it worked it was 95% with the customer service level and the amount of times i was offered call backs/resolutions and never once was anyone held accountable for not doing so. To this very post your denying any amount off accountability by saying my issue was with vendor issues beyond your control. It was not as i go over a copious amount of times in the detailed post.
said by WhaleOilBee:

That sounds like a terrible experience. I truly do empathize with your frustration.
W.R.T. the IPTV... it's unfortunate that you didn't find out that if you had bought the VBox from Canada Computers, you would have gotten a free two month preview of the Premium Basic TV package. You could have then returned it to CC within 30 days for a refund if you discovered that you didn't like it.
I don't know how much of this is mis-communication on both sides, but I hope you get it all straightened out soon.

Unfortunately there is no canada computers in my area, and regardless of the issues with TV its bound to happen, its a new service. Unfortunately i didn't use it enough in the first place and few times i did i 1. didn't enjoy commercials and 2. didn't enjoy the audio/video hiccups i got. Its a fine product but just like VOIP can suffer for the same issues.
said by elwoodblues:

I'm talking about the TV issue, that George said was not on the record.

The TV issue was not on record i just decided to cancel, my biggest issue was cancelling it. Which should be on record since i quoted my email.
said by Fergless:

quote:
I was planning on going to Distributel once my retention deal ends with Bell if they do not renew it...stories like this make me think twice.
I don't believe Vmedia uses Distributel. Zazeen does though :)

My ip address from vMedia routes through CIK who is ultimately owned by distributel so you are correct. It also means they likely license from Zazeen but rebrand it as their own.
said by Garneac:

It's unfortunate that some people are having difficulties with getting their VMedia products set up, but I'm pretty tired of other people deciding this means VMedia is a shit company or something.
I've had them since I think October of last year and, after some slow down issues in the beginning, it's been a fantastic ISP. We have their 45/4 unlimited cable service and it's been an absolute pleasure.

The products and services worked fine, as you can see above i had roughly 3 months with no actual service issues. The problem here is that when i do have an issue calling them is a nightmare. The customer service is abysmal as is their tech support. Responses through email are provided in a total "no fucks given" manner. When the service works, its works well that is not my issue. The rating system up top as well as my OP explains the issues dealing with their customer support from start to finish ultimately leading to an extended amount of downtime which would have been manageable had i not gotten the terrible customer support during the time it was down.
said by WhaleOilBee:

said by Garneac:

It's unfortunate that some people are having difficulties with getting their VMedia products set up, but I'm pretty tired of other people deciding this means VMedia is a shit company or something.

It's especially frustrating when aspects of the situation appear to be a misunderstanding between the customer and the provider. I've seen this throughout these forums; not just VMedia. In this specific case, there's no modem sold for $59.95. That's the deposit on a rental or loaner modem, yet the OP appears to believe themselves a victim of some 'bait and switch' scheme.

It's clear that the onus is on the provider to ensure that the customer understands the terms and conditions of the sale. Any phone conversation should really be followed up with an e-mail that addresses each point discussed, and asks the recipient to respond if they feel that anything is not 100% clear. This was the S.O.P at most companies where I worked when dealing with customers and vendors.

Heres my first bill stating my "one time charges" rental modems wouldn't show up on this. Also followed below is the charge the next day for a completely different modem thats $40 more. Above this I was advised on the phone prices changed over night for buying modems and this was the new price which clearly shows i was not paying for a rental or loaner. If i was renting the modem at that price it would be titled Deposit and include the $5.95 monthly rental charge which does not appear as i was not renting.
first bill
TV
Basic Package - $18.71 (Price: $24.95/month)
 
Internet
Cable Internet 20 - $41.21 (Price: $54.95/month)
 
Services Total: $59.93
 
Your 'One Time' Charges
Installation - $64.95
Cable Modem DCM476 - $59.95
FREE Shipping - $0.00
VBOX - $74.95
 
'One Time' Charges Total: $199.85
 
Sub Total: $259.78
Tax: $38.16
Total: $293.55
 

Fergless
Premium Member
join:2008-04-19
Toronto, ON

1 edit

Fergless to Rawrmageddon

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to Rawrmageddon

Ciktel?

For the record, Ciktel is not owned by Distributel.

Zazeen's agents are Acanac, Distributel and Xinflix. More on the way

Zazeen IPTV is actually Acanac IPTV marketed as Zazeen.

pducharme
Premium Member
join:2010-06-29
Sherbrooke, QC

pducharme

Premium Member

More on the way ? :O

Fergless
Premium Member
join:2008-04-19
Toronto, ON

2 edits

Fergless

Premium Member



Edited.

rednekcowboy
join:2012-03-21

1 recommendation

rednekcowboy to Rawrmageddon

Member

to Rawrmageddon

Re: vMedia - I've made a huge mistake, full story.

Zazeen's biggest fan? I haven't posted in this thread yet! LOL

K, so in all fairness to George and Vmedia. Commercials? Really? You're complaining about commercials? Can you please name me 1 freaking TV provider in Canada that offers service that does not have commercials?

As for the Video/Audio "hiccups" as you call them, there are many things that can cause this. I have never had Vmedia, but I do have Zazeen and have been with them since the beginning. 95% of the time we have had someone with this type of complaint it has come down to their own internal network configuration or activity on the network at the time of the reported issue (lots of traffic on the line, saturating the connection and not enough left over for the tv).

As for your customer complaint issues, how do you think that companies like Vmedia and Zazeen are able to offer services so cheaply compared to the competition? The savings have to come from somewhere. They don't just wave a magic wand and "presto!" have bags full of money at their feet in order to subsidize your services! You were even offered a month for free. I would say that is pretty top notch.

To top that all off, here on these forums, is the first time you have complained about any video/audio glitches but you called in complaining about commercials. You expected them to take you seriously with such a complaint?

Furthermore, Vmedia has it's own forums that you could have went to. I know that they are full of users and staff that are ready and willing to help out when and where they can and you would have likely gotten an immediate response. You certainly had no problem finding this forum to lodge a very lengthy complaint why didn't you go to theirs to try and solve your issues before it got to this point.

/end rant

Whoa--wait a minute, did I just stick up for George and Vmedia??? Think I'd better go back to bed, must be opposite day or something!

FYI, I have no idea where you got that CIK is owned by Distributel, but you are gravely mistaken sir. Statements like that call into legitimacy your whole rant/complaint/post.
Rawrmageddon
join:2013-08-17

Rawrmageddon

Member

In all fairness i never called in complaining about commercials, i understand tv has commercials as does radio and hell even youtube. I simply stated i got sick of the tv because i can't stand 50% of a tv show being commercials. Never did i say this is vmedias fault, the main concern was the audio/video syncing which could have been bearable had i not been spoiled by HD netfliix and youtube with no audio/video issues and were HD unlike 50% of the tv channels with vmedia only filling up 50% of my tv screen.
My main complaint here is the customer service, and the free month was nice to get. I would have stayed except i knew the next time i had to call in for something it would be a nightmare and just didn't feel like putting myself through it. I've been with various other TPIA's before and the customer service provided was without a question lightyears ahead of vmedia. Like i said in the OP when the service works great, just pray that you never have to call them.

rednekcowboy
join:2012-03-21

rednekcowboy

Member

said by Rawrmageddon:

In all fairness i never called in complaining about commercials, i understand tv has commercials as does radio and hell even youtube. I simply stated i got sick of the tv because i can't stand 50% of a tv show being commercials. Never did i say this is vmedias fault, the main concern was the audio/video syncing which could have been bearable had i not been spoiled by HD netfliix and youtube with no audio/video issues and were HD unlike 50% of the tv channels with vmedia only filling up 50% of my tv screen.
My main complaint here is the customer service, and the free month was nice to get. I would have stayed except i knew the next time i had to call in for something it would be a nightmare and just didn't feel like putting myself through it. I've been with various other TPIA's before and the customer service provided was without a question lightyears ahead of vmedia. Like i said in the OP when the service works great, just pray that you never have to call them.

K, so now I'm even more confused. What is it--the service is great or there were video/audio sync issues? Why is it that the first time you complain about these issues is here on these forums? You yourself admitted this. And if you never called in complaining about commercials, how is it that they have it on record that you called in complaining about commercials and you, yourself admitting here that you complained about commercials?

FWIW, yet another NEW complaint from you, but I digress, the 50% of your TV screen thing? I've been with Videotron here in Quebec and this occurs with them as well. I do understand this complaint but again, it is the same with standard Cable providers so not Vmedia's doing.

To be perfectly honest, it sounds to me that while you did have some difficulties when calling in, by large the majority of the problems you are complaining about are native to all TV providers in Canada and then, in order to try and boost your credibility, you "created" some new "issues" while doing your write up here on these forums. Again, you managed to find these forums easy enough to lodge a complaint, but you did not think to once go to the Vmedia forums at all to get your questions answered? Sometimes with IISP's, the best service comes from their own forums, not from calling in.

WhaleOilBee
What a long strange trip it's been
join:2011-08-02
Manotick, ON

1 recommendation

WhaleOilBee to rednekcowboy

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to rednekcowboy
said by rednekcowboy:

Whoa--wait a minute, did I just stick up for George and Vmedia??? Think I'd better go back to bed, must be opposite day or something!

I too pinched myself to be sure I wasn't dreaming.
JMJimmy
join:2008-07-23

1 recommendation

JMJimmy to rednekcowboy

Member

to rednekcowboy

i can't stand 50% of a tv show being commercials.

And if you never called in complaining about commercials, how is it that they have it on record that you called in complaining about commercials and you, yourself admitting here that you complained about commercials?

I find this hilarious. I hate commercials as much as the next guy but who doesn't realize this by now? I mean we have a show "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" [of commercials] that's been airing since 1993.

The only thing I would be complaining about is the ads over top of content.

Also, the complaints about being charged for June - totally the OPs fault nothing to do with vMedia. The rest is pretty crappy service for sure. Who does disconnect orders once a month? Insane.
User4321
join:2014-07-19

User4321 to Rawrmageddon

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People need to understand that customer service is going to be subpar with any low-cost provider. These companies need to cut costs somewhere, and usually that area is customer service (which is understandable from a business perspective). Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to offer the prices they do. Speaking for myself, I'd much rather pay $50/month for unlimited service and poor customer service than $150/month and slightly better customer service with one of Rogers or Bell.

TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON

TypeS

Member

There are ISPs that offer lower pricing than the incumbents while at the same time offering better customer service. The implication that cheaper pricing means worse service is not always true.
User4321
join:2014-07-19

User4321

Member

said by TypeS:

There are ISPs that offer lower pricing than the incumbents while at the same time offering better customer service. The implication that cheaper pricing means worse service is not always true.

The only other options are Teksavvy, Distributel, Acanac, and Start. And people complain about the first three just as much as Vmedia. I haven't heard too much about Start, but that is because they are a fairly recent startup with few subscribers.

There is simply no way to offer low prices and quality customer service while being profitable (at least not in this market).

TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON

TypeS

Member

You should educate yourself a bit.

Of all the companies you listed, VMedia is the only new startup.

Start has been around since 1995, so again, you are wrong. There are ways to excel at customer service without bending the customer over for their wallet.

Despite the amount of complains TekSavvy may get they maintain an 80+% rating on DSLreports. And if we're going to talk about user base, TekSavvy has vastly more customers than VMedia. Quick glace at TekSavvy's forums, you don't see the rant threads as frequent as here.

Being cheaper doesn't mean you have sacrifice quality, especially when it comes to customer service where not every aspect of the experience is a fixed material cost.

WhaleOilBee
What a long strange trip it's been
join:2011-08-02
Manotick, ON

WhaleOilBee to User4321

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to User4321
said by User4321:

There is simply no way to offer low prices and quality customer service while being profitable (at least not in this market).

Thank you Mr Laurence. Welcome to DSLr.

rednekcowboy
join:2012-03-21

rednekcowboy to TypeS

Member

to TypeS
Tek is also one of the most expensive of IISP's. Start, while not being new by any stretch of the imagination, is not exactly a large IISP.

Vmedia is the cheapest of IISP, as far as I know, and by far in most cases. Those savings come from somewhere and while George tries his best, he is only 1 person. Not saying there is anything wrong with this at all, just people need to adjust their expectations accordingly.

Acanac has almost 400k in subs so there is also a reason why you see a lot of complaints about them and Distributel (very much like Tek) though even I have to admit that, from reports when calling in it is not a great experience. Though I will say, like when you contact George if you are a Vmedia customer, when you reach out to Paul/Sandro as an Acanac customer, the experience is top notch. Same if you reach out to Rocco for Start and Marc for Tek.

The only IISP that I can say for certain that doesn't sacrifice on customer service at all is Electronicbox. They always provide top tier service and every time you call/email in, their reps make you feel that they feel your issue is very important to them. The only reason I can say this for certain is that I have experienced it first hand.
BoogaBooga
join:2004-06-12
Canada

BoogaBooga to TypeS

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to TypeS
TSI's rating used to be in the 90% range not too long ago. They're starting to slip but I suppose that's expected given their rapid growth.

Vmedia needs to take a page from Tek's book and implement an online presence (much the way TSI has) where they can gauge customer satisfaction before phone calls are even made. They probably do not have the critical mass (i.e. fanboys) for this quite yet but they should start thinking about it.

People feel the need to raise a stink here just to get some support with their issue (often from George who is over-qualified). Unfortunately these posts reflect poorly on the company. If adequate support was available, I suspect that these posts would never see the light of day. I have no doubt things will get better with time; even Tek went through some dark times not too long ago.
JMJimmy
join:2008-07-23

JMJimmy

Member

TSI's 90% rating was about 3 years ago. They bottomed out at 85% for DSL and 76% for cable before training up enough staff to handle demand. (4% and 9% respectively to get back to 90%) Cable still has a ways to go customer service wise (I never had incompetence issues with DSL support but most definitely did for cable support).

vMedia has a lot of basic groundwork they need to do before worrying about an online presence - if anything George should stop responding here or get someone else to. His comments to customers that post bad reviews, no matter how justified, just make the company look even worse. They should also realize they have a problem when 19 of 31 reviews give tech support scores of 50% or lower (yes, half their positive reviews give poor support scores)

HenryA
join:2011-05-28

2 edits

HenryA

Member

???

Really?

I've had 100% satisfaction with Vmedia. Great company. Most of the complaints I've read come from people who live in areas that already have established problems with primary ISPS's (Cogeco, Rogers, Bell). If the primary provider is congested, has substandard eqipment, or has poor coverage and frankly just doesn't give a crap about customer satisfaction, I'd be hard pressed to blame companies like Vmedia or Acanac for failure to deliver, since they're reliant on the partner equipment to be working, and in Vmedia's case hoping Rogers doesn't f*ck up the initial install (they did with mine....Rogers sub contractors are morons)

Face it. Rogers and Bell suck. I doubt they really care if problems are quickly solved with a couple of customers at Vmedia.

For the record, I prefer that George just keep answering. I've learned you can't make everyone happy, so ignore the a-holes who always complain the loudest over the smallest things.

You appear to be a Tekksavvy customer JMimmy. I'm really having a hard time with your opinion since you're not affected in any way shape or form by Vmedia. It would be as inane as me complaining about Tekksavvy. It's just trolling for the sake of trolling in that case.
JMJimmy
join:2008-07-23

JMJimmy

Member

I'm not making a complaint, just an observation. I also was not addressing any issue related to provider conditions. I was strictly speaking about tech support observations based on the 36 reviews posted. Fewer than 20% of them gave top marks to tech support and of those only one describe any interaction with tech support but not by phone. The rest seem to have one or more issues with phone support which is probably why the overall rating for it is at 44%.

While you can't make everyone happy, it does not look good on any company when they berate those customers. The customer can lie, swear, and cheat six ways from Sunday but as a business you can't feed into that. The krbrownca or ronanicich vmedia reviews are exactly how you don't want to do it. Compare those with the MoE and lapedrera start.ca reviews and you can see the difference in level of service. Teksavvy negative reviews are similar, they almost never attack the customer - I say almost because there was one instance where Marc forgot that, despite his diplomatic tone.

TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON

TypeS to HenryA

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to HenryA
said by HenryA:

[...]
I've read come from people who live in areas that already have established problems with primary ISPS's (Cogeco, Rogers, Bell). If the primary provider is congested, has substandard eqipment, or has poor coverage and frankly just doesn't give a crap about customer satisfaction, I'd be hard pressed to blame companies like Vmedia or Acanac for failure to deliver, since they're reliant on the partner equipment to be working [...]

Have you even bothered to read the OP's threads about his main complaints? If so you wouldn't make such a generalized and biased post.

His main sticking points are sync issues with the VBox and the competence & attitude he has gotten from VMedia's staff. He has said numerous times the internet service itself has worked fine. So please let me know where the incumbent factors into this equation.

People here seem to be quick to make excuses for VMedia, but those are not universal.

Every third party IISP faces the same set of problems from not owning their own last mile of wireline infrastructure. That doesn't absolve them of responsibility.

I can't comment on the TV issues the OP posted about, too little detail.

But there's been a general theme on these complaint posts about VMedia and it's the not so great experience some folks are having when calling in to get help. That is something VMedia absolutely has full control over (minus demands from customers regarding appointment lead times etc - again something ALL IISPs share).

While VMedia may keep its ratio of support staff to customers much larger to keep costs down, that doesn't prohibit proper training and development.

HenryA
join:2011-05-28

HenryA

Member

Sure. I read the original post. My comprehension skills are pretty good...university edjumakated and everything.
University of Toronto - B.Sc with honours class of '88

That said, it's still baffles me why anyone from TekSavvy would bother to post in a thread about Vmedia.

I can honestly say, I've never once posted a single reply in a TekSavvy thread. I guess because without working user evidence, my opinion wouldn't really be valid. It'd just be me voicing an opinion on a subject I'd have no knowledge of. It would be pointless.

Personally, you know, as an ACTUAL user of Vmedia, I've never had an issue with tech support. I call. They call me back within 20 minutes. Problem gets fixed. Case closed.

Summary
Rogers sucks. Bell sucks. I'm happy with Vmedia. You can't make everyone happy. The rest is bs and nonsense

TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON

TypeS

Member

You are being way too defensive, much like George with some of his earlier rebuttals.

It's a public forum, like it or not. We can all post our criticisms and observations. There's no unspoken rule that only users of the ISP that the complain is about can post. I'm not sure where you getting this wild idea from.

And read my posts a bit more with that "university education" of yours, I have yet to criticize specifically technical aspects of VMedia's services. But stories of customer contact experiences are on no short supply and I'm free to compare them to what I have experienced with other providers.

That's great that you've barely had to call them and your few experiences have been pleasant. Not every call is the same and I have had years of front line customer experience. And the employee responding to a customer is always a big part of how something gets dealt with.

Try and take it a little less personal when someone else has had a bad experience with a company you also have services with.

HenryA
join:2011-05-28

HenryA

Member

Right back at you sport. It reads like you're a bit bent out of shape because I question the fact you keep chiming in on something that you have zero knowledge of.

I tell you from first hand experience the company is reliable, that the service is as good as anything I've experienced in 20 years of being an internet user, and that George and company have always fixed the problems quickly. Seems to me that my experience would be a base line of general service...doesn't it? Or do you believe I have some sort of special priviliges that other Vmedia customers don't? Maybe Vmedia is paying me (Hey George...where's my check?)

I tell you it makes no sense to complain about a company you're not signed up with...(I've heard that the '79 Ford F-250 is a crappy truck. Never owned one myself. Never drove one. But. Someone else on a forum said so. It must be true right?)

You come back with "I can complain if I want, it's a public forum".

Sure, you can complain. You could also not complain and instead be a casual observer.

You say you're a CSR.

With whom?

TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON

TypeS

Member

You really need to cool your hot head there.

You have just as little knowledge as I do, unless, do you work for VMedia?

Also, where have I complained? I have thrown in my observations and criticisms. You on the other hand are saying "if you're not a customer, you have no right to say anything". This is a public forum for public discussion. So sorry if not everything written here doesn't agree with you, but perhaps maybe you should not take part if you can't take tolerate other sides of the coin?

Lighten up, go outside for a bit.

I've worked for all the typical big box retailers, a restaurant, had a stint at a computer store for 3 years here in London (Mega Computer Systems). So yes, I have lots of first hand experience in dealing with the customers.
JMJimmy
join:2008-07-23

JMJimmy to HenryA

Member

to HenryA
I wouldn't venture into another company's forum (»VMedia) and comment, however, this thread is under "Canadian Broadband" which is one I monitor. Being the "go to geek" people are always asking me about ISPs and I like to stay informed so I give proper information. I'm never going to have first hand information of every IISP but after 16 reviews there's a statistically valid representation I can use as a baseline. I tend to go a bit further and read some of the worst to see how much it might be skewed or what types of problems to specifically watch out for - that's just my personality though - I like to get the facts as best I'm able.

You are a satisfied vMedia customer - that's awesome. Putting blinders onto the fact that 38% of the reviews are not satisfied with vMedia or that 53% of the reviews specifically take significant issue with tech support does no one any good.

Objectively, if you compare George, Rocca, and Marc (&team) - ignoring what company they're with - you can see a stark difference.

Rocca comes off somewhat informal but seems to have a genuine and earnest desire to make things right by customers. There's no concern about how others are perceiving the issue.

Marc & team are far more formal and can come off seeming a bit scripted at times, that's a product of scale, however, they always take responsibility when they screw up. Even after customers have left them they try to follow up to fix it so it doesn't happen to anyone else.

George, for the most part seems very concerned with outward appearance, assigning blame, avoiding taking responsibility for what can be improved, and implying people must be mistaken about their views because of all the positive comments. That's not to say he doesn't also want to help, there's just a slight adversarial nature at times.

Probably the best example of what I'm talking about comes from TSI-Andre: »Review of TekSavvy DSL by unavailable

The customer is obviously being belligerent and Andre gives a curt response that comes off as being more concerned about the company than the customer. He makes it worse by then badgering the customer. Completely unprofessional and does not reflect well on TSI at all. Then he gets his head out of his ass and accepts responsibility for where TSI failed, details the correction, and resolves things. I wouldn't have put in the stuff about changing the review though, but at least he asked it as a favour.

Taking the situation from:
"I failed to appreciate TekSavvy's incompetence and arrogance."
to
"Everything developed according to TSI Andre's clairvoyance: the refund has hit my account to the last penny on the day it was supposed to. I am unaccustomed to such level of customer service."

That is a sign of excellent customer service, especially considering the person was not going to be a customer and Andre knew that going in. Regardless of his ability to turn it around, and I think he'd agree, he should not have badgered him the way he did.

That criticism doesn't translate into "TSI sucks" - nor do my comments about George translate into "vMedia sucks" or even "George sucks". I think, based on what I've read on DSLR and seen on YouTube, his skills and knowledge suit the technical/business side of things far more than they do the support side of things. That's just an outside observer's opinion. If anything I'd say George is my hero for putting Kevin O'Leary in his place repeatedly.
GeorgeBurger
join:2011-12-30

3 recommendations

GeorgeBurger to Rawrmageddon

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I have tried not to get into this fray beyond my initial comments, but the generous support of some on this thread, including, miraculously, RNC, compel me to make a few quick comments.

First, our approach to dealing with negative comments may be different from some of our competitors, but only some comments. I am pretty sure that if one gets beyond the self-imposed limitations of confirmation bias, one would see that almost all of our responses to negative comments and reviews are, quite appropriately, apologetic, helpful and sympathetic. However, we will not accept the perpetuation of mistruths and exaggerations, especially when accompanied by insults to our dedicated team.

No one makes claims regarding perfection in our customer service. We are building this capability from the ground up, and while we have a pretty smart team, none of us have by-the-book call centre experience. In fact if any of you know of any top-notch call centre managers that are looking for a groundfloor opportunity, please direct them to me.

However, we have a very close office, with our call centre located literally steps from where I sit, and I hear our people on the phones all the time.I know first hand the efforts they make on our customers' behalf, the follow through, and the empathy. The core values of our call centre are compassion and communication, and our team delivers them daily.

Of course we fail at times. That is unfortunate, because we never want to fail our subscribers. We not only appreciate that they give us their business, that they entrust us with the delivery of precious services which are now as close to essential as any have ever been, but we are particularly grateful for doing so at this early stage of of history, taking this risk with us. Anyone who takes an unbiased read of the history of comments here and on Red Flag Deals knows full that we, I, respond to all comments, negative or otherwise, with the utmost respect.

In those cases where we push back, there is a reason. We have had customers scream and swear at our team, we have had them lie on these boards about how we have responded to their issues, we have had deadbeats come on here and slime us after we have made endless accommodations regarding their failure to pay, extorting undeserved discounts with threats to come on this board, and we have had them reduce some of our team to tears.

I find it hard to believe that anyone who has worked as a CSR would not understand this, or be familiar with it.

I also have the benefit of reading notes on our communications with customers, and seeing the remarkable divergence between the claims made on these boards and the actual details. I have asked unhappy posters to let me post the exchanges, and they almost never do.

Given the extreme behaviour of some, I think our responses to them are quite restrained.

Finally, the fact is, everyone is entitled to their opinion, even people who have never experienced our service. I doubt I would object even if we had our own forum, though I doubt the fact this is an open forum excuses determined efforts by those actually ignorant about our services to chime in. It is not something I would do, but I will defend the entitlement to do so.

We are perhaps different from some of our competitors in that we expect some degree of civility in our dealings with our subscribers. Those that exhibit egregious behaviour are few and far between, even on this board, and while we would definitely be grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve them, we will not do so at any price.We may be wrong, but that is the approach we have adopted.
taraf
join:2011-05-07
Ottawa, ON

taraf

Member

said by GeorgeBurger:

I also have the benefit of reading notes on our communications with customers, and seeing the remarkable divergence between the claims made on these boards and the actual details. I have asked unhappy posters to let me post the exchanges, and they almost never do.

I can understand where you're coming from in terms of "people suck". They do. Customers can be demanding, abusive, and arrogant. But when I read this sentence, I also felt the need to point out that sometimes CSR's can be those same things too. And sometimes CSR's will write ticket documentation that doesn't actually reflect reality, and if you don't listen to the call recording, there's not really any way for you to tell from the ticket notes. I say that not only as somebody who has had to deal with the repercussions when a CSR invented a ticket log about my own service, I say it as somebody who worked in customer service/call center over a decade, and then went on to do quality assurance/performance coaching. It has been my job to listen to CSR calls and grade them for, among other things, accurate documentation. Sometimes, they lie.

I don't know if you're serious or not in your request for experienced call center managers, and honestly, I'm quite happy with my current organization and likely wouldn't seriously entertain an offer to leave them. But if I can offer a piece of free advice? Invest in AECR training, from Achieve Global. I don't really care whether you spring for it for everybody, or just the managers, or just a few folks who can then develop an in-house training based on it. But the training is very good. I've taken it a few times over the years, in various incarnations, and the techniques and skills it imparts are very useful for dealing with difficult situations in customer service. If you implemented something like it, it may go a very long way towards getting rid of the complaints that people have about the customer service.

And as an aside that's sort of relevant.... I've had vmedia 25/2 cable service since January. I've never had to deal with customer service/billing, except for the ordering process. While that process left a bit to be desired, overall, I'm satisfied with the service. I get what I pay for. While I do have service degradation at peak hours, I'm fairly well certain that it's because of wifi saturation in my apartment building, not vmedia's actual service. I replaced the router with a dual band 802.11ac router, and those devices which actually support 5GHz don't experience problems.

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

3 edits

Davesnothere to User4321

Premium Member

to User4321
said by User4321:

The only other options are Teksavvy, Distributel, Acanac, and Start.

And people complain about the first three just as much as Vmedia.

I haven't heard too much about Start, but that is because they are a fairly recent startup with few subscribers....

START is NOT a 'fairly recent startup'.

Or do you consider 1995 to be recent ?

They began offering TPIA Cable Internet service more recently, but that can be said for most IISPs.

But START does seem to run into fewer problems and/or has a better average at solving any which they DO encounter, without as many being aired on DSLR.

Your other points seem well-stated.

Anyway, VMedia is trying to deliver a relatively new service (IPTV), and shit happens, regarding the tech end of things.

Acanac has had growing pains in that regard too, I have read.

Furthermore, source-admin'd TV video streams have issues too sometimes, such as CBC, which I watch daily.

I cannot speak about VM's CS or support, as I have not been a subscriber so far.
said by User4321:

There is simply no way to offer low prices and quality customer service while being profitable (at least not in this market).

I am inclined to agree.