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Verizon mulling new support options?
(old news - 05:07PM Thursday Mar 13 2003)
tags: dsl · telco
One reader alerts us to an interesting discussion that has developed in the 0.verizon.discussion-general newsgroup. Apparently Verizon On-line's Scott Brooks (Executive Support of VOL Operations) posted a message about the possibility of VOL customers having access to "premium support", for an additional "flat monthly fee". According to Brooks, Verizon (though perhaps just him) is mulling over the idea, and is looking for feedback via the newsgroup. Would customers pay more to receive improved technical support? His full message is reprinted below.

=====
From: "Scott Brooks [VZ-Support]"
Organization: Verizon Online
Reply-To: Scott.R.Brooks@Verizon.net
Newsgroups: 0.verizon.discussion-general
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 20:05:49 GMT
Subject: Premium Tech Support

Group:

Another idea that came up in these groups a few months ago was premium tech support. (Higher support levels for a fee.) We are now looking very closely at starting some kind of premium service. (Thanks to you!)

We have talked about flat monthly fee added to your bill, a per-call fee by credit card, or both for premium support. I would like to get your thoughts not only on billing options, but also what is your definition of premium support.

--
Once again thank you for your business,
Scott Brooks - Executive Support VOL Operations
=====

Of course the idea of offering a "premium" tech support tier naturally brings to mind plenty of questions. Shouldn't customers, paying a monthly bill, already get the best customer service possible for their money? What exactly would a premium tech support offer entail? Would users get to skip the first tier script reading tech support and jump right to second and third level support? Perhaps users would be assigned their own tech support "agent" tasked with actually calling them back?

We've fired off questions to both Scott Brooks and Verizon's PR department, and will be sure to post the responses.

Related:
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  2. Verizon: Cut Your Landline To Save Money
  3. Verizon Disavows DSL -- Sort Of
  4. Qwest: 265,000 ADSL2+/VDSL Customers
  5. What Network Neutrality Is REALLY About
  6. Windstream Announces Layoffs
  7. Unions Blame Verizon For Fairpoint Disaster
  8. Unions Ramp Up Opposition To Verizon/Frontier Deal
Forums » Premium Tech Support
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Post a:
page: 1 · 2
rrhoden

join:2002-10-15
Kathleen, GA

Why

Why should someone have to pay an additional fee for "improved" tech support? What are so great about these people? Do they have the support book memorized rather than looking it up while the user is on the phone waiting?

Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
·Verizon FIOS

Re: Why

Yeah, thats really some questions that need to be answered.

Whats the craeteria for this support.

Is this some Que-jumping support? You become first in line?

Is this a support # where you reach someone with 3+ years of verizon-employment experience?

Do you just bypass a certain tier? If so, you'll have to increase the amount of Tier2/Tier3 people, and who are you going to pull from? Tier1.

I really think that a post like that really should have had at least some more "detail" as to what was really implied by better support.

The guys here at dslreports are definitely on the ball with this one, asking those questions already.
--
May 26th. D-Day for dslreports.com
rrhoden

join:2002-10-15
Kathleen, GA

Re: Why

Well tell them since they charge you for 768/128 service, when infact you only get about 650/110, the speed difference could be used to "pay" this additional fee. Also, they MAY have a seperate tech support # for you to call if you pay this fee, or they may have you call the original number and get transferred over that way. To save money, you'll probably have to call and have a Tier 1 tech answer and you tell them your paying the additional fee for advanced support. Then what do you do? You wait on the line an additional 5 minutes before these other goons answer the line. Personally, it sounds like a crock of $hit.

Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth

Re: Why

Thats why we have to see some answers.

Answers answers answers...
--
May 26th. D-Day for dslreports.com

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

said by rrhoden See Profile:
Well tell them since they charge you for 768/128 service, when infact you only get about 650/110, the speed difference could be used to "pay" this additional fee. Also, they MAY have a seperate tech support # for you to call if you pay this fee, or they may have you call the original number and get transferred over that way. To save money, you'll probably have to call and have a Tier 1 tech answer and you tell them your paying the additional fee for advanced support. Then what do you do? You wait on the line an additional 5 minutes before these other goons answer the line.
Actually when you factor in the PPPoE overhead of 13 to 20% of your total bandwidth of 768/128 those speeds are about right on target.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth
cableblows3

join:2001-06-17
Indianapolis, IN

Re: Why-FACTOR THIS IN

said by dvd536 See Profile:
said by rrhoden See Profile:
Well tell them since they charge you for 768/128 service, when infact you only get about 650/110, the speed difference could be used to "pay" this additional fee. Also, they MAY have a seperate tech support # for you to call if you pay this fee, or they may have you call the original number and get transferred over that way. To save money, you'll probably have to call and have a Tier 1 tech answer and you tell them your paying the additional fee for advanced support. Then what do you do? You wait on the line an additional 5 minutes before these other goons answer the line.
Actually when you factor in the PPPoE overhead of 13 to 20% of your total bandwidth of 768/128 those speeds are about right on target.

NO if they sell you 768/128 thats what it should be! how bout you buy a gallon of milk and only get 3/4 of it? does that work for you? me either
Gordon Gekko

join:2003-02-18
North Little Rock, AR

Re: Why-FACTOR THIS IN

Your not correct.....physical connections speed is 768/128 ...if it would not be that then you would more then likely loose your syncronization.....blame the loss on your pc which uses a routable protocol called tcip...this is where the overhead is being used.....

Aladrin
Code Junkie

join:2001-01-25
Clermont, FL
You're telling me that your milk comes RIGHT up to the top of the cap when you buy it? Mine has about 1/2" of air at the top.
archfeld

join:2001-07-29
Concord, CA

Re: Why-FACTOR THIS IN

yes but you have a jug that is larger than 1 gallon. The liquid measurement are REQUIRED to actually reflect the amount of liquid IN THE CONTAINER, unlike the system the ISP's use, Andersen accounting I am sure...

bear73
Metnav... Fly The Unfriendly Skies
Premium
join:2001-06-09
Grand Forks Afb, ND
·Midcontinent Commu..

said by cableblows3 See Profile:
said by dvd536 See Profile:
said by rrhoden See Profile:
Well tell them since they charge you for 768/128 service, when infact you only get about 650/110, the speed difference could be used to "pay" this additional fee. Also, they MAY have a seperate tech support # for you to call if you pay this fee, or they may have you call the original number and get transferred over that way. To save money, you'll probably have to call and have a Tier 1 tech answer and you tell them your paying the additional fee for advanced support. Then what do you do? You wait on the line an additional 5 minutes before these other goons answer the line.
Actually when you factor in the PPPoE overhead of 13 to 20% of your total bandwidth of 768/128 those speeds are about right on target.

NO if they sell you 768/128 thats what it should be! how bout you buy a gallon of milk and only get 3/4 of it? does that work for you? me either
ever looked at the actual raw bits comming in on your line? I'll bet you 6 months pay that if you measured your line with a line tester (the kind the field techs are given for test and verification of your lines, signal loss, line capacity and such) you'd find you are getting what you have paid for. It's something that most techs and reps won't tell you because if the customer doesn't already have a background in technology then the tech or rep will either be "speeking Greek" or will have to spend 2 hours teaching the technology to them.
--
If ya gotta go, Go with a SMILE!
TestPC1

join:2002-09-18
Leesburg, VA

So tell me , you bought a 56k dial up modem . Did you ever 56kbps from any service you connected with it ?

The comparison of milk to shared bandwidth product isn't valid either.

Do you guys ever read your service agreements ? Or do you just scroll down and OK like some mindless lab rat ?

mballard
Premium,ExMod 1999-03
join:1999-11-15
Los Angeles, CA
clubs:

Re: Why

Actually, it has almost nothing to do with PPPoE overhead, it is related to TCP/IP over ATM overhead, the amount of overhead PPPoE adds less than 1% (assuming a 1492 MTU).

murdok6100
Avatar. Get It, Avatar?

join:2002-06-20

said by dvd536 See Profile:
said by rrhoden See Profile:
Well tell them since they charge you for 768/128 service, when infact you only get about 650/110, the speed difference could be used to "pay" this additional fee. Also, they MAY have a seperate tech support # for you to call if you pay this fee, or they may have you call the original number and get transferred over that way. To save money, you'll probably have to call and have a Tier 1 tech answer and you tell them your paying the additional fee for advanced support. Then what do you do? You wait on the line an additional 5 minutes before these other goons answer the line.
Actually when you factor in the PPPoE overhead of 13 to 20% of your total bandwidth of 768/128 those speeds are about right on target.

Im so glad I dont have to pay these bastards ever again. Im telling ya: for the money nothing beats VOIP.

And ya know something else, stupid people will pay these fools for "premium" service. It may even catch on and make other tech support more expensive.

But at least I'll be able to say I have nothing to do with it.

murdok610

sadowski
I Am My Own Doppelganger
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-14
Buffalo, NY
clubs:
Verizon does in fact over-provision so that you do get 768/128 or whatever your plan calls for.

ScopeyFresh

join:2000-12-02
Lompoc, CA
clubs:

said by rrhoden See Profile:
Well tell them since they charge you for 768/128 service, when infact you only get about 650/110, the speed difference could be used to "pay" this additional fee. Also, they MAY have a seperate tech support # for you to call if you pay this fee, or they may have you call the original number and get transferred over that way. To save money, you'll probably have to call and have a Tier 1 tech answer and you tell them your paying the additional fee for advanced support. Then what do you do? You wait on the line an additional 5 minutes before these other goons answer the line. Personally, it sounds like a crock of $hit.
Hey on my 768/128 package I get 736/134. Maybe it's a fluke.

93254336
Weapons Of Masturbation
Premium
join:2001-10-20

Re: Why

said by ScopeyFresh See Profile:
Hey on my 768/128 package I get 736/134. Maybe it's a fluke.
864/160 is typically the "raw" provisioning speed of a "768/128" ADSL circuit itself, but that doesn't include data transmission overhead, etc. Taking that into account and under ideal subscriber loop conditions, maximum apparent throughput (e.g. using the dslreports.com speed test) will be approximately 740/140.

- Dan
bst1123

join:2001-11-10
Bedford, PA
The TCP transfer overhead takes up the other part of your bandwith. You will never surf as fast as you sync rate.
TestPC1

join:2002-09-18
Leesburg, VA
Maybe they should just sell to folks with MCSE certifications ? At least they could understand what tech support is telling them.

sadowski
I Am My Own Doppelganger
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-14
Buffalo, NY
clubs:

Read the original thread here »Speakout Against Fees for Support

The idea was presented to us for our comments as to what we might consider for premium support services which included ideas such as Service Level Agreements (a rare thing in residential service), in-house service calls, etc.

Some of us disagreed with the idea of SLA's and that idea was quickly quashed. It is much to Verizon's credit that they put forward this undeveloped idea for our input so that we might get services that we want - as noted below and in Mr. Brook's post, the idea came originally from the subscribers, not from he or Verizon.

I and some others passionetly responded to part of this undeveloped idea and Verizon listened. It's that simple. For the record, we have our wish list that is being considered and something under or scheduled for implimentation. VOL has been very responsive to us, the subscribers, an in my case the best BroadBand experience I've had so far, cable or DSL.
--
In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken

Power User

@mindspring.com
Have you powered off your modem and pc? disconect your router please, we don't support routers with dsl/cable even though 95% of users with 2 or more computers have them. Are there any lights on the modem or pc?

GemSnake
Premium
join:2000-10-19
3rd layer
clubs:

Re: Why

said by Power User:
Have you powered off your modem and pc? disconect your router please, we don't support routers with dsl/cable even though 95% of users with 2 or more computers have them. Are there any lights on the modem or pc?
So, what's your point? Tech support does not have a right to know if you power-cycled your modem? Or you don't like the fact that tech supports do not support near a 100 of different router brands? What are you trying to say? Even if you talk to Tier3 support they will ask you these kind of question. Please explain yourself.
--
Mission accomplished

wwdubbia

join:2002-06-03
Clinton, NY
I would just like Verizon to be able to deliver DSL to my residence.

I'll worry about tech support later.
archfeld

join:2001-07-29
Concord, CA
they would offer a discount for those that are currently receiving the million monkies and the million typewriter type of technical support ?

Boots56th

@af.mil
Absolutely true on all counts!!! If they are boasting about their "New and Improved" Tech Support, then are we to believe their support was SUBSTANDARD from the beginning?

Kambriel

join:2001-02-10
Sanford, FL

Ha!

They've yet to prove they can hire people who do more than read off of pre-printed problem solving guides, let alone actually solve a problem...

Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth

Re: Ha!

Heh, they pay me enough, and i'll go work for em. I've got 5+ years of experience as a tech support agent. In this industry, thats a vet.
--
May 26th. D-Day for dslreports.com

graysonf
Premium,MVM
join:1999-07-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Huh?

Brings new meaning to the word ludicrous.
dsl someday

join:2003-03-05
Saint Charles, MI

but I already pay a monthly fee..

This does not make any sense to me. I'm already paying a monthly fee, and now they are asking me to pay more?? Why? So for those who do not pay for the "premium service" are getting what exactly? People with far less training? Less experience? Less,,,Less,,,Less. Why can't we just get "good service" in the 1st place so it is not necessary to pay for "premium Service". And who is going to overlook the "Premium Payers and make sure they are getting the best service?

Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
·Verizon FIOS

Competition

Well, that why we have competition. If you're unhappy you can go elsewhere. If its a monopoly, complain to the government. If the government wont break up the monopoly, then talk to the local government about having it run as a municipality. If you can't run it as a municipality, then run your own business and make a killing on good support
--
May 26th. D-Day for dslreports.com
nasadude

join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast

Re: Competition

said by Archivis See Profile:
Well, that why we have competition. If you're unhappy you can go elsewhere. If its a monopoly, complain to the government. If the government wont break up the monopoly, then talk to the local government about having it run as a municipality. If you can't run it as a municipality, then run your own business and make a killing on good support

all that is much easier to say than do. Look at the sh*t the FCC has rained down with their latest decision. And most municipalities have proven themselves not up to the task you mention.

You got a big pot of cash you can loan me to start my own business?

Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
·Verizon FIOS


Re: Competition

Look around, there are articles of municipalities already doing it, and successfully. It's just tough convincing the local people on doing it.

I'm currently in the phase of dealing with the mayor of the city about talks of municipality based broadband/telephone/tv services.
--
May 26th. D-Day for dslreports.com

[text was edited by author 2003-03-13 18:23:27]

Shamayim
I already have a Messiah.
Premium
join:2002-09-23

Re: but I already pay a monthly fee..

said by dsl someday See Profile:
Why can't we just get "good service" in the 1st place so it is not necessary to pay for "premium Service".
THAT is the question, my good man.
--
"tick...tick...tick..." »www.jtf.org/

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
·AT&T Midwest
·Site5.com
·Comcast

Premium support for $? Hrm.

I used to supervise a help desk and I know how difficult tech support can be. Especially in this day and age with all the different computer manufacturers, software, and so on. It isn't easier for tech support these days.

Hiring experienced support people is expensive. Most of these broadband providers hire inexperienced people to run the help desk because it is cheaper to do so. That isn't the right thing to do mind you, but it is an area they can skimp in. Everyone seems to want better tech support, but they want it tied into their service. Oh, and the service price can't go up. It seems to be a no win situation for either side.

The service provider should provide knowledgable tech support. If it costs a little more, then they should raise the price to coincide with the extra funding. Either that or they keep prices the same and the network decays because the cuts have to come from somewhere.

Yesterday I read about how an outside accountant was reading over the books of the Los Angeles Kings organization. I wish I could do that to see what cuts I could make in the broadband arena. I don't know the first thing to running one, but I am sure I could do my best "Dave" impersonation.
--
My Domain
Nightfall's Hockey and Life Journal

Shamayim
I already have a Messiah.
Premium
join:2002-09-23

Re: Premium support for $? Hrm.

said by Nightfall See Profile:
If it costs a little more, then they should raise the price to coincide with the extra funding.
Please, we're talking about Verizon here. With their $billions of profit they don't need to raise the price on anything.

Just provide the service people are already paying you for, Vz!
--
"tick...tick...tick..." »www.jtf.org/

JacksGhost
Got Bottle?

join:2002-12-29
Buffalo, NY

A lot of people complain about how bad tech support is. The trus fact of the matter is those people have the acess to the servers and the customers don't.

Weather or not the customer is capable of setting up a Giga-E wan is irrelivent.. they dont have acess and the companies have entrusted the job to these 'lesser' capable people.

In a LOT of situations, these people are not 'lesser' but very talented. What they are telling people on the phone and what they are really doing at their keyboards could be 2 totally different entities unto themselves.

I know of one Tier3 department where a minimum of pre-hiring requirements include a background in Unix ( Strict Solaris ) and CCNA cert ( with proof of testing ). Doesn't make them any more capable of carrying on a conversation tho


BBC4544

join:2002-03-12
Saint Peters, MO

missing the point

is it verizon's responsibility to support your lan or os. what do expect out of support now? is it up to verizon to support all mac applications? without "premium support" where does verizon's support stop.

n2jtx

join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

New Verizon Support Fee Schedule

New Verizon Tech Support Fee Schedule:

Answers: $1.00
Answers which require thought: $2.00
Correct Answers: $4.00
Dumb looks are still free!

some guy

@66.84.x.x

While they're at it....

why not charge me less because i don't need to use their support?

seems fair...people who use the service pay for it, people who don't need it don't pay.

seaquake
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-23
Millersville, MD
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS

Re: While they're at it....

Your cost goes into the "overhead" of the company, which includes tech support. Just like us folks who don't have kids, we still pay taxes which is used to send other people's kids to school....and they get tax deductions for having kids! It's just the way things go.

It would be interesting to see how many people have signed up for Dell's Priority support. Yes, even Dell gives you the option to pay more to get to support "faster".

Now, we get to the word at hand: "Faster". What is faster? If they said something like "you will talk to a human being within 1 minute of calling", I'd consider that fast. If you "jump" in line ahead of other callers, but no guarantee on how much sooner you get help, I call that bogus.
--
"Are you on the Distributed Computing Map?"

audiomax
All Else Fails Pull The Plug

join:2002-02-20
Grand Rapids, MI

said by some guy:
why not charge me less because i don't need to use their support?

seems fair...people who use the service pay for it, people who don't need it don't pay.
you may be on to something i never use tech support so they can deduct it from my monthly bill.
--
is it friday yet?
BlueSkye

join:2002-10-25
Los Angeles, CA

Re: While they're at it....



why not charge me less because i don't need to use their support?
seems fair...people who use the service pay for it, people who don't need it don't pay.



I have no problem with tiered support. If you don't need it, don't pay for it. If you use a lot of it, pay more for it.

However here is what will probably happen. "Regular" tech support will deteriorate to a phone menu of pre-recorded FAQ's at the end of which you will be urged to upgrade to "Premium" support. "Premium" support will become what you get now. Which is about the time Verizon will introduce "Platinum" support--for an additional fee, of course--and the vicious cycle will start all over again.
TestPC1

join:2002-09-18
Leesburg, VA

Re: While they're at it....

How about Pay per use Tech support ? I bet folks would stop screwing around with their PC's if they had to pay for support every time they changed settings

Skilos

join:2000-08-19
Astoria, NY

pay to be insulted

Great now we can pay them extra to hear that the service is not working, and the fault is on our end.
ross

join:2000-08-16
·Digizip

Just another way to milk the customer.

This whole idea of taking previously bundled services apart to squeeze more money out of the customer for the bits and pieces is getting way, way out of hand. And of course, the usual crowd of unemployed, or under-employed, techies and "experienced" CSRs are in favor of anything which feathers their nests, damn the cost to consumers. I think the ISPs ought to provide acceptable tech support before they start charging for taking what little there is away. But then, I'm a "no good leeching", "everything should be free" kind of PAYING CUSTOMER WHO IS NOT GETTING WHAT HE WAS SOLD, AND PAYS FOR!!!

rit56

join:2000-12-01
New York, NY

what a great deal!!

this is great. you pay for a service and they flat out tell you if you have a problem we're going to let you talk to an idiot but if you want a real technician than that's an extra 20 bucks a month. this ranks up there for the best corporate rip offs. they really have a lot of nerve if they go ahead with this.

DHRacer
Fire Survivor

join:2000-10-10
Lake Arrowhead, CA
·Charter Pipeline
·Verizon west (ex G..

Nothing new...

This is nothing new. Look at Microsoft and others who followed suit:

In the old days, companies released software that you paid retail to buy, and it came with free tech support. It was nice that when the program had a defect or a bug that it cost you nothing to report it and get it fixed.

Now, companies release the same software (newer versions) that you pay retail to buy, but now, when the program doesn't work or it has a bug, it costs MORE money to get satisfaction. And it usually isn't remotely cheap, ie: Microsoft's $40 per incident, etc.

In the company's eyes, this is great. They are not obligated to put out clean working products since they can make money off the original purchase and then rake in more when people call in to tech support to get things fixed that should never have been problems in the first place! You'd think that with all the extra these companies are making that they could make the retail price a little cheaper, since they make it up in the long run. Anyone? Nope. Still expensive.

What a scam. I hated companies that started to do this, yet they all do it now. Verizon is no different. We already pay and exorbitant amount of money for the service. Now, to get someone to solve your problems without waiting hours on tech support and talking to people that can only read a script you have to pay more.

That means I'll just have to figure it out myself when things break, which is how I learned computers in the first place. No more of my money is going to support that crap!

Just my 2 cents.
rradina

join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

Re: Nothing new...

This is a bit off topic but whenever I've called Microsoft with our support contract, they don't charge me an incident if it's a bug. I do specifically ask for a credit and they don't give me any grief. Am I lucky?

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

rediculous

This is rediculous to pay extra for what you *should* be getting as part of your service. next thing you know they'll be asking for extra money for email.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth
Devkill

join:2001-12-29
Bessemer, AL

Re: rediculous

Shh they they might hear that.

gilseed

join:2001-06-27
Brooklyn, NY

insult to injury

as if settling for verizon's feeble dsl service isnt bad enough, they want you to pay extra for mediocre tech support? if anyone's even considering paying for this, they might as well jump off a cliff. their stupidity has rendered their life worthless.

if my dsl provider ever folds, i'm so going to cable.

Masamune
This Is Your World Now

join:2001-02-05
Pomona, NY
clubs:

How disqusting.

This is incredibly sad. Safe to say I will never do business with Verizon when it comes to the internet.
--
Unfortunately Intelligent people are a minority on the internet.

mikepd
Discovery
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-26
New Port Richey, FL
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
·RoadRunner Cable

Re: How disqusting.

Seeing as how I have Verizon and am quite happy with it and you use OOL, just stick with your choice and I'll stick with mine.

Besides, if you took the time from knee-jerk Verizon bashing, you would have found out that the idea had been dropped. BTW, has OOL stopped capping people yet?
--
Always Reach Beyond Your Grasp

Masamune
This Is Your World Now

join:2001-02-05
Pomona, NY
clubs:
whats this have to do with OOL?
unixnoob

join:2002-09-11
Odessa, FL

F___ tech support !

V's help desk is a huge joke!!!
Whenever I have a question, I just come here!!
BBR, the Premium help desk is still free!!!
--
"There is no market for personal computers." Kenneth Olson (CEO Digital Equipment Corp.)

WildGod
God Is Dead
Premium
join:2002-01-30
NYC

Ill save my money and come here for tech support

I would rather come to BBReports and save myself money and get some actual help thank you.

sadowski
I Am My Own Doppelganger
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-14
Buffalo, NY
clubs:

Read The ACTUAL Thread

I suggest everyone read the actual thread here
»Speakout Against Fees for Support to see that
the idea was basically thrown out for subscribers input and quashed by the lack of a positive response. That while it raises some concerns it also shows that Verizon is open to user input since the idea was presented to us in an unformulated state specifically to get our input as to what might and what might not constitute another level of desired support.
--
In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken

See 6 replies to this post

aurgathor

join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA
·Verizon west (ex G..

the issue isn't black and white

Have a good friend who happens to work as a tech support persons and amongst other thing she tells me:
a) a relatively small number of people responsible for most calls
b) she has most problems with a group of people who think about themselves as experienced -- they muck around, screw up something, then call tech support and telling that the service has problems, and expect tech support to fix their problems.

I have no problem if frequent callers (when the provider is not at fault) are charged more, either through a premium plan, or through a rebate to those who don't need support.

I had DSL with Verizon and Covad, and called the tech support of each exactly one time, and in both cases it was the companies' fault. (Verizon provided incomplete installation instructions, the Covad provided PPPoE SW was bluescreening my PC under heavy network traffic)

murdok6100
Avatar. Get It, Avatar?

join:2002-06-20

Re: the issue isn't black and white

said by aurgathor See Profile:
Have a good friend who happens to work as a tech support persons and amongst other thing she tells me:
a) a relatively small number of people responsible for most calls
b) she has most problems with a group of people who think about themselves as experienced -- they muck around, screw up something, then call tech support and telling that the service has problems, and expect tech support to fix their problems.

I have no problem if frequent callers (when the provider is not at fault) are charged more, either through a premium plan, or through a rebate to those who don't need support.

I had DSL with Verizon and Covad, and called the tech support of each exactly one time, and in both cases it was the companies' fault. (Verizon provided incomplete installation instructions, the Covad provided PPPoE SW was bluescreening my PC under heavy network traffic)
What happens when Vz "Mucks up?"

I mean, Vz DSL dis-connected me a while back and told me that I requested the dis-connect. I didn't. They said the customer said "Not Needed, Not Used".

Maybe I should have charged them extra for the hassle. Oh yeah and the money they owe me for double charging me never got fixed.

I hate anything and everything about Verizon. I've never had more problems with any other organization.

murdok610

David
No,there is another.
Premium,VIP
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL
clubs:
·DIRECTV
·magicjack.com
·AT&T Midwest

Ya know


what kills me is M$ is charging for thier tech support, and the price of thier software still is about $90-150


It seems that no one complains when they pay this $40/incident to report a problem. I watched a guy pay $40 last year for a known microsoft problem and they told him it was an SBC dsl problem. What happend.... I took him to the microsoft update website, updated his IE to 6.0 and his problem was solved. I think I should have gotten the $40 not microsoft

#1 the problem was solved in a later revision...

#2 The problem was not even an SBC dsl problem to begin with.

So yes, I should have gotten that (or SBC in this case) should have gotten that $40 because Microsoft did not solve the problem..

Just my $0.02 as usuall.
--
I am always running around. Catch me if you can... The Hammer.. Year To Date Stats: Current weight: 339lbs, total loss: 245!!

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