Ironic innit.

[Big Dave]

How hard it is to communicate with telecommunications companies.

The wait on hold to talk to 'anyone' at xtra currently is '1 hour'.

Ihug, xtra and telecom web sites seem to make it very difficult to interact with anything other than an automated FAQ.

FU2 I say.

[Mystery]

Its not telecommunications, It s teletorture!! Im sure Police/Army Interrogators could use these tactics to get their confessions/information!!

1 hour and 45 minutes of poorly recorded NZ music is enough to drive a usually sane person to the edge of insanity. :shit:

[Paul in NZ]

It's not just telecom - Telstra is worse....

[PuppetMaster]

It's not just telecom - Telstra is worse....


OI!!!!
I work for TCL. Whats your account number, I'll delete you:baby:

Telstra is the best. hahaha, Tui moment.

[TerminalAddict]

How hard it is to communicate with telecommunications companies.

The wait on hold to talk to 'anyone' at xtra currently is '1 hour'.

Ihug, xtra and telecom web sites seem to make it very difficult to interact with anything other than an automated FAQ.

FU2 I say.
interspeed.co.nz

one of my boys will answer the phone ;)

[Big Dave]

interspeed.co.nz

one of my boys will answer the phone ;)

unfortunately I don't get to choose my customer's ISP.

[skelstar]

I've heard the best strategy is to ring their 0800 numbers:

1st. With your cellphone, I think they have to pay so maybe you've got a higher priority.
2nd. the business line, you're sure as shit have a higher priority.

Not sure if this works though.

[WRT]

What got me mad was when I called xtra's help line and their automated service asked me if my phone was working!

Ok, I know I could have been calling from a cellphone or a neighbours place, but I was already a little irate after having to step through their questions for noobs (I'm a tech so have *some* idea what I am doing) and my response was loud enough and angry enough to bring my flat mate out of his room to see what the hell was going on.

[Virago]

They're still dealing with the Yahoo Bubble fuck up. I've got some problems myself with email addresses, but I'm holding off ringing them until the queues get shorter.

[Karma]

The wait on hold to talk to 'anyone' at xtra currently is '1 hour'.

It's the exception rather than the rule... you've seen the stuff on the news recently about the email outages etc... right?

I feel sorry for the staff, regularly having about 300 calls waiting, so take it easy yeh.


I've heard the best strategy is to ring their 0800 numbers:

1st. With your cellphone, I think they have to pay so maybe you've got a higher priority.
2nd. the business line, you're sure as shit have a higher priority.

Not sure if this works though.


No, no, and it doesn't.

[limbimtimwim]

Steps for fast service with TelstraClear
Dial Numer (0508 blah blah)
Answer first question with interactive voice thing correctly
Answer the second question with a couple of clearly spoken swearwords that are the nastiest you can say in rude company.
Someone answers.

Easy.

[Karma]

Steps for fast service with TelstraClear
Dial Numer (0508 blah blah)
Answer first question with interactive voice thing correctly
Answer the second question with a couple of clearly spoken swearwords that are the nastiest you can say in rude company.
Someone answers.

Easy.


Hmm.. I can't speak for the Telstra setup, but I know that it doesn't work with Telecom.

If you said, for instance, "Fix my fucking broadband" all the system recognises is "Fix my broadband" and from that will identify where the call needs to go.

It'll deliberately ignore any swearwords.

[Big Dave]

It's the exception rather than the rule... you've seen the stuff on the news recently about the email outages etc... right?

I feel sorry for the staff, regularly having about 300 calls waiting, so take it easy yeh.


All I wanted to do was advise that the form emailer isn't working either.
No obvious place to do that but ring. too hard.

[ynot slow]

I rang ihug to check out their special,was told all our operators are busy at moment,we anticipate it will take 15 mins to you are answered,not bad for a company wanting to get customers NOT.Rang abit later and got to speak to nice indian lady who explained most of deal,even said my emails from telecom(my xtra address)would follow for 3 months much like when you shift area codes your old number is connected to new one,when I rang telecom to enquire about this the lady wasn't sure it could be done.Took telecom about 3 mins to answer as well,not as long as the rest.

You would think that when people ring the helpdesk and you push button to say new customer they would get to you quickly,afterall if you are to change, that is the first thing I think, is how long a wait have I got.

[Karma]

Rang abit later and got to speak to nice indian lady who explained most of deal,even said my emails from telecom(my xtra address)would follow for 3 months much like when you shift area codes your old number is connected to new one,when I rang telecom to enquire about this the lady wasn't sure it could be done.


Hmm... technically you could do that...

You'd have to setup a mail forwarding rule on your email account via the webmail system, however... if you're not subscribing to either broadband or dialup from Xtra I believe the charges for a standalone email account may apply.

So;

1. It's not IHug doing it, you'd be doing it yourself
2. It may not be free.

[Romeo]

I'm pretty sure most of their systems are programmed to recognise when people are getting agro. So make a lot of noise and the system will bump you up the queue, sit there silently and you'll be waiting a while...

... Failing that, send them an email and go do something else - they'll fuck you around so make sure you're specific though.

[Karma]

Wrong again

[smoky]

remember spot the dog that was in the telecom adds - he died remember.
Well has any one noticed a dog that looks the same has turned up in the latest telstra add - it delivers a laptop to the door step, it has a halo - an obviouse reference to spot perhaps.


I know - off topic, but the thread was getting predictable

[Big Dave]

Wrong again

You seem involved - fyi - the form emailer on xtra doesn't work.

xtra business help desk - 'heavy traffic flow - wait 40 minutes'.

I know! I'll move it to my web space and re-direct.

ihug business help desk - one ring ' you're talking to Richard.'

[Big Dave]

remember spot the dog that was in the telecom adds - he died remember.
Well has any one noticed a dog that looks the same has turned up in the latest telstra add - it delivers a laptop to the door step, it has a halo - an obviouse reference to spot perhaps.


I know - off topic, but the thread was getting predictable

And all the folks at the agency and at least one consumer thought it was great.

[Karma]

ihug business help desk - one ring ' you're talking to Richard.'

Yeh, just a shame that Richard typically has the IQ of a grapefruit.

[Cajun]

Yeh, just a shame that Richard typically has the IQ of a grapefruit.

better than xtra which has cabbage.

Class case, Set up sister in laws jetstream connection on monday night.

She had it setup last tuesday, had to get a tech out to put a filter on line since they have an alarm and what not, Ordered new linksys router, recieved it friday but busy weekend so did not set it up monday

Go around monday evening set it up, and spend 40 mins trying to get thing to connect, ring xtra, on hold for 30 mins, get a cabbage, tell him don't go thru your check list, i am a system admin i know what i am doing, i know dsl light is on, but its not authing with server. tell me what you see from your side.

and he has a look at account, and whatever tool set it up, forgot to add .xadsl to the user, so of course i can connect, so of course it would not connect. makes that change, and what you know i can connect again, with out issue.

[limbimtimwim]

better than xtra which has cabbage.Which is better than TelstraClear, who have flakes of dried skin answering their phones. And only about 6 of them too.

[Cajun]

never really had to deal with telstra helpdesk so have no idea

[vifferman]

Ihug, xtra and telecom web sites seem to make it very difficult to interact with anything other than an automated FAQ.

Deliberate obfuscation and uncommunicativeness? Or lack of any real competition?

Or here's a thought: maybe Theresa Gattung's publicised $5million+ dollar 'golden handshake' means they can't afford real people to man the phones...

[Cajun]

Deliberate obfuscation and uncommunicativeness? Or lack of any real competition?

Or here's a thought: maybe Theresa Gattung's publicised $5million+ dollar 'golden handshake' means they can't afford real people to man the phones...

yeah interesting that i worked out from her base salary, that her she had pretty much 12 weeks holiday pay owning which is alot of holiday days she locked up

[Gremlin]

You'd have to setup a mail forwarding rule on your email account via the webmail system, however... if you're not subscribing to either broadband or dialup from Xtra I believe the charges for a standalone email account may apply.
Correct, and it costs a few dollars a month to keep the email address. You also can't send emails from a non-xtra email account, through an xtra line, without having to request that port 25 blocking is removed.

oh why not... here's my experience from today. Telstra Clear: Client emails me to say he can't send emails to x address... I look, the sending ip is listed as spam. K, which address... mmm... its a Clear one, one of the smtp servers... cool, its their problem.

Go to the website to let them know (in case they don't know). Look for an email address... none... see the boxes to fill in to "email" them. Fill them in, next page... only to get asked to set up an account, so I can track my question :mellow:

Rang them... some poor girl probably had a very weird conversation (it wasn't a ... my internet is broken)

Pay more for quality :first:

[scracha]

You also can't send emails from a non-xtra email account, through an xtra line, without having to request that port 25 blocking is removed.

Actually you can. You just change the smtp server to smtp.xtra.co.nz and don't bother authenticating. The from and replyto: headers cah be left well alone.

A lot of NZ Isp's (or foreign email servers...why limit yourself to kiwi based email) have secret port numbers on their SMTP servers that bypass the port 25 blocking. Very useful for laptop users traversing offices that use different ISP's.


spam. K, which address... mmm... its a Clear one, one of the smtp servers... cool, its their problem.

Ihug take the biscuit as having the most dumbass customer support. On numerous occasions I've practically spelt out the meaning of email headers and told them to block the spam (especially if it's one of their customers) and the dumb @34ckers do a standard response thingie saying the email doesn't originate from their servers. Oh yeah it @#$ckin does.

As for the guy who said he got through to ihug business support right away, all I can say is he's one lucky SOAB.

Pay more for quality :first:[/QUOTE]
Always found Actrix, Orcon and (for a cheapie) Kiwi online pretty good.

[Gremlin]

secret port numbers on their SMTP servers that bypass the port 25 blocking.
yeah, we do that, solves obvious headaches nice and easily...

and plays havoc when the client tries to do a shifty, and not use us to set up a new user outlook account :rolleyes:

[Big Dave]

Yeh, just a shame that Richard typically has the IQ of a grapefruit.

he wasn't bad - but I have had some bad experiences - not at their help desk though. unreliability, email hassles and down time. but at lest you can get to someone. and a rhindy someone is more reassuring than a recorded countdown.

It too hard - so I've just set it up so that the emails come to me and I'll forward them to Julie. I'm iterested to keep an eye on the voting anyway.

It's on www.kiwirider.co.nz now.

The info is in the mag in letterboxes tomorrow.

[Zapf]

yeah, we do that, solves obvious headaches nice and easily...

and plays havoc when the client tries to do a shifty, and not use us to set up a new user outlook account :rolleyes:

not sure how it works now with all that xtra bubble thing...

[Gremlin]

not sure how it works now with all that xtra bubble thing...
Quite simple... things worked fine before... xtra screwed up, and now they don't... its their fault :rolleyes: Part of filtering spam is assessing the sender... when emails are being forwarded from a "reliable source" the filtering is less effective. Pity we can't block telecom :crybaby:

all the more reason to make them stop depending on xtra :banana:

[Mekk]

Quite simple... things worked fine before... xtra screwed up, and now they don't... its their fault :rolleyes:

Some things need to be sacrificed in order to move forward.

I'd rather they fucked it up royally for a bit and got better than leaving the technology stagnant.

And look at the bright side, some people might go outside. :D

[MaxB]

Totally agree with this thread. Xtra customer service is so bad. Just uninstalled the Yahoo Xtra software for good. Never got near to fixing the webmail BS plus Telecon managed to lose about 200 of my business emails. So I put on a new email client and have a webmail account with someone else and no further problems.

The time wasted by having to get hold of my clients to ressure them that I have'nt been ignoring them and then spending hours contacting Xtra could have been better spent out riding. Grrrr

[Karma]

and he has a look at account, and whatever tool set it up, forgot to add .xadsl to the user, so of course i can connect, so of course it would not connect. makes that change, and what you know i can connect again, with out issue.


Did you tell them when ordering the broadband that you were planning on using your own router?

[LilSel]

that kinda stuff makes no sense to me... my brother's done computer science etc stuff at akld uni so when anything goes wrong I just call him n he fixes it for me :D yay for having a computer smart big brother!!

& at work... the I.T dept fixes everything... n im sure if I got real stuck with something at work I could just ask 'Sanx' & he'd come to my rescue :)

[Cajun]

Did you tell them when ordering the broadband that you were planning on using your own router?

yes

but what does that matter.

when dialup goes to jetstream should put a .xadsl on the account once it setup so they can connect,

[banditrider]

Might have something to post one day if my broadband ever gets hooked up. The basics:

Tried to get setup with TelstraClear and they stuffed it up so told them to forget it (they're now losing all my business - home phone etc).

Signed up for the new Vodafone/Ihug deal and received my first email last tuesday telling me it was all go. Still not going and they're doing sweet FA about it at the mo'. Have currently spent over 1.5hours on hold and had a heap of emails unanswered...

[Karma]

yes

but what does that matter.

when dialup goes to jetstream should put a .xadsl on the account once it setup so they can connect,


The new install CDs are setup that they create the .xadsl username for you.. if you'd have used an Xtra modem it would have hooked straight up, as it was, they should have created the username.

[Cajun]

well strange i have set up 4 other people up on xtra, and always provide own modem never xtra one, and never had to do anything like that before

[Karma]

because the four other people you were speaking to had probably setup the username correctly.

So by your own admission you've had an 80% positive association with them then ;)

[Big Dave]

So by your own admission you've had an 80% positive association with them then ;)

Hmmm - me too.
Current 'imbroglio' first that has effected business.

[Cajun]

because the four other people you were speaking to had probably setup the username correctly.

So by your own admission you've had an 80% positive association with them then ;)


not really and don't get me started on there email system.

[Zapf]

Might have something to post one day if my broadband ever gets hooked up. The basics:

Tried to get setup with TelstraClear and they stuffed it up so told them to forget it (they're now losing all my business - home phone etc).

Signed up for the new Vodafone/Ihug deal and received my first email last tuesday telling me it was all go. Still not going and they're doing sweet FA about it at the mo'. Have currently spent over 1.5hours on hold and had a heap of emails unanswered...

LOL, its Vodaphone. They don't give a shit. And Ihug is now a cash cow for IInet which is a Aussy company.

[banditrider]

LOL, its Vodaphone. They don't give a shit. And Ihug is now a cash cow for IInet which is a Aussy company.

Great, so I could be a Ulyssian before I'm hooked up?

[scracha]

& at work... the I.T dept fixes everything... n im sure if I got real stuck with something at work I could just ask 'Sanx' & he'd come to my rescue :)

I'm kinda like that with the mechanical side of motorcycles.

[LilSel]

I'm kinda like that with the mechanical side of motorcycles.

:D :rockon:... handy to have around huh!!... I can cook n clean n stuff :lol:!!... oh and I give good bowling lessons :p

My laptop is infected, Im too scared to even flick the wireless on, my brother took a look at it & said that if our computers were human n shacked up, his would get very sick (simple terms for a non advanced computer person such as myself lol). Am using one of the other desktops in the office here at home. reckons I should take all the stuff I want off it & transfer to external hard drive (toshiba gigabeat 60gb) then format laptop n start again. sounds like a mission to me, one day ill fix it up!!