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.

[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

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.