Dear Netspeed

The following Email was sent to Brian Morris, Managing Director of Netspeed on 22/07/2005, at 3:30 PM:

Brian,

I am writing to you, again, about the unacceptable service I have received in relation to your Satellite Internet offering.

On the First of July, my satellite connection stopped working. At this time, I was restricted to dialup speeds. I left the issue for a few days, assuming you would fix the issue soon.

On the 6th or 7th of July, I placed a call with your call center, informing them that my connection was not working. At this time, I was advised that your upstream provider had changed, and as a result, my dish had to be realigned, and software had to be installed.

I had heard about this via an email from David Fisher, received on 24 April 2005, a response was sent on the 25th of April, asking for more information. Specific questions were asked, such as the intended date of deployment, and further information about the Tellique software. Having received no response from David, the same email was forwarded to support@netspeed.com.au on the 11th of May 2005. Again, no response was received.

Upon contacting your call center on the 6th or 7th of July, your staff made every effort to convince me that it was the fault of your upstream provider. Troy claimed that it was your upstream provider's responsibility to have contacted me to realign my satellite and provide me with the appropriate software.

Brian, Today, it is the 22nd of July. A Netspeed technician arrived at my house without prior notification. My younger sister, who is not very technically literate, was forced to allow this man to perform modifications, and answer his questions to the best of her abilities.

After your technician realigned my dish, my satellite connection STILL does not work. I placed yet another call with your less-than-helpful call center, who advised me that I must disable my firewall in order for the Tellique software to function. This is an unacceptable solution.

Furthermore, I far from pleased with the way your new satellite system functions. When I signed up to your satellite service, I knew exactly what I was receiving. A full IP-satellite connection, with a static IP address. Your new service is essentially a dialup connection, with some connections (i.e., HTTP) proxied via the satellite. Other connections, such as SSH are restricted to dialup speeds.

I have found your call center's attempts to push the blame onto your upstream provider both unprofessional, and unacceptable. I find it difficult to believe that your upstream provider would take 22 days to fix a problem.

As a result of my satellite connection not functioning for the large majority of this month (and I note that it still does not work), I am demanding a FULL REFUND for this month's service.

Furthermore, I wish to close this account, and therefore, expect a refund for the remaining three months. Your modified service is incompatible with my infrastructure: it does not work through a firewall.

Should you wish to dispute the matter, it shall be pursued with both to the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman, and the ACT Office of Fair Trading.

Sincerely,
Peter Dey

Comments

Submitted by em-pathy on Thu 04/08/2005 - 00:16

This is probably the best thing I've seen on realmtech yet. Thats fantastic, way to stick up for yourself. Did they meet your demands and suck up majorly?

I have to say that sounds like a complete fuck around and that they considered you expendable as a customer. Which ISP did you switch to?

Submitted by nemesis on Thu 11/08/2005 - 18:37

Netspeed haven't even responded to my letter.
I sent it to Brian Morris (General Manager), and also their helpdesk. Not even a "We have recieved your complaint".

For the record, I've switched to Internode. I've been extremely pleased with the service I've recieved thus far. Netspeed screwed me around right from Day One. Internode is a very welcome change.