Kevin Freitas: Consumer advocate

The following is a copy of an email I sent off to everyone in connection with USWest for whom I could find an email address. Let's just say that my housemates and I are... disappointed.

     Subject: Communication woes with a communications

              corporation...

        Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 10:26:10 -0700

        From: "Kevin A. Freitas" 

Organization: Pacific Lutheran University

          To: dchafe@USWEST.COM, tlsimm1@USWEST.COM,

              dns-info@USWEST.NET, aamesbury@USWEST.NET,

              brianm@NWLINK.COM

          CC: sitest5@USWEST.NET, gxroble@USWEST.COM,

              jsdietz@USWEST.COM, prich2@USWEST.COM,

              hostmaster@ACMEBW.COM, reedb@MIND.NET,

              dblack@ONCALLCOMPUTERS.COM

To whom it may concern,

The process for ordering and setting up a DSL internet connection in my home has been, to put it kindly, ridiculous. I started the ordering process in early June only to be told that your MegaBit Deluxe services could not be offered to me because the capacity of my local service center had been met. Considerate of this problem and itching to have a high speed connection for me and my housemates, I ordered the lesser MegaBit Select service from you. This just seemed like the right time to purchase broadband service from USWest because of the great promotional deal being offered at the time.

So, I conceded to order Select service with the external modem to hold us over for the time being. The next step would be to upgrade our connection once the capacity for Deluxe service was available to us. Our modem arrived before the week-delayed service arrived -- but it was the wrong one. Shipped to us was the Intel internal DSL modem. This was precisely what we didn't want because the four people in our house could not individually connect to the internet but would have to set up a more indirect connection through the one computer with the modem using
Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing. This works well for people not concerned with having their own IP address. But we're a bunch who relies on having individual internet IP address for our everyday internet usage. But this isn't the end of our problems...

I talked to a MegaBit service representative who acknowledged the error in sending us the internal modem while explaining that use of the external modem with Select service is impossible. Someone needs to clarify these conditions on the USWest (now Qwest) website because NOWHERE does it say so. This representative put in an order for an upgrade to Deluxe service (with an external modem) because the capacity at our local service center was supposedly going to make itself
available to customers. The due date was July 7th.

Then it got pushed back to July 11th. Two days ago. I called USWest (now Qwest) on the 10th to check on the status of our order. I was curious mainly because our modem had yet to arrive. Sure enough though, a representative assured me that our order status was on track for the 11th and that the modem should arrive either on the 10th or 11th. But, as you could probably guess from the tone of this email, we didn't get the modem NOR was our service upgraded accordingly.

Upon calling yet another representative yesterday (and being on hold for more than 30 minutes and transferred twice) I was told that everything should've been "go" for our service and that he'd have to check a few different systems. Then there was an "uh-oh". The service rep discovered that a hold was placed on our order, explaining the lack of a service upgrade. He ALSO discovered that this hold that he found buried in some anything-but-obvious system was placed two weeks before on the 29th of June!

Right now, I'm not sure what to do about our upgrade to Deluxe service. Our local service center is now again at capacity and my housemates and I are left without any expected date of service arrival.

The hours I've spent on hold and talking with service representatives that range from helpful to downright pushy (they kept offering me other, unrelated USWest phone services while I was trying to troubleshoot) seem totally wasted. I should have been informed by someone or something that there was a problem with our order the day it went on hold. Instead, for two weeks my housemates and I are left presuming that all is well and that our order will be satisfied on the dates dished out by your representatives. We're now left with no due date and without any idea of the status of our local service center and our order. I just wish I knew what was going on.

So this email is to scold and bring attention to the fact that such a HUGE communications company has trouble doing the one thing for its customers that it should do best: communicate.

Sincerely and most frustrated,

Kevin A. Freitas
424 123rd St. S.
Tacoma, WA 98444

freitaka@plu.edu

P.S. - Please feel free to contact me for suggestions I may have on improving the customer service to which I've repeatedly fallen victim.

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