Complain, complain

SBC Customer Service
10/20/2005

I would like to file a formal complaint with regard to my residential install. I cannot find an email address or phone number for complaint filing/resolution.

Summary:
I'm trying to get a phone line installed, and your installers keep flaking, and appointments keep getting screwed up, and my install keeps being pushed back. This is unacceptable customer service.

The long story:
I've moved in to a rental house that was just rebuilt. There are no inside wires in the house; there is no demarc/MPOE box on the house; the phone pole is directly in front of the house and there's a bare wire hanging from it that I'm told used to be the house's wire.

On Monday 10/10 or Tuesday 10/11 I placed an order for new residential phone service, including DSL. I did not place an order for inside wiring at that time because I needed permission from the landlord. An appointment was scheduled for Friday 10/14. I was told that I didn't need to be there for the outside wiring.

On Thursday 10/13 I called to make note of the fact that there was no outside wire to the house (so I knew they would need to come to the house to do the install). I may have also placed an order for inside wiring at that point (I don't recall when I first placed that order). I verified that I didn't need to be there for the outside wiring. I was told that an install truck was already scheduled to be there.

I'm told (by a contractor that was working at my house) that on Fridday 10/14 around noon, the installer showed up, looked at the wire hanging from the pole, and left. There was no explanation; there was no hang tag left on my door, I didn't find out till I got home that night. I assumed I couldn't get anyone until Monday, although I now realise I should have called that night.

On Monday 10/17 I called to reschedule the install. We scheduled an outside wire install on Wednesday 10/19 – I was told it would be an all-day appointment but I did not need to be there. And we scheduled an inside wire install on Friday 10/21 – I was told it would be an all-day appointment and I _would_ need to be there. I carefully verified all this with the customer support person.

On Wednesday 10/19 (yesterday) at around noon, I was told by my contractor that the SBC installer showed up, could not get into the house, so he (his words) “wasn't going to do half a job” and he was pleased that he didn't have to do any work at all, and left. Apparently somehow the outside wiring install got combined with the inside wiring install, without notifying me, the customer who needed to be there. I supplied SBC with my cellphone number each time I called to make an appointment. I work 20 minutes from home and can be there if called. My girlfriend arrived at the house a few minutes after the installer left. If he had started on the outside wiring we would or could have been there to let him into the house. Remember, I was told repeatedly, and verified, I did not need to be there for the outside wire install! The installer did not leave a door tag, and SBC made no attempt to contact me.

On 10/19 at 12:53 I called SBC to find out what had happened. After explaining the situation to customer support, I was transferred to some other department (“one call”? “once and done”? “one day”?), and told that the installer _had_ installed the outside wiring and that the phone line would be activated that night. I am able to do some telephone wiring, so I could have “hot-wired” a line to the MPOE until the inside wiring was complete. I was told that the 10/21 inside wiring appointment had “disappeared from the system” and that the next time for an inside appointment would be 10/25. So we scheduled it for then.

I arrived home on 10/19 to find that the outside wiring had, in fact, not been done. The bare wire is still hanging from your pole. There is no wiring box on the house. So I called SBC (cellphone), explained the situation, and sat on hold for half an hour. At some point the customer support person came on to tell me she was still on hold with the dispatch office, then put me back on hold, or dropped my call, I don't know, but I got dead air for 10 minutes. Total call length: 35 minutes.

Up until this point I had been patient and accommodating with your customer support people. I understand that mistakes happen, and that scheduling is difficult. But at this point my patience ran out.

Not knowing whether I was still connected, I hung up and called customer support back. The first person attempted to connect me or message the woman who had been working on my account – apparently she was still working on it. Eventually I was transferred to, apparently, an engineering supervisor. I explained the situation AGAIN (she had the notes on the screen right in front of her), and she determined that no, the outside wiring install had not been done because the installer did not have access to the house to do inside wiring, and the new appointment for 10/25 was for inside wiring only, the outside wiring had to be done first, and the soonest I could get an appointment was 10/27. She was unable to expedite, or otherwise do anything at all about this problem aside from basically scheduling a brand new install. Which we have done. I will once again ask for the day off work to meet with your installer, as I did for the original 10/19 install. I also asked for a “supervisor callback” which I was told would happen in “24 to 48 hours”.

At this point, I guess I have to wait, take more time off work, and hope that the next installer doesn't decide to abandon the job for no apparent reason. Until then I have no phone service and no internet service. (If at this point you have any way to expedite my outside wiring install, I would appreciate it, but I suspect this is not possible.)

To summarize, here's what went wrong:
-your original installer decided for some reason not to do the install.
-somehow the second outside install and the second inside install got combined without notifying me.
-the second installer decided not to do the outside install because he could not do the inside install at the same time.
-no attempt was made to contact me.
-no attempt was made (or possible?) to expedite the correction to this problem.

I am a customer in good standing, with a relatively simple but full-featured account I'm trying to get installed. I have no other choice of local wiring provider, so I depend upon SBC to provide this service. I elected to have you do the inside wiring, and DSL, because I believed that would be the most convenient. I even ordered Dish network through you, so you got a commission from me for that. I repeat, this is not the way a good customer should be treated.

Please contact me if necessary.