I wish I had the same luck as Richelle with Fastwave. Heck, I would even take a completed repair within a week and be happy.
I am a long time Fastwave customer, when the service is working properly it's acceptable to very good. HOWEVER, when it is not, which is now, about 40 percent of the time it becomes a total pain in the rear to get fixed. At the present time it is not working properly, today is the 22nd, I reported my problem on the 11th, as usual, service speed had been getting slower for about 2 months before contacting Fastwave. Even though I am paying for their service I do not rush and report each time service degrades, I do give it some time, I know, my mistake. Occasionally it actually works out. Then often, there are the other times...like now.
I should be at least 4Mps up/down; currently I am at 1.11/.09, with 5 out of services today alone! It is SO slow it took seven minutes just to run the speed test.
On the 11th I did get an email that they were working on it. As always, when I replied to their "we're on it" message, I ALWAYS ask to be kept up to date. For me, even a, we're still on it message is acceptable to me, but don't hold your breath with Fastwave, they just do not do that anymore, they used to. I used to get a call asking me to test as they had done something. Nor did they reply when I sent a week's worth of speed-tests on the 17th. For some reason they have been asking for those tests recently when there has been a service degradation.
So today my new email (I don't call, they rarely call back anymore either) I asked how much longer it will be, and if anyone even bothered to look at the test results. I ask for a time frame because too many of my prior service issues with Fastwave have taken 5-8 weeks to resolve, their billing always seemed to work fine though. Around 4pm I actually got a callback looking to schedule an appointment on Saturday (totally rare!)
I asked why over the past years it has NEVER taken less than a week to address to problems (I'm over 10 days now), and did anyone bother to read my email with the tests on it? Yes, I might not be the only subscriber to be having difficulty at a given time; he would not answer no matter have many times I asked. Granted it might not have been his department, all he had to do was say so. Anyhow I asked to speak to the manager who had just told him to call me, got put on hold for a minute or two, he came back and told me no manager available, not even the one who minutes ago told him to call me? At least on outsourced calls in India you can get someone "claiming" to be a manager. I don't deny I got testy, but NOT obscene, that never works, and I did not begin that way. All I wanted was an answer to two questions, something sadly I was not provided with, and right up to the time I got disconnected, my fault, poor cell coverage.
I do not live in the best location for Fastwave service. That being said it is also true that they can and have delivered the speeds they advertised to my home. My problem lies within the times they do not do as advertised and getting them to adjust it. It's like pulling teeth.
I guess to sum up today's events, which to me is customer service related. Over the course of eleven days, I had to write THREE emails to have my problem even addressed. Was the Fastwave rep trying to help by scheduling an appointment, without a doubt. He however was missing the point that this guy (me) has been with his company for quite some time, has sent three emails, is still having problems, and wonders why this happens all too often, and would he take some time to explain the reason. I said to him this is how it has been for years, why? How long would that take? Four, maybe five minutes? When I was WAY younger, my customer training was only really based upon one thing...listen to the customer, respond to what the customer is asking. Then go from there. BIG swing and miss on that one.
I support mom and pops, but I miss the old days with Fastwave, when they used to be a company that seemed to be proud of the level of service they provided. Over the years they have definitely changed their methods, at least as far as I'm concerned, but their billing is always on time.
YMMV read more