I should have read all the reviews so that I could have escaped a nightmare. I have many things to do, but I prioritize writing this review to inform prospective customers of TDS. I have to restrain my indignation in writing this. In a nutshell: it is hard to imagine a company, in any domain of business, could treat its customers so badly, in such brutally disrespectful ways. All you get from them is deep frustration and a complete waste of time. They ruin your days and even months. Hear me out:
1. Beginning of nightmare. I placed an order of TV&Internet bundle service on July 12. They sent a tech over on the 19th, who walked around and told me that nothing could be done because some pre-burial of fiber must be completed first. THAT was scheduled to be done before August 4th, and the installation was rescheduled to be August 4th.
2. Long wait without communication. I waited from July 19th to August 4th (more than 2 weeks), during which I called TDS THREE times to let them know that no one seemed to be working on my house, and I was worried it was not going to be complected before August 4th.
In all the three calls, the receptionists either were totally clueless about what was going on (in one case, she sent me to their "repairs department" to get info about the pre-burial, only leaving me wait on the online for 30 mins), or guaranteed me that it was to be done. During these two weeks, my work was slowed down and I had to adjust travel plans, to be at home on August 4th.
3. They failed the second time. On August 4th, a TDS tech person (different person from the first round) showed up, only to tell me what I most feared: the pre-burial was not done at all and he could not do anything.
The tech left without being able to do anything. I was beyond enraged: throughout the whole time, there was no communication to me from TDS about this deplay. I called the Customer Service immediately, and they told me that they would look into this and get back to me that afternoon. OF COURSE (only now can I say this, since I still had a little faith in their service), they did not get back to me.
4. Trying to reach TDS. I called the next day, August 5th, a semi-responsive lady picked up the phone, apparently being sympathetic, she told me that she would "get to the bottom" of it, and gave me her direct line. About an hour later, she called back and said that some heavy equipment was involved in doing the pre-burial (which caused the delay I assumed?) and she still did not know what what happening other than that. She said she would get back to me with more information. But that was the end of it. In retrospect, that was the only instance that I felt being treated with minimal respect.
5. The nightmare continues. On August 9th, having to travel the next day, and still, there was no update from TDS (no apology, no explanation). I called the directly line given the day before several times, no one answered (and as of this morning, August 21st, I am still unable to reach that lady).
After handing up the phone. I got a prerecorded message from a company (the name of which I cannot remember, but presumably TDS's contractor), saying that some digging would take place in 7-10 days. A prerecorded message. Does TDS have any sense of what respect means in that situation?
I called TDS customer service again, complained about it, asked to speak with a senior member of the company. Another lady, a "senior customer specialist," answered the phone. She was calm and unapologetic, and said there was nothing she could do but offer some monetary compensation (such a joke: the service was not even installed and who on earth knew when it was going to be installed) and look into it.
The "senior customer specialist" later called again said the pre-burial would be completed by August 19th, that was what she heard from their Field Manager. Another 10 days out.
OK. I went out of town for a few days, drawing on a last shred of faith in a business's decency.
6. Last straw. To be fair, they did some "work": when I returned from traveling, I saw a little white flag erected on the east side of my exterior wall. That was it! Can you believe it?!!!
August 19th was a Sunday, again, no work was done and no communication. I emailed the "senior customer specialist" and expressed my worry on Saturday the 18th. On Sunday, August 19th, the promised date of completion of the pre-burial, of course nothing was done and nothing happened. August 20th, I started emailing the senior customer specialist", she said she was checking on this, would follow up shortly. OF course, nothing happened afterwards: no response, no follow up, no explanation, no apology.
I ended up calling in to cancel my order today.
Is there anything we could do as a response to the business practices of TDS?
The only explanation now I can think of, after experiencing all of this, is this: is TDS a ghost company, specializing in playing practical jokes on people? read more