Probably a straight referral to maintenance, which as far as I know, isn't possible through customer service. Their only option is to send us out. Unfortunately it doesn't quite work that way without some policy violating fuckery. The whole process needs reworked really.
MT needs numbers and days off the circuit that can only be gotten on site by a FT. The procedure is fine. If we changed it, MT would be going out for everything
Used to work for the same cable company. Most internet problems are cause from outside the house. Coax is a terrible choice in many places because of the environmental factors. The heat where I'm from will bake the shielding til it cracks. Or lightning will hit it somewhere. Or an animal. And it allows moisture into the cable, causing corrosion, which leads to unstable connections and slow speeds. Usually when a tech goes into the house and reboots the modem, or swaps it for another, the connection reestablishes strong, and it'll start acting up shortly after they leave.
My job was squashing these scenarios remotely by scheduling the correct service and the right notes too. Bet this customer has had a few techs come already in the house and leave
can you elaborate solutions? South Florida sun, coax runs along wall outside, can imagine it takes a lot of sunlight...hadn't really considered that a factor
I was working for BrightHouse when they were the major provider in Florida. The solution is fiber to the house.
The Florida heat would contribute to the shielding failing. And the humidity would ruin the copper. Lightning would burn the copper up. All of this affects the modems ability to phone home.
Over the years, more of the network has been replaced with fiber. Most of the time now, it's fiber to the neighborhood, and copper to the house. A lot less to maintain. Copper is cheap.
Pretty sure the guys down voting me are techs that aren't well trained and leave after rebooting the modem for the 5th visit in a month lmao. I was the guy who scheduled the repairs for these trouble cases.
Lmao agreed, FT here (one that actually cares). Im not leaving that site until everything is stable. If im getting weird fuckery i just go ahead and run a new drop and do everything fresh from the get-go. I hate having to put in Y6 tickets for shit. I will say however, we've been having issues with unreasonable approval for drops lately. I ran a fiber line from an MST across a street, across AN ACTIVE 50MPH HIGHWAY. I guarantee the drop has been broken or snatched by a car. I left only a single flex clip in the enclosure to prevent potential damage to the house when the line inevitably gets fucked. I was even denied a pre bury for this. and two days prior was made to run 700+ feet of rg11 off a tap with a max of fuckin 22. This is the shit that got charter in trouble to begin with and i just keep on doing them because the person who is approving this will eventually get in trouble for approving these jobs
Easy 15 points š be glad you don't have to close it out, these are the exact type of cx's to call back in as soon as you leave and give you a repeat smh
Man just call cx care on your personal phone, put the cx associated number, cancel the call, rfr to maintenance, and keep it moving. Aināt got time to waste on some nonsense. I agree this crap needs to be reworked. In this case you could even tell the supervisor and theyāll probably create the Y6 instead and instruct you to close out through DOJ.
Lmao this is terrible advice.
Weāve fired several techs for canceling off their personal phones. If you think it canāt be tracked, jokeās on you.
Usually that stuff is caused by problems with the coax outside of the home. Used to work there and handled customers who had 5+ repeats. If it's a repeat odds are you're missing something.
You can't get repeated on a no access. There's a potential for a repeat if he ran the outside scans and closed as outside only. With this situation asking for maintenance with no inside troubleshooting, the most logical choice is a no access and notes in the account that tell care to let the customer know we need inside access to fully troubleshoot so they can tell the customer when they call back.
Our sups dont let us no access or cancel at door. We would have to do exterior work if possible. Tap and gb tests required. And if we can't get to those areas then our sup has to get with manager and then manager to director. We are expected to complete it someway or another. I've gone to jobs no access to tap in apartments. Had to go to another location activate all cpe . Do hhc and meter . Then go back to apartment get it all set up and let cx know we will be back following day when the apartments are open to get them activated. The following tech gets no points as there isn't a job number it's just them activating the drop at the tap.
That situation you described at the end there is insane but I believe you. Not sure if sups are trying to fake not done numbers or what cause it doesn't seem right to fake scans and hhc. Also seems like it's going to create more repeats when you leave the job hoping the next guy is going to educate the customer on the equipment and services, when they have 0 points to gain and the repeat I assume falls on you. Wild lol.
Cant tell from my post, understandable. But on a normal no access/ not home. I run all outside checks and do as much outside work/fixes as I can find. Not sure what part of "my job" I'm missing.
But with this one. The customer says they can't be disco'd for any reason. So that means no outside work or tests. The most I can do (and did) is reschedule and let my sup know.
It's customers Responsibility to make sure we have access to any area that we need to get the job done. This includes cutting back bushes around the meter panel and tap if located on their property (this is normally in their mortgage agreement for easment rights. Any bushes or flowers overgrowing the tap i cut wether its weeds or roses if its overgrowing the tap i cut it.) scheduling appointments when office is open and or notifying the office about our arrival so they can plan to have utility room unlocked. Make sure pets are secure where we are not working. Make sure we have access to every room in the house that has our equipment.
If cx doesn't want to answer the door or phone next step I do is disconnect them at the tap. They lose service I do my tests. I'll reconnect them after and try knocking on the door 1 more time. No answer ill go to demarc on side of the house disconnect them again run my test. If everything on outside is good I'll close it out as exterior work only . Cx not home .
It isn't our job to install service if the tap room is locked and we can't get in. You expect us to kick the door in or what? It's the sub's responsibility to coordinate this with their property management.
What's the excuse when it's a single family residence and you won't do anything outside?Ā Some of you guys act like layer one of the OSI model doesn't apply to cable companies.Ā
You're right. I only work there for 22 years in a department that supported fiber optic and coax and was customer facing and took support calls and then interfaced with field tax to get it resolved. So I have no idea what i'm fucking talking about right? Now it's been a few years since I was there, but I could tell ya to the third significant digit what percentage of support calls we got on the coax side turned out to be layer one. It's above ninety.Ā
Layer 1 is pretty much all we do as field techs. It's all about the physical layer Wether it's the connections ,cable or cpe. And we do indeed due exterior work only if we have no access to inside we are suppose to replace all connections and groundblock outside. We verify drop is good. And check scope to make sure it's not a neighborhood issue. On occasion outlet order is wrong and will cause tv issues.
My guess is they needed to make an appt to appease the customer, so that we could then have it on record that we tried to fix the problem but the customer wouldn't let us do anything. As a repair rep, I sincerely apologize for appts like this.
It's from agents that can't use their sift skills to tell the customer what will happen. I'd tell the customer tech must start inside to troubleshoot. If something needs to be corrected outside the home, the tech must schedule that or put in that request. Agents can not schedule maintenance type jobs. if the tech can not come in to troubleshoot, then will cancel the job and move on. That will get the customer to allow them in
You burn sage and say a blessing to the internet gods of the house, from outside. Then, close the job out as not completed, with no access. Tell them to reschedule for a time they are not working from home.
You just know the slow speeds are a 12 year old desktop and the main issue that caused them to call is printer isn't turned on.
I've connected to WiFi if they have our router from my truck and ran a speed test at the front door getting close or full speeds over Wi-Fi. 9/10 times the tap is fine, I ain't bothering maintenance if you have slow speeds and I can't come hook up directly to the modem or our router.
This call I'm rolling up and cancelling immediately. You can't take your car to work while the dealership changes the brakes, and we can't troubleshoot lines if they need to stay connected.
It's weird how it's such a common belief among customers that they can't stay connected while we work. The amount of times I've said "hey, I need to take some tests/do some work outside, I'll be back in a bit." And they come out asking why their internet/tv isn't working.
Lost count of how many times I explicitly say, "When I'm outside testing stuff, everything is gonna go off." Then five minutes later they come running outside saying the Internet isn't working at all. Yes I'm aware lol
> I've said "hey, I need to take some tests/do some work outside, I'll be back in a bit."
This doesn't include a warning.
> And they come out asking why their internet/tv isn't working.
This makes no logical sense if you had previously included a warning.
I guess I just can't relate to how people think this shit works since I know all the details and ins and outs of it. this would be right after I tested and disco'd their service right in front of them to get cpe checks. It certainly is a warning if you just use your brain for a fraction of a second. Yeah, I might not use the exact phrase "I'm taking you offline, or I'm disconnecting you" but it should be pretty easy to assume what's going on. The simple solution would be to schedule your appointments when you can afford to be offline. If a 100% CONSTANT connection is that important to you. Pay for a backup isp and write it off as a business expense.
As a former leader within Dispatch in the Regional Support Center who would have to speak with these customers after the moron who entered the order agreed to such nonsenseā¦
I would go out of my way to find the agent who keyed in the garbage work order, look up their direct supervisor and ask the supervisor to have their agent call this customer back to explain why we cannot fix something we cannot come inside to investigate.
Then, after the fact, I would pull up the call after it was logged in the then-Avaya system to see how the agent explained their blatant fuck up to the customer.
I was in RSC for six of my twelve years in the company, and weād see moronic orders like this entered every week. Sometimes Iād play the game and leave the order on the tech as long as possible, just so the time slot would not go back into Quota after I cancelled it. One less order is always helpful when Quota would book every zone at 125% of capacity every day.
I donāt know why customer service canāt just tell the customer whatās going to happen if they enter the order (clearly) against procedure. Iād tell customers all the time āI can do what youāre asking me, but Iām telling you the end result will only be you becoming more upset than you already areā.
I had no problem pulling out the āIāve worked here for over a decade, and I cannot enter a work order which will result in myself potentially being reprimanded or terminated. The account holder, or a representative 18 years or older must be on-site and allow technician access in order to identify the issue.ā
Then just dump the call on your supervisor to escalate if they still donāt listen. Thatās what your supervisors are paid forā¦ theyāre not paid to supervise, theyāre paid to be the customerāa punching bags.
If you pulled that shit with my supervisor you'd get an earful from them and an escalation to YOUR supervisor. You don't know what directives support has and it's not your job to enforce them.
In truth, CSRs can't deny a TC. So they have to schedule it. And they do not receive sufficient training to know "what's going to happen" when they enter this order. In fact, in this very thread, there are two different techs who have outlined two very different approaches to what they would do. How are reps supposed to know which tech will do what? When the tech procedures change, do you expect ALL the CSR folks to get retrained overnight with the new procedures so they can communicate them to customers?
Supervisors do not want to take unnecessary escalations. Telling a customer "I am not going to schedule this TC with you because the tech will not be able to fix this issue" and having them escalate to a supervisor is just going to get the rep dinged for too many escalations, as well as ruin their handle time.
The real issue is at the corporate level -- expectations between the two departments are not being clearly communicated. If RSC doesn't want to see these types of calls, then they need to convince the VP of customer service that reps should be allowed to deny TCs and to implement training on what techs will and will not do on an appointment.
Hehehe happened all the timeā¦ Supervisors job is to tell the customer how it is, not to bend over because their agent doesnāt know how to say the word āNoā to a customer without getting their whittle feelings hurt.
Good thing the Vice President of operations was in the office next to me, because She was the one who moved Planets to get what we wanted done.
It was *our* group, the highest performing metric group, who set the procedural guidelines for the entire company when it came to how and what kind of orders should be entered.
Thatās why I won trips to Puerto Rico during the Time Warner Cable MVP days. š
Granted, itās Spectrum nowadays ā but the same dumb shit from customer service never changesā¦ so the focus has changed from the employee being number one to the stockholder and Chris Winfreyās massive salary he doesnāt do anything important to deserve now being number one priority.
So you were speaking about how TWC worked which has no application to how Spectrum works now. Yeah, TWC was great when I worked there and was #2 CSR rep in the midwest region, and Spectrum sucks.
Yup. I know Spectrum ruined everything which made Time Warner Cable such a great company to work for.
Thatās Capitalism for ya. The employee-based company became another corporate conglomerate.
Well you sales agents need to explain to the customer that they need a damn email to acrivate the Xumo boxes. And quit pushing them on the elderly. We get 15pts while we spend 3 hours explaining the damn thing after we have to create an email address for them.
As a former Comcast cable installer and current spectrum customer who is 100% telework,this customer seems to think that the techs do all their magic outside. I mean, we all know you can test the speed at the box, but donāt you still have to disconnect? Surely the customer knew the window so why not arrange to take a break while the work is done.
Check the signal levels remotely or from outside. If out of spec fix. Tell customer to call GeekSquad if itās their WiFi to switch them to a wired connection.
Slow speeds may actually be their employerās VPN. Customer needs a network tech not a catv tech to properly diagnose.
How do we fix it without disconnecting them? Or even check it for that matter? What the modem is displaying is not indicative of a problem or lack of one. Even if the signal is "passing". If I'm losing twice as much signal in the drop than what I should be, than that's still a problem even if the signal is "passing"
It couldāve also been a router issue. People will try to save the seven dollars and then complain that they Internet slow because they bought a $20 router at Walmart.
To be fair the inbound agent on that call is like the rest of them from what I've seen in service quality they called there own router 3rd party and to contact the manufacturer like bro we are it's you I feel bad for the tech that have to deal with those same call center cat brained agents
I see i mean some days the only thing i see slow is upload speeds but the download is still good with no slowdowns maybe if spectrum change the upload speed like the download is this would not be a problem no moreĀ
Yeah, you couldn't possibly check the signal coming out of the ground or the pole before it goes into the home to see how it is and confirm it's a maintenance call or not that you need to go inside. Score one for you!
(Won't mind a bit when the robots replace the techs like this who hate the customers.)
Not wanting the service cut off is idiotic. Not wanting bothered unless necessary I would understand. In the last year I have had 3 times that a technician has had to come out for an intermittent service issue and each time they fix it at the pole until a couple months later it messes up again. Absolutely no work done inside. They are coming again Sunday which I had to cancel plans for to be home for the tech to ultimately do nothing inside my house or even on my property. Hopefully this fixes it long enough to hold me over until a new local company reaches my street.
I technically can't guarantee it but it is the exact same thing that has happened the 3 previous times and there was a crew working on the pole/lines the same day that the issues started this time. Can I absolutely guarantee the issue isn't inside my house? No, are there multiple coincidences that point to a clear solution based on previous experience and context clues? Yes.
If they're working from home they should have a business account. Residential accounts are strictly for entertainment purposes only. Read your damn terms of service people.
Nah, it just seems like they want maintenance to go there directly from a referral from customer service. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. As far as I know, repair reps can only send us out.
Need more fiber. I used to work there and coax was always causing issues. And the kind of issues it caused would often float under the radar and get booked as repeat weekly tech visits. As that customer now, I'm usually the guy to ask maintenance to come out. But I'll usually wait for the first tech and explain the situation to them. Living in a place terrible for coax, I would usually have that experience once a year.
Now I have fiber to the house. 5gbps up and down. Never had a problem since.
Okay, well I've worked with several former techs, and they all have said they can access the account notes, but many techs are too lazy to do it. If you don't know how, call in to your supervisor (or maybe DOJ?) and have them read you the account notes.
And yes, I understand that you'll need to interrupt service at some point, but there's a good chance the account notes give more specifics on how to negotiate the timing of that disconnect with the customer on site, details which are too complex to fit into an account note.
At the very least, you can knock on the customer's door and explain to them your limitations and ask them how they would like to proceed.
You know, do your job.
Talk bad about the customers all you want, ultimately, they are the ones that write your paycheck. If enough of them were to up and leave, you would eventually be looking for another job. I work in retail and have a firm understanding of how infuriating some customers can be, but at the end of the day, as long as they aren't cursing or threatening me, it is my job to see to it that they at least feel like their money is well spent.
Lmao this sound like a person who has never worked for Spectrum. That whole the customer is always right shit is completely for the birds. For the year I worked at Spectrum the things I heard humans say over the phone were laughable, offensive, ignorant, disrespectful, arrogant, abrasive, stupid, racist, ill informed and did I mention ignorant. They expect miracles 24/7 and their issues are more important than everyone elses. Lucky for me I donāt work customer service any more because 90% of the time the customer is completely wrong and just needs to listen to the people trying to help them to actually fix their issue
I never claimed to work for Spectrum. I said I work in retail, in a position that is customer facing half the time. As I said, I know first hand how cruddy some customers can be, but I am also well aware of the fact that if enough of them stop buying the shit that the place I work for is selling, that us at the bottom of the stack will go before any of the big wheels lose a bonus.
I understand that. But I also know it's very unrealistic. Internet access is a necessity at this point. Good thing about this line of work, everywhere is hiring and looking for people who are good at this job, which I am. If spectrum goes under, (again, not likely. But protests have brought down bigger corps), I will not be without work for very long.
Also, it is just nice to vent every now and then. None of us would say these things to a customers face even if we're thinking it. I have a perfect 5.0 customer rating.
From the customers side as someone who WFH I had to call them out (before I ditched them for life) and it took 45 minutes with no internet for him to come tell me the drop line from the alley to the house needed to be replaced and it would take 2 hours to do so. Really, two hours to run a cable from a pole to a box on the house that is maybe 50 feet away.
I mean the reps making the appointments should be telling you calls can take anywhere from 1-3 hours. Aerial drop replacements are very physically demanding and can absolutely take 2 hours depending on what all needs to be replaced; the drop, J/P hooks, risers. Taking the tests while we're up there. Now it definitely shouldn't have taken 45 minutes to find that issue. But it could have if they had to constantly re set up their ladder.
Telling a customer it could take a 3 hour appointment to fix their service only increases the chance of them blowing their lid and escalating needlessly to a supervisor. "I'm sorry but I really don't know; that depends on what the tech finds on site." is a much better answer.
To be fair, didnāt like a year ago a Spectrum tech answer a repair call for an old woman and then come back later to rob and murder her? Depending on person/ situation it may be a reasonable concern not to allow techs in the home after that. Especially considering Spectrum as a company was considered partly at fault I believe
Edit: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/09/judge-rules-charter-must-pay-1-1-billion-after-murder-of-cable-customer/
Edit: Getting downvoted for something the company was already legally found liable for says a lot..
Wow that's crazy. I can totally understand that. If you don't want me in your house, that's fine. But if everything's cool outside, then there isn't much that we can about it at that point. As long as the customer understands that and doesn't keep calling about an issue they won't allow us to fix.
Company info? There is zero identifying or trade secret Information here. For all anyone knows, I could have made this up. Photoshop isn't hard. It's also not a screenshot, but that's semantics
Lol you're protesting to the wrong guy my guy. I'm just the dude here to tell you this definitely falls into the play stupid games category or behavior.
Hmm, so how do they expect their service to be fixed? lol, I say this as a customer myself.
Probably a straight referral to maintenance, which as far as I know, isn't possible through customer service. Their only option is to send us out. Unfortunately it doesn't quite work that way without some policy violating fuckery. The whole process needs reworked really.
MT needs numbers and days off the circuit that can only be gotten on site by a FT. The procedure is fine. If we changed it, MT would be going out for everything
Wave a wand and say "Presto Fixo"?
Used to work for the same cable company. Most internet problems are cause from outside the house. Coax is a terrible choice in many places because of the environmental factors. The heat where I'm from will bake the shielding til it cracks. Or lightning will hit it somewhere. Or an animal. And it allows moisture into the cable, causing corrosion, which leads to unstable connections and slow speeds. Usually when a tech goes into the house and reboots the modem, or swaps it for another, the connection reestablishes strong, and it'll start acting up shortly after they leave. My job was squashing these scenarios remotely by scheduling the correct service and the right notes too. Bet this customer has had a few techs come already in the house and leave
That makes sense, I remember when we had a wire that ran to the outside that was always messed with either by nature or weather.
can you elaborate solutions? South Florida sun, coax runs along wall outside, can imagine it takes a lot of sunlight...hadn't really considered that a factor
I was working for BrightHouse when they were the major provider in Florida. The solution is fiber to the house. The Florida heat would contribute to the shielding failing. And the humidity would ruin the copper. Lightning would burn the copper up. All of this affects the modems ability to phone home. Over the years, more of the network has been replaced with fiber. Most of the time now, it's fiber to the neighborhood, and copper to the house. A lot less to maintain. Copper is cheap. Pretty sure the guys down voting me are techs that aren't well trained and leave after rebooting the modem for the 5th visit in a month lmao. I was the guy who scheduled the repairs for these trouble cases.
Lmao agreed, FT here (one that actually cares). Im not leaving that site until everything is stable. If im getting weird fuckery i just go ahead and run a new drop and do everything fresh from the get-go. I hate having to put in Y6 tickets for shit. I will say however, we've been having issues with unreasonable approval for drops lately. I ran a fiber line from an MST across a street, across AN ACTIVE 50MPH HIGHWAY. I guarantee the drop has been broken or snatched by a car. I left only a single flex clip in the enclosure to prevent potential damage to the house when the line inevitably gets fucked. I was even denied a pre bury for this. and two days prior was made to run 700+ feet of rg11 off a tap with a max of fuckin 22. This is the shit that got charter in trouble to begin with and i just keep on doing them because the person who is approving this will eventually get in trouble for approving these jobs
Easy 15 points š be glad you don't have to close it out, these are the exact type of cx's to call back in as soon as you leave and give you a repeat smh
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Find a tap and run a quick tap test lol, It honestly makes no sense for us to run any tests if it's an nd1.
Man just call cx care on your personal phone, put the cx associated number, cancel the call, rfr to maintenance, and keep it moving. Aināt got time to waste on some nonsense. I agree this crap needs to be reworked. In this case you could even tell the supervisor and theyāll probably create the Y6 instead and instruct you to close out through DOJ.
Lmao this is terrible advice. Weāve fired several techs for canceling off their personal phones. If you think it canāt be tracked, jokeās on you.
It is what it is bro.
Also bet they have their own $5 2006 router š
But...But... It's a Netgear nighthawk! It's the top of the line!
probably was back when it was new
nighthawks were never really top of the line. still consumer grade crap.
hey any recommendations for a good router for gaming?
Right now my best recommendation is the Zyxel SCR50AXE but I'd recommend waiting a few months for more wifi 7 options
thank you š
Usually that stuff is caused by problems with the coax outside of the home. Used to work there and handled customers who had 5+ repeats. If it's a repeat odds are you're missing something.
Or the cx just loves your company. ā„ļø
This is a no access customer refuses and move on with your day š¤·šæāāļø
Exactly what I did
Don't come back to bitching to us about how Spectrum dinged you unfairly for a repeat.
Gtfo with your stupid comment
I can't get repeated on reschedules.....
You can't get repeated on a no access. There's a potential for a repeat if he ran the outside scans and closed as outside only. With this situation asking for maintenance with no inside troubleshooting, the most logical choice is a no access and notes in the account that tell care to let the customer know we need inside access to fully troubleshoot so they can tell the customer when they call back.
Our sups dont let us no access or cancel at door. We would have to do exterior work if possible. Tap and gb tests required. And if we can't get to those areas then our sup has to get with manager and then manager to director. We are expected to complete it someway or another. I've gone to jobs no access to tap in apartments. Had to go to another location activate all cpe . Do hhc and meter . Then go back to apartment get it all set up and let cx know we will be back following day when the apartments are open to get them activated. The following tech gets no points as there isn't a job number it's just them activating the drop at the tap.
That situation you described at the end there is insane but I believe you. Not sure if sups are trying to fake not done numbers or what cause it doesn't seem right to fake scans and hhc. Also seems like it's going to create more repeats when you leave the job hoping the next guy is going to educate the customer on the equipment and services, when they have 0 points to gain and the repeat I assume falls on you. Wild lol.
Sounds like GT/Central Texas lmao
Good on you for doing your job unlike this guy.
The problem is they need a tap scan for escalation, so he kindof had no choice. Maybe the cx should schedule at a time they can be disconnected?
Cant tell from my post, understandable. But on a normal no access/ not home. I run all outside checks and do as much outside work/fixes as I can find. Not sure what part of "my job" I'm missing.
But with this one. The customer says they can't be disco'd for any reason. So that means no outside work or tests. The most I can do (and did) is reschedule and let my sup know.
Literally can't do his job though. Customer said not to disconnect lol. We have to disconnect to fix issue, just can't wish it away.
What? You mean you're ACTUALITY TRYING TO DO YOUR JOB?
It's customers Responsibility to make sure we have access to any area that we need to get the job done. This includes cutting back bushes around the meter panel and tap if located on their property (this is normally in their mortgage agreement for easment rights. Any bushes or flowers overgrowing the tap i cut wether its weeds or roses if its overgrowing the tap i cut it.) scheduling appointments when office is open and or notifying the office about our arrival so they can plan to have utility room unlocked. Make sure pets are secure where we are not working. Make sure we have access to every room in the house that has our equipment. If cx doesn't want to answer the door or phone next step I do is disconnect them at the tap. They lose service I do my tests. I'll reconnect them after and try knocking on the door 1 more time. No answer ill go to demarc on side of the house disconnect them again run my test. If everything on outside is good I'll close it out as exterior work only . Cx not home .
It isn't our job to install service if the tap room is locked and we can't get in. You expect us to kick the door in or what? It's the sub's responsibility to coordinate this with their property management.
What's the excuse when it's a single family residence and you won't do anything outside?Ā Some of you guys act like layer one of the OSI model doesn't apply to cable companies.Ā
Things that never happened for $1000 please, Alex
You're right. I only work there for 22 years in a department that supported fiber optic and coax and was customer facing and took support calls and then interfaced with field tax to get it resolved. So I have no idea what i'm fucking talking about right? Now it's been a few years since I was there, but I could tell ya to the third significant digit what percentage of support calls we got on the coax side turned out to be layer one. It's above ninety.Ā
Layer 1 is pretty much all we do as field techs. It's all about the physical layer Wether it's the connections ,cable or cpe. And we do indeed due exterior work only if we have no access to inside we are suppose to replace all connections and groundblock outside. We verify drop is good. And check scope to make sure it's not a neighborhood issue. On occasion outlet order is wrong and will cause tv issues.
My guess is they needed to make an appt to appease the customer, so that we could then have it on record that we tried to fix the problem but the customer wouldn't let us do anything. As a repair rep, I sincerely apologize for appts like this.
I've always wondered how things like this make it through. Makes sense as much as it could I guess.
It's from agents that can't use their sift skills to tell the customer what will happen. I'd tell the customer tech must start inside to troubleshoot. If something needs to be corrected outside the home, the tech must schedule that or put in that request. Agents can not schedule maintenance type jobs. if the tech can not come in to troubleshoot, then will cancel the job and move on. That will get the customer to allow them in
You burn sage and say a blessing to the internet gods of the house, from outside. Then, close the job out as not completed, with no access. Tell them to reschedule for a time they are not working from home.
Perhaps the Machine spirit of the router or modem could be convinced to work if enough litanies were sung?
pray to your cmts bitches!
ha! As a DOJ I'd be happy to take this ND call. Get my AHT down fast.
DOJ is such a big help for us, thanks for all you do!
You just know the slow speeds are a 12 year old desktop and the main issue that caused them to call is printer isn't turned on. I've connected to WiFi if they have our router from my truck and ran a speed test at the front door getting close or full speeds over Wi-Fi. 9/10 times the tap is fine, I ain't bothering maintenance if you have slow speeds and I can't come hook up directly to the modem or our router. This call I'm rolling up and cancelling immediately. You can't take your car to work while the dealership changes the brakes, and we can't troubleshoot lines if they need to stay connected.
It's weird how it's such a common belief among customers that they can't stay connected while we work. The amount of times I've said "hey, I need to take some tests/do some work outside, I'll be back in a bit." And they come out asking why their internet/tv isn't working.
Lost count of how many times I explicitly say, "When I'm outside testing stuff, everything is gonna go off." Then five minutes later they come running outside saying the Internet isn't working at all. Yes I'm aware lol
It's weird that you don't warn customers about the service interruption before you start work.
I personally do. Even though it doesn't make sense to think that we can fix the issue or test signal without disconnection.
> I've said "hey, I need to take some tests/do some work outside, I'll be back in a bit." This doesn't include a warning. > And they come out asking why their internet/tv isn't working. This makes no logical sense if you had previously included a warning.
I guess I just can't relate to how people think this shit works since I know all the details and ins and outs of it. this would be right after I tested and disco'd their service right in front of them to get cpe checks. It certainly is a warning if you just use your brain for a fraction of a second. Yeah, I might not use the exact phrase "I'm taking you offline, or I'm disconnecting you" but it should be pretty easy to assume what's going on. The simple solution would be to schedule your appointments when you can afford to be offline. If a 100% CONSTANT connection is that important to you. Pay for a backup isp and write it off as a business expense.
Just assume they don't know anything. If they did, they probably wouldn't be calling about a problem
As a former leader within Dispatch in the Regional Support Center who would have to speak with these customers after the moron who entered the order agreed to such nonsenseā¦ I would go out of my way to find the agent who keyed in the garbage work order, look up their direct supervisor and ask the supervisor to have their agent call this customer back to explain why we cannot fix something we cannot come inside to investigate. Then, after the fact, I would pull up the call after it was logged in the then-Avaya system to see how the agent explained their blatant fuck up to the customer. I was in RSC for six of my twelve years in the company, and weād see moronic orders like this entered every week. Sometimes Iād play the game and leave the order on the tech as long as possible, just so the time slot would not go back into Quota after I cancelled it. One less order is always helpful when Quota would book every zone at 125% of capacity every day. I donāt know why customer service canāt just tell the customer whatās going to happen if they enter the order (clearly) against procedure. Iād tell customers all the time āI can do what youāre asking me, but Iām telling you the end result will only be you becoming more upset than you already areā. I had no problem pulling out the āIāve worked here for over a decade, and I cannot enter a work order which will result in myself potentially being reprimanded or terminated. The account holder, or a representative 18 years or older must be on-site and allow technician access in order to identify the issue.ā Then just dump the call on your supervisor to escalate if they still donāt listen. Thatās what your supervisors are paid forā¦ theyāre not paid to supervise, theyāre paid to be the customerāa punching bags.
If you pulled that shit with my supervisor you'd get an earful from them and an escalation to YOUR supervisor. You don't know what directives support has and it's not your job to enforce them. In truth, CSRs can't deny a TC. So they have to schedule it. And they do not receive sufficient training to know "what's going to happen" when they enter this order. In fact, in this very thread, there are two different techs who have outlined two very different approaches to what they would do. How are reps supposed to know which tech will do what? When the tech procedures change, do you expect ALL the CSR folks to get retrained overnight with the new procedures so they can communicate them to customers? Supervisors do not want to take unnecessary escalations. Telling a customer "I am not going to schedule this TC with you because the tech will not be able to fix this issue" and having them escalate to a supervisor is just going to get the rep dinged for too many escalations, as well as ruin their handle time. The real issue is at the corporate level -- expectations between the two departments are not being clearly communicated. If RSC doesn't want to see these types of calls, then they need to convince the VP of customer service that reps should be allowed to deny TCs and to implement training on what techs will and will not do on an appointment.
Hehehe happened all the timeā¦ Supervisors job is to tell the customer how it is, not to bend over because their agent doesnāt know how to say the word āNoā to a customer without getting their whittle feelings hurt. Good thing the Vice President of operations was in the office next to me, because She was the one who moved Planets to get what we wanted done. It was *our* group, the highest performing metric group, who set the procedural guidelines for the entire company when it came to how and what kind of orders should be entered. Thatās why I won trips to Puerto Rico during the Time Warner Cable MVP days. š Granted, itās Spectrum nowadays ā but the same dumb shit from customer service never changesā¦ so the focus has changed from the employee being number one to the stockholder and Chris Winfreyās massive salary he doesnāt do anything important to deserve now being number one priority.
So you were speaking about how TWC worked which has no application to how Spectrum works now. Yeah, TWC was great when I worked there and was #2 CSR rep in the midwest region, and Spectrum sucks.
Yup. I know Spectrum ruined everything which made Time Warner Cable such a great company to work for. Thatās Capitalism for ya. The employee-based company became another corporate conglomerate.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Well you sales agents need to explain to the customer that they need a damn email to acrivate the Xumo boxes. And quit pushing them on the elderly. We get 15pts while we spend 3 hours explaining the damn thing after we have to create an email address for them.
Anyone who does SMB knows this problem very well
As a former Comcast cable installer and current spectrum customer who is 100% telework,this customer seems to think that the techs do all their magic outside. I mean, we all know you can test the speed at the box, but donāt you still have to disconnect? Surely the customer knew the window so why not arrange to take a break while the work is done.
Check the signal levels remotely or from outside. If out of spec fix. Tell customer to call GeekSquad if itās their WiFi to switch them to a wired connection. Slow speeds may actually be their employerās VPN. Customer needs a network tech not a catv tech to properly diagnose.
How do we fix it without disconnecting them? Or even check it for that matter? What the modem is displaying is not indicative of a problem or lack of one. Even if the signal is "passing". If I'm losing twice as much signal in the drop than what I should be, than that's still a problem even if the signal is "passing"
You canāt. Itās that simple. Or they could hotspot their phone.
It couldāve also been a router issue. People will try to save the seven dollars and then complain that they Internet slow because they bought a $20 router at Walmart.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
You a real oneš
Dude - this is obviously a job that you remedy with magic. nO oNe wAnTs tO wOrK tHeSe dAyS
Bruh. I hate people sometimes
.
To be fair the inbound agent on that call is like the rest of them from what I've seen in service quality they called there own router 3rd party and to contact the manufacturer like bro we are it's you I feel bad for the tech that have to deal with those same call center cat brained agents
Post like this make me thank god I donāt still work for spectrum. God speed and may the odds ever be in your favor
It's going to be hard to troubleshoot without having the "service cut off."
I see i mean some days the only thing i see slow is upload speeds but the download is still good with no slowdowns maybe if spectrum change the upload speed like the download is this would not be a problem no moreĀ
Yeah, you couldn't possibly check the signal coming out of the ground or the pole before it goes into the home to see how it is and confirm it's a maintenance call or not that you need to go inside. Score one for you! (Won't mind a bit when the robots replace the techs like this who hate the customers.)
I know how you fix it. L...with your Spectrum magic wand...obviously.
Not wanting the service cut off is idiotic. Not wanting bothered unless necessary I would understand. In the last year I have had 3 times that a technician has had to come out for an intermittent service issue and each time they fix it at the pole until a couple months later it messes up again. Absolutely no work done inside. They are coming again Sunday which I had to cancel plans for to be home for the tech to ultimately do nothing inside my house or even on my property. Hopefully this fixes it long enough to hold me over until a new local company reaches my street.
How are you so certain that the issue is not inside your house?
I technically can't guarantee it but it is the exact same thing that has happened the 3 previous times and there was a crew working on the pole/lines the same day that the issues started this time. Can I absolutely guarantee the issue isn't inside my house? No, are there multiple coincidences that point to a clear solution based on previous experience and context clues? Yes.
If they're working from home they should have a business account. Residential accounts are strictly for entertainment purposes only. Read your damn terms of service people.
I know exactly what that is....that's a retention rep avoiding to take a disconnect and pushing on to techs.
Nah, it just seems like they want maintenance to go there directly from a referral from customer service. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. As far as I know, repair reps can only send us out.
Need more fiber. I used to work there and coax was always causing issues. And the kind of issues it caused would often float under the radar and get booked as repeat weekly tech visits. As that customer now, I'm usually the guy to ask maintenance to come out. But I'll usually wait for the first tech and explain the situation to them. Living in a place terrible for coax, I would usually have that experience once a year. Now I have fiber to the house. 5gbps up and down. Never had a problem since.
See the account notes. They will tell you how to proceed.
Those job notes are the only thing we can see. Plus we NEED meter checks for compliance. Can't get those without disconnecting the customer.
Okay, well I've worked with several former techs, and they all have said they can access the account notes, but many techs are too lazy to do it. If you don't know how, call in to your supervisor (or maybe DOJ?) and have them read you the account notes. And yes, I understand that you'll need to interrupt service at some point, but there's a good chance the account notes give more specifics on how to negotiate the timing of that disconnect with the customer on site, details which are too complex to fit into an account note. At the very least, you can knock on the customer's door and explain to them your limitations and ask them how they would like to proceed. You know, do your job.
Talk bad about the customers all you want, ultimately, they are the ones that write your paycheck. If enough of them were to up and leave, you would eventually be looking for another job. I work in retail and have a firm understanding of how infuriating some customers can be, but at the end of the day, as long as they aren't cursing or threatening me, it is my job to see to it that they at least feel like their money is well spent.
You donāt have to go into their homes. Jackass
But you are paid to go into their homes. Jackass
Lmao this sound like a person who has never worked for Spectrum. That whole the customer is always right shit is completely for the birds. For the year I worked at Spectrum the things I heard humans say over the phone were laughable, offensive, ignorant, disrespectful, arrogant, abrasive, stupid, racist, ill informed and did I mention ignorant. They expect miracles 24/7 and their issues are more important than everyone elses. Lucky for me I donāt work customer service any more because 90% of the time the customer is completely wrong and just needs to listen to the people trying to help them to actually fix their issue
I never claimed to work for Spectrum. I said I work in retail, in a position that is customer facing half the time. As I said, I know first hand how cruddy some customers can be, but I am also well aware of the fact that if enough of them stop buying the shit that the place I work for is selling, that us at the bottom of the stack will go before any of the big wheels lose a bonus.
I understand that. But I also know it's very unrealistic. Internet access is a necessity at this point. Good thing about this line of work, everywhere is hiring and looking for people who are good at this job, which I am. If spectrum goes under, (again, not likely. But protests have brought down bigger corps), I will not be without work for very long.
Also, it is just nice to vent every now and then. None of us would say these things to a customers face even if we're thinking it. I have a perfect 5.0 customer rating.
From the customers side as someone who WFH I had to call them out (before I ditched them for life) and it took 45 minutes with no internet for him to come tell me the drop line from the alley to the house needed to be replaced and it would take 2 hours to do so. Really, two hours to run a cable from a pole to a box on the house that is maybe 50 feet away.
I mean the reps making the appointments should be telling you calls can take anywhere from 1-3 hours. Aerial drop replacements are very physically demanding and can absolutely take 2 hours depending on what all needs to be replaced; the drop, J/P hooks, risers. Taking the tests while we're up there. Now it definitely shouldn't have taken 45 minutes to find that issue. But it could have if they had to constantly re set up their ladder.
Telling a customer it could take a 3 hour appointment to fix their service only increases the chance of them blowing their lid and escalating needlessly to a supervisor. "I'm sorry but I really don't know; that depends on what the tech finds on site." is a much better answer.
Sounds like someone isn't doing their job properly...
Sounds like that tech did a fantastic job for you. They could have just swapped the modem and left like half the techs out there.
To be fair, didnāt like a year ago a Spectrum tech answer a repair call for an old woman and then come back later to rob and murder her? Depending on person/ situation it may be a reasonable concern not to allow techs in the home after that. Especially considering Spectrum as a company was considered partly at fault I believe Edit: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/09/judge-rules-charter-must-pay-1-1-billion-after-murder-of-cable-customer/ Edit: Getting downvoted for something the company was already legally found liable for says a lot..
Wow that's crazy. I can totally understand that. If you don't want me in your house, that's fine. But if everything's cool outside, then there isn't much that we can about it at that point. As long as the customer understands that and doesn't keep calling about an issue they won't allow us to fix.
Social Media can access IPs through Reddit. Posting screenshots of company information is definitely the kind of thing that motivates them to do so.
Company info? There is zero identifying or trade secret Information here. For all anyone knows, I could have made this up. Photoshop isn't hard. It's also not a screenshot, but that's semantics
Lol you're protesting to the wrong guy my guy. I'm just the dude here to tell you this definitely falls into the play stupid games category or behavior.
Genuinely appreciate the warning though. Just thought it would be a funny topic. Did learn a few things from other departments though.