Thursday, August 22, 2019

Moving: Nightmare 1: The Cable Company

**names of the guilty have been changed to prevent a law suit**

On 08-08-19 my husband Mark contacted our local cable company, **Sputum, to schedule installation of cable TV and Internet service at our new place in Green Bay. He received an email confirmation on 08-08-19 at 3:23pm from **Sputum for installation on Saturday, 08-17-19 between 2pm-3pm. The email confirmation had an account number and an order number.

We had not received a confirmation call on that Saturday so at 2:19pm I called the general customer service number and spoke with **Destiny for 34 minutes and 8 seconds. She informed me that the "installation was pending and not scheduled as of 08-08-19." The next available installation date and time was Sunday, 08-25-19 between 10am - 11am. I agreed to that date and time, but then **Destiny told me she "was unable to complete the confirmation for that time" and the next available time was on Sunday, 08-25-19 between 8am-9am. I begged her to confirm that date and time before our installation date was pushed out any further which she did.

**Destiny gave me an order number for the 08-25-19 installation time and told me that she'd contacted their Dispatch Office "who must return your call within 90 minutes" because they could review their schedule and likely have an earlier date and time for our installation. She gave me a "dispatch ticket number" and said I should expect a call from them between 2:35pm-4:05pm.

We stayed in Green Bay until 4:05pm and then left for Menasha, where we currently live.

At 4:48pm I called Customer Service again because we hadn't heard from Dispatch to schedule an earlier installation date and time. I spoke with **Jeffrey who informed me Dispatch called me at 3:04pm to schedule an earlier date and time for our installation service. **Jeffrey read back the phone number Dispatch had called and there were two numbers transposed by **Destiny who entered my phone number for Dispatch to call.

Eventually I spoke with **Dan in Dispatch and scheduled our installation for Wednesday, 08-21-19 between 2pm-3pm. I had him read back to me the new address for installation and the phone number (my cell number) that was listed as the contact phone number for Wednesday's service.

After securing an actual installation date and time, Dispatch ticket number, **Sputum's order number and account number, I was steaming and ready to talk to management about error after error after error that their company caused us to keep making compromises to fit into their "fixed" dates and times.

At 5:40pm I spoke with **Shannon, part of the "Leadership Team". I relayed the errors that lead to me needing to speak with her, all of which were documented on **Sputum's part. She acknowledged that the original order confirmation on 08-08-19 shouldn't have been sent and because I provided her with the exact date and time Mark received that email, **Shannon assured me "a coaching session with that staff member" would take place to prevent something similar happening in the future.

**Shannon also confirmed that a "coaching opportunity with **Destiny's supervisor" would take place to assure phone numbers will be confirmed before being entered into "our system."

Then we came down to the brass tacks of it all: What was **Sputum going to offer me as reparations for my time and inconvenience? **Shannon waived the $49.99 connection fee in Green Bay and offered us a "Silver Package" of channels free for one year. I accepted that compromise offer and our cable bill will be reduced by $60 a month.

As a follow up, cable and Internet installation happened on Wednesday 08-21-19 without issue. At least moving nightmare 1 has been resolved.

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