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Captain

Captain

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6.2K Messages

Monday, July 8th, 2024 1:48 PM

Verizon can learn from Simplisafe

Last evening in the Chicagoland area we experienced a significant outage of service for Verizon Home 5G. Our usual 300 mbps down/35 up crawled to 5 down and 8 up.  After going through 30 minutes of useless online self diagnostic/troubleshooting tools and waiting on the phone, I thought I would try a "long shot" and try Facebook.  Yeah, social media teams seem to get the funding these days, and a VZ "Social Agent" was on messenger in minutes.  Steven was very nice but knew zip about technical things, but said he would contact support and asked me to wait a few minutes.  About a minute later he was back and advised me they were experiencing "network issues in my area and engineers were working on a resolution".  Estimated time for restoration was targeted for midnight".

My other six neighbors who have VZ home service were updated by me as we were already all on a chat. (Nine houses on our cul-de-sac, 7 have VZ.)

I thanked Steven and provided the following feedback: 1. Put a prominent notice on their website when a customer logs into their account that there is an issue with a short description. and 2. Provide the estimated resolution time and date.  Then I get the response: "Thank you! That is a great idea and will pass this on to management."

Recap: so I and God knows how many other customers wasted their time, effort etc to troubleshoot with no results, of course, and then tie up VZ agents on their website, on Facebook etc.

Just plain stupid Idiots. Note I am not talking about Steven.

I want to thank Simplisafe for posting large, colorful banners on the website home page when there are issues.  Did SS always do that? No, but SS does listen to their customers, and, most of time, act on customer feedback, or, which is fine, says no.  Honestly. Transparency.  They go a long way.

Today those idiots in Verizon management are going to hear from seven not so happy customers. And Steven, thanks for listening.

1.4K Messages

5 months ago

Here's a tip.

I'll skip the Simplisafe part entirely and refrain from comment. πŸ˜‰ We'll have to agree to disagree. πŸ˜† 

I laugh or get angry lol, at the Facebook advertising stuff from all of them, Cove, SS etc. Yank their chain occasionally too. All of them.

The tip.

You can do as you wish of course, but if my LAN, modem and router are up and I'm experiencing such issues the first place I visit is downdetector.com

Assumes phone service and or Internet access.

Google search, downdetector Chicago 

And/or Verizon has a similar tool for network issues, as does Xfinity to report network issues to customers, I also check there if I have issues. Drills down to address usually. One or the other or both will tell the story. Usually.

Then you're at their mercy to get it fixed.

Sample of Verizon last 24 hours and shows normal complaints now, normal pic not included. Ookla is also the WiFi speed test outfit. I only use the free part.

Captain

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6.2K Messages

@dlpsr I left out the part of my reporting the outage to downdetector, mostly that I find them about as useless as the rest.  Unfortunately, it appears more and more companies are going the social site route and neglect their own websites and account resources. Not a good trend, but do admit I am in the minority on that one. Also, I must salute you on your restraint, just agreeing to disagree. :-)

1.4K Messages

@captain11​ I never report. I just look to see whats the down status.

My most recent Comcast issues was freezing TV while we're watching the horse races or UEFA COPA soccer championships. Down detector and Comcast both reported cable TV issues.

So I wait, cuss a little bit, kick some dirt. πŸ˜† 

Then they finally fix it. Later.

Service isn't what it used to be. Might even be dieing. Or dead. My handshake or my word was my bond. Still is. Ace Hardware is still sorta pretty good.

These days, they'd be lifting your wallet with their left hand while shaking the right. With a smile.

Money is important, but greed, love of money? Not so much. Wild world. Stock holders? Who knows?

Hey, on agreeing, I own the stuff, might as well try to move heaven and earth to help people and maybe get a fix out of SS occasionally or rarely.πŸ˜‰

Mine are the same old story.🀷 I think I stumped the techs. Have to confer with colleagues. Lol

Captain

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6.2K Messages

I had to laugh at your comments on Comcast.  Years ago as I was signing, waltzing into the local Comcast store with my 3 boxes over my shoulder and saying with a smile "see ya", having signed up with the then new kid on the block ATT Uverse and never looked back.  While cheaper, internet speed went from 100 to 50 down and eventually back up to 75 with ATT but the one best thing about it? Not those lying SOBs from Comcast. I won't bore you with my experience with ADT (you can search in the forums if you want to but don't recommend it) keeps me grounded to appreciate everything Simplisafe is and, at times, is not.

(edited)

1.4K Messages

@captain11​ I'm quite familiar with you and ADT and fully understand.

I've had Comcast for 40 or so years. We're not in the big city and never we're, nor will we ever be.

They're about the only reliable game in town out in the country. They have too many fees, I can usually troubleshoot anything from the bottom of the telephone pole to the house myself. And they're fairly responsive anything above the bottom of the pole. I never call them, unless I'm desperate. Chat perhaps, as I use here.

If she would get happy with a Prime Fire Stick, I'd delete TV and just have internet only.

I agree, Xfinity CS isn't very good anymore.

Don't worry about me, I won't be signing with any security company ever again, when done with this one, especially ADT.

I'm allergic to long term, expensive contracts.πŸ˜‰πŸ˜

6 Zigbee sensors away from having parallel entry sensors to SS version.

Including garage doors. Slow and easy, testing before diving in head first as I did here. Wish the SS base siren and external siren could be used for something, guess I'll have to operate on them down the road.🩺😷 ESP-32 board?πŸ€”

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