Northwestel

Life has been tough for us lately: we haven't had internet service for a few weeks as I'm experimenting with a new service Rogers Portable Internet. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked since I brought it up to Whitehorse. Rogers doesn't sell the service in Whitehorse but they advertise that the service is available here. The reason is because Rogers and Bell partnered up to form a company called Inukshuk, which provides Wimax service across Canada. Navicrap (Navigo), which is owned by Northwestel, which in turn is owned by Bell, works up here in Whitehorse. Navigo and Portable Internet are competitors that use Inukshuk's WiMax towers. Long story short, Rogers and Navigo both have awesome customer service, but Rogers hasn't worked since I brought the modem up from Vancouver. I've been working on it with Rogers for a few weeks and I don't want to give up as their service is 3 times cheaper than Navigo...

So since we still don't have Portable Internet working, I decided to sign up with Northwestel's ADSL service. Their cost is $80 a month (extortionist pricing up north...) and you get 20GB for that service. Install was $30. When I called on the Monday, they told me it takes 5 business days to get the service up and running and I will have it working on that same Friday. We really needed the service sooner but since we are in Canada, everything happens just a bit slower... I had to be patient.

On Friday, we were excited as we thought the ADSL line would be working when we got home. Unfortunately it wasn't. I called Northwestel. At first, the CSR (customer service rep) wouldn't give me a straight answer. I can usually sense or hear bullshit pretty quickly and I called him on it.

CSR: "I'm not sure, I think there might have been some computer mix up as the computer says the tech was supposed to come turn it on."
Me: "Well obviously someone didn't do their job right?"
CSR: "I think there might have been a mix up in the system somewhere."
Me: "So what you are saying is someone didn't do their job? Would it be possible for me to speak the the supervisor?"
CSR: "Ok, please hold."

Manager: "Hi, how can I help you?"

I explain the whole situation again.

Manager: "Yes, I think there was a mix up somewhere."
Me: "I understand that mix ups do happen, but please understand that I've waited all week for your service to turn on, which should only take your tech 5 minutes if he actually showed up to the box in my neighborhood. Are you telling me somehow someone didn't do their job?"
Manager reluctantly says: "Yes, I think something like that happened."
Me: "Ok. That's fine. Since this is a technical service call now, would it be possible for you to get someone up here tonight or this weekend to fix the problem?"
Manager: "No, we don't work weekends."
Me: "I thought this was a telecommunications company? Don't you have 24hour field support for your telephone and other services?"
Manager: "We do, but it's only for telephone service"
Me: "Oh GREAT (sarcasm)... So what you are telling me is that I've waited a week and I'm going to have to wait 3 more days before I can talk to you guys again? Then I'm gong to have to wait 5 more days to get the service?"
Manager: "Unfortunately we can't get a hold of a field tech rep until Monday."
Me: "Please understand I've waited 5 days for your service and today you are telling me that MIGHT have to wait another 7 days. I understand mistakes do happen. Would you be able to credit my account for all this trouble?"
Manager: "I can't do that, but I could waive the $30 install fee."
Me: "Thanks. I think that would be fair."
Manager: "Ok, I'll do that right away."
Me: "Thanks! I'll be calling again on Monday."

Today (Monday)
I call Northwestel and explain to the CSR what happened last Friday evening. The CSR tells me that someone actually came by my neighborhood on Saturday. The CSR then tells me that the manager on Friday emailed some tech department and they were actually able to go out the next day to fix it. We weren't informed this because the CSR department weren't open on the weekend. We'll see how my internet service is when I get home tonight.

I know our internet service got delayed another couple days but at least they tried to solve it asap, and was willing to give me a small credit. I'm happy that Northwestel tried to fix this problem sooner than later. Thanks!