Foxtel – Another Bunch Of Fools
During our move we cancelled Foxtel. At the time we were informed that a courier would be sent to our new address to collect the equipment. However, they failed to attend. A call back was placed and a new courier was to be sent. However, today I received a letter basically demanding the decoder and related paraphenalia to be mailed back. An option that was not allowed in the first instance. Further the letter appears to be back dated and gives us 10 days else they will slug us for rental.
Also within the letter is a contact number advising that an ìEntertainment Consultantî (code for call centre operator) will be happy to assist. Upon ringing this number there is no ability to actually get through to them as they are performing a systems upgrade. Thus I decided to use an online form to contact a customer advocate and got the same message. Now having gone through the dramas with my web host I am not in the mood to chase down another company that offers no way to contact them in times of trouble or queries.
I am severely pissed off and have demanded an apology and a courier to be sent as per the original agreement. It is simply not good enough that a company the size of Foxtel can choose to make themselves uncontactable. It is the height of arrogance and would lead to clients leaving their service if they had an option.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
When we swapped our ordinary Foxtel box for a Foxtel IQ we just had to take our old box to a post office. The IQ was delivered by courier but the promised 3 weeks took more like 5. Why it could even take 3 weeks amazes me.
Optus offer the same channels as Foxtel now. I have always found their customer service better than Telstra.
Sueblimely’s last blog post..To The Coven
February 17th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
We had nothing but troubles when we disconnected Austar. Same deal, send through the post, but they kept charging us for another month.
But then I discovered the wonder of blogs and I am lucky if I see the news, LOL.
So did you get an apology? *gaffaw* yeah right.
Kelley’s last blog post..I have lead a sheltered life.
February 18th, 2008 at 8:44 am
I am not surprised that you find that Sue. It is unfortunately the only alternative in metro areas.
What gives me the irritations over this is that firstly we were told one thing which was that we could not mail the unit back and that a courier would be arranged. When Foxtel, and its courier, failed to deliver the required service we are expected to jump through hoops for them with a completely new set of rules.
On top of that the organisation has due to an internal system upgrade effectively elected to not communicate with potential or existing clients whilst some backend software, that the client base don’t care about, is updated. An outage of many days. To me that is the absolute pinnacle of arrogance.
Surely they could have kept the call centre functional for queries of the nature of mine. All that would be needed is pencil, paper, and the ability to call the relevant party. Instead they decided to screw their clients and become uncontactable. Purely poor form.
I am still waiting a response due to their system upgrade.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:09 am
As an update I got an apology for failing to turn up and also for being uncontactable. A courier has also been rebooked. I am amazed and at the same time impressed that my complaint has been actioned.
The proof though will be in the pudding on this coming Thursday around 11am. If the courier has not picked the unit up by then I will be once again contacting Foxtel.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:22 pm
OK the proof is that Foxtel are cretins and could not organise the proverbial root in a brothel. The courier once again failed to present themselves, nor have the decency to call and advise that they were not coming. We even gave them an extra 75 minutes to come before contacting Foxtel.
Upon calling Foxtel again I was given the “we recently upgraded” sob story, this time on an IVR call. The speech was along the lines of we have upgraded our systems and there are bugs, please hang up if your call is not an emergency. My call was not an emergency, but I decided to ignore the sob story as to be frank I do not give two knobs of goat manure about their systems upgrade, I simply want to be free of their clutches. So I decided to wait on hold.
After about 15 minutes an operator answered. A charming female greeted me and was very apologetic. In fact when she heard the courier had once again failed to show her words were “pathetic”. Could not agree more.
I chatted to her for another 5 minutes and tried to book yet another courier. This time the “new” system flashed up that the area I now live in is not serviced by their courier. I was placed on hold whilst she chatted to her supervisor. Once back on the phone I was told the best option is to send the goods back via Australia Post.
Ugh, back to the situation that sparked off this blog thread. I am now awaiting a call back from the gentleman that is in the customer advocacy office that I spoke to a few days ago. I really want an explanation as to why we have now had a courier arranged three times and only when is was attempted for the fourth time the issue of the couriers lack of service to the area was exposed. I would also like to know why we were not contacted and advised that the arranged courier did not call and advise that they would not be attending.
As for returning the equipment I expect that we will go down the Australia Post path simply to remove this diabolical organisation from our lives. It is a pain in the backside, but we are simply over trying to drive this mob to keep their original word.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:32 pm
[...] should be up and running within days. Just hope their courier services the new area (refer to the Foxtel – Another Bunch of Fools post for [...]
February 21st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Still awaiting the customer advocacy centre to call.
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