Should I Laugh or Cry?

What do you do when the people who are supposed to be helping you make a situation worse? Not knowing what else to do, I resorted to writing this letter out of frustration.

July 27, 2019

To Whom It May Concern:

I can’t begin to express my frustration adequately for the ineptitude and outright dishonesty that we have dealt with over the past two weeks.  When I decided to write a letter (something I rarely do) to express my anger, I couldn’t even find a place to send it.  All companies have to have some way of contacting them to express a complaint or concern, but this has been extremely challenging.  Today I’ve searched online, called several phone numbers, and tried “live” chat.  (This feature wasn’t live as it just gave automated prompts.)  Even the people I spoke with on the phone could not find an HR department for me to send this letter.  I’m bringing it to my local provider in the hopes that this will eventually find its way to the correct party.  I do want to state that all of our issues were finally resolved today by the first competent and helpful technician that we encountered. His name was Brian L. (Eureka, California) and he deserves full credit for leading us out of this nightmare which we should never have had to experience.

Historically, we have had quite a few issues with loss of services, (primarily television, but also phone and Internet) with Suddenlink.  It happens so frequently that we’ve gotten quite used to calling the number.  90% of the time, the problem can’t be solved remotely, and we end up having a technician come out to our home.  In some cases, this can take more than a week.  This situation seems ridiculous when it comes to being without cable, phone, or Internet service for that length of time, but sometimes that is the only answer we get.

The latest fiasco was so awful that I have fully documented it so that you can see how horrible and unprofessional this entire experience was:

1. We lost phone service sometime during the week of July 15^th.  We called the Suddenlink number, went through the guided prompts, and were unable to resolve the matter.  An appointment was set up for July 21^st (Sunday) between the hours of 8:00-12:00 to resolve our phone issue.  No one showed up, and we did not receive a phone call.
2. The following day, July 22^nd (Monday), we called Suddenlink again and were told that our technician would be coming out to help us that day between the hours of 1:00-5:00.  We would not have known this without our call because no one had bothered to contact us.

We learned upon the agent’s arrival that he was acting as a subcontractor for Suddenlink.  My wife noted that he had a Minnesota license plate on his vehicle, and she asked him about that.  The gentleman said that he had come out to California along with ten other people to work for Suddenlink.  Unprompted, he began badmouthing Suddenlink for not keeping their promises to him.  He went on to say that it didn’t matter if he helped three or six customers a day; he would receive the same pay either way.  He was angry about this.  It was completely unprofessional on his part to tell my wife about any of this.  He added that he was going to be quitting at the end of the month and going back to Minnesota.  None of this pertained to us; we only wanted our phone service restored.  He worked on the phone, but he was unable to solve the problem.  He called one of his supervisors who also came out to the house to assist him.  The two gentlemen felt that our home alarm system had somehow disrupted our phone service.  They were able to restore our phone service, but they indicated that there might be a short in the alarm system, which was causing the phone problem.  They recommended that we contact the alarm company to have them come out to check the alarm.

Two minutes after they left, I tried to utilize my computer and realized that the Internet was no longer working.  We called Suddenlink (there is no local number to call) because we were hoping to have the men come back to remedy this problem. They had created this situation by not hooking the line back up correctly.  The person we spoke to over the phone tried to correct the problem remotely (impossible, since we later learned that the subcontractor had caused the issue.) Rather than having the technicians come back then, we learned that the soonest someone could come out to help us would be Friday, July 26^th. That was a full five days later!  Coincidentally, this was the same time that we had scheduled the alarm company to come out.  We were upset that we would have to wait five more days to have the Internet, but at least both parties would be here to resolve the matter.

I was traveling on July 26^th, and my wife waited for both parties to show up.  The alarm company’s representative showed up right on time and checked the system.  He indicated there was nothing wrong with the alarm (no short as the Suddenlink employees had deduced).  We had to pay an unnecessary service charge to have them come out.  (My wife thinks it was $70 or $75, but we’ll find out when we get the bill.)  For the second time, no Sudden Link technician showed up or called to indicate he was delayed or not coming.  At this point, we had no Internet since July 21^st, and our phone service had been intermittent.

After the allotted time had passed, my wife called Suddenlink again to see where the technician was.  The agent on the phone said that the service call was still pending and didn’t know where he was.  Even more frustrating, our television service had now quit working.  In summary, we went from having just a phone issue to not having any of our services five days later.  No service after the “help” that we received. My wife called Suddenlink again to set up another appointment for Saturday, July 27^th, and we learned the agent would come between the hours of 1:00-5:00.

My wife was understandably upset with all of the delays and decided to go directly to the local Suddenlink office in Eureka to find out what was going on.  The person in the office on Friday (July 26^th) was new and said that the technician should have come out.  My wife asked to speak to his supervisor to get more clarification about what was going on.  The supervisor would not address my wife directly but talked to his employee who relayed the notes from the technician.  We learned that this was the same person who came out to our house once and failed to show up twice.  The technician’s notes included two outright lies.  He indicated that he had come to our house to provide service, knocked on our door, but nobody answered (Lie #1).  He further stated that he had called our number to let us know that he had attempted to provide service (Lie #2).  Our phone was not working at all on the 26^th, but when service finally resumed on the 27^th, there was no indication of any message left.  My wife also checked her cellphone, and there was no sign of any phone call from him.

At this point, we had invested at least 15 hours on the phone or waiting for a technician who failed to show up twice.  We started with a phone issue and nearly two weeks later with the subcontractor’s “help,” we had no phone, cable, or Internet.  Also, we are going to be billed $70 or $75 from the alarm company (Advanced Security) when we called them out based on your technician’s (the subcontractor) diagnosis.

Finally, a local Suddenlink technician, Brian L., arrived on July 27^th (Saturday) and addressed all of our problems (phone, cable, and Internet) in a fast and courteous manner.  He indicated that the subcontractor had failed to hook up our Internet correctly, which was why it wasn’t working. I’m not sure why the subcontractor had to deal with this in the first place regarding a phone issue, but you guys are supposed to be the experts.  These issues added a lot of unnecessary stress on us; we haven’t been receiving services we’re paying for.  It is particularly aggravating to learn that your representatives caused the bulk of the problems instead of remedying them.  We sincerely appreciated Brian’s professionalism and expertise and wished we had him the first time we encountered an issue.

At the very least, I feel that we are owed a massive apology from Suddenlink along with payment ($70 or $75) for our unnecessary service call to the alarm company.  This whole experience has been very inconvenient and frustrating.  I don’t think it’s too much to expect competent help when we encounter problems. 

I look forward to reading your response to my complaint.

Sincerely,

Pete Springer 

Added Note (Not Included in Letter)

The technician who came to the rescue (Brian L.) had somewhat of a familiar face.  After he fixed everything, in under an hour, I asked him if he went to school locally.  He stated that he graduated from Arcata High (my alma mater, coincidentally).  I told him that I taught thirty-one years in elementary school in nearby Eureka.  He asked me where I was a teacher, and suddenly we remembered one another.  I taught him for part of his second-grade year, as he transferred during the school year.  We got a kick out of our reunion, and I shook his hand vigorously and thanked him again for helping us out.  He had the funniest reaction.  He said, “I just want to apologize for the person I was in those days.” There was nothing to apologize for.  He was a typical second-grade boy, full of energy and excited to learn. 

Because I live in the same city I taught in, I have had this situation happen many times over the years.  Typically, I recognize my former students (who are now adults), and this wonderful feeling never gets old.  I know my retired colleagues will agree that these encounters are one of the delayed rewards of teaching.