I was really excited to get Sonic and I was very happy it was available in my area (Willow Glen/San Jose). I recently moved into a new place, and when I left my old apartment I ended my contract with Comcast, looking forward to never having to deal with them again. I had heard good things about Sonic, how great their customer service is, and I wanted to give the underdog a try. I moved into my new apartment on August 2, signed up for Sonic on August 15, and then received notice on 8/19 that my installation window would be Thurs 8/31 from 9-11. Like most of us, I work full time and would not be available to be home on a Thursday morning, and asked for the window to be changed to Friday 9/1, 1pm-3pm, saying that I would just leave early that day before the holiday weekend. On Friday, I rushed home from work to be at home on time. I moved all the necessary furniture away from my walls so that the techs would be able to have access to the necessary jacks/ports. I do not actually have a telephone jack in my apartment, so I called Sonic shortly after 1pm to ask if this was okay. The customer service rep said the technician would assess the situation upon arrival. I asked, "Can you tell the tech before he comes out so that I don't waste his time." The CS rep told me, "We cannot get in touch with the technicians once they've been dispatched." I said, "Well, that seems silly." I thought it was very bizarre that the company was not able to communicate with the technicians out doing installations. So basically I gained no information from that phone call, but I did not think much of it because I was still waiting for the tech to come to give me a better idea of what needed to be done.
I waited. At around 3:15, shortly after my installation window ended, I decided to call again to see if I could get an update. I asked the CS rep if I could get an update. He put me on hold. He came back and said, "We couldn't get an update of where they are, but why don't we reschedule you just in case they don't come today. They will probably show up in 10 minutes, but if they don't, you will at least have a back up already." I emphasized that I would much rather they come today, because I had already made the time for it, sacrificed money I could be making, and made myself available for it. The CS rep agreed, and advised me to reschedule the appointment anyway just to have something else on the books. I did not get any impression that it would affect my currently scheduled appointment. I was still hoping that the techs would show up any minute.
I ended the phone call and continued to wait. AT 4:17 I got a series of texts from Sonic saying that my appointment had been rescheduled, and when I had rescheduled my appointment, my current appointment for today had been canceled. I was and am very upset. I did not ask for my current appointment of 9/1 to be canceled. The person via text also told me, "I apologize for the confusion. I just confirmed with AT&T that they will not be sending tech out today." I do NOT understand why they were so easily able to talk to AT&T about the cancelation of my appointment when earlier in the day they told me they couldn't get in touch with the technicians to provide me an update! It made no sense and truly wasted my time. I work two jobs. I turned down a shift that day because I wanted to be available for the appointment window - so that was money I could have been making. I said as much to the person I was texting with, and they responded, "I apologize for the confusion, AT&T does not have a way to have two installation windows at once. After we scheduled the window for September 25th between 9am and 11am they no longer had you on their calendar for today." (By the way, I had chosen 9/25 as my install date because it is the ONLY time in the month of September that I am able to be at home during the day again...another testament to how inconveniencing this whole SNAFU was).
I was very disappointed. After learning that they were no longer coming out on 9/1 to do the install, I called sales to cancel my service entirely. The CS rep was apologetic and made the process smooth enough, but I decided to terminate service because I just did not want to have to have to suffer the consequences of this poor business model again. The CS rep on the phone offered my a free month free in order to get me to stay, but honestly, that is not enough to compensate me for the afternoon of my life that I can never get back, not to mention all the time spent on the phone dealing with this. I said no to her offer. Just because there are so few ISPs that there seems to be a monopoly, I will NOT have my hand be forced into accepting bad service just because "I need the service and there is no other choice". I still have a choice.
I wanted to love this company so badly! Sonic had been so good at sending me texts about my appointments, it seems like a major design flaw that people cannot get the same courtesy with updates regarding when the technicians are on their way. If a company really wants to be better than other ISPs, then they need to do away with the endless and anxiogenic waiting during appointment windows. That - and communicate with your techs in the field! Seems like a no brainer to me. If you're trying to be better and different, why not provide DoorDash-like updates to help manage your customers' expectations? It's the new normal now and if a company wants to get ahead, they should not be espousing an "well this is how it's always been done attitude", which is clearly what was displayed during my experience yesterday.
I waited. At around 3:15, shortly after my installation window ended, I decided to call again to see if I could get an update. I asked the CS rep if I could get an update. He put me on hold. He came back and said, "We couldn't get an update of where they are, but why don't we reschedule you just in case they don't come today. They will probably show up in 10 minutes, but if they don't, you will at least have a back up already." I emphasized that I would much rather they come today, because I had already made the time for it, sacrificed money I could be making, and made myself available for it. The CS rep agreed, and advised me to reschedule the appointment anyway just to have something else on the books. I did not get any impression that it would affect my currently scheduled appointment. I was still hoping that the techs would show up any minute.
I ended the phone call and continued to wait. AT 4:17 I got a series of texts from Sonic saying that my appointment had been rescheduled, and when I had rescheduled my appointment, my current appointment for today had been canceled. I was and am very upset. I did not ask for my current appointment of 9/1 to be canceled. The person via text also told me, "I apologize for the confusion. I just confirmed with AT&T that they will not be sending tech out today." I do NOT understand why they were so easily able to talk to AT&T about the cancelation of my appointment when earlier in the day they told me they couldn't get in touch with the technicians to provide me an update! It made no sense and truly wasted my time. I work two jobs. I turned down a shift that day because I wanted to be available for the appointment window - so that was money I could have been making. I said as much to the person I was texting with, and they responded, "I apologize for the confusion, AT&T does not have a way to have two installation windows at once. After we scheduled the window for September 25th between 9am and 11am they no longer had you on their calendar for today." (By the way, I had chosen 9/25 as my install date because it is the ONLY time in the month of September that I am able to be at home during the day again...another testament to how inconveniencing this whole SNAFU was).
I was very disappointed. After learning that they were no longer coming out on 9/1 to do the install, I called sales to cancel my service entirely. The CS rep was apologetic and made the process smooth enough, but I decided to terminate service because I just did not want to have to have to suffer the consequences of this poor business model again. The CS rep on the phone offered my a free month free in order to get me to stay, but honestly, that is not enough to compensate me for the afternoon of my life that I can never get back, not to mention all the time spent on the phone dealing with this. I said no to her offer. Just because there are so few ISPs that there seems to be a monopoly, I will NOT have my hand be forced into accepting bad service just because "I need the service and there is no other choice". I still have a choice.
I wanted to love this company so badly! Sonic had been so good at sending me texts about my appointments, it seems like a major design flaw that people cannot get the same courtesy with updates regarding when the technicians are on their way. If a company really wants to be better than other ISPs, then they need to do away with the endless and anxiogenic waiting during appointment windows. That - and communicate with your techs in the field! Seems like a no brainer to me. If you're trying to be better and different, why not provide DoorDash-like updates to help manage your customers' expectations? It's the new normal now and if a company wants to get ahead, they should not be espousing an "well this is how it's always been done attitude", which is clearly what was displayed during my experience yesterday.
