FTTN Install Customer Service Questions

[NewCust]

I'm still trying to get my FTTN install done, and I had a few questions regarding Sonic.net Customer Service:

• 1. Why can't I communicate with the provisioning group via email/tickets?
  • I understand that they're only open during business hours. However, I'm at work during business hours. That makes it difficult for me to find time to either wait on hold 45+ minutes (as I just heard) or wait by the phone for some undetermined amount until support calls back. At which point I still have to wait for support to talk to provisioning and then get back to me.
    • A couple times now, I've called well before 5pm, but all the wait times add up and I get the support person telling me "Sorry, they're closed for the day".
  • The things I want to communicate to them are simple enough for email/tickets. "I want to reschedule my install appointment to sometime in this time frame"
  • I tried going through the support ticket and the ticket was closed with "Call the support number to talk to provisioning"

• 2. It would be nice if the FTTN installation included a customer-facing ticket. A lot of the time, I'm sitting waiting for something to happen, without knowing if Sonic is doing something or if it got dropped. (Suggestion more than question, but oh well)
  • I was told by the ATT tech I needed a new install date scheduled. A week went by with no contact from Sonic. I finally called support, but (surprise) the provisioning department was closed after the support guy was on hold for over half an hour with them. Amazingly enough, I then got an email over the weekend (I thought they were closed on Sat/Sun??) with a new install date.
  • Having a ticket I can check to see the status (and that it hasn't been dropped) would simplify things

• 3. Is the "Request a call" button actually a call, or an SMS message?
  • The button on the support page says request a call, but then when I click, it tells me to enter a mobile phone number for a text.
  • Great that Sonic is trying new customer support avenues, but if I want a call, I want a call, not a text. Make them separate options.

• 4. What happened to the chart showing the current support hold #s and wait times?
  • At one point, I got a nice graph showing that days (ongoing) history of call #s or wait times. It also told me the # of callers at that moment and the expected wait time. I can't find that link anymore. It would be nice to be able to check that before finding a place to call and waiting a few minutes to discover hold times are ~45 minutes
  • I found http://sonic.net/support/cba in the forums, but it says 0 on hold, 0 minute wait, with no graph. It's also not the same link that the button on the support page goes to.

If I'm lucky, my FTTN install will now be complete 5-6 weeks after order..

[pockyken007]

hm... interesting , every time I call sonic for anything and request a callback they usually call within 45 minutes to an hour ... when I switched to FTTN I received plenty of easy to understand emails with descriptions of what is being done and when should I have tech visit and my service up and running so I am not sure what you mean that they could communicate better ( maybe your experience varies from mine ??? ) . Said that Sonic is still trying to streamline this process and it might not be perfect but they are working out the kinks as they go

[miken]

Hi! Sorry to hear about the issues you've had so far with getting your installation set up.

1. The reason we do not have a way for end users to communicate with the provisioning group directly is because technically speaking, our end users are not AT&T customers with this service. Sonic is the AT&T customer and therefore must call to make any changes or to receive any information. Although in some particular cases this creates some undue hassle, most of the time it allows us to provide our quality customer service and accomplish things for our users that an individual AT&T customer could not.

2. We do have systems in place to keep you updated on install dates and changes, but these require confirmation from AT&T to send out automatically, which is not always updated on their end in a timely manner.

3. The 'Request a Call' button generates a callback in our system similar to you having called in and entered your phone number for our callback. The button on the website was bringing users to 'Request a Text' window erroneously for a few days. We have since found this out and fixed the problem.

4. That graph was removed (near the beginning of the year if I recall) because there was an overwhelming opinion that seeing prior hold times throughout the day wasn't of much interest or use to our users. You can still see hold times via the http://sonic.net/support/cba, however sometimes that display can bug out. The new https://sonic.com/support_cba_request is still having all the details ironed out, so it's possible we will add a hold time display onto that.

That all being said, we are always looking at improving our process and genuinely appreciate the feedback. I will forward all of your suggestions up the ladder and see what can be done. If you are still needing to re-schedule your installation, feel free to PM me your username as well as a good number and time to reach you so that I can personally follow up with you. Thanks for the patience!

[NewCust]

I've had varying experiences with calling support. Sometimes I get a technician immediately. Sometimes it's been a long wait. The key is that I'd like to know how long I'm going to be waiting for. Whether I'm actually on hold or just waiting for a call back. I don't see any way to find out ahead of time if it'll be a short wait or long wait.

Both times I've called today, I had to wait on the line for 3+ minutes before I heard how many callers were ahead of me and what the wait time was. The first time was an estimated 45 minutes. I didn't have 45 minutes, so that ended up being a completely wasted call. The second time, I'm not sure whether it said "thirteen" or "thirty". So now I'm stuck on hold hoping it's the former. If it's the latter, the provisioning group will yet again be closed by the time I get anyone.

If the web stats were available again, I could know whether it's useful or not to be sitting on hold right now.

For the FTTN install, I think it's pretty clear my install is not normal. At least I hope it is, for all the other Sonic customers-to-be out there. In any case, I already explained: I was told by the ATT tech that I needed a new install date. Almost a week went by with no info from Sonic. If I could have just logged in to see the ticket "Sent back to Provisioning to schedule another install", I would have been fine.

I understand that no process is perfect. Part of this thread is to provide feedback to help improve the process.

Ahh, good. It was "thirteen" after all.

[NewCust]

Hi Mike,

1. That's fine, but there could still be a way to have communications go through tickets/email, even if it uses Sonic Customer Support as the intermediary. When I call in, then the Sonic support person that answers is the intermediary in an immediate, voice channel. The process can be the same by replacing the call/voice with email/tickets. When I tried this earlier, the ticket was closed with "please call us".

2. I see. In that case though, a ticket status could at least say "Waiting for Installation Appointment results from ATT". Or something to let me know that I haven't dropped through the cracks.

3. OK

4. Weird. I remember seeing the graph sometime in October. I agree the graph is of relatively little use, but I like graphs. The "/support/cba" hold time display is apparently bugging out right now then. It still shows 0/0. The "/support_cba_request" does appear to have some data (11 on hold, 9 min wait), so that's good. And it's interesting that it shows this now, as it wasn't visible earlier today or the past few days (weeks?).

Other than providing less information than I'd like to see, the install has been going just fine given the (unforeseeable) physical circumstances. The ATT techs were very helpful (up until the end when they didn't properly hook my DSL back up) and the delays/problems are due to ATT wires that are scheduled to be fixed. I just got off the phone with support and I have a new install date, so we'll see how it goes from there.

Thanks!

[NewCust]

I just saw Dane mention that a customer service call costs around $7-8. Perhaps Sonic could save some support costs by improving the communications and relationship with AT&T so that frustrated customers don't have to keep calling Sonic.

[blackmage]

Communication is a two way street. Sonic can try all they want to improve communication with ATT to give their customers a better experience; however if AT&T doesn't reciprocate (and if they don't for their customers, why would they for Sonic's?) then that will never happen.

That being said, I can't wait for Fiber Optics. Then we don't have to deal with rented lines from ATT.

[NewCust]

As others have said, Sonic needs to learn how to properly manage this relationship to the benefit of all..

As an example, my boss is higher in the org chart than me. That doesn't mean I can't manage him as needed in our interactions..

[pockyken007]

As others have said, Sonic needs to learn how to properly manage this relationship to the benefit of all..

As an example, my boss is higher in the org chart than me. That doesn't mean I can't manage him as needed in our interactions..

you can't managed somebody who doesn't want to be managed ... and like blackmage said communication is a two way street sonic imo has a great customer support but ATT not so much ( although they are getting better at it ) . Said that sonic is doing everything in their power to make customer experience as fast as possible sometimes the bottleneck is the " dark side "

[Guest]

Communication is a two way street. Sonic can try all they want to improve communication with ATT to give their customers a better experience; however if AT&T doesn't reciprocate (and if they don't for their customers, why would they for Sonic's?) then that will never happen.

This is not the problem. Sonic could do better. If sonic is waiting to hear back from AT&T, then let the customer know this! A customer should be able to log into their account and see the current status of an open install/ticket.

I could imagine the status of an open install ticket would look something like:

Update 1: Customer initiates request for FTTP install.
Update 2: Sonic is unable to determine if location is available for FTTP automatically. Awaiting response from AT&T. Expected time: 1-2 days.
Update 3: Received response from AT&T. Location is available for FTTP. Customer notified.
Update 4: Sonic submits install request to AT&T. Awaiting response. Expected time: 2-4 weeks.
Update 5: AT&T responds back with install date. Customer notified of install date.
Update 6: AT&T install attempted. Technician determined new install date needs to be scheduled. Awaiting response from AT&T. Expected time: 3-7 days.
Update 7: AT&T responds back with new install date. Customer notified of install date.
Update 8: Install completed. Transfer of existing phone number is scheduled and should occur in next 24 hours.
Update 9: Phone number transfer complete. Customer notified to power cycle VOIP device for changes to take place.