Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: phil@goldhill.com Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Customer Support From Nynex Message-ID: Date: 18 Sep 89 20:21:06 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 49 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 386, message 6 of 10 After wading through the seemingly endless mail about how good/bad ATT was with respect to Sprint or MCI I thought I'd send along a story about what happened to me today when dealing with Nynex. I'm about to move and dreaded my call to Nynex to disconnect my service and then transfer the number (I'm moving within the same town and area code - in fact this number has now survived four moves) to my new residence. I did have to wait awhile but not that long (5 minutes) and then put the request through. I had been hearing horror stories about 1 month backlogs (what with the strike and that fact that 200,000+ students have just moved to Boston) and was very happy to discover that they would do the change within 5 days. The representative then went over my basic charges which was Metro service, touch tone, and call waiting. I said that we didn't want call waiting and we were all set. I then talked to my wife so that we could remove one more item from our endless list of moving to do's and she said that we never had call waiting and had, for example, gotten a busy signal trying to call me the previous week. I called Nynex business office back (waited for 5 minutes again) and asked if we were indeed being charged for call waiting. We had in fact been being charged for call waiting (Nynex doesn't itemize the monthly charges to you can't tell by looking at the bill). I explained that it didn't work and never wanted it in the first place. I was put on hold for about 30 seconds and then was told that my next bill would be credited for 18 months of call waiting - a credit of $48. Needless to say I was very happy. If ever given an option for local carrier I would never change, just as I've never changed my long distance from AT&T. Now I don't know what's going on with negotiations with the strikers and as an aside I agree with their position (from what I've read of it in the local papers) but I'd be worried if I were them. I've never had to wait for more than 20 or 30 seconds to get directory assistance in the past 6 weeks and when I've called the business office I been treated very well. Comparing the service from Nynex against tech/customer support from the biggest (and smallest) computer software and hardware companies that I've dealt with over the past few years doesn't even make sense. Nynex wins hands down - even with half of their staff not at work. Phil Stanhope Manager of Software Engineering Gold Hill Computers, Inc. Cambridge, MA. 02139 phil@goldhill.com