Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!coplex!dean
From: dean@coplex.uucp (Dean Brooks)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: service problem with uunet? cancel your acct, see what happens!
Keywords: uunet uucp internet dns pathalias usenix psi
Message-ID: <1991Mar27.064616.1842@coplex.uucp>
Date: 27 Mar 91 06:46:16 GMT
References: <3625@dagobah.UUCP>
Organization: Copper Electronics, Inc.
Lines: 52

mis@Seiden.com (Mark Seiden) writes:

>my opinion is that now that adams has managed to get usenix to
>bankroll him into a nice profit-making business he doesn't want to be
>bothered with little things like real customer concerns, and just
>wants us little guys to leave him alone to run "his" business so he
>can go for the *real* money, the commercialization of the internet...
>i think it's inappropriate that he be on the board of usenix -- i
>suggest he resign, which will give him more time to pursue his
>concerns without creating the appearance of conflict of interest.

    This may be a bit harsh, as the administration of a site
with over 2,000 connections is a staggering thought.  In addition,
I am sure that everyone at UUNET would love to see perfect service
available 100% of the time for their customers.  Obviously, if
the management at UUNET had the above opinions, UUNET would be
doomed for failure.

    UUNET is making good efforts to improve their service (i.e. the
recent upgrade to 486 based processors), and the results are
significant; transfer rates did indeed go up to around 1100 to 1200cps
in the last week or so.

   The quality of the news and mail passing through them is EXCELLENT. 
However, from a management point of view, they have one big problem
that they will HAVE to solve (and soon), before everyone deserts them.
The problem they are having is with customer relations.  Recently,
there was a major problem with the news batching at their site.  I
never received ANY word about it, and when I placed a call I
got a "Hmmm... Thats odd.  We will take care of it immediately.".
Anyway, I called twice a day for three days with no luck in
getting the problem solved.  Finally, everything started working again.

   Its not the fact the news was delayed; its the fact that no one
would connect me to someone who KNEW what the problem was.  No one
sent me email about the problem to acknowledge its correction.

   Anyway, I am not dissatisfied with UUNET; I just wish that when
a problem comes up, that I could actually have someone, ANYONE,
tell me that they know of the problem and give me updates about
its correction.

   This would only take a small bit of time for UUNET to correct,
and would solve almost everyones problems with UUNET.  Dead silence
is far worse than excessive email notifications about a service
problem.  

--
dean@coplex.UUCP   Dean A. Brooks
                   Copper Electronics, Inc.
                   Louisville, Ky
UUCP: !uunet!coplex!dean