Is every Smart Bro subscriber having problems with yet again another Smart Bro Connection catastrophe or is it just me? Am I being hand picked to sample first hand Smart Bro Downtime?
I had a major major problem with Smart Bro some months ago and I was aching to just rant about it but, it got overtaken by errands, tasks and life! So I forgot about it eventually, well now I have enough reason and lots of steam to have me huffing and puffing.
But before I talk about my smart bro connection and what happened before, the connection has been so slow, I could not get any work done. Well actually I did get some work done, a task that I could have finished in 30 minutes took me a good four hours because of the lousy connection. The perils of having a business online, when your connection to it is severed, you’re flying blind.
So here is the story, I have had my Smart Bro connection for about almost a year now; yeah that long I am sure that’s what you’re thinking. But for so many months I have been plagued with a couple of problems. One, is an email problem. It first started out as my being unable to send email using Outlook. I could receive mail, sure not a problem, but sometimes I could not send. Then all of a sudden it becomes alright again. Then out of the blue it happens again, and then later on it would be alright again. You see, I would not be able to send out email unless it was alright again, and this happened every frigging day!
Second problem, my connection would die. Simple as that, I was connected but I couldn’t get any service. They’d tell me their servers were up and there were no problems, so then they point a finger at my PC and say I have the problem from my end.
Each time this “can’t email episode” occurs, or when my connection goes dead, I then phone their customer service agents; many of which are totally clueless of the sort of problems we encounter and I will tell you why later. No, wait I will tell you now.
These guys, will help you trouble shoot your problem, BUT, are not experts at it. They are not engineers, experts or at the very least uber tech savvy computer users who diagnose their home PC’s themselves. No! Except for a few good men I have spoken to, most of the Smart Bro customer service people are simply programmed robots that read from a trouble shooting manual. Its damn simple, if option A don’t work, then proceed to B, if that don’t go either, go to C, then D then if nothing helps, they’ll give you either of two chilling conclusions with an equally worrisome recommendation.
One, they’ll tell you your PC has a virus and that was causing the problem.
Yea, they’ll lay that viral crap on you when they can’t think of a solution.
Two, they’ll tell you that your LAN card is busted and it needs changing.
Ha! You love to bust my chops with that line do you?
Third, they’ll tell you that your outlook software is corrupted and you need to reinstall.
Reinstall my footsie!
Fourth, they’d say, my windows is corrupted and that I needed to reinstall!
Reinstall my sweaty fat brown arse.
Now why did I not take their recommendations seriously, in fact, why did I not follow them at all, aside from the fact they were so inconvenient and I would have to install a lot of software, programs and crap that I have on my PC, plus I would have to back up this and that… long story short, too much work, too little time over what I knew as fact is a mis diagnosis of the problem. This was proven later by one more thing, the last reason they gave me, that lead to the solution of my problem. Which I will tell you about in a bit.
But before that, how did I refute their recommendations?
To the virus, I said, my virus protection is up to date and my PC is clean. Without telling them, I consulted my programmer friends who also told me it could not be a virus.
To the LAN card being busted, simple… I took my main PC of the hook, plugged in a different PC using a different LAN card, if indeed that the LAN Card of my main PC was busted then the second PC should get a connection. Outcome? No connection, meaning its not my PC or LAN card, it was their connection.
To Outlook being corrupted, ha.. I just shrugged that off saying, “why in the hell is it then able to send later on?” From what I know about software or hardware, if its corrupted, its corrupted, it don’t work period. Just like saying if your car’s battery broke, its broke, its not going to start later on if you let it rest or something.
To windows being corrupted, well again, if its corrupted then its corrupted, it won’t work. It probably won’t even boot! But it does work, and the problems were simply, me not getting internet even if I am connected and second, sometimes I cannot send out email through outlook. I gets this error message saying the email couldn’t be sent because server was not found.
Finally, the day came when some customer service agent gave me a new diagnosis, my smart bro antenna on my roof was busted and needed replacing.
Hallelujah something new finally, I think to myself ok, maybe having it replaced will fix things. And so they send over repair guys, who are actually contractors and not internal/regular employees of Smart Bro.
The great thing about working and talking with different groups of people, who I assume are contractors providing outsourced services to Smart Bro, they don’t cover up for the other if the other boo boos.
So the repair guys come in, new antenna in hand, check out my PC and voila after a few checks with the settings… say… “there is nothing wrong with the antenna”. Ok, great news, but I say “what’s causing the problem”.
I turns out, it was Smart Bro’s system all along, sometimes the engineers manning the connections and all make some changes, don’t get it right the first time, then tweak tweak and tweak, while we subscribers suffer suffer and suffer.
The customer service people don’t know any better, because they are the other appendage on a body that they aren’t actually connected to, if you know what I am saying.
And so all it took, was Smart Bro’s supplier to come to the house and check on the settings, and say my connection is hooked in to a channel assignment or a connection or something that did not exist. I guess that explains my connection. Upon further investigation, I managed to find out that a lot of subscribers do have the same problems, especially with that email thing.
So now, can you actually then take the word of a smart bro customer service agent who tells you to do this and that, knowing that these guys are far from the mark. Picture this, you reinstalling your PC, losing a lot of files… and the clincher there would be, after reinstalling your PC you find that the problem has not been solved HAHAHA.
For someone one relies on the internet for business, it is such a bummer and maybe you’re thinking why not get another service or have a back up connection? And my snotty retort would be, why? I am paying them good money each month and I expect good service, I am not paying and subscribing to them only to pay more for an added back up provider. Besides the only other options are PLDT which is just as lousy and Globe which is just as flaky.
So in concluding the rant, the Smart Bro downtime is a drag indeed, Smart Bro has to improve its services, its connection and most of all, try to improve the kind of front liners they have, these CSA’s most of whom do a disservice than service, these first levels of contact between the company and a subscriber with a problem that needs solving.
And yes, despite what I have been through, I have NO choice but to stick with them for now; in the absence of better more viable choices. they still get my money, I still get their service, but I do get to have my rant.
cforms contact form by delicious:days
March 18th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Somehow, they don’t seem to care enough if their name gets ruin of this lousy service …