You Don't Have To Read It

Just know that it took me writing this testy email to get some service around here. Don't be surprised how long the email is. That's just the way I roll. (Jen)
But, yes, we are FINALLY up and running but I want to point out that the service has been down twice since I have tried to publish this post. Are they kidding? I have a list a mile long of things I have to blog about to catch up on and this is going to hold me back....I'll do my best to type fast in between downtime so watch out.

This was sent to my "Master Association" (HOA) and the customer service people at Broadweave central.


-I am writing to comment on the inept, inconvenient and unprofessional service we have received from Broadweave.

Moving from a community without choices for Internet service, we are familiar with group packages, obscure and remote communities and no competetitive motivation. Despite all of this, we still received prompt, professional service for a very reasonable price and with a pretty fast connection from our last Internet provider. My husband and I both spend a lot of our time on the computer for personal and for business and need this access to be daily and reliable.

We called Broadweave on Monday June 9th, after having moved in Sat June 7th. We were told that we needed to fax in an application to request that our "fibers get pulled." We sent in the application the following day and were told someone would call us after they had checked our fibers and then it would be 5-7 days after that that someone would hook up our connection.

After not having received a phone call by the next Monday, my husband called the office again and were then told that a technician was behind on his schedule but had been out to our home. This technician said that our box had been covered over and that it needed to be uncovered. I asked whose responsibility it was to uncover it and they said it was the contractor or owner's or whomever "buried it."

I thought that was strange, seeing how we were renting and the previous renters had already had Internet access, but I still figured we could easily uncover it. I personally checked the box the next day and it was blatantly uncovered and available right in our front yard. Either the technician who came out was incompetent or this was a ridiculous excuse for not getting it done and having us wait so long.

I called the office on Wed 6/18 and talked with Greg
and told him that the box was completely uncovered and could not be mistaken for being covered. He very nicely said he would be out within the next day or two to check it. Not to give us access but to check to see if we had a box. This was what the other technician was supposed to have already done. How could we not have a box in this "master-planned" community that had renters before us?

Two days later, I received a call from Greg saying that he had been out to our home and we did indeed have a box that was ready to have our fibers pulled. It seems that this could have easily been done days before when the other technician supposedly made us wait days to come check it before. They really had to send two separate people out to see if we had a box ready?

I talked with him today 6/25 (16 days after our initial call) and he said the technicians had been on a vacation and would be out to pull our fibers "hopefully" by the end of the week but were very behind from their vacation. Then, as soon as they came out, they would call him and as soon as he hears from them, he will add me to the list and when he can "get to it," he will create our account and THEN we can plug in our cables to receive our Internet access.

????
I hope that you can understand how frustrated and disappointed I am with this "master-planned" community that has chosen Broadweave as their only provider. I can only assume it is because of the lack of competition that this company does not seem to care about promptness, competency, or high-quality service. Or maybe its because of their overworked technicians and long lists that they cannot get to me or give me the kind of service I would expect from other companies who care about my patronage. It seems Broadweave doesn't have to worry about making my internet service a priority because I have no other options. They will get my money eventually and don't have to worry about me leaving to go with another more professional and prompt provider.

I think it is also another blow that I not only have to have their Internet access but that I have to pay for a phone line that I don't need and that together I will be paying 3 times more than what I was paying before.

I understand that it is a new area and that a lot of other companies won't "come out here" to offer us service, but we were in the exact same situation in our previous home and it barely took them three days to hook us up with Internet. I don't understand how it can be so different.

We have been waiting way too long to receive access and would never choose Broadweave again, if we had the choice. I have even been told by neighbors that the server is often down and they have had repeated interrupted service over the past year or two. This shouldn't be acceptable to a community that boasts such high-quality!

Not sure anyone can do anything about this (or so it seems because of "group packages" and "long lists" and "other priorities" and "pulling fibers" that takes two weeks) but I just wanted the HOA to know that this has not been a pleasant experience for us and we would not have put up with it if we had had any other option. It's too bad that the service couldn't reflect the beautiful homes and area that we worked so hard and have paid a lot of money to be a part of.