Of course, the only possible vindication for my rude and bizarrely customer-hostile experience with Primus Canada and their TalkBroadband product would be, oh, I dunno, maybe some sort of apologetic response from Primus' Customer Service department, if not the immediate acceptance of my service request.
Hah! As if. Though I did receive automated email responses from my multiple complaints — "we have received your message and it should [huh?] be addressed, in the order in which it was received" — I have yet to actually have anything addressed at all. No calls, no emails, nuthin'.
It turns out that the happy ending to this story is that Primus' main competitor in this market, Vonage, had me up and running with a VoIP telephone service three days after my order was placed. Actually, it would have been two days had I been home to receive the equipment. I'm very pleased with the product and the Customer Support person with whom I spoke — though I really didn't have to — was helpful and exceedingly cheery.
In other Fuck-You-Primus news, it looks like one of my neighbours has had a similarly-crappy experience with Primus Canada:
102 comments
First off I would like to apologize to EVERYONE out there that has had an issue with Primus – I am currently an employee there and there are SO MANY things that i agree with on here is bad to be able to say that but i do. As someone who works there (but that actually cares and fights as hard as she can for the customers…) As for the cancellations – i do agree that there are times the lines/accounts are not cancelled properly and theh customer ends up getting additional charges – which should be reversed…. within the first year there IS a contract on the home phones and a cancellation fee if cancelled within that year – BUT we do req 30 days notice after that year and if not given theres a 30 day term fee that most ppl dont know about. For the most part we should be trying to work with the customer on each situation i think but thats not how most of the reps see it!! I try to do my best but again im only one person… I have logded my own concerns with management and nothing seems to be done about it in the long term – its not only the customers that have had issues with other reps and i say something about it EVERY time and its reported but NOTHING happens cause the samething happens again and again. As for the privacy policy – yes it is true that we can NOT speak with anyone that is NOT the account holder or an authorized user but unfortunatley i myself have had customers call in a second or third time after and not on the account at all and after speaking with another rep and getting the info that they wanted (NOT a general answer – actual account info)and when i refuse to give out any info on the account without speaking to the account holder (and i ALWAYS ask if the account holder is around) the person calling yells and gets mad because they were already given info and now i wont provide anything …. I say this because i really want ppl to understand that this is correct – NOT giving info to anyone that is NOT on the account, its for the saftey of the account holder. So please understand that if a rep does give you info and ur NOT on the account they were not supposed to give it so please do NOT get mad at the rep that is doing their job properly and protecting the account holder. As for the Modem Non Return – i myself have seen it many times that a customer is charged after not getting the label until long after it should have been sent out in the first place – know that it should be sent 4-5 business days AFTER the cancellation date (ex if the requested date of cancellation is 6/20 but is requested 30 days before you SHOULD get the label approx 6/24-6/25 business days of course) and then if we dont get the modem back within 30 days then there is supposed to be there charge for the modem – but if the label is not sent out until LONG after the cancellation date its NOT UR FALUT that the modem did not get to us within the 30 days!!!!!! I do NOT agree with not giving the credit for that…. ITS OUR FAULT NOT URS!!!!!! As for crediting an account that was NEVER activated should be a no-brainer… but i guess its confusing for some reps!!! which is stupid… we can see if the dsl has been not only activated but used!!! the bills should just be reversed!! As for refunding a credit card though – if the account is still active the credit will always go back onto the account – but if the account has been closed then unfortunatley it does take 60 days to process the refund because within that time you can have your credit card company cancel the payment which means that if we credit back the amount within that time not only did you get your original money back we have now pretty much paid you but crediting the money onto the credit card – so i know that it seems like we are not crediting it or that its crazy that it takes SO long but unfortunately thats how it has to be. Please dont get me wrong though…… this is only a FEW things that i DO NOT agree with from Primus – even though i work there. I know that sometimes the wait takes FOREVER… and then you either get soemone that doesnt speak english well or at all, or you get bounced between reps/depts, or ppl tell you that there is nothing that can be done, or seems like ppl dont care and to tell the truth there are A LOT of reps that dont care and for that im sorry. Please know that there are reps that DO care and bend over backwards to help and sometimes still hands are tied.
I am in NO WAY making excuses i just thought that i would try and shed some light …….. but again please know that there is A LOT of whats been said that is true and i totally agree with!!
I do hope that this helps
Ever had to cancel an internet service with Primus ? Our company has tried emailing, faxing, writing letters, speaking with reps (never the same one because we can’t seem to locate them again, even with full names, etc.) This has been ongoing since January 2011 and we still get monthly bills – each time we’re told – no problem “we’ll take care of it and cancel the service – we have all your documentation”. It’s now September, and our bills are mounting and we CAN’T stop our service ! We gave them 30 days notice, we gave them written notice (email, and when that wasn’ good enough, faxed notices) STILL WE GET INVOICES ! How do we stop them ! I see red every time I see a letter from them !