Stuart Herbert

Well, I have my MAC code from Demon, and it’s good for 30 days.  I’ve been with Demon for many years, and it’s a real shame that I need to take my business away from them, but what can you do?  I don’t believe that Demon care about my custom any more, and the final proof of that was my experience obtaining my MAC code.

When I called Demon to obtain my MAC code, I was asked about why I’m leaving.  I explained my reasons (I’ve gone from a 2mbit service to less than 512kbit service - that’s sub-broadband speed imho), and my disappointment in their technical support.  The chap on the other end of the phone expressed his sympathy; apparently I’m not the first customer to transfer his business for this reason.

But what struck me is that there was no effort to try and retain my business.

If a company cares about my custom, then I expect them to at least try to convince me to stay.  I would expect them to explore the options, just in case something can be done to make me happy once again.  (It doesn’t take all that much to make me happy; all you’ve got to do is keep my trust).

But Demon didn’t even try - although the chap I talked to was very helpful.  Like the call centre staff at BT, he seemed powerless to do anything to make a difference.

Hopefully someone will turn them around, and restore the excellent service that made them one of the very best ISPs before THUS bought them.  But until then, if you’re looking for a broadband service, I can’t recommend Demon at all.  

This is my week of unemployment, before taking up my new job with Gradwell.com.  I was hoping just to chill out and spend the week out and about with my camera, but there just hasn’t been any time for that.  I’m beginning to understand what some of my students mean when they talk about how their retirement is going!

After fun with the call centres on Monday, I dug my old bike out of the shed and headed up the Taff Trail for some much-needed exercise.  I made it all the way up to the Abercynon Feeder bridge, which is pretty good going for my first bike ride in a couple of years!  Then it was cook tea for Kristi before collapsing in a heap.

Yesterday went on my Tai Chi class prep.  I bought a Samson AirLine 77 wireless mic system a while back, so that I could record an audio lesson for my students.  Took the CDs down to the class last night, and hopefully in a couple of weeks I’ll get some good feedback to help me plan a v2. Also learned yesterday that one of my students passed away recently  More on that this evening when I update my Tai Chi blog.

This morning, and it was back to dealing with Demon and BT.  I checked with the bank, and neither organisation had provided the refunds that they had promised.  

I found this particularly amusing rant about Demon’s poor customer service, and whilst I don’t necessarily agree with his refusal to call their support line to get his MAC code, I have to say that his experiences with Demon largely mirror my own.  Now I just need to do some research and decide who to switch my broadband service to.  Sky is tempting, because it’s cheap, but I’m very happy to pay more in order to get a fixed-rate service.  I’m currently looking at the service from ukfsn.org.

BT got a letter of complaint.  I can’t remember the last time I wrote a snail-mail letter.  Anyone else unhappy with BT may find their Consumer Code of Practice to be a useful guide, especially their escalation procedure.  I’ll write more here when they respond.

As with Monday, it’s difficult to overstate the difference in contrast between Demon and BT, with their poor customer service, in the one corner, and other companies who do provide excellent customer service.  On Monday, it was Lloyds TSB showing how to do this, and today it was Hardware.com.  My brand new Cisco router has died  A quick chat with Anthony @ Hardware.com, and it was agreed that I should return it for a replacement.  Whilst it’s a shame the product turned out to be faulty, the way a company puts problems right makes a huge difference!

This afternoon, it’s get the shopping done, and then decide which dish to cook for when Kristi gets home from work.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll make it out to get some photography done!