August 16th, 2007
SunRocket orphan to TeleBlend provisioner's CEO: I am really tired of "runaround," "incompetence"
A reader from the Chicago suburbs has just sent me a copy of a non-friendly note he sent to the CEO of USA Telephone, the company that has been handling the switch of SunRocket orphans to “preferred provider” TeleBlend.
I have to stress, these are the experiences of one reader- but I have heard some similar stories.
The reader took it upon himself to answer the note sent to these accounts earlier today by Bill Fogg, CEO of USA Telephone.
That note reads:
Greetings,
It’s been a few weeks since TeleBlend officially launched service for former SunRocket customers, and we felt it was important to not only reach out and express our appreciation to each of you for choosing TeleBlend as your broadband phone service provider, but also offer a little background on who we are and an update of some outstanding issues related to the transition for some customers that still remain.
TeleBlend is the broadband phone service offering of Unified Communications Corp. and is managed by USA Telephone, a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) that has been providing reliable local and long distance phone service since 1999. The TeleBlend and USA Telephone technical and support teams and I - are sincerely passionate about delivering a compelling broadband phone service offering to each of you.
The circumstances of SunRocket’s demise created its own set of unique challenges as customers transitioned to TeleBlend and other providers, and we have been hard at work to try and make the process as seamless as possible for customers. For some customers this process has not been as seamless as it could or should have been, and each day we are putting systems in place so that we can better communicate with customers and provide them with a real-time status of their situation. In addition to communicating directly with customers via email, customers that are currently experiencing any issue related to their service or encounter any issues in the future can check https://www.myteleblend.net/ for regular, detailed status updates.
We greatly appreciate the patience and loyalty customers have shown, and our team is committed to working with each of you to meet and exceed expectations. Please keep the feedback coming on what you like about the service and areas you would like to see improved. Customer input is not only valuable, but vital to our continued growth and success.
Best,
Bill Fogg
President and CEO, USA Telephone
The reader’s response takes on a decidely different tone:
Dear Mr. Fogg,
It’s nice that you found a way to communicate with your new customers. It’s not so nice that:
1- I have had no service since 8/6 in spite of the fact that I paid for the month of August on 7/31
2- I submitted an Email support request ticket on 8/9 Ticket ID #: 408711 (CS was not answering)
3- I spoke with a CS rep on 8/13 and was assured that I would no longer be subjected to the message
“We apologize for the inconvenience, but your service has been disconnected.“ She was right,
BUT now I can not make or receive ANY phone calls. I only get a fast busy signal. Nice !!!
4- I have attempted to call CS again with ZERO success.I am really tired of runaround about this and I feel at the very least, I deserve a response. I have told my story to some of the media in hopes they will write the TRUE story about TeleBlend incompetence.
I am shopping for a provider that can deliver the goods in an economical and RELIABLE way. You need to know that losing a customer in this way does not just lose one customer, it may lose thousands.
I for one am really OUT of patience with TeleBlend.
Sincerely,
(name withheld)
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
