Won One for the Little Guy

Jared here, This is part two in the Ethernet Saga.

Apparently I've a nack for writing emails to large corporations and getting responses rather quickly... SoI recieved the most recent DSL modem from Centurytel today and plugged it in to the old ethernet slot and of course it didn't work. Plugged it into the new ethernet card I bought and voila it worked great...so I thought I'd call Centurytel and let them know that their tech service stinks like a pile of horse manuer on a hot summers day. Well the tech service was less than interested in my saga as I tried to explain it all...they've all the notes on it and they always seem like I'm speaking greek. So I mentioned getting reimbursed for the ethernet card, and of course he gave me a phone number to call and said goodbye... quite interesting. So I called up good old customer service... got an address to ship the bad modem back too and then I put in my request of getting reimbursed for the ethernet card I bought due to there DSL modem frying mine. Well after repeating myself a couple of times and getting put on hold...needless to say that if the tech help couldn't fix the problem, their customer service didn't understand either. So after being on hold for a while my request was denied... I hung up... even though she wasnt done talking, I was.... needless to say I wasn't a happy camper. So I began to craft a letter... Not only did I begin to craft my letter but I replied to the customer service survey's I had gotten sometime back and forgot to fill out...there were at least 4 as each time you talk to tech service you get a new one. I did give them some excellence in speed of answering the phone but poors for just about everything else.

So I was crafting this letter and I went to the Centurytel website to find some email addresses... Lets just say I sent my letter first to the customer service VP... yup I found a lot of good email addresses with just a little indepth clicking here and there. So then I sent it to the reginal manager as well as the reginal customer service rep and just about anyone else I coudl find that was associated with Customer service as well as responsible for the state of MI. I'll paste my letter in now....

The netopia DSL modem supplied by Centurytel failed, when it failed it also fried my Ethernet on my computer. The tech center was no help at all...look it up. I called several times and each time they had no idea what to do other than issue some commands and send another DSL modem. I bought a 21.19$ Ethernet card and installed it myself and managed to get service with one of the new DSL modems supplied by Centurytel. All I'm looking for is to be reimbursed for the 21.19$ for the Ethernet card... I don't think that's too much to ask. The calls have been answered quickly but the service those calls provided were in the negatives...absolutely no help. There are plenty of companies offering DSL service... it's time to set yourselves apart from the rest and make a difference. I'm certainly not happy with the service, tech or customer, or the fact that the modem supplied by centurytel took out a component on my computer that is less than 1 year old. I went online at work and found more help than your tech service provided... I have a degree in Biology, I'm about as tech savvy as a penguin on roller-skates and I was able to trouble shoot a bad integrated ethernet.

Please, I'm just asking for Centurytel to do the right thing, when you hit a baseball through your neighbors window you go and pay for the window...you don't have to buy them a new house, just pay for the window. That's all I'm asking centurytel to do. I'll send a copy of the receipt when I hear back from you. ... your customer service rep was less than helpful... I wish I'd of gotten her name. Are you folks really serious about losing a DSL customer for 21.19$...hence my reason for Centurytel not knowing what the words Customer Service are all about.

Thanks for your time Jared Russell

So that was my letter... I've gotten great response in the past with letters. I got a free pair of Jeans from JC Penny's because they were rude to Kimmy when she tried to return a pair of my jeans as I got the wrong size, and wouldn't take them back...

Well about 5 minutes after I sent out my barage of emails to Centurytel folks I got this response... now mind you Customer Service said they couldn't reimburse me for my Ethernet Card... And seemed surprised I would even ask for such a thing. I was more than willing to send them the reciept ect... ok...below is what came back 5 minutes or less of my email campaign.

Dear Mr. Russell,

Thank you for your recent email. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced.

In response to your request, CenturyTel has issued a one time credit in the amount of $21.19 to your current May 16th billing statement . Please accept this credit as reimbursement for the damaged Ethernet Card that was replaced due to the allegedly faulty modem.

Mr. Russell, thank you for taking time to bring this important matter to our attention. I can assure you that CenturyTel does value our customer service relationship with you as well as your business.

If there is anything further that I may do to personally assist you, please feel free to email me directly.

Thank you for choosing CenturyTel as your telecommunications provider.

Sincerely,
Lynda McMahan
Quality Assurance

Like I said, won one for the little guy... Ok so she used the words allegedly faulty... it is faulty and when I send the modem back you better bet your bippy that they'll be a few letters inside with it. Just maybe I'll send it to the president /CEO...that address has got to be there somewhere....

Jared