Vaughn's 1-Pagers

Telecom Summaries

1.

Incriminating Links

7.

Incompetence

2.

SBC DSL Phone Tree

8.

Intentional Obfuscation

3.

SBC Local Phone Tree

9.

Arrogance

4.

My SBC Experiences

10.

Improper Billing

5.

SBC Irresponsibility

11.

Clarification

6.

Legal Actions

12.

Continuing Saga

Musical Techs

Send you here, send you there. They don't know WHERE to send you!

SBC Org. Chart

An octopus with 100 arms and no brain - scattered, disorganized, inefficient
NO LEADER - NO DISCIPLINE - NO COMMAND AND CONTROL - NO COHESION - NO INTEGRATION
100 fiefdoms, all doing their own thing.

Can't Even
MEASURE Speed-
with their OWN tool!

Do you have DSL now. Try the following DSL speed testers -
2Wire DSL Speed Test - Click on "Bandwidth Meter"
DSL Reports - DSL Speed Tests - 3 choices
SBC-Yahoo Speed Test - "This test may take a few moments" . . .and if you click on "Rerun Test", it may take an INFINITE number of '"moments" . . .

Try each one multiple times, at different times of day.
Which one do YOU think is the most FLAKEY?

Phone Tree
From Hell

Confuse the customer, spin 'em like a top, put them through endless loops, omit many choices the customer needs, refer them back to where they started. THEN, thank them and say, "Have a nice day, good-bye"
Whoever set this up, AND APPROVED IT, is a scheming scoundrel.

Communication

Nobody talks to anybody else. Everyone is in their own little hole.
"Oh, that's a Mississippi issue. You'll have to talk to them."
"Oh, that's a local issue. You'll have to talk to them."
So, I spend 30 minutes on the phone with them, after finally getting through,
only to be referred back to the other whats-its.

Musical Techs

The culture of filling the ranks with "That's not my job" mentality
Send you here, send you there. Don't want to perform THEIR task.

Bogus
Contact Email

You CAN'T get a human. When you call for help - they try to FORCE you to use an email address, which is BOGUS - Kaput - Not there - doesn't work ----> repair@csd.sbc.com

Presto-chango

You get a different person EVERY time. This is intentional.
This ensures that they don't know anything about your problem
You can't establish a relationship with anyone.
No one is accountable, and no one is responsible.

No Guarantee
of ANYTHING!

Diane and Barbara,
are you listening?

"You realize that there is no guarantee of speed". -employee T
"Do you mean that even if I only get 28K download speed, that's OK? "-me
That's right." -employee T

ADSL is, by DEFINITION, a minimum download speed 380K.
Apparently, SBC need only issue a disclaimer, to keep your money - ALL of it.
"If it doesn't work, we don't care, and you pay us full price anyway."

SBC uses RADSL - "Rate-Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line"
That means that the equipment continually "dumbs-down" your connection, until it works (transfers data reliably). The "minimum guaranteed level of service" is ZERO. If you are getting worse than dial-up (20-52K) download speeds, that's fine with them. Just keep paying the $50, and shut the heck up.

What provider of any kind of service anywhere, gets this kind of deal?

SBC Park?

SBC changed the name of the SF Giants ballpark from PacBell Park to SBC Park.
"Just doesn't work for me." . . . Lawrence S.

." . . I decided I couldn't forgive them for "SBC Park". So on opening day of the baseball season, I dumped 'em . . .", ". . . How about 'Willie Mays Field' . . .?" . . . Raymond H.

Pompous big money calls all the shots - including many repugnant ones.
PacBell had some class.
Some Big Company doesn't comprehend the meaning of class, just cash. Big money steam-roller.

NO REFUND

Barbara and Diane,
are you listening?

Statute required

No matter how bad your DSL nightmare may be, you still must pay the full amount per month.
There are no refunds, or pro-rations.
No service, for many days, and you still must pay the FULL AMOUNT
We need to pass a law granting relief.
Do you know anybody else who gets away with this?
MONOPOLY - State law says you pay in full - let's change this - Class Action!

What if you went to the movies, and the projector blew-up after 30 seconds?
Should the owner be able to keep the money, anyway?

If your electricity goes out in a storm, you don't pay PGE for the electricity you DON'T USE.
Why should you pay for service that you DON'T HAVE?

Double-billing

Inability to quickly resolve billing disputes, if at all. Just use my links, and read, read, read. Go find more fascinating, informative links.

Improper
Marketing





Marketing by Whim?

Have you been paying $50 per month for your SBC-Yahoo DSL provider service, for YEARS?
SBC is happy to let a loyal customer continue to pay $50, while offering joe-blow come-lately off the street a rate of $29? No deal for the long-time customer? So I called. "Sure, we'll fix you up at $29 per month."
If you DON'T CALL, they continue to screw you, as a valued customer. That's your reward.

Then, I remembered that my son-in-law got a deal of $26 per month.
So I called back, and said "What's the deal?"

SBC employee #1 muttered some phrases like "bundled long distance" and "extra features".
I told her that was not the case. She said, "Oh", and referred me to employee #2.

SBC employee #2 offered a very different, and apologetic response -
"OH, uh. uhm, well, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but there is a secret webpage that you can visit, and claim the $26 rate. Some time ago, SBC sent out emails to approximately 50% of all then-current DSL customers, offering a rate of $26. Go to http://www02.sbc.com/DSL/offer2"

I went to the page, while on the phone, and got the $26 rate IMMEDIATELY, simply by identifying myself.
No BS about "bundled long distance" or "extra features".
I asked him why only 50%? How were the 50% selected. He said he had no idea.

(The webpage has been taken down - the URL is no error. Shortly, I will be getting a copy of the page from a guru friend, who knows how to find this stuff. I will post a screen shot. )

Marketing by Whim? Is this not discriminatory? Who is a "gilded" customer, and WHY?
Randomly applied discrimination? Clueless marketing? Dart throwing?
ANOTHER CLASS ACTIONABLE LAWSUIT, RIGHT HERE.

I have paraphrased some of the quotes above, for the purpose of possible future legal action - the EXACT conversation has been transcribed, and is being withheld for now.

Excessive Penalty
for early termination

An ILLEGAL, exorbitant $200 PENALTY is imposed for early termination, NO MATTER what the reason, even though there may be only 1 MONTH LEFT on the contract. Pure bullspit.

This was instituted because there are SO MANY who want to get away from SBC-Yahoo, once they experience it, SBC was forced to take extreme measures. This needs to be tested in court - payment for services NOT rendered? Looks unconstitutional to me - especially, in light of the fact that the services NEVER WORKED PROPERLY in the first place! Yowza!

Good Folks

I have met, and talked to some very nice field people, who work for SBC.
The 3 line techs who visited were competent, and friendly; one, exceptionally so.
A former employee's testimony

Bad Ones

ALL ON THE PHONE - ROBOTRONS FROM HELL - I have spoken with 11 phone personnel - 6 were idiots, 3 were normal,
2 repair were rude and uncommunicative, and 1 hung up on me - I created this page because of him, and therefore hereby dedicate it to him.
The phone COMPANY offers the WORST phone SERVICE - how ironic is THAT?

WORST ONES

The problem is with TOP MANAGEMENT - PERIOD.
I have a BS degree in Management, so I know what I am talking about.
The memory of my classes in corporate responsibility scream, "What the hell is going on here?"

When your image is THIS BAD, you FIX IT. The problem is the fact that SBC is a geographic monopoly, and simply doesn't HAVE to do Jack-scat.

I submit that the gravy-heads at the top are political hacks, who survive only through patronage, and have no concern for ethics whatsoever. The time-honored concept of service paid for service RENDERED, totally escapes them. Their mantra is grab the most money possible, and ignore the rest of it - ALL the rest of it.

How can the CEO grab all that money, with such rampant customer dissatisfaction?
MIND BOGGLING! The reward for running the world's worst-customer-satisfaction company.
Corporate malfeasance of the most odious sort.

Boycott SBC DSL Internet Provider.
We need to REGULATE THE HE|| out of SBC.
Expose the bungling, monopolistic bureaucrats.
OUT the thieving MBAs - let the techs rule.
Rediscover common sense. MAKE THE STUFF WORK!

HISTORY - SITUATION
I have had DSL since PacBell, 5 years ago.
I arranged with my landlord to move to another trailer on the same 2 acre property.
Both trailers are fully wired, and each had their own drop.
ALL I NEEDED was to have the pairs switched at the LOCAL pole on the property.
I explained this in detail, when I made my appointment.

DAY 1
On 3-31-04, I had an appointment for an "outside rewire" between 1 PM and 5 PM.
I watched the driveway ALL the bloomin day long.
Nobody showed up. Nobody called.

I called repair at 5 PM, and an SBC representative, who did NOT identify himself, HUNG UP on me after I said,
"Good God, a human being, finally. I can't believe it."
Your phone tree really sucks."
He said, "Have a nice day", and HUNG UP on me!!
That was it. The proverbial 'straw that broke the camel's back'.
I did this page, and I dedicate it to him.

DAY 2
On 4-01-04 at 4 PM, with NO CALL, an SBC tech guy snuck up behind me while I was working outside (high fan noise), and yelled "Hey". He scared the living cadwallader out of me. I yelled back, "Holy bloom, you scared the scat out of me. He said, "Oh, I thought you saw me coming." I didn't see Jack-scat, and he knew it. I am an hapless heart patient, but SBC doesn't give a hoot about that. He said that he had been sent all the way from Scott's Valley, because the dispatcher said I was really mad. I said he was right, and that I had put up this webpage today (referring to my DSL).

We talked for awhile. I showed him my 360 foot (not 500) cable I had draped across the property to maintain service, until SBC could respond. I ASSUMED he knew I had DSL, especially since I told him that I had paralleled the 2 pair in the cable to get better speed (referring again to my DSL). It just didn't seem to register.

He said he would go and make the change, no problem. Off he went, up the hill. But he didn't stop. He left the driveway, and went way down the main road. I was puzzled.

As soon as he returned, 30 minutes later, I said, "Why is my phone making a funny noise, even when it is on-hook (hung-up).
He said, "Oh, do you have DSL".
"Yeah, didn't you know that?
"No." he said.
"I mentioned earlier about the paralleling of pairs to get better speed, and you said nothing. I also mentioned I put up this page, as well."

A technician from the company that is providing my DSL . . . and he doesn't know I have DSL?

After this conversation, he was VERY anxious to leave (after all, it was 5 PM). I began testing the DSL. I said, "I'm getting about 76K. He said, "Oh yeah, well you know that the distance has increased by 500 feet. That probably explains it."
Then he hurriedly tossed me a couple of freebies, and left while I continued to check my DSL speed.

Before I moved, I got a solid 320K.
After I moved, with my makeshift 360-foot cable draped across the field, I got 160K, expected due to the lousy temporary cable.
After his visit, I now get 86K download speed.

The primary determinant of DSL speed, is the distance from the premises equipment (your DSL modem) to the CO (central office)(CLEC). If I was getting 320K previously, and my line length increased from 17,500 feet to 18,000 feet (3%), then my speed should have dropped about 3% to 310.4k

Now I figured out what happened.
If he had followed my directions, and simply switched the 2 local pairs on the utility pole that is ON THE PROPERTY, there would be no problem.

An excellent previous DSL technician who came out last year and removed a low-grade short that was on my line, told me the following - "You have the last line on this road that is suitable for DSL (DSL capable). Whenever any tech comes out in the future, make sure he doesn't switch pairs on you (long pairs, not local pairs)."
That's why I told today's tech to switch RIGHT HERE, not SOMEWHERE ELSE.
He had his own ideas.

Tomorrow, I will call Mississippi, and have them do their online DSL line evaluation, if I can get through the phone tree.
I will report the results of that. Isn't this fun?

When an SBC tech visits, expect the unexpected.
The DSL techs do NOT talk to the regular phone repair guys.
The regular phone repair guys aren't even told that you have DSL.
SBC at its finest.
Some will say its my fault, because I didn't tell him the technical information which he didn't know.
That's one argument.

On 4-02-04, I . . . did other things . . . 86K download speed.

On 4-03-04, I am getting 120K to 150K . . .almost up to half what I used to get.
I guess I should be thankful.

On 4-4-04, getting 130K to 140K.
On 4-5-04, getting 120K to 130K.
On 4-8-04, getting 128K to 138K. . . . That's it, baby. Bad line penalty.

Let's see. I am now paying $27 . . . $27 / $50 = 54% of what I was paying before.
. . . .and I am getting 130/320 K = only 41% of the speed I was getting before.

Does that mean that I am only getting 13% screwed?

I can live with this . . . for a while. Can YOU live with YOUR little SBC DSL problem?

May 2004 - Incompetant Technicians
A few days ago, I talked to my daughter's friend Laurie. The second thing out of her mouth was, "You won't believe the trouble I am having with my DSL". Yup. That's right. Missed appointments, no call, same thing.

THEN, the DSL guy came out, and TIED her into a contract with the $200 penalty fee, USING HIS LAPTOP computer. The fact that she HAS A MACINTOSH computer which WON'T CONNECT seems to be irrelevant. He said, "Once I activate you online (like he just did, using HIS COMPUTER), the contract is IN FORCE, and non-cancellable.

What a bunch of scheming marketers. BEYOND BELIEF!

LAWYERS! WHERE ARE YOU???

June 2004 - Ridiculously Poor Support, Lapse of Consciousness
Could not send out email. Researched in detail. What happened?
SBC/Yahoo decided to change their email permissions. In the past, a single password was required for receiving and sending email.
They now require another password to activate email SENDING.

Just one little thing, though. They FAILED TO TELL anybody they were doing this!
Another monumental f-up from SBC!
Add LAZY, IGNORANT, and STUPID to the list.

July 2004 - Illegal PHONY Billing
I looked at my bill for this month - $49.95. This is the OLD rate I was paying, before I took the new deal at $26.95 for 1 year.
I have been paying $26.95 for 4 months now.

So I called 1-877-722-3755. You are not going to believe this.
I was told 2 stories at the SAME TIME by the same person.
She did say that MOST CALLS right now are JUST LIKE MINE.

STORY #1 - "In the past, you have been billed for service rendered. Now, we are billing for service, in advance."
This is obvious BS, because the amount would be 2 times $26.95, or $53.90. But it is not.

STORY #2 - "The telephone company made a MISTAKE in BILLING EVERYONE in April 2003. So, we are charging you to make up for it". Did you notice the YEAR? April 2003! I said, "Why doesn't the bill itself offer ANY explanation whatsoever?" She said, "We didn't know about it when the bills were sent out"
I guess they knew about the money gouge all right, but not the explanation?

FIFTEEN MONTHS LATER, THEY ARE NOW CHARGING DSL CUSTOMERS ILLEGAL FEES for a MISTAKE THEY MADE in APRIL of 2003, with NO EXPLANATION?
How can they possibly do this? Who is going to swallow this rot?

If you do not SCREAM about this, they will ream you too.

September 2004 - Phone Solicitation in Violation of Federal Law

I am getting calls from SBC to "sign-up" with SBC. I'm ALREADY a 3-year customer.
Getting on the Federal "Do not call list" stopped ALL my spam phone calls.
But, apparently it is not good enough for SBC. I am saving the time-stamped recordings.

Now I am getting spam computer messages from SBC on my answering machine - another egregious federal violation by SBC.
They know no limits. They ignore the Federal Do-not-call Law.

October 2004 - ALL SBC Bills are Non-sensical

The bill states -
"Amount if paid BEFORE Dec. 8, 2004 = $44.74"
"Amount if paid AFTER Dec.13, 2004 = $45.41"

How much do I pay if I pay BETWEEN Dec. 8 and Dec. 13? Somewhere in between?
Hello? Anybody home?
Stumbling bunglers, one and all. They can't even send out a bill that makes sense.
Note: 1 year later, and they STILL send out the same non-sensical bills.
They are beyond CLUELESS!

November 2004 - Almost There

Cable internet is now coming to my area. I can't wait.

Then I can make some real waves.
NO institution pisses me off this much, and gets away with it.
You waste my time, I waste your time.
That's the way it works.
You need to be paid back in kind, for what you have done, and continue to do, to others.

December 21, 2005

It never ends, it just gets worse.
SBC has slipped our shop the royal shaft!
Yesterday, during our BUSIEST SHIPPING TIME of the year, an SBC technician obliterated our main phone lines, at our 14-year-old bricks and mortar store!
When confronted, he REFUSED to FIX them! REFUSED!
A phone call to SBC resulted in a promise to fix it Wednesday, December 28!
A FRIGGING WEEK LATER!!!!!!!!!!! What a bunch of losers!
They work on someone else's line - they screw up your line - and then, they feel NO OBLIGATION to fix what they screwed up, in a timely manner - go to hell, Southern Bell.
SBC SUCKS!
Ain't it grand being a monopoly!
This SBC expose and report page went back up today.
And it is NEVER COMING DOWN AGAIN! Screw these incompetents!