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Thread ID: 38061 2003-09-26 01:09:00 Paradise ISP Kame (312) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
178031 2003-09-27 06:37:00 One of the main reasons I have had for staying with Paradise is that I have never had to call their Help Desk as I have never had any problems (touch wood) in the 2 years or so that I have been with them. Prevention is obviously better than cure! They get top marks from me. andy (473)
178032 2003-09-27 06:49:00 nuttin but good with Paradise.
I have needed to call a few times, and recieved nothing but the best help.
I don't remember the time of day, but certanly out of hours.
And while we're on the subject of help desks, Vodaphone as a big help the other day too.
Cheere you help-desk-people-who-know-what-you're-doing. 		Curious George (3535)
178033 2003-09-27 21:58:00 > Just out of curiousity is Xtra's helpdesk any better?

Sometimes..
The majority of the time their waiting cue is less a minute long, however when something goes down you know about it as the majority flock to the phone to find out whats wrong and why they can't connect... (eg: the loss of dialup access on Friday)
Then you get a nice message "We're sorry but the Xtra helpdesk cue is longer than 10 minutes. We cannot help you at this point in time, so please hang up and try again later"


CyberChuck 		cyberchuck (173)
178034 2003-09-27 22:11:00 Congratulations CC, you finally made it... despite Xtra's best efforts. :D
Way before Christmas and before the end of the holidays, too. Well done. :-)

Now for the next ton..... :D 		Susan B (19)
178035 2003-09-27 22:42:00 Hey here is just a suggestion!

Instead of relying on any ISP to help you provide service to your customers, why not learn all of the technical stuff yourself, as that way you yourself can provide the answer to your clients problems.

Don't rely on someone else to help you out. :-)

In any case, the 2 to 3 times I have contacted Paradise help they were really switched on and solved my problems. even though two of them were really late calls. :-)

As far as I am concerned - Paradise Rocks :-) 		Tobas (224)
178036 2003-09-28 02:20:00 You are judging me by saying my tech support is to rely on others providing the answer? I found the fault to be with paradise, but in an urgency to let them know of the problem I have now got to wait till they are ready. My client's business is still going to continue with or without paradise's help, but it's gone and made his situation a slower process now.

The problem is he's receiving 20-40+ emails a day, which is all legit business emails, but recently he's now recieving double ups or even triple the email messages, and I went through all my possible processes to eliminate Paradise from the problem, I installed his email account on another computer, the same thing, I sent an email from my address to his and checked his web based browser and low and behold he ended up with 3 times my message. So there's a problem within Paradise's mail server.

You are also suggesting what I should do is become like paradise, drop my service to my clients, ISP support is not neccessary to me, it's only when I find out the problem is Paradise related, although I don't expect that their helpdesk would be able to help fix this problem straight away, I was just hoping to let them know of the problem and see what they could get done about it. As long as they know this is what is happening to my client I am happy, he's happy that they are looking into it, but explaining to him that he has to put up with it till I talk to paradise about the situation. I could tell him that he could ring them up himself, but where's the service I'm providing him?

It's the first time I've ever had to call Paradise, so I believe that's good enough for them to be my client's ISP, but when I discovered that my first time to call them that their 24/7 service has now been dropped, what do you think I would have thought about that? I've continued to give paradise a good reputation by spreading by word of mouth how excellent their service was, but when I find out 24/7 support isn't the case, I'm wondering how many more have fallen into this lie.

It doesn't mean that I am now going to support them as a loyal customer anymore, I see that cutting costs is their way of increasing profit and keeping in the business, I could relate this to PC Company or even Microsoft's Chat, but I think they've gone through enough already, and they can say it's this or that, but we can make our own truth about it.

I'm not bothered about the good or bad stories, I'm bothered about seeing 24/7 support on their website, when I signed up etc, and later on find out it's not there. Emailing them to find out it'll take 4 days to respond to is not 24 hour service, I don't mind 48 hours to respond but 4 days is too long in my case.

Another thing Jester, relatives ringing up with non-isp problems can be the cause to why they drop support as they find they are giving free tutorials and not the ISP related service that is expected. Not saying it's a bad thing, but it does get on their nerves. 		Kame (312)
178037 2003-09-28 06:42:00 You might be able to isolate the problem yourself if you asked PF1 users, for example, if any of them have experienced the same problem.

One could expect that if the problem was related to Paradise, then it should be extended to other email accounts also and not just confined to one account amongst thousands.

HTH :-) 		Tobas (224)
178038 2003-09-28 06:49:00 Hi Kame, I would like to respond if I may . . .

> You are judging me by saying my tech support is to
> rely on others providing the answer?

Not neccesarily, I also provided a solution - explain that outside assistance may be dependant on your client's ISP's a/hrs service .

> I found the
> fault to be with paradise, but in an urgency to let
> them know of the problem I have now got to wait till
> they are ready . My client's business is still going
> to continue with or without paradise's help, but it's
> gone and made his situation a slower process now .
>
> The problem is he's receiving 20-40+ emails a day,
> which is all legit business emails, but recently he's
> now recieving double ups or even triple the email
> messages, and I went through all my possible
> processes to eliminate Paradise from the problem, I
> installed his email account on another computer, the
> same thing, I sent an email from my address to his
> and checked his web based browser and low and behold
> he ended up with 3 times my message . So there's a
> problem within Paradise's mail server .

That's a wierd one alright, can't say it's happened to me, I would initially suggest that the email program was not clearing messages off the server, but by using webmail and setting it up on another PC would seem to preclude that suggestion . Would seem indeed to be a email server problem .

> You are also suggesting what I should do is become
> like paradise, drop my service to my clients, ISP
> support is not neccessary to me, it's only when I
> find out the problem is Paradise related, although I
> don't expect that their helpdesk would be able to
> help fix this problem straight away, I was just
> hoping to let them know of the problem and see what
> they could get done about it . As long as they know
> this is what is happening to my client I am happy,
> he's happy that they are looking into it, but
> explaining to him that he has to put up with it till
> I talk to paradise about the situation . I could tell
> him that he could ring them up himself, but where's
> the service I'm providing him?

One thing I have learned in the professional world is that one cannot provide all the answers all of the time . People do tend to respect a stance of "I cannot fix it now/I don't have an answer at this time, but I will look into it and offer a solution as soon as I can" . It may be an external issue (ie, an isp), however it's not always professional to suggest another's failing is entirely someone else's fault . These things can come back to bite .

> It's the first time I've ever had to call Paradise,
> so I believe that's good enough for them to be my
> client's ISP, but when I discovered that my first
> time to call them that their 24/7 service has now
> been dropped, what do you think I would have thought
> about that? I've continued to give paradise a good
> reputation by spreading by word of mouth how
> excellent their service was, but when I find out 24/7
> support isn't the case, I'm wondering how many more
> have fallen into this lie .

You are correct, their help page does say Helpdesk phone number is 24 hours, seven days, it doesn't say it's manned during this time however, and maybe that's not what I would call a lie . There are also other links on their pages to FAQ's etc, (which I guess are of no use if you cannot get online) .

> It doesn't mean that I am now going to support them
> as a loyal customer anymore, I see that cutting costs
> is their way of increasing profit and keeping in the
> business, I could relate this to PC Company or even
> Microsoft's Chat, but I think they've gone through
> enough already, and they can say it's this or that,
> but we can make our own truth about it .

All businesses can increase profit margins by reducing expenses . That, and getting more business without increasing expenses are the only two ways of making more money . We don't know for sure that's the reason behind not manning the helpdesk after hours . Maybe the volume of calls didn't warrant it?

> I'm not bothered about the good or bad stories, I'm
> bothered about seeing 24/7 support on their website,
> when I signed up etc, and later on find out it's not
> there . Emailing them to find out it'll take 4 days
> to respond to is not 24 hour service, I don't mind 48
> hours to respond but 4 days is too long in my case .

4 days is disappointing, I agree . You have to be bothered about bad stories to start the thread though ;)

> Another thing Jester, relatives ringing up with
> non-isp problems can be the cause to why they drop
> support as they find they are giving free tutorials
> and not the ISP related service that is expected .
> Not saying it's a bad thing, but it does get on
> their nerves .

'Non ISP support' is all part of support in using equipment to access their service . Not everyone is a techie, and this goodwill is tangible, passed on by word of mouth, and surely not a definitive reason why 24/7 human support was canned .

Kame, my response isn't meant to be confrontational, just addressing your post of today . I believe in passing on details of good service as well as warning about bad, and that's one reason behind my reply . I do hope if you find the solution to your clients' issue you let us know so we are prepared should we come across it also .

Cheers
Jester 		Jester (13)
178039 2003-09-28 10:32:00 My ISP is Clearnet (Paradise's stablemate) and just recently I have been having problems with email.In my case I could have 1 or 2 pages of emails in the morning,check in the afternoon and they would have all disappeared.The email problem seemed to have started when Clearnet revamped it's webmail and started to offer spam protection.
Clear has now sorted out the problem,and it's working as it should.

Lachlan 		Lachlan (4459)
178040 2003-09-28 12:07:00 Well I have never tried Paradise as an ISP but some of my customers have. They haven't had an ISP related problem.

After reading this thread I used the phone and talked to a person in Wgton. No problem again.

I started with Wave... Went to Xtra for about five years.
Just changed to current ISP about three months ago as my current ISP gives me broadbard with no data caps and I live in the boondocks as someone once put it.

The only helpdesk I ever had to phone was Xtra when I had to reformat a hard disk and the customer could not remember the password for the ISP.

Through PressF1 I have found a program which will give me a dialup password before I do the format. 		Elephant (599)
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