Let's see.... where'd we leave it - my Cavtel bill was due Aug 12, but I'd asked for a revised bill showing the lack of DSL service from July 22 on, and I had requested that the non-working DSL service be shut off as of August 4th. I was promised that this would happen within 15-20(!!) business days and that there would be no late penalties imposed while I waited for my new, corrected bill. After a brief exchange of emails with Mark Zitz, alleged VP of Customer Operations, he said he would give this his personal attention.
Cut to - today, when I received my new "adjusted" bill.
I see my previous balance is still there, with late fees attached, and a mysterious line item called "Adjustments" with a whopping $10 credit next to it. The new billing period has started, so I'm being charged for DSL service from August 15th to September 14th.
IOW, so much for the personal attentions of Mr. Zitz. Moving on then, first things first: call Vonage about porting my phone number. Ah. Well. They can move any phone number to their system - except from Cavalier Telephone. Why? Because Cavtel will not cooperate or comply with the laws protecting the right of the consumer to keep their phone number. Vonage rep was very helpful, suggested moving my phone account to Verizon, who does comply with the law, and had info about the Public Utilities Commission too.
Ooh, look a website listing all the states' Public Utilities Commissions
Next step - call Verizon.
Oooh, got a rep who could quote FCC regs at me, gotta love that. Yes they can transfer my number, no, there's no problem pulling it from Cavtel, and they believe that will happen within 8 business days, but may be able to do it much more swiftly. They can handle my wireless phone number as well, and that will allow me to leave the debacle of Suncom's transition to Cingular behind, which would be a whole different rant all to itself...
Meanwhile, back to the Boyz of Cav(e)tel...
Considered for a few moments trying to call customer care, but... well, if the VP in charge can't follow through on his own promises, that does discourage further efforts along those lines, now doesn't it? I thought so too, and that's why this email went directly to Brad Evans, CEO with CC's to the rest of these fellows:
Robert Keane, President; David Whitt, CFO; Martin Clift, VP Regulatory Affairs; Greg Jones, VP Sales; Andy Lobred, VP Product Management & Marketing; Larry Sims, VP Engineering & Operations; Jim Vermuelen, VP Engineering; and Mark Zitz, aforementioned VP of Customer Operations.
Dear Mr. Evans,
This concerns the DSL service to my home, which had been provided by Cavalier Telephone until it failed on July 22nd. I have gone to great lengths to get technical support, waited for a replacement modem when the hardware finally failed due to the line issue, and ran tests on the line again after that modem arrived, a week after it was promised.
I've tried calling, emailing, offered logs, sent traceroute data and ping tests, and have several reports logged on dslreports, but have become convinced by your staff that there is no real interest in returning the line to working order, so finally, have been trying to shut off DSL service since August 4th. Given the lack of follow through shown by other employees, I emailed to Mark Zitz and Larry Sims hoping that they could at least verify that the DSL service would be shut off, and the other promises made to me by the customer service representative would be kept. I've even had Mr. Zitz assurance that he would personally take care of it himself. I had hoped that members of your management team would be capable of follow-through.
Today I received a bill for DSL service from Aug 15th- Sept. 14th. I'm sure even a busy executive such as yourself can recognize that this would be after my requested shut off date of August 4th, and accordingly, I refuse to pay this bill. I would, however, be glad to pay a corrected bill for DSL service up to the 22nd of July, as well as the accumulated telephone service fees.
I have shipped both modems back and they have already been signed for. All that is needed now is to actually follow through on the statements made by your representative, and promised again by Mr. Zitz. These are namely - turn off DSL service to my home, credit me for the failure to provide that service dated from July 22nd forward, and send me a properly adjusted bill reflecting those things, without any late fee penalties, since that is what I was told would happen when I called on the 4th of August, and was promised again by Mr. Zitz on Aug. 8th.
Should you wish to research this matter further, I would suggest first reading through trouble ticket #276119. For an account of just how much trouble I've gone through to try to correct the issue, I direct your attention to a Web site where I have been logging all of my interactions with your company: gnomesane.org
Thanks for your time and attention, I look forward to a response.
[later]
Got a CC'd reply 3 minutes after sending that, from Robert Keane, telling Mr. Zitz to "Handle this now." It's good to see someone's awake down there in the Cave. Now, if only they'd actually do something....
My apologies to Mr. Sims, I made a rather hilarious typo when adding him to the CC list, and tried to reach him at comcast.net instead of cavtel.com, so he didn't get a fair shot at the original message. That's what I get for answering the phone while typing.