> On Thu, 2009-03-12 at 15:47 -0700, Zeb C. wrote: > Hi I'm new to Vague and use UBU 8.10 and Fairpoint dsl up here in > South Burlington. Just wondering if any knows if the myfairpoint.net > portal will ever be linux compatible? Can't get a straight answer from > support > > Thank you > > Zeb Carlson > > > Given their recent track record it's almost a wonder that you get*any* answer from support at SquarePoint these days... On one hand I feel genuinely bad for the poor folks who are answering the phones there; their hands must tremble every time they take a call. On the other hand, that company has managed to foul things up on an almost unimagineable scale.
First it was the email... whoops, you no longer have any email. But we'll re-create your account for you... our bad. Seriously, Fairpoint?! Has no one in that company ever heard of imapsync?! Last week, I received a notice in the mail from FairPoint that my long distance records had been lost in the cutover and that they were simply going to drop the charges for last month's calls. I'll bet that was a costly error for them... But they're so flush with cash, they can afford it (not). Then came the random disconnects. My partner's bridal shop was mistakenly disconnected on a Friday night. Callers were given the dreaded "This number is not in service, please check the number and try again". She called in to FairlyPointless "customer service" and was told that the "programming department" would have to fix it. On Monday. Now this is a bridal shop that is in full swing right now with brides dropping off their dresses and calling to schedule appointments. Saturday is the busiest day of the week. Brides calling to check on dress and receiving a disconnected message are fantastic candidates for "breathe into the paper bag" therapy, especially in light of current economic outlook. Expressed this to "customer service" representative, was told that we had absolutely no options. I took over the call, and after talking in circles with the operator for a few minutes, I eventually was *hung up on* after I made a snark about their crappy service and botched cutover from Verizon (no cursing, and I was very careful not to direct anything at the operator). I called back immediately and was told that the magical and closed-for-the-weekend programming department would have the line back on within the hour. Huh. "Public Service Board? Yes, I'm calling with yet another complaint about Fairpoint..." Thursday, between our 2 Fairpoint business phone lines, my partner and I received 5 separately mailed, and different bills. 5!!! Do we get to pick which one to pay?! I'll pay the small one I think. Yesterday here at the office, we got our new SIP trunks activated by SimpleSignal. Calls are routing and the lines are working just fine for everyone... except (you guessed it) FairlyPointless subscribers. They are routed to the old phone line, which no longer works. Called Fairpoint to ask them to pull the number from their switch and network server, was told that they needed me to call the business office to "say goodbye" (I swear to God that's what the rep said!!!). I was pretty sure that the port of the phone number would be sufficient to indicate that I was no longer using the service, as that's what all the phone number porting forms said when I signed them but who knows... I guess they want to be broken up with in person. "Hello, Public Service Board? Yes, it's me again." The amazing thing is that while all this is going on, Fairpoint's stock is sinking like a stone (it was at $0.35/share last I checked). Their market cap is at under $50mil and you can buy a controlling interest in this useless company for under $25Mil. Hello, Warren Buffet? Would you like to show the world how to run a phone company? These guys have done a fine job of showing how *not* to do it. At this point I can only hope that their end comes quickly and mercifully, and whoever picks up the pieces does a better job. And as for the Public Service Board, you guys let this deal happen, despite loads of testimony that this was an impossible merger that was bound to fail. Seriously, What the Hell were you thinking?! And I used to think Verizon was bad... Rubin -- Rubin Bennett rbTechnologies, LLC 80 Carleton Boulevard East Montpelier, VT 05651 (802)223-4448 http://thatitguy.com "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too." Voltaire, Essay on Tolerance French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778)
