Perhaps if being online weren’t so central to my job it would be different, but the lack of reliable internet access at home is stressing me beyond belief. I never received an answer to my initial letter to TSTT, so I sat down today and wrote the follow-up posted below. It’s already been sent via e-mail to the main recipient and everyone on the cc list except TSTT CEO Roberto Peon, whose e-mail address I do not have, and will be dropped in the nearest mail box tomorrow morning. A version of it will also be sent to the local newspapers, who may well choose not to publish a letter asking one of their biggest advertisers to change its behaviour.
The audio recordings linked to in the letter have been edited to obscure the names of the support personnel, the code on my EVDO modem and my home address, and also to remove the extended periods during which I was put on hold and subjected to — of all things — a dirge-like rendition of the calypso “Portrait of Trinidad“. What wicked irony.
Update: Shortly before posting this I received a response from Francisca Jordan, saying that she had forwarded my letter to her EVP. Ironically, the e-mail I’ve written her in reply, thanking her for her kind and prompt attention to the matter, is now refusing to leave my inbox.
January 21, 2008
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
Service, Billing, Payment & Enquiries
TSTT
52 Jerningham Avenue
Belmont
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am a TSTT Wireless Broadband customer. For this service, TSTT bills me TT$431.25 per month. TSTT personnel tell me that there is no guaranteed speed associated with this service, which does not seem reasonable to me, as sound business transactions usually involve clear expectations on the part of both the seller and buyer.
According to the TSTT Wireless Broadband web site, however, users of this service should expect to receive connection speeds of about 400Kbps to 700Kbps. (When the service worked properly, I used to receive average speeds of considerably less than this, but as the connection speed still allowed me to carry out normal internet-related tasks, I put up with it). And I would assume that TSTT expects that users should at least be able to connect to the service when they require.
Since November 2007, the service I have been receiving from TSTT Wireless Broadband has deteriorated dramatically, especially at my home in Diego Martin. When I do manage to connect to the service at all, I experience average connection speeds of lower than 70Kbps (measured using TSTT's own Bandwidth Test), which rapidly dwindle to zero. Web pages take ages to load, if they ever load at all. It takes me several minutes to send a single e-mail. The connection itself cuts off frequently. As having reliable internet access is central to my job, the drop in the level of TSTT Wireless Broadband's service has seriously affected my ability to work effectively. Yet in spite this dramatic decrease in the level of service, TSTT continues to bill me at the rate of $431.25 per month.
I have spoken several times to both TSTT's tech support and billing departments about the problem, and both acknowledge that there is a problem with the service, as the audio recordings I have posted here attest. (I resorted to recording my telephone conversations with TSTT after an unfortunate encounter with a very rude tech support person). While I sympathise fully with the technical difficulties involved in correcting the problems with Wireless Broadband, I think it is grossly unfair that TSTT should continue charging customers at the same rate for a service that has clearly deteriorated. The sum I believe I actually should be paying works out to around $28.75 per month, as the following calculation shows:
431.25 x 70/700 X 20/30 = $28.75
(where 70 and 700 represent the actual and expected connection speeds, and where 20 and 30 represent the actual and expected number of days I receive connectivity).
I have not paid my TSTT Wireless Broadband bill since December 2007, and I do not intend to pay it until TSTT adjusts my bill to bring the amount I am being charged in line with the level of service I have been receiving since November 2007. Once the service returns to normal, I should be happy to resume paying the normal rates.
I look forward to hearing from you further about this matter. Please note that I shall be posting a version of this letter on my blog.
Sincerely,
Georgia Popplewell
cc.
Mr. Roberto Peon, Chief Executive Officer, TSTT
Ms. Camille Salandy, Head, Public Relations and External Affairs, TSTT
Ms. Francisca Jordan, Manager, Broadband Marketing, TSTT
Technorati Tags: tstt, trinidad, caribbean
I used to have DSL internet service from TSTT until last year June when I got rid of it out of pure frustration. My phone was down too often and for too long and the DSL was the same. I was spending too much time and money in internet cafes. Even now … for all of 2008 my phone has been dead. I signed up with Flow, since I need my own internet service – and they installed on Saturday as promised. I find it lives up to its name (Flow) – smooth, quick and no ‘page is loading’ messages.
Might be a long shot, Georgia, but have you tried complaining to the “regulator,” TATT? Might there be some consumer protection law that’s being broken? I bet your case is not unique, meaning that, if TSTT were to be found “liable” or in breach somehow, they’d owe a whole lot of refunds. That might be one answer to the poor service they try to mask daily by gazillions spent of public relations.
Well done G. I especially admire the way you’ve calculated what you believe you should be paying! Let’s see now what the papers decide to do….