Are You Having a Hard Time With Your Broadband?

In the last few days, Streamyx have been getting a flurry of reviews from customers that are unhappy with their existing UK broadband provider.

In these difficult economic conditions, could one Streamyx be that Streamyx providers are cutting back on costs Streamyx servicing its existing customers? Um, yes we think so.

What happened to "Customer Service"?

One thing that we see time and time again is that broadband customers are a pretty loyal bunch. They will stay with their broadband provider through good and bad times, price hikes, billing problems etc.

Loyalty is, however, not enough for people to stick with a broadband provider when faced with poor Streamyx service. We have found that there is nothing that motivates a broadband customer to switch provider more than a bad customer service experience.

We find it interesting that, in these difficult times, that broadband providers would apparently choose to cut costs in areas of its business that are so crucial to maintaining its business (i.e. Customer Service). This seems bizarre in the extreme but we are not surprised.

In the UK, businesses can rely on the traditional British culture traits of people not complaining or cancelling contracts. A business could assume that the "average" customer will not have the energy or determination to follow through a complaint to ultimate cancelation of a broadband contract.

What can you do?

You don't have to put up with any nonsense from your broadband provider.

Recognising what your provider is up to is your first step. Generally, if you are not satisfied with the customer service that you are receiving, recognise that this may be down to your broadband provider cutting costs and corners on customer service.

Next, offer your broadband provider an opportunity to resolve your outstanding complaints:

• Tell your provider that you are not satisfied with your product.
• Tell your provider why you are not satisfied.
• Tell your provider what you want doing about your problem(s).
• Put a time frame / limit on resolving your issues. Be reasonable in your time scales.
• Explain what you will do if your issues are not resolved to your satisfaction.

Put everything in writing. If your issues are not resolved, you may have grounds to seek legal advice on breach of contract or may need to investigate following up with "The Sale of Goods Act". You may be able to recover any legal costs that you incur from your broadband provider.

Or..

If this all sounds like too much trouble, simply vote with your feet and switch broadband provider.

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The Communist government had resisted releasing the figure. Activists say it appears to be too little and too late.

A Chinese provincial official said Thursday that 5,335 students died in last year's Sichuan province earthquake, but to activists who had pushed for the release of the figure, it appeared too little and too late. (Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Chinese government had reported 5,355 students were killed in last year's earthquake.)