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Google Fiber Goes Down During World Series, Credits KC 2 Days of Service (pcmech.com)

Posted by timothy on from the watching-the-ball dept.

kstatefan40 writes: Google Fiber went down in Kansas City during one of the most important times in the local market: Game 1 of the World Series between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Yesterday, I got an apology from them via email, and even though I wasn't home during the outage, they're making up for it by proactively giving the entire market 2 days of service off of their next bill. The rest of the industry could really learn from their customer service.

When was the last time a telecom provider gave you a discount on your bill without you asking for it? The only times I've gotten much apology from my own ISP is when I threaten (with reason) to jump ship.

6 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. redundancy by Noah+Haders · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When was the last time a telecom provider gave you a discount on your bill without you asking for it?

    when was the last time a whole city lost service? what does this say about the redundancy of their infrastructure? people rely on utilities to provide a crucial function in their lives. electricity? natural gas? phones? if google wants to get serious about their fiber, they need to take on the responsibilities that come with being a public service provider.

    1. Re:redundancy by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Comcast does this all the time, Hell this summer the entire state went down for 1 hour.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:redundancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      So you count it as 48 hours of outage? That's completely insane!

    3. Re:redundancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      says something about the google-fest on this site that I am getting pilloried for calling out a wealthy company on their poor infrastructure planning and lack of redundancy.

      That's not what's happening to you, and you know it.

      You spouted off a hasty, ill-informed judgment and continued to argue with others who were obviously more informed than you. This has caused embarrassment to you, and that embarrassment is both one hundred percent your fault and one hundred percent deserved.

      Your attempt to shift the blame for your mistake, and to frame the mockery you earned as some kind of martyrdom, are only compounding that embarrassment.

      And because you lack self-awareness and the will to learn, you're going to keep repeating these mistakes even after they have been carefully laid out and explained to you.

  2. Corporate Arrogance is plentiful. by geekmux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The only times I've gotten much apology from my own ISP is when I threaten (with reason) to jump ship."

    Well, don't expect even that half-assed effort in the future.

    We watch our government ignore anti-monopoly laws. We watch companies try and buy each other for hundreds of billions, knowing full well the DOJ should certainly shoot down the deal. And then we watch those same companies try and try again until they find that loophole (or greased palm) that allows the deal to go through. And it does eventually go through. Every damn time.

    We've watched our cellular market collapse into massive monopolies, with fixed pricing so obvious you couldn't help but blame collusion.

    As monopolies continue to grow, don't expect to be treated with kindness, since you will truly be nothing more than a number to them when there's 500 million customers to manage. Google is demonstrating a massive exception here, and one I wish would take precedent for customer service to be reborn instead of the steaming pile of shit we have today.

    I'm not holding my breath.

  3. Just two days of service? by mysidia · · Score: 2, Insightful

    they're making up for it by proactively giving the entire market 2 days of service off of their next bill.

    Two day's worth of service is an insignificant credit compared to the loss, especially during a special event.

    Most providers of business IP transit have SLA credits available, starting from the time when the customer calls in to request the ticket be opened, by the way, in some cases these are refundable, and can require the provider paying cash, not just crediting future service in case of a full on outage.

    A couple hours worth of outage would typically generate enough SLA credit to make an entire month and possibly two month's worth of service gratis.

    So how come it's so unusual for a residential ISP to waive even 2 days, after a few hours unscheduled downtime?