Problems with Flashcom, a national DSL service provider
From: Ed Anderson
Subject: Re: anyone with FLASHCOM problems?
Date: 18 Mar 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <36f18f5a$0$205@nntp1.ba.best.com>
References: <7cn5i0$rtd$1@remarQ.com> <36ef9c8e$0$217@nntp1.ba.best.com> <36f06401.2867218@nntp-server> <36F16B9F.952F91A6@tsoft.com>
X-Spamtrap: gotcha@bigmoney.idiom.com
X-Trace: nntp1.ba.best.com 921800538 205 pinch@@-DESPAM-@@206.184.139.134
Organization: large. http://www.pinch.com
X-Signature: Keeper of the Skin archives at http://www.pinch.com/skin/
User-Agent: tin/pre-1.4-980818 ("Laura") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/2.2.8-STABLE (i386))
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.xdsl,ba.internet
Garry W wrote:
[details about contact disputes]
Thanks, Garry, I didn't know about the lack of punitive damages.
Bio Hazard wrote:
[suggestion of BBB complaint w/ link to form]
Thank you! An excellent suggestion. I've filed my complaint with them.
John Slade wrote:
> What about small claims court?
That's the next step, depending on the result of the the credit card
dispute. Opening the dispute was relatively easy. A phone call provided a
provisional credit for the amounts in dispute, and I followed up with an
explanatory letter to the VISA investigations division of my bank.
Jason Campbell wrote:
[about few problems with Flashcom]
Hi Jason, I'm glad to hear your connection is stable. Connectivity wasn't
my problem at all. You already know this, but for the benefit of others...
In the Bay Area, Flashcom customers connect through their local loop to a
DSLAM, then over an ATM cloud VPC to Abovenet, a well connected internet
service exchange. The few problems I had were at PacBell's DSLAM in SF, or
Mae West outages. I had 19 ms ping RTT and no congestion. Abovenet's NOC
is staffed 24x7, and they were very helpful. I expect Covad should be even
more stable than a Pacbell hookup.
The problems with Flashcom were not technical ones. They were not even
around to open trouble tickets or track down network problems. They say
they've improved that. I had major billing problems, and never yet a
response from their accounting dept about the issue. Getting the attention
of their president hasn't been satisfactory. I would have been happy to
keep the service I signed up for, but they started playing games with
hardware changes, reduced speed, and phone calls to tell me that my
service would be going down any day, because they decided to play power
games in boycotting Pacbell.
I can only hope that pointing out how improper it is to sever a contract,
will cause them to think twice about doing it again when the next deal
comes down the pike. I think it's only fair to warn prospective customers
that it just might happen again in the future.
You have to decide yourself if they're trustworthy. Take this recent quote
from the company's president:
On Fri, 26 Feb 1999, Brad Sachs wrote privately:
> Ed,
> We have a limited time special that I would like to make you personally
> aware of. We are offering the Covad 384/384K for $59.95 a month.
This was his response to my demand for a resolution of the billing issues,
as if signing up with Flashcom again would make everything better. Sheesh.
On March 4, Brad Sachs wrote in comp.dcom.xdsl:
> Re: Flashcom $59.99 384k SDSL.... WTF happened?
> That March 5th deal has been a real pain in the butt. We were "supposed"
> to sell it as a 384/128 g.lite offering, but some people starting
> selling it for what it really is, 384/384. ^^^^^^^^^^^
OK, my judgement is a bit clouded by my bias, and I'm not stating it well.
Here's a quote that I think is worth repeating:
On March 7, John Terhorst wrote in comp.dcom.xdsl Re: broken promises:
> The only reason your connection has been good is because Flashcom can't
> screw it up. Since they don't own their own connections, GTE and further
> down Exodus are charged with keeping your line alive. I think that their
> performance in other areas (mail, customer service, technical support,
> advertising) is testament to the fact that they generally screw up
> whatever they physically can. So count your blessings and pray that they
> never buy their own equipment!
The line quality is going to depend on who they're buying the connectivity
from in the the various markets.
I've always had a soft spot for companies that are run by engineers, and
I've worked for several. Now I'm seeing it from a customer's perspective.
It took two months and LOT of time on hold, but I now have my phone bill
back in my own name, and copies of the ones I missed. Some of the money
has been returned, but I'm still out about $1000. I'll be very happy when
this nightmare is actually over.
-- Ed "I've got more important things to rant about" Anderson
See http://www.pinch.com/flashcom/ for the gory details.
Displayed using a script by Ed Anderson
Problems with Flashcom, a national DSL service provider