Wanadoo - WanaDON'T!! (Freeserve)

Member Name: EmJane

Product:	Freeserve
Date:	16/07/04 (1988 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast - when it's working!

Disadvantages: 12 month contract, Broken promises, No service

We chose Wanadoo Broadband (previously Freeserve) as when we connected in October ?03, the price of £27.99 was one of the cheapest around and we were already using Freeserve?s Dial-Up service. We were connected within a couple of weeks and had no problems with the service until we moved home and tried to move our Broadband connection with us.

Having Broadband was like a breath of fresh air - no waiting for dial up to connect us, you can use your phone at the same time, high speed internet access and it is easy to install the modem yourself.

To connect to Wanadoo you have to ensure that you have a USB port, a BT phoneline, a suitable debit or credit card and Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000 Professional or XP. Mac OS 8.6 or higher.

Wanadoo's £27.99 internet package gives you a speed of 512K, which I have always found more than adequate and never had more than a second or two delay in browsing between "pages" on the net. You have a download limit of 15 Gigabytes. Now I won't pretend to know just how much this means but we have never reached our limit and we download numerous music, videos and information from the net, problem free.

We had picked up a deal in Dixons, purchasing a modem and two free months connection with Freeserve for £49.99. As I have said, the Modem was easy to set up requiring you to enter a CD and install Broadband via a simle installation program. Connecting the modem was made easy to with diagrams and photo's showing you how to connect.

We then waited a couple of weeks and our Broadband connection was up and running. During the whole seven months we had Wanadoo Broadband in our previous home we had no problems what-so-ever.

Our problems began when we tried to move our Broadband connection. Our dealings with Wanadoo?s customer service have been nothing short of truly appalling. We have been continually lied to and have been given nothing but broken promises. A month and a half
on and we still have no Broadband and we are pulling our hair out with frustration.

We first contacted Wanadoo on 31st May to inform them of a change of address. As we had only moved to the flat next door, we were able to keep our phone number. We contacted them to move our Broadband connection to our new home, and this is when our troubles with Wanadoo began.

We were annoyed to find that this would cost us £25 as we had only moved next door but we were told it was a standard charge. The person we spoke to informed us we would be connected to our broadband service within twenty days. Twenty days passed and we still had no connection so we called Wanadoo again and we were then told it would be twenty ?working? days and that we were not due to be reconnected until the 28th June, the twentieth working day. We found this very frustrating, and it turned out to be the second time they told us something untrue.

When we checked the connection on the 28th June, we found it still had not been reconnected and so my husband called again. The man he spoke to told him that the service had in fact been reconnected and that it must be a problem with the modem and / or the phone line. He talked us through a number of tests, but because my husband is a trained computer professional, he had already discounted the modem as the fault. He then contacted BT for us and told us that BT had checked the previous phone line for us and not the line we had asked to be checked. He told us we would have to wait another five working days for the connection to be made. This was the third time we were told something that later turned out to be untrue.

I found this to be completely unacceptable and phoned to complain. I spoke with someone who promised me she would speak with a supervisor on our behalf. She returned my call later that night, offering us a month?s free connection, as we had been charged £27.99 for a month?s worth of Internet we had not been provided
with. Also, by now, they had not fulfilled your twenty working days connection promise so we were offered a second month free to cover the £25 reconnection fee.

After a few days I called again and this time I was told that Broadband had not even been ordered for us ? nor was there a record of any conversations between the call centre and myself. I was then told to wait another ten working days. I was furious at this and asked to speak to a supervisor or manager. I was promised I would get a call back from one so I waited in all day but got no call. I called again to complain and was promised yet again that a manager would call me back. Again I was disappointed and, by now, was extremely angry with the customer service I have received.

I had never had a problem with Wanadoo until I moved and needed reconnection. I have been so annoyed and frustrated at their level of customer service and continuous broken promises.

I phoned back to ensure that Wanadoo had begun the process of reconnecting but again they had not. As a Manager had not phoned as back our request to get back on line had not be fulfilled. We have since emailed them to complain but have received no reply.

We have been ?promised? again that we will be reconnected within ten days but as my husband says ?frankly I have more faith that the moon is actually made of low-fat cheese. And possibly Branston's sandwich pickle.?

I have not phoned them again to see if we are due to be reconnected as I am sick to the back teeth of waiting on the phone for up to an hour to be lied to!

So basically we have had no Broadband for a month and a half and counting. We have used dial-up connection to check emails but have been unable to surf the internet due to the frustrating speed of the service. I don?t know how many people regularly read and rate using dial up but it is just so slow to register a rating and move between pages.

I am furious with the quality
of service we have received from Wanadoo. They have ignored our phone calls and emails and have made us chase to have our Broadband reconnected which should have automatically be done.

I dread to think how many hours we have wasted on the phone to Wanadoo. Use them at your peril!!

Thanks for reading,
Em XX

Summary: