Earthlink and Customer Care: Oxymoron

OK, so I was uploading some files from my house to my online storage account at Amazon Web Service, using the pretty groovy JungleDisk… and it was taking a very long time.

I have Earthlink DSL (which I upgraded to back in 2001 from dial-up) and it’s always been a pretty slow upload rate at my house. I remember, when I signed up for the DSL, that it was at something like 750Kbps download and 150Kbps upload. I live at the end of the trunk lines for my telephone service area and just getting any kind of DSL was a big treat for quite a while.

A few years ago, I called Earthlink and asked to upgrade my speed. At the time, the best they could do was double it, so that’s how I ended up at the 1.5Mbps download package rate. For this, they charged $39.95 a month. At some point along the way I called and said I didn’t like the rate and they lowered it for a year to $34.95. But three or four months ago the rate went back up to $39.95.

So, back to today… I was uploading some files and it seemed to be taking forever. I did a Speakeasy Speed Test and it came out at 876Kbps download and 323Kbps upload. Not very fast, and certainly nowhere near the “supposed” rates that the DSL service was supposed to offer.

I called Earthlink and said I wanted to upgrade to a faster DSL package. (That was, of course, after running the automated voice response system gauntlet and having to then explain myself to three different people – each time needing to tell them my account information and password and address and email address, etc.). The lady from somewhere in Earthlinkland explained that I had the lowest speed of the DSL packages they offered and said that I could go from my current 1.5Kbps to the speedier 3.0Kbps or the much faster 6.0Kbps. Great, I said, what are the costs? Well, to upgrade to the 3.0 package would cost you $34.95 a month, and the upgrade to the 6.0 would cost $39.95 a month.

But, wait, I said, I’m currently paying $39.95 for the 1.5 package. Yes, but for $34.95 you can have the 3.0, she said. So, I asked, a bit incredulously, I can have twice the speed for $5 less per month. Um… yes, she said. And I can have double the speed for the same price I’ve been paying? Um… yes.

And then I asked why I’ve been paying the highest rate they have for the lowest service they have. “Well, we keep competitive with other providers by offering competitive rates.” I see, I said.

So, the customer who joined them in 1994, when they were a piddling little start-up, and has stayed with them throughout their history, does not get a courtesy call/email/notification from anyone to announce a better speed, or an automatic rate-reduction when they lower their rates? I get to pay the high rate I got when I upgraded just because? And the only way I found about this was to call to upgrade?

Not very savvy, Earthlink.

No wonder you’re losing money, outsourcing your call centers to foreign countries and laying people off. Some companies “get it” when it comes to customer care. Others… well, you have to look no further than Earthlink to see how to screw it up. The least they could do is offer me a discount or free service for a while. But that would be some other company.