Kindly permit me to use this forum to vent my anger and bring to light how we mosttimes abused in this country by companies who think they can do injustice and go un-purnished just because they operate in Nigeria.

I bought the funny express card (AirCard 597E) for 15k, with sales reps beaming with smiles while marketing other products to me.
To activate the card became serious problem, activation took days with series of calls to *123
I had to pay for another provider pending the activation, so as to meet up with deadlines.
I exhausted the 100 hrs airtime and decided to switch over to the business time, 9am - 9pm. Another trouble started.

All customer service officers told me one lie or the other, framed as crazy unbelievable excuses, I was at a point told to go back to the bank and ask the teller I paid to, to re-post after 3days. I am working on it some will say, I am texting the activation department, I am mailing them, promising different hours of the day for four days. I now know almost all starcomms customer service officers name by heart, I can almost tell who is speaking by their voices. (I now do dream of calling starcomms data help line)

They all sang the same song, hold on while we check your details, thank you for holding on, our system is slow the reason for the little delay (got a bit scared cos I crossed over from other ISPs cos of speed) Can I have your card no, where are u calling from, teller no, Account number, Payment plan etc.
It got to a stage I told them not to ask me again ,  look at your system, its there, you can see the number of times you have logged the same complaint for the past four days and still counting.

AS I SPEAK, I am yet to be activated or my new subscription plan is yet to be effected. starcomms is already enjoying my money since the 23rd of March, wasting my precious time, thanking me for choosing/using a service I paid for without my been allowed to use. I bet I will never be compensated for all the time, energy, money and business I lost in between, unless someone wants to proof otherwise.

I wrote the NCC's consumer affairs bureau http://www.ncc.gov.ng I still await their reply.

Please, what do I do, so that ISPs like starcomms do not take undue advantage of my person and others.

You may share your experience for others to be aware of all the nonsense act they all perform.

Thank You

Got a call today, apologising and a promise to activate asap which I still very much await.

NCC wrote Customer Service, reason for the call above, I am now activated and smiling, I don't know if I should include today as part of my subcription since I got activated around 4pm, what happens to the period wasted 9am -4pm? I am certain by 9pm they will definitely cut me off.

what a relief.

i tink we all shud be mailing NCC constomer service weneva dis ISPs begin to f**k up

Like I said earlier, I am now activated for the new month, but was still placed on the former plan. An error I notify them of and requested to be changed to my preferred plan, they replied with another apology, and a token of " " that's got to do with I guess the package error, I don't know how long I will enjoy it before my real subscription.

Note I am updating this topic so as to tell everyone, they responded, apologised and a token in their assumed appropriate way, my case might be different from yours and might require a different approach, token and all.

Thank you.

PS. I still don't know the reason why it all happen* in the first place.

sfi_ea:

Like I said earlier, I am now activated for the new month, but was still placed on the former plan. An error I notify them of and requested to be changed to my preferred plan, they replied with another apology, and a token of " " that's got to do with I guess the package error, I don't know how long I will enjoy it before my real subscription.

Note I am updating this topic so as to tell everyone, they responded, apologised and a token in their assumed appropriate way, my case might be different from yours and might require a different approach, token and all.

Thank you.

PS. I still don't know the reason why it all happen* in the first place.

too many customers, low bandwith offerred & little incompetent hands

my guy,,,,,,,,,,wat was d "token" na

I think, speed depends on what package you are on, I tasted the Izap and fell in love with it, though not as if they can't do better than the 35KB/s average they provide, cos I know of other ISP's bandwith doing upto 1MB/s or even more, imagine at their free browsing zone (Wifi), but not in Nigeria.

I have used MTN but I hate the 3G limitation which I finish in max 4days, they even deduct your bandwidth for uploads, which you are never told but you discover as you use.

For now I give it to Starcomms, in terms of portability (I don't need any funny CPE), speed - ok but can't watch my online TV programmes though, and as per downtime -> I think very reasonable.

If not for whatever was the cause of our little mis-understanding, you for no hear from me.

And as per the "token", I still don't know what token they are giving to me as I enjoy it and I don't want a situation were someone will use my case to harass them for undue compensation, its left to them to compensate as they deem fit, depending on your case with them.

But I have this little issue with most of the ISPs especialy reltel, when they activate you close to the end of the day, you are not compensated for the hours lost, and at the end of the last day of your subscription, 00:00 hrs on the dot, you are disconnected.
I think they should have a software that disconnects you at the very hour you were connected 30 days after.

at their free browsing zone (wifi), and not illegal browsing zone.

I wonder why I can't edit posted items

I beg moderator or SEUN, if this is not a bug, kindly edit your software not to change the word "F-R-E-E" (F) (R) (E) (E) to illegal, I thought I was the one making the mistake.

SFI,thanx 4 ur informative post!U r very lucky-a colleague of mine is nt as lucky!This wk will be d 3rd he bought starcomms table top 4 browsin;till dis very day,he's yet 2 enjoy wat he paid 4!It has been one excuse or d other frm d customer care pple!
As 4 me,I had a very bad experience wit visafone wen I bought a Haier D200 fone 4 7k wit 1 month free browsing.Frm d day I bought d fone,I asked if it wz compatible wit my LG E300 running on vista home premium.They said it wz & dat it will be activated in 2 days' time.After 2 days,I couldnt use it.I went back 2 dem and wz told dat my system is nt compatible!Wat wz then done?Nothing!I wz frustrated-I had 2 give out 2 a friend!Frm dat time on,I av vowed never 2 do anything wit CDMA-based internet service providers.I do all my browsin on my fone & if I need 2 browse on my laptop,I use mtn daily data plan-shikena!If nt 4 d limitation,mtn data packages is jst ok 4 me.

I think starcom (or what ever you call them)using dial-up instead of T1 for their backbone connection .
Unfortunately as ISP services are relatively new in Niigeria,there will be incessant low quality service at the best of times and utter chaos some other times.
All you can do is to keep chasing it up or count your losses and switch ISP (not sure of the choices out there sha).
Try threathening them with legall action \newspaper exposure
that might work.
Goodluck mate.

Good for you and I am sure you are lucky.
Each time I am paying for renewal, I have to emphasize to the contact person that I need to use the internet same day; I guess they have bitten more than they can chew with sign-ups. Starcomms activation never took more than 2 hours back then, but now

@I have used MTN but I hate the 3G limitation which I finish in max 4days, they even deduct your bandwidth for uploads, which you are never told but you discover as you use.
pls i use mtn only cos i saw the issues my collegues and friends were goin tru wit starcomms, delays wit subscriiption activation or renewal, unavailability of starcomms in certain states like enugu especially wen i had to be there last week i could take my lappie wit me cos mtn is there, but enlighten me, wat are the issues with mtn subscription?

hmmm,

never really had any serious problem using starcomms.one year plus.

free

I guess the admin has configured his script, free is now interpreted, echoed or printed as "free", a keyword I guess spammers on Nairaland uses and they were traping them.

@ the topic - So much for them ISPs, I really have to appreciate the NCC Woman (Consumers Affairs Department) for her swift and succinct response

Good morning ***,

Kindly resolve and revert.

Many thanks

*****

I was really ready to involve my lawyer, cos I also copied NCC's legal department, cost I lost a potential job, burnt fuel, stayed glue to the system all working hours, waiting for their fake hope of being connected daily for 5 good solid business days.

Hi Mr. Funsho, Chuka, Banji, Emaka etc, or any other CSO,

Attached is the teller for *********** AirCard 597E Awaiting activation since 23rd of March.

Thanks

This was a frustrated me on Friday the 27th.

Starcoms needs to learn the art of customer service.

i hv been using their IZAP for a while now, and the earliest i get activated after renewing my contract is always more than 24 hours.
I paid for my usual 100 hours on tuesday 24th March, I didnt get connected until thur 26th, and this was after i went to lodge a complaint at both the bank and their office on Toyin street. This is rather bad.

Another aspect of starcoms is the fact that it is almost impossible for u to know how many hours you have left on your hourly plan. If you call the customer service, their usual response is to send a mail. Dont even bother sending any mail cos you wont get any response.

I dare them to prove me wrong as I am willing to supply all my details.
I think it is high time NCC takes serious steps to sanction this people

what is all the free thing about? free, freee, freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, huummmmm, ee show well na, which one una dey talk?

Mine was also taking ages b4 i used phone calls to monitor the config guy every step of the way.

The browsing is doing well but downloads not that fast.

I subscribed to the 250hrs. Hw wld i know the residual hrs?

I have been using Starcomms Broadband (Night Package) in Calabar since November last year and i'll comfortably say that they are the best. Subscription renewals are activated right at the office after payment even before you collect your teller. And their download speeds are the greatest, I need no accelerator to clock over 300kbps in downloads speeds and uptime is 99% most times, Starcomms Rocks!

I am now back to my 9am-9pm belt since yesterday, so you all can guess what the "token" was, which I believe probably mistakenly got because of the 2nd error of not placing me on the right belt in the first place. Waiting to switch from my backup ISP once its 9am.

@olivetree : I was told by the CS that their system update lags 4 hour, so they can never give you your current position but 4hrs late, my free 100hrs then, expired while my last call to them says I was having 3hrs,23mins. My plan was to manage the remaining time over the weekend, just as I was making the decision and trying to disconnect, I noticed the link disconnected itself, trying to reconnect immediately resulted to Access denied, username and password invalid.
I called back and the above reason was given - lag in time. I don't know what to believe cos of my experience with them.

@estauso : based on your submission, starcomms require more centers to accommodate LAGOS, I don't doubt possible instant activation if they have the right structure, software and know how, which they can easily get, MTN does instant activation, all they need is the first verification/ID process to cub fraudulent activities and 419 guys picking up the link and other reasons best known to them. After which online payment system (ATM), recharge cards and other method could be implemented, Look at the banking sector, long queue reduced cos of ATM

Is it just me? I can't edit my post/reply.

Starcomms really need to upgrade their services. While i was on the monthly plan, there was a time that i renewed my subscription and it took then 5 days to activate it. The subscription expired on the exact second and i lost 5 days. This prompted me to switch to 250 hrs package.
The customer care service is another issue. There was a time i was calling because of delayed activation and the guy that answered the call said i should call back in a minutes time. I then told him that we both know that if I am to do that, I would be directed to another person, he then grudginly took down my details (doubt if he did anything with them).

There was also a case when i couldn't browse. I called their customer care time without number and was later told by one of then that i should go to their office if i want my case to be solved on time. I get to their office, lay my complaint, TELL THEM THAT THE FAULT IS FROM THEM AND NOT MY LAPTOP AS I HAVE TRIED USING THE STARCOMMS ON ANOTHER SYSTEM, but this lady still goes ahead to uninstall the starcomms software on my system. She could not reinstall it back then tested it on her laptop and says "the fault is from us as its not working on my system" (Talk about working backwards!). I was left with the task of reinstalling and configuring starcomms on my system when i got back home.

[size=20pt]Starcomms, Rubbish ISP. I don't like starcomms.
Multilinks needs to work harder.
when you go to reltel office to pay for your internet subscription, by the time you get home, just click connect and u'll be connected.
But for starcomms, it will take them 1 week. They piss me off seriously. I hate starcomms! [/size]

Starcomms Rocks!