Poor service from Windstream Business account

Had a horrible experience with Windstream beginning on Friday about 11am. Lost internet connection about 11am , between 11 and noon we called WS and they determined it was a high priority service call needed . My business is a pharmacy so we were unable to bill above 90% of the rxs that were dropped off , and receiving new Rxs via Escribe was also a no go. And accessing our ordering catalog or looking up any inventory question was not available. It comes close to crippling us 100% . Add in this being the first week of a new year with tons of people having insurance coverage changes it makes functionality impossible.

So they told us at noon Tech will be there by 5pm. At 3pm we called them back and told them we close at 6 , if possible it would be best if the tech arrive before 5 . At 4;55 we called WS again , no tech there , no internet for 5 hours . Their response was " a new service ticket has been issued for Monday by 5 pm " . I had my relief pharmacist tell them that was totally unacceptable , this outage was keeping people from getting their medication in a timely fashion. They also added the reason behind not fixing it that night on Friday " we are not issuing any Overtime for a service tech" . So that's the way Friday ended - they said they will attempt to get a tech out on Sat .

In the meantime I called a local IT / Laptop repair guy that does some work for me , he came out and determined my modem was fried and it has to be a WS modem not just any modem to replace it , and he would text a WS tech and get me a modem . Our hours on Sat are 9-1 , by 10am no Tech , nothing from anyone. so I called WS and this is where it got nasty and ugly . I told the guy my story , that I was left hanging yesterday , I'm a Pharmacy , people are not getting meds , this is highly urgent . He said he will call the Planning office or Planning Dept , placed me on hold , got back on the line and said " Sir a ticket has been issued - the date says MONDAY , but we HOPE a tech is able to make it out there today " .

My response was that was unacceptable to me , I needed a certain answer that would be addressed today . He pretty much told me " I've done all I can , Its out of my hands " I requested a superior and he told me " there is no other person to speak to" I told him if I don't get someone else to talk to or a better response I will leave WS . His response was something to the effect of " Do what you have to do" .

So at 1030 or so the tech and my local IT showed up , replaced the modem and all was fixed . But WS's attitude towards this business account was shocking. They were totally uncaring about fixing the issue in a timely fashion.

I'm looking into my options for internet service next week .

Windstream always sucks. No surprise here.

Holy cow, utter disregard for your business by WS! Think you may loose some customers over this? I'm sure you lost or may lose some revenue. I'm not a business owner but if I was, I think I would switch but only as long as it would not cost me a lot of down time and a repeat of what happened with WS regarding customer service while the new system was implemented.

Well I was off that day , not sure if we lost anyone , what we do is good for people but bad for the finances , if its an RX that a sick person needs immediately we just give it to them hoping Insurance will cover it when the internet comes back up . So yes big financial risk if you fill a 300 dollar inhaler and find out its not covered in 17' as compared to 16' . Or a high dollar antibiotic . You just try to delay people best you can but sometimes the patient cant wait. And in todays world people are not too patient , they want it yesterday lol

I know Saturday sure wasn't fun when I went in .

Not knowing what software you are using the following may or may not work. If you simply need access to a secure web site, it definitely would work.

Have your IT guy put a wireless card into at least one of your workstations. If you lose your provider again, set up your or somebody's cell phone as a hot spot and have your wireless workstation connect through that. It may not be the best solution, but you can at least lip along until you provider restores itself.

Any more updates on this? I ask because I'm a pharmacist myself so I can definitely understand what you are going through.

In our area we can get Suddenlink. Cheaper, faster and better for us. Had a horrible experience with Windstream. They get a lot of the business contracts around here so they don't care about the individual customers. Had a very similar experience to yours. Just an absolutely horrible company to deal with all around.

Was waiting to see if Windstream called me back last week , they didnt , I'm going to attempt to call and get a manager to speak with .