Tuesday, September 30, 2008
DoDo revived
People often ask me which Internet provider do I recommend. My answer is "None of them!" That sentiment is the result of having been a reseller for over half a dozen different internet providers over the last 12 years. They have all let me down and my customers down in one way or another. Nevertheless, if you have a computer, not being on the net is like having a car with no wheels - so internet providers are a necessary evil. The trick is to find one you can tolerate.
In 2001 I became a DoDo reseller. At the time they had some cheap dial up plans and in this part of the world ADSL was still 3 years away from being available. I sold quite a few of the dial up plans to customers - they were just fine for the first while - but somewhere along the line DoDo went feral. Their support became woeful, sometimes taking 48 hours to respond to calls, customers who closed their accounts found that they continued to get their credit cards debited for months after and contacting them meant hours doing battle with their automated phone system and operators with all manner of peculiar accents. I got fed up terminated my reseller agreement with them.
I am currently a BigPond reseller. Not because they're especially good, but BigPond is probably the most broadly available - and being a regional area....if BigPond can't do it...then nobody can. (By the way we still can't get ADSL 2 on the Tweed Coast - which is appalling.)
About a month back I got a phone call from DoDo inviting me back into their fold of re-sellers. "Not on your life after the last experience!" was my response. I recalled the 5 hours I spent one time setting up a dial up account over at Banora Point all for a commission of $20 - the angry customer - and I didn't actually sell the service to this guy - but he was just about ready to tear my office apart because DoDo had charged him $68 on his $9.95 dial up account - then there was having to explain to a bewildered 68 year old lady what a download is and how the download threshold works....and gawd knows how many under paid hours spent on support calls to Indian call centres made on behalf of customers.....arrrghhh....! Who needs it?
But the guy persisted...."No, No we've changed....we've improved....just let me send you out our new package.....and we have a new commision structure...and a new reseller team and a great new reseller on-line portal"
The thing is from my point of view as a reseller, it's not a question of making a big commision out of a reselling an Internet Service. I mean its nice to make a dollar if your in small business, but its far more important being able to provide a service that customers are happy with. Also when i get someone who wants to sign up for a service I want to get that done fast! I don't want to spend an entire day getting it sorted out! I want to enter the details and tell the customer -"it's done it'll be a couple of days" (or whatever) Anyway, I relented and allowed the Dodo guy to send me a reseller package.
So the re-seller package arrived and I ignored it for the first few days, but curiousity finally got the better of me. I checked out the re-seller portal...dialed up the support people and wowzow....DoDo do appear to have got their act together to some extent. When I ring up - I get straight thru to people who actually speak English and know what I am talking about and respond positively.
The re-seller Portal appears to be OK - on a par with BigPond's - when it works....its got a few glitches still, but obviously they're getting it right. So its early days but things look more positive with DoDo and they have some good competative ADSL internet, mobile phone, home phone and Wireless Broadband services - and a range of plans to suit almost all situations....a feature sadly lacking from the Big Pond offerings. I'm still a Big Pond reseller so I guess I can offer a choice and there are always situations where one provider is better than the other.
I still don't recommend anyone....whether you can tolerate DoDo or BigPond better will depend on your circumstances and requirements - but I have a wider range of options now...so if you want to know more about home phone connections, ADSL broadband, Wireless Broadband or even mobile phones. Drop me an e-mail jim@furious.com.au or drop into my office or call me (02)6676-3211
In 2001 I became a DoDo reseller. At the time they had some cheap dial up plans and in this part of the world ADSL was still 3 years away from being available. I sold quite a few of the dial up plans to customers - they were just fine for the first while - but somewhere along the line DoDo went feral. Their support became woeful, sometimes taking 48 hours to respond to calls, customers who closed their accounts found that they continued to get their credit cards debited for months after and contacting them meant hours doing battle with their automated phone system and operators with all manner of peculiar accents. I got fed up terminated my reseller agreement with them.
I am currently a BigPond reseller. Not because they're especially good, but BigPond is probably the most broadly available - and being a regional area....if BigPond can't do it...then nobody can. (By the way we still can't get ADSL 2 on the Tweed Coast - which is appalling.)
About a month back I got a phone call from DoDo inviting me back into their fold of re-sellers. "Not on your life after the last experience!" was my response. I recalled the 5 hours I spent one time setting up a dial up account over at Banora Point all for a commission of $20 - the angry customer - and I didn't actually sell the service to this guy - but he was just about ready to tear my office apart because DoDo had charged him $68 on his $9.95 dial up account - then there was having to explain to a bewildered 68 year old lady what a download is and how the download threshold works....and gawd knows how many under paid hours spent on support calls to Indian call centres made on behalf of customers.....arrrghhh....! Who needs it?
But the guy persisted...."No, No we've changed....we've improved....just let me send you out our new package.....and we have a new commision structure...and a new reseller team and a great new reseller on-line portal"
The thing is from my point of view as a reseller, it's not a question of making a big commision out of a reselling an Internet Service. I mean its nice to make a dollar if your in small business, but its far more important being able to provide a service that customers are happy with. Also when i get someone who wants to sign up for a service I want to get that done fast! I don't want to spend an entire day getting it sorted out! I want to enter the details and tell the customer -"it's done it'll be a couple of days" (or whatever) Anyway, I relented and allowed the Dodo guy to send me a reseller package.
So the re-seller package arrived and I ignored it for the first few days, but curiousity finally got the better of me. I checked out the re-seller portal...dialed up the support people and wowzow....DoDo do appear to have got their act together to some extent. When I ring up - I get straight thru to people who actually speak English and know what I am talking about and respond positively.
The re-seller Portal appears to be OK - on a par with BigPond's - when it works....its got a few glitches still, but obviously they're getting it right. So its early days but things look more positive with DoDo and they have some good competative ADSL internet, mobile phone, home phone and Wireless Broadband services - and a range of plans to suit almost all situations....a feature sadly lacking from the Big Pond offerings. I'm still a Big Pond reseller so I guess I can offer a choice and there are always situations where one provider is better than the other.
I still don't recommend anyone....whether you can tolerate DoDo or BigPond better will depend on your circumstances and requirements - but I have a wider range of options now...so if you want to know more about home phone connections, ADSL broadband, Wireless Broadband or even mobile phones. Drop me an e-mail jim@furious.com.au or drop into my office or call me (02)6676-3211
# posted by furious @ 10:36 PM 
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