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Story URL: http://networks.silicon.com/broadband/0,39024661,39124076,00.htm

Bulldog told 'hand back your gong' by users
'Two hours on the phone does not a winner make... '

By Jo Best

Published: Friday 17 September 2004

A group of Bulldog's broadband customers are so annoyed at the ISP's customer service record that they've launched a campaign to get Bulldog stripped of its title of 'Consumer broadband provider of the year'.

The petition has so far attracted more than 100 signatures from irate Bulldog customers who are petitioning the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) to strip the ISP of the title it was awarded last year.

The substance of the customers' ire hinges on three issues. According to the petition, "a) Bulldog DSL is not responding to emails sent to customer service and technical support, b) not updating its internet status page in a timely manner, c) making it difficult to report faults due to high call waiting queues."

One of the users who signed the petition under the name Mike wrote: "Appalling customer service, too many breaks in service, impossible to contact or get a response from. On what criteria did they get their award?"

Another customer complained of waiting for nearly three hours to speak to customer services while several others said they had been receiving broadband speeds vastly slower than those they had signed up for. 'Duncan Goodall' wrote: "Connection speeds are faster on a dial-up."

The ISP said that it was aware of the problems with its service but the disruption was down to network improvements.

"Bulldog confirms that essential scheduled work on the Bulldog network is continuing. Bulldog is aware that this work may cause some service issues for a small number of users, and would like to apologise for any ongoing problems with the Bulldog service," the ISP said in a statement.

An ISPA spokesman said it was unlikely that Bulldog would be stripped of its title, given the ISP was awarded it for its previous performance in 2003 and early 2004.

That doesn't mean it's not taking the complaints seriously. "We've been in touch with Bulldog about their service levels," the spokesman told silicon.com and confirmed the Association would be having a meeting to discuss the issues.