What compensation for email outage will keep you as a Telus customer?

[SunDog]

Having an email outage of more than a few hours is simply inexcusable in this day and age. While I appear to be getting new emails, I know for a fact that there are emails from at least August 16th and 17th that have not arrived. And the biggest problem with not getting emails is that you don't know you didn't get them unless the sender tells you (which they can't do via email!) or they eventually show up.

I have internet, Optik tv, home phone, and three mobility accounts with Telus. I will be moving in the next couple of months or I would do it today but Telus will be losing out on close to $500 per month of revenue from just me. How many others will there be? Don't forget, this exact thing happened back in May and they appear to have done nothing to address the root of the problem.

So here is my honest answer to my question: I would only be satisfied with a minimum of 2 months credit for my internet service which is $85 x 2 = $170.

What about you?

[khollett]

I have not been able to send or receive emails since August 9 - 10 days!  I agree this is inexcusable.  I highly doubt that there is anything that Telus could offer that could keep me as a customer.

[vishwa]

I may be in the minority here but over the last several years all of Telus services were rock solid.  This was one time something went wrong and I personally will be OK if they didn't offer any compensation.  Things do happen.  Data breach is a much more serious thing than this outage.

[Gadjet]

So many people will "jump ship" because they can't believe that this happened to them and want to go to another provider.  Other providers have their fare share of outages as well.  But these people do this because they have no loyalty and simply want to get as much for free as they can.  They'll get their free TV or discounts for joining the other provider, and then after 90 days they'll jump back to Telus or use a different name to avoid being caught at their game, just to get another promotion.

Some want 2 months credit based on the Internet charge for this outage, but don't consider that their Internet was not out.  If they had a second email account such as a Gmail account - like most other people have for second level security - they could have weathered this outage.

Yes it was an outage, but if you take the time to call in (yes, it will take time) and talk calmly to the front line agent at Telus, they will do their best for you.  Remember, the majority of those employees are likely in the same circumstance as you are, so don't jump all over them because you think you're the only important one out there.

When you get the CCO posting on social media to apologize, you can bet Telus cares, and they want to make it right for their customers.

Give Telus the same chance as you would like to have, when (not if) you make a mistake.

[xray]

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@khollett wrote:

I have not been able to send or receive emails since August 9 - 10 days!  I agree this is inexcusable.  I highly doubt that there is anything that Telus could offer that could keep me as a customer.

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The outage started on August 15. If your email wasn't working since August 9 then the issue is not related to the outage.

[ennjeoajat]

@xray: Telus claims the outage began on the 15th, so you simply take their word for it? @khollett is correct. For some customers the outage started around the 9th. That was when I first got calls from Telus customers with email outages. I wasted too much time diagnosing their email problems only to find that it was Telus email servers failing. Consider yourself fortunate that you were not among those who lost email service for 10 days, but don't be fooled by Telus lies.

[xray]

The current outage was reported by several sources as being caused by Dell EMC accidentally taking Telus.net offline on August 15. When that is corrected whatever was the cause of khollett's email issues starting August 9 will likely still be there. The two are unrelated.

[ennjeoajat]

@xray: Where do you suppose those "several sources" got their information from? Assertions do not become true merely by multiple sources repeating Telus claims. The customers I was trying to help at about the same time @khollett was first experiencing email problems had their service returning in the same way at the same time as the rest of us (i.e. up and down, partially working, fully working, failing again, and eventually stabilizing, more or less, we hope). Are you surprised that the Telus PR machine would understate the severity and duration of problems? Telus is desperately trying to pacify angry customers and admitting to the full extent of the problem won't help that.

[TELUSanother]

As of today (August 16), TELUS is offering $20 rebate on next bill (volunteered, not asked for). That's $4 a day (and decreasing every 24 hours that this problem exists). I turned down the offer and said I didn't want to see it on my bill. It's an insult. A 3 month rebate on full monthly Internet charge would be appropriate considering the length of this outage (which is not the first).

[polecat]

All providers have problems of some sort at times . The  $ to change providers brings up the question. THE DEVIL YOU GOT OR THE DEVIL YOU GET ? It never ends.

[SunDog]

I use aliases from my own domain to my Telus email accounts so switching providers is dead simple for me. I can always come back in two years and get a free tv. Or they can give me a credit more significant than $20 for two lengthy email outages (May and August).

[Gilgamesh]

I haven't received any kind of offer, I know that some email. is missing so probably some I don't know about. A major outage like this needs more than apologies, One month rebate at minimum.

[Spinner]

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@Gilgamesh wrote:

I haven't received any kind of offer, I know that some email. is missing so probably some I don't know about. A major outage like this needs more than apologies, One month rebate at minimum.

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Make sure you put in support emails/tickets or phone Telus during this outage. When it comes time to discussing compensation with a Telus rep, you'll want to have several records indicating that your email service remains out.

[Ux4it]

Mmmmm, I was only offered $10, not $20

[ennjeoajat]

Don't accept the insulting compensation offers. Call Telus, ask for the loyalty department, and nicely let them know how you feel. They are authorized to give you compensation in the amount of what you pay for a full month's Internet service. The loyalty folks really do seem to care about customers, contrary to Telus upper management who know their offers are outrageous and just do not care. I would like to think that Telus will have learned from this outage and plans to make serious changes to email infrastructure and processes to at least meet the best practises long known by everybody else in the industry, but their minimalistic approach to providing good customer service strongly suggests that will never happen.

[Janann]

Yes, do call. It worked out well for me. I chose "billing" from the menu options, and the CSR was great, offered an ongoing adjustment to my equipment rental. The most shocking thing to me was that the total telephone time was 14 minutes - no wait time - at peak time!! This is the first time I have ever felt that Telus valued my time (as I've heard so many times while on hold). The rep did confirm that they had extra hands on deck for the expected calls. I was so impressed that I emailed Telus to express how different this customer experience was than the usual hour-long telephone wait time...and asked them to please continue increased staffing levels at known peak times. I'm not holding my breath, though. I've asked so many times over the years, posted here about it as well. Their reputation for appalling customer service is, for me, simply the telephone wait time. The CSRs have a tough job that would likely improve a lot with the extra support, too.

To be treated so well today was a pleasant surprise. I hope others have the same experience. 

[Telusloyalfrustratedcustomer]

I was also offered $10 credit and options to take 6 free on demand movies, 20 donation to Telus foundation, or some reward points. I am telus customer over 20 years, have internet, optik tv, home phone and 2 cell phone, last year was 4 cell phones with Telus. When your bill is over $500 per month and receiving $10 credit is an insult. Telus offers deals to attract new customers but does very little to keep loyal customers. This outage may even force me to finally say good bye to my email of 20 years

[SunDog]

I asked for and was given a 1 month internet credit. While I started this thread by saying anything less than 2 months would be unacceptable, I've softened a bit after hearing how much worse some people got it.

I will also be moving in the next few months so I'll use this as a further bargaining chip when deciding whether or not to stay with Telus at that time.

[Spinner]

Received the following text message this afternoon:

A Message from TELUS: Over the past 24 hours, many customers have had historical emails and contacts restored. You should be able to access your TELUS email in webmail and all other email applications, including your smartphone and tablet. We encourage you to check your TELUS email to confirm. If you are still experiencing issues, please call 310-2255 and press "2" to speak to a dedicated team for assistance. For troubleshooting visit telus.com/emailoutage

Of course, it's Telus. So my emails still have not been restored, so I'll be calling Tech Support and Loyalty again. I'll be asking for credits for TV services this time.

[Chicnstu]

I would love to find out how many customers demanding compensation for their email disruption actually pay for the email as a standalone service and don't just receive it as the complimentary feature/addon that it is. The vocal majority of people who are demanding compensation seem to be those who run a business from home but do not pay for business products and the guarantees for service restoral and lost revenue those provide. Telus webmail is a free addon of residential internet. There was no loss in internet service.

I feel for the people who have been impacted by this outage and yes, the response and fix from Telus was sub-par for sure. That being said, demanding compensations with threats to cancel all services is definitely overreacting in my book.

[SunDog]

I left Shaw about 8 years ago because their PVR offering had what some called "minor" bugs and got a free TV for my "trouble". Was I only supposed to switch TV providers?

By the way, how does one get the title "Ambassador" anyway? Because my impression is that those with that title sound more like PR employees than customers.