Irate client slams UUNet service

Internet service provider (ISP) UUNet is again under heavy fire after it was accused of making a client wait 80 days for a 2Mbps leased line.

Habib Mirza, global IT manager at media consultancy ECM Europe, ordered the high-speed connection to replace his previous supplier, AT&T, because he was dissatisfied with its level of service. UUNet quoted a delivery date in the first week of January this year.

However, after he changed the delivery address because the company was moving to new premises only a stone's throw away, Mirza was told by UUNet that he would have to wait until 3 March for the line to be activated.

"UUNet blamed BT for the delay, but I know that was bullshit," said Mirza. "I contacted BT and found that was no such delay. I'm an honest man, and I object to being misled."

Mirza said the delay had seriously impacted on his company's business operations. "More than 95 per cent of our clients are based outside the UK. All our communication is by phone and email. We also have travelling users in Latin America and they have no communications - our team can't talk to their clients," he complained.

He laid the blame firmly at the door of the ISP's management. "UUNet has an excellent technical support team, but the order management group is useless. You are forced to deal with them until the line is activated, and they are crap," he said.

Mirza claimed that the delay meant he had to "grovel" to AT&T to maintain a high-speed link at his old premises, which he then had to link to his company's new site.

He felt that UUNet had not honoured its verbal promises on service, and that he was given an inconsistent message by salespeople. "I was in the middle of a complicated and extensive NT rollout at the time," he said.

Network News has approached UUNet, but the company was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.