Back in Early June, I ordered a Hayes Century 2 Rack under the Hayes ISP
program for $4144. Fine. I recieved it in mid-June.
The rack I recieved simply did not want to cooperate. Sure, it *did*
look pretty in our rack, but that's where it ended. We had multiple
problems with them. For one, they would not connect correctly to *any*
kind of modem, USR Sportsters, generics, or even another Hayes from the
same rack. It was rare that they would agree and would connect right.
Some modems would just go offhook and stay that way until the
card was completely re-seated. Some modems (via LEDs and LED readout) would
think they were still connected, well after a phone line was completely
removed. We did have a large fan blowing through it.
Hayes Tech Support did not have any working solutions. This was multiple
calls. Mr. Green got a little more involved with Hayes tech support and
engineering, and they couldn't help him either.
Late June, I contacted Hayes again to request a full refund. It
constantly took a while of call-forwarding. You call customer support,
they transfer you to tech support. Tech support doesn't know what to do,
and they transfer you to 'Product Support.' This happened consistently,
there was no way to go straight to 'Product Support.' Finally, a rep got
my address and told me they would MAIL me RMA info.
Two weeks later, I have nothing in the mail, and I call Hayes again. I
get ahold of another rep and ask why I haven't recieved anything. They
did not know what I was talking about, and told me to send it straight
back to Hayes, attention to "Wayne"
I boxed it up and shipped it via UPS to Hayes on July 19th. One week
later, I called asking if they recieved my rack. Again, they did not
know what I was talking about, since I was not issued a RMA number.
After about 15 minutes of reciting order numbers, they said that they did
recieve it, my order would be sent to accounting to cut a check.
"You should recieve it in a WEEK" were their exact words.
One week later, no check. Actualy two weeks went buy and I haven't
gotten anything. I call Hayes again, play hunt-the-rack again. A rep
tells me the check was processed *today*, the woman that normally does it
was on vacation -- (she was the *only* one that could do it?!?)
Two weeks later, I call Hayes. Play hunt-the-rack (really!). I get the
story "these things take time, you'll have it soon".
I get pissed off and start calling Hayes every week. Another two weeks,
I tell them about the bs I'm putting up with, and people finally *talk*
to me. They found the guy "Wayne" I was suppost to send it to, he gets
ahold of accounting, accounting calls *me*, then "Wayne" calls me saying
I will have my check soon.
Here it is September 16th, and I was about to call my lawyer and the
Atlanta Better Business Bureau to get the legals stirred up. Lo and
behold, there was a check on my desk from Hayes!
It took a total of TWO MONTHS for Hayes to issue a refund check, from the
time I sent it in on July 19th, and by the time I got it on September 16th.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
1. don't buy a Hayes Century 2 modem rack, it was bad luck for us, and
forced us to delay opening for 2 weeks while we got new modems in place.
I am now the proud owner of two Boca modem racks, compared to the Hayes,
they have performed flawlessly.
2. If you deal with Hayes, GET THE CONTACT INFORMATION! Get names, get
phone numbers, and start an audit trail! Entire conversations will
disappear with them!
3. If you send anything back, make SURE they issue a RMA.
4. Don't take any bs from Hayes. If they specifically say a week, hold
them to it.
aaargh.
===============================================================
Bryan Wann, Owner, CNA, Solaris Sysadmin, BOFH >clickety-click<
CompuWare Internet Services http://www.cwis.net
bwann@cwis.net bcasey@galstar.com Stigler, OK