Edwin – I couldn’t agree with you more. I am crossing my fingers that a skype video call with a client next week does not fail me. I have had terrible connections in the past. Or am I alone on this?

From: kictanet-bounces+emuchiri=andestbites.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+emuchiri=andestbites.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Edwin Onchari
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 6:17 PM
To: emuchiri@andestbites.com
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] [KICTAnet] An Open Letter to Zuku (Help me please!!!)

Good evening all,

Let me also add my voice in this. I not only have had a frustrating experience with Zuku, but with 2 other ISPs as well. All the BPO players will all testify at one point or another going into lengthy conference calls with clients because of poor service from ISPs. I have lost a couple of lucrative contracts in the past because of this, and the most frustrating thing is they do not care. I am glad to see that CCK is willing to take this up.

Edwin

From: kictanet-bounces+eonchari=lynxbits.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eonchari=lynxbits.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Muchiri, Patricia
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 5:35 PM
To: Edwin
Cc: supportbb@zuku.co.ke; sharon.kisia@ke.wananchi.com; ida.aginga@ke.wananchi.com; Ooro, Juma; support@ke.wananchi.com; zukucanhelp@gmail.com; felix.sechero@ke.wananchi.com; Kirui, Liston; poonam.pitrola@ke.wananchi.com; ruth.muturi@ke.wananchi.com; sabiya.bagha@ke.wananchi.com; shelmith.njoki@ke.wananchi.com; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions; samson.bonyi@ke.wananchi.com; jimmy.mbotela@ke.wananchi.com
Subject: Re: [kictanet] [KICTAnet] An Open Letter to Zuku (Help me please!!!)

Good evening Edith ,

As earlier promised below is some information to an enquiry you had raised earlier. I hope indeed that this information will be useful .Please let me know if any further information is required.

Issues raised:

Does CCK have a consumer affairs department.

The Commission has a fully fledged Consumer affairs department that handles amongst other responsibilities, consumer complaints. We can be reached on chukua@hatua or complaints @cck.go.ke or on tel no. 020-445 555, 0714 444 555, 0737 445 555 or fax no. 4242394.

Can the Commission’s consumer complaint procedures be published?

The Commission does indeed have a complaints handling procedure which is in the form of the Kenya Information and Communications (Dispute Resolution) Regulations, 2010. The said regulations have clear steps on how the Commission is expected to handle every complaint/dispute between a consumer and a service provider.

The Kenya Information and Communications (Consumer Protection) Regulations, 2010, on the other hand outlines the rights and obligations consumers have as well as the obligations service providers have with regard to the services provided. Section 7 of these regulations also stipulate what service providers need to observe when dealing with the complaints raised by their customers as well as when customers may refer their complaints to the Commission or a third party (arbitrator –where such an arrangement exists). This procedure is as shown below.

7. Complaint handling procedures for licensees.

(1) A licensee shall provide easily understood information about its complaint handling processes in various media and formats, including as specifically directed by the Commission from time to time.

(2) A customer who wishes to lodge a complaint shall reduce the complaint in writing and lodge it within six months from the date of the incident that the complaint arises from.

(3) A licensee shall acknowledge the receipt of a complaint filed with it.

(4) A licensee shall where possible, advise a customer at the time of making the complaint on the expected action, timing for investigation and resolution of the complaint and in the event that the service provider regards the complaint as frivolous or vexatious, the consumer shall be informed accordingly.

(5) A licensee shall resolve all complaints made by its customers within a reasonable time.

(6) A licensee shall put in place a process to provide customer with sufficient information and the means to inquire on the progress of complaints and the processes may include complaint reference numbers or other identifiers in order to facilitate timely and accurate responses to subsequent inquiries by customers.

(7) A licensee shall inform the customer of the outcome of the investigation of their complaint, and any decision of the licensee.

(8) Where a customer is not satisfied with a decision made on a complaint, the licensee shall give the customer the option of pursuing an identified escalation process, where the decision may be examined by a suitably qualified person in the licensee’s organisation.

(9) Where the consumer has already gone through the licensee’s escalation process and the complaint has not been resolved to the consumer’s satisfaction, the customer may refer the complaint to the Commission.

(10) The complaint handling processes shall be provided free of charge.

(11) Notwithstanding paragraph (10), where the investigation of the complaint requires the retrieval of records more than twelve months old or the retrieval results in any incremental expense or significant inconvenience to the licensee, a licensee may impose a reasonable charge for the complaint handling processes.

(12) Any such charges shall be identified by the licensee, be agreed to by the customer and referred to the Commission before being imposed.

(13) A licensee shall file, with the Commission, such information and statistics on all complaints reported, including those resolved and those outstanding, on a quarterly basis in the manner prescribed by the Commission from time to time.

It will thus be noted that subsections (7) and (8) defines the exit conditions for consumers, upon which the Dispute Resolution regulations then kick in once the consumer has referred the matter to the Commission.

The set of regulations detailing these procedures are available on CCK website for reference and are also contained in the downloadable Kenya Information and Communications Act, 1998 document from the same website.

With regard to publication of the complaints (dispute) resolution procedures, the Commission has been sharing this information with consumers through its outreach programs. Our contact information is also widely publicized.

Please also note that data and statistics on complaints is available in the Commission’s annual report .Under the earlier regulations (The Kenya Communications Regulations, 2001) there was no provision for procedures on complaint handling.

The Commission is in the process of embarking on the rollout of another phase of its Consumer education outreach program that will use various media platforms that will endeavour to share this information to the extent possible as well as continue exploiting various other channels to distribute brochures/flyers on the complaint handling procedures.

Can QoS performance of all companies be made public?

The Commission has recently begun the publication of quality of service performance information in accordance with The Kenya Information And Communications (Licensing And Quality Of Service) Regulations, 2010. It is important to note that this report was for mobile services only. The most recent report can be accessed from the link: http://www.cck.go.ke/consumers/other_info/quality_of_service.html.

This is currently limited to being published once a year.

Regards ,

Patricia Muchiri -Assistant Director

Consumer Affairs Division

Communications Commission of Kenya

Tel: +254 20 4242412/413

Mobile: +254 722 836 959

Fax: +254 20 4242411

P.O Box 14448, Nairobi

00800

Nairobi

KENYA

Email: muchiri@cck.go.ke

Website:http://www.cck.go.ke

Disclaimer:

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use by the individual(s) or entity to whom it is addressed to. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited. Additionally, if you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately by a reply e-mail.

From: Edith Adera [mailto:eadera@idrc.or.ke]
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 2:23 PM
To: Muchiri, Patricia
Cc: sabiya.bagha@ke.wananchi.com; ida.aginga@ke.wananchi.com; sharon.kisia@ke.wananchi.com; support@ke.wananchi.com; zukucanhelp@gmail.com; felix.sechero@ke.wananchi.com; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions; ruth.muturi@ke.wananchi.com; poonam.pitrola@ke.wananchi.com; shelmith.njoki@ke.wananchi.com; supportbb@zuku.co.ke; samson.bonyi@ke.wananchi.com; jimmy.mbotela@ke.wananchi.com
Subject: RE: [KICTAnet] An Open Letter to Zuku (Help me please!!!)

Hi Patricia,

My point is that it's best that complaint procedures are made publicly available to all Kenyans and sample cases of actions taken to build confidence (with enough advertising for everyone to know) - not every Kenyan has the priviledge of complaining on KICTANET and have action taken.

In addition, we should have QoS performance of all companies published for consumers to make their choice.

CCK needs to be more aggressive in adopting and implementing some of these best practices to protect consumers.

Edith

________________

Edith Ofwona Adera

Senior Program Specialist

ICT4D Program and Climate Change & Water Program

International Development Research Centre | Centre de recherches pour le développement international

Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa

Tel: +254202713160 | Fax/Téléc: +254202711063 | Skype: edithadera

eadera@idrc.or.ke | www.idrc.ca | www.crdi.ca

Error! Filename not specified.

From: Muchiri, Patricia [Muchiri@cck.go.ke]
Sent: 17 March 2011 13:30
To: Edith Adera
Cc: sabiya.bagha@ke.wananchi.com; ida.aginga@ke.wananchi.com; sharon.kisia@ke.wananchi.com; support@ke.wananchi.com; zukucanhelp@gmail.com; felix.sechero@ke.wananchi.com; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions; ruth.muturi@ke.wananchi.com; poonam.pitrola@ke.wananchi.com; shelmith.njoki@ke.wananchi.com; supportbb@zuku.co.ke; samson.bonyi@ke.wananchi.com; jimmy.mbotela@ke.wananchi.com
Subject: RE: [KICTAnet] An Open Letter to Zuku (Help me please!!!)

Good afternoon Edith ,

My sincere apologies if there have been any specific consumer complaints that have not been addressed having been raised in the KICTAnet mailing list. More specifically I will coming back to you with a comprehensive response on your enquiry by close of business today.

Apology for a late response.

Regards,

Patricia Muchiri -Assistant Director

Consumer Affairs Division

Communications Commission of Kenya

Tel: +254 20 4242412/413

Mobile: +254 722 836 959

Fax: +254 20 4242411

P.O Box 14448, Nairobi

00800

Nairobi

KENYA

Email: muchiri@cck.go.ke

Website:http://www.cck.go.ke

Disclaimer:

From: kictanet-bounces+muchiri=cck.go.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+muchiri=cck.go.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Edith Adera
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 6:18 PM
To: Muchiri, Patricia
Cc: sabiya.bagha@ke.wananchi.com; ida.aginga@ke.wananchi.com; sharon.kisia@ke.wananchi.com; support@ke.wananchi.com; zukucanhelp@gmail.com; felix.sechero@ke.wananchi.com; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions; ruth.muturi@ke.wananchi.com; poonam.pitrola@ke.wananchi.com; shelmith.njoki@ke.wananchi.com; supportbb@zuku.co.ke; samson.bonyi@ke.wananchi.com; jimmy.mbotela@ke.wananchi.com
Subject: Re: [kictanet] An Open Letter to Zuku (Help me please!!!)

It's strange that CCK never responds to issues on KICTANET list except the other day I saw an email from Christopher.

Does CCK have a consumer affairs department. Can complaint procedures be published? and QoS performance of all companies be made public?

I was just about to sign up to Zuku after the feedback we got from listers on broadband!

A consumer study we've just published points to serious complaints in the Internet market which are not being addressed.

Edith

________________

Edith Ofwona Adera

Senior Program Specialist

ICT4D Program and Climate Change & Water Program

International Development Research Centre | Centre de recherches pour le développement international

Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa

Tel: +254202713160 | Fax/Téléc: +254202711063 | Skype: edithadera

eadera@idrc.or.ke | www.idrc.ca | www.crdi.ca

Error! Filename not specified.

From: kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Brian Ngure [brian@pixie.co.ke]
Sent: 15 March 2011 01:43
To: Edith Adera
Cc: sabiya.bagha@ke.wananchi.com; ida.aginga@ke.wananchi.com; support@ke.wananchi.com; zukucanhelp@gmail.com; felix.sechero@ke.wananchi.com; poonam.pitrola@ke.wananchi.com; ruth.muturi@ke.wananchi.com; sharon.kisia@ke.wananchi.com; shelmith.njoki@ke.wananchi.com; supportbb@zuku.co.ke; samson.bonyi@ke.wananchi.com; jimmy.mbotela@ke.wananchi.com; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] An Open Letter to Zuku (Help me please!!!)

Hi,

I would like to bring to attention the extremely poor service provided by Zuku. The quality of service has steadily declined. Emails to customer support are now totally ignored.

When I subscribed to the "Turbo 8" bundle from Zuku, I was informed that the speed would be maintained at a minimum of 70% to 80% (approximately 5Mbps - 6Mbps). However, the down speed on my 8Mbps Turbo 8 fibre link is now 0.33Mbps. (This represents 3.75% of the speed that I am signed up for and is advertised by Zuku.)

Is there a body that performs routine checks on quality of service? e.g. CCK? And if so, is there a specified procedure that one should follow? Also, if a complaint is filed, is it acted upon? Has anyone on this list filed a complaint and a solution has been found?

I am at my wits end. I don't know what else to do.

Below is a summary of some of the communication I have had with Zuku support since mid January.

----------------------

My Turbo 8 connection is has been experiencing slow speeds since Monday 24th January.

I also lost the TV signal from 23rd January until 7th February.

In one of the screenshots, you can see that packet loss on the first two hops is greater than 70%.

A work order number was raised: 298106.

In calls to support, I have been told:

1. That the problem is a node near my house in Lavington.

2. That the modem firmware is faulty.

3. That the modem is fine!

4. That the 8Mbps package is a shared bandwith, BUT SPEEDS OF 0.3Mbps to a maximum of 1.2Mbps on an 8 Mbps link?

5. That support teams would come on specifed days at specified times (They never bothered to show up or call!)

6. That there is an issue with the main line and the issue has been escalated to our maintenance team who are working to resolve the matter.

7. That the support technician who finally came to my house lied and said everything is ok even though my TV signal (which finally came back on its own) still was jerky and the internet speed was 1.2 Mbps Down and 0.8 Mbps Up. My maximum download was 80 - 100kbps download and an average of 40-60kbps. This is supposed to be an 8Mbps link.

8. That the wifi modem would have to be changed to one that does not have wireless and that this will resolve the current issue.

9. To purchase a router as the one that will be installed does not support wireless. (NOTE: The 8 Mbps package clearly states that wireless is part of the package so why should I have to buy one?)

10. That I will indeed be given a new Cable modem + wifi since I am still on Turbo 8. (February 16th)

11. That another technician will come over to check the internet and TV signal issue.

12. That the HD receiver and phone will be issued soon as they are in stock. (They have not been provided to date.)

13. That it was a mis-communication on the previous mail and that you need to change the modem but to one without the Wifi and that I should tell you if I have purchased the router for the wifi! (Again, the Turbo 8 package is advertised as coming with wifi) (February 17th)

14. That you are working on a resolution for this matter and shall get back to me shortly. (February 18th)

I have noticed that packet loss on the link is very high (sometimes between 60% to 80%). I have sent emails with this information which has been totally ignored.

I have also been told:

1. That the receiver supplied is an SD Receiver which will be upgraded to the HD Receiver.
2. No phone set was supplied but will be brought as they out of stock (apparently since November last year).
3. That they have just received the HD decoders and telephone which will be installed soon (I was told this on the 27th of January) once they have been integrated into our system.

It's March 15th and guess what, I'm still waiting for a solution to these problems. We (Kenya) plan to be the ICT hub for East and Southern Africa, with all the plans in place for the ICT city (Malili). If this is a sample of things to come in regards to customer service and quality of service.... well I suppose you can guess what our potential audience will think of us (Kenya).

Brian Ngure