If you are ever in the market for a condo or rental apartment which includes internet and Direct TV in its maintenance or rent, make sure the service is not provided by MDU Communications. There are already so many bad reviews of this company online, but I experienced it first hand and owe it to the public to find out how horrible this company’s service is. One review said that MDU Communications has the “worst customer service ever, ” which I thought was an understatement after I had dealt with them myself.
The building where I purchased a condo unit (Newswalk in Brooklyn, NY) gave no choice as to cable providers except for Direct TV, not from the company itself, but re-distributed by the wholesale supplier company MDU, which also supplies “Hi-Speed Internet” to the building. I believe this is a marketing ploy developers use to appeal to buyers, who believe they are getting somewhat of deal by having TV and internet included in the maintenance.
Of course, as expected, the building’s Wi-Fi was slow, buggy, and often got disconnected. The Ethernet jacks in the apartment did not work. When I called MDU Communications’ technical support (now this is new, you MUST experience it yourself because you won’t believe it otherwise), their tech support people sounded like my kid brother or nephew, they definitely did not have prior customer service training at all. For every question, they would put me on hold for five minutes and then ask someone else, who still didn’t know what they were doing.
Call#1
First off, they said the building had NO WI-FI, and that what I was connecting to (which had their opening homepage “MDU Communications”) was not from their company. Okay, so I said the Ethernet jacks in the unit didn’t work and they said they needed to authorize my computer to access their connection. I gave them my MAC address and they entered it in their system. Still nothing, but that I should wait until their server updates their system and I should have connection soon. Okay, I’ll wait.
Call #2
Two days later, I called MDU again, spoke to the teenager on the line who said that they DO HAVE WI-FI in the building but that I was not authorized to use it. Okay, then authorize me. He took my MAC address again, and said that I was now authorized (congrats!). Still no Ethernet, I told him. He said he needed to put me on hold, which he did for 10 minutes. He then said that for that, he needs to forward my request to engineering, and that I would get a call back.
Call # 3
One week later and no call from MDU. I call them back and scold another teenager who told me that when I called the last time, the problem “was resolved by asking the client to change the Ethernet cable.” Wow! I could not believe it! I said that I was waiting for a call from the “engineering department” and he said there was no record of that request. I begged the boy to put a request in for engineering to call me back to schedule an appointment for a Saturday repair visit, taunting him and saying “I know that no one will call me about this, and this request is going to be lost again.” He promised that he would personally call back within a day. Or course, no call.instead, after three days, I received a voicemail asking me to be at my apartment the next day, which was a weekday, which I couldn’t do, that’s why I asked for the Saturday visit in the first place... (even writing this is exhausting!)
Call #4
Ten days later. I call MDU and tell them that I cannot make it to the scheduled repair tomorrow because it is a weekday, and I requested a weekend. Another young boy tells me that there was no request for a weekend repair date, but he can request one for me. It won’t be until two weeks from that date. I take it, I say, truly exasperated by this service at this point but having no choice because Verizon DSL was giving me an equally hair-pulling ordeal about transferring my DSL from my previous apartment (that’s another story). MDU leaves a message on my cell phone every three days saying that they scheduled a repair visit for the next day (weekdays) and if I don’t respond then they won’t come. I ignore the messages.
Call # 5
Three weeks later. I finally get my Verizon DSL working, and decide that I am done with dealing with MDU, so I call them the Thursday before their Saturday repair date (because, if not, they had a $60 cancellation fee!). A lady answered the phone this time. I said, “I’d like to cancel my repair visit for Saturday.” She asks if I would like to reschedule, and I say “No, that’s not necessary.” She asks why, and I say “I’ve been having so many problems with your company that I’ve decided not to bother, ” expecting her (like any other customer service person) to appease me in some way. She said, “Oh okay, I just need to write something down.” I’m not even kidding! I thanked her for the time and took down the cancellation confirmation number.
If you think this is over, the best part is to come! That Saturday, the date and time of the scheduled visit, the MDU repair guy did show up! I yelled into the intercom, “I canceled you on Thursday, my confirmation is 10EB.” He said, “Nobody told me! ” I laughed and said “Sorry! ”
There is no sweeter justice than to have a sad, inconsiderate, incompetent and inefficient company get a taste of their own medicine. Because of their own stupidity and communication issues, they inconvenienced their own selves instead of their paying customers for a change. I love it when that happens, and although I feel bad for the repair person, I feel that I was put through so much more and nobody among the many people I spoke to at MDU Communication ever showed any concern for the inconvenience I experienced not having the service I already paid for, being put on hold for an hour combined, or speaking to all these incompetent people who have no place in customer service or being in an office setting.
All that being said, I would seriously reconsider using any service by this company, or give into any sales gimmicks by real estate developers or landlords that has anything to do with MDU Communications. Their customer service is a joke, and their actual service is worse!
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