No internet, tv and telephone connection since 25th July and nobody cares

[Sabe03]

The sfr NB6 has suddenly stopped working since 25th July. I called numerous times your customer service number 1023, to no avail. It's either giving me another phone appointment the next day or the typical formulated answer 'we get back to you'. As a customer of fourteen year,  coming from Great Britain, I am utterly disappointed at your irresponsible attitude and the way you handle issues. All our friends and families have already switched to other suppliers such as Bouygues,  Free and Orange years ago, but I have stayed with you for the long years sake, it seems you are not worth my loyalty anymore. Not only due to your manner to deal with customer, but also the incompetence of your establishment. Furthermore,  I was shocked to see all the posts here, which revealed so much about you from different views and perspectives.

[Antony]

Hello @Sabe03,

Be aware that via the SFR&Moi application, you have the possibility to make a self-diagnosis on your line. To get the app downloaded, go to Support then Line Status and finally Run a Diagnostic.
Hoping I could help you.

Have a good day.

[Ryry]

Hello @Sabe03 

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All our friends and families have already switched to other suppliers such as Bouygues,  Free and Orange years ago, but I have stayed with you for the long years sake, it seems you are not worth my loyalty anymore. Not only due to your manner to deal with customer, but also the incompetence of your establishment. Furthermore,  I was shocked to see all the posts here

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I agree with you on the fact that all this is really a pity. This is absolutely disappointing. I'd rather say they all have reach this bad relationship with their customers. That's why, as far as I am concerned, I advise anybody to switch to another ISP only when his service is in unresolved failure, and keep his ISP when it works!

Nevertheless, you could have a look to concurrent customer forums (Orange, etc.) out of curiosity, and see yourself how it is similar for each ISP.

And, if you want some evaluation of this situation (where SFR had years of worst situation that's true!) the most recent ARCEP study (2021) is HERE, and states:

• concerning the "complaints numbers" to the ARCEP, The worst one is free (with 29/100000 customers, then SFR with 26, and Orange with 25 and Bouygues, best one, with 19).
• concerning the "customer satisfaction", the positions are quite inverted: the worst one is SFR (with a mark of 6,8/10) then 7,1 for Bouygues, 7,3 for free and 7,5 for Orange.
• and concerning the relation with the customer client: worst note for SFR (1,8/5), Orange (2,1/5), Bouygues (2,3/5), free (2,6/5). All very weak, and only one is (just) above the median mark of 2,5 !!!
• and at the end of the report, you have also statistics from another poll by Ifop. Not exactly the same values, but the same global similatiry..

All that is very very close and similar

Hope you'll find a satisfying service provider.

Best regards.

[Sabe03]

Hello Antony,

I appreciate your prompt response. Things haven't been improved though.However, I did decide to give it a last try. Therefore I called 1023 again this morning and it was back to the same routine again. The operator told me to do the same things I did in the last few occasions: unplug this wire,  then switch off your modem, then plug another wire. Nothing changed. The light in the modem stayed red. He then suggested he sent a new sfr box by post or sent a technician over. What he didn't get it was it has nothing to do with the box or a technician, the real culprit is the line, which is the main issue. I gave up then. I rest my case and immediately called Free. Goodbye SFR and good riddance.

[Sabe03]

Hello Ryry,

Thanks for your inputs. I did choose to switch to Free finally this morning, and got a delightful surprise: I will pay half of what I pay to SFR every month, and on top of that,  I was told that my line was not fibre, but merely Asdl. So I have been cheated by SFr for seven years. 

In 2014, I moved from Hautes-Alpes to Marseille and sfr asked if I would like to have a fibre connection and I said 'yes'. Over the years, I haven't felt my internet connection any faster, but today the female operator from Free told me my connection with sfr has never been a fibre one, 'now after joining us, you will see the different' she claimed.

How happy I have been to have made this decision today! Is that how sfr treats its loyal customers, by lying to them through years!

My French sister-in-law recommended Free to me, cause she was also a victim of sfr years ago. I was baffled reading the posts here. How can people stay three weeks without Internet and still waste time on sfr? In a way, sfr is depriving the others livelihood. Some people's work rely on the use of Internet like myself, writing books using Libreoffice app.

I read the statistics data you provided and found,  like you said, they are quite similar in figures concerning each kinds of performance. As a customer and in need of such service, we haven't really got any choice, have we? All we can do is keep switching and hoping for a better one.

Best of luck to everyone who posted up here, hope you all either find a solution soon or find a better Internet provider!

[Ryry]

Hello @Sabe03 

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I will pay half of what I pay to SFR every month

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You should give us the prices and the offers you selected in both the ISPs to make things clear and more than "words"...

For, as you surely know:

• the price is cut usually during the 12 first months in quite every French ISP (excepted the few ones that don't practice the "engagement")
• therefore, when you change your ISP (from SFR to free... or the opposite from free to SFR) you get a super offer!... that only lasts 12 months.
• but if you compare really the regular prices of the 4 ISPs, they are not so different that "half the price".

=> see HERE for instance a comparison up-to-date given regularly by the forum lafibre.info

1. you'll see that each FAI has offers in quite every levels of price (20 to 30€, then 30 to 40€, and so on...)
2. and free is even the one that lacks a cheaper offer of fiber: unlike Bouygues, Orange and SFR, free starts at a higher price than the 3 others. (you can check yourself)

Nevertheless, as I wrote above, my point of view is that they are quite similar on the customer service and the technical connection.

• But each one has a few details that can make it more interesting for you: for instance I really appreciate the full-featured quality of free-boxes over the years. From my point of view, their boxes are far above the others.
• For the drawbacks of free, I let you discover through the forums. There must be some. But, as said before, for me all ISPs have quite the same quality.

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I was told that my line was not fibre, but merely Asdl. So I have been cheated by SFr for seven years. 

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Maybe I'm wrong, but I guess you mean that your address was not eligible for SFR-fiber.

If so, that's not the same.

Maybe you don't know how fiber is deployed in France but:

1. the fiber is set by a "infrastructure operator" (separated from any FAI) one time for all
2. and then its work is rent to the commercial ISPs
3. each ISP has the choice to come and connect his national fiber network to this local fiber infrastructure (that mean to come and connect at the base of every bulding and in the middle of every houses block) => so, there is NO French ISP that is currently in every cities. You still have many cites where ISPs are lacking and others are present... This is kind of chance...

So "your line" (even if in fact we should not name it your line) can be available for fiber with free and Orange at your address, and only for ADSL with SFR and Bouygues (for instance). There is no cheat with that, just financial and marketing choices made differently in each ISP company on their road to connect their own network to the whole French cities.

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sfr asked if I would like to have a fibre connection and I said 'yes'. Over the years, I haven't felt my internet connection any faster, but today the female operator from Free told me my connection with sfr has never been a fibre one, 'now after joining us, you will see the different' she claimed.

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I never saw any commercial operator telling "after joining us, you'll be disappointed, believe me" 🤣

But, once again you should give us more details to understand you situation:

• whether you have a fiber connection or ADSL is not a secret: it's written on your bill
• if SFR fiber is not available at your address (and of course not available for your neighbours too) then OK, you can't have the fiber with SFR and maybe the operator of free can check it on the public SFR database to test if you address is eligible.
• But if your address is available for SFR ADSL and SFR fiber, the the operator of free has NO WAY to know what kind is your SFR subscription currently, and looks like a pure liar.

So, to check it if this is true, can you:

1. give us a snapshot of your month bill to see the kind of your subscription
2. and also show us what is the answer concerning if your address is eligible for SFR fiber here: https://www.sfr.fr/offre-internet

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My French sister-in-law recommended Free to me, cause she was also a victim of sfr years ago.

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That's the most important thing: you are free to go where you want to spend your money, and the preferences goes to where you trust and get good feedbacks. I can only tell you you made the right decision according to your sister-in-law.

One cannot be totally unlucky every time, so I'm not afraid you'll have a bad connection or service by free one more time after living this problem with SFR. Feel good!

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I was baffled reading the posts here. How can people stay three weeks without Internet and still waste time on sfr? In a way, sfr is depriving the others livelihood. Some people's work rely on the use of Internet like myself, writing books using Libreoffice app.

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I guess you didn't even tried to follow my advice and read by yourself the other forums of other ISPs, like free, to see exactly the same kind of problems that "baffled you here". You want a little explanation, just use Google to find free-subscribers deprived of internet service during weaks or months... Like they exist also for any other ISP unfortunately:

• https://www.phonandroid.com/free-le-reseau-tombe-en-panne-toutes-les-nuits-depuis-plusieurs-jours-sa...
• https://forum.quechoisir.org/free-fibre-en-attente-de-connexion-depuis-un-mois-sans-information-t282...
• https://forum.universfreebox.com/viewtopic.php?t=80274
• https://www.ariase.com/fr/forum/resolu-plus-d-internet-depuis-une-semaine-ftopic25215-15.html
• https://forum.free-reseau.fr/topic/10137-boitier-install%C3%A9-toujours-pas-de-fibre-apr%C3%A8s-plus...
• https://forum.freenews.fr/index.php?topic=114322.0
• https://www.60millions-mag.com/forum/free-f52/chez-free-depuis-3-semaines-sans-internet-depuis-3-sem...
• etc. (I just copied the first answers of Google, you can certainly find better ones).

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I read the statistics data you provided and found,  like you said, they are quite similar in figures concerning each kinds of performance. As a customer and in need of such service, we haven't really got any choice, have we? All we can do is keep switching and hoping for a better one.

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Exactly, that's my point of view.

But to conclude on one of the points you stated first => the cut prices.

• you, also, enjoyed the fact of finding a price with Free "half the one you had with SFR"
• but look at this recent study (HERE) which ranks (like previous ones over the years too) France as a really-really-really cheaper country for internet connections (quite half the price of neighbouring countries: mean price of subscriber in France 27€... compared to 61€ in UK, 68€ in Belgium, 69€ in Netherlands, 44€ in Germany, 64€ in Spain, 54€ in Portugal...)

So the French customer is not totally innocent too => by always choosing discount prices, we can only get the value of what we paid for... very cheap... there is no secret nor magic.

Hoping everything will be OK for you by Free.

Best regards.

[Antony · Accepted solution]

Hello @Sabe03, 

Sorry to ear that you terminated your contract, wishing you the best ! 😃

Have a nice day,