Quote:
Originally Posted by ocknock
I am also experiencing technical issues with Maxroam and have contacted customer support via email with no real resolution.
I've sent an email to patphelan and asked for his assistance and will the forum know the outcome.
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As promised here's the outcome of my communication with
patphelan and my overall initial review of Maxroam.
Initial Order
Did not receive telephone number in requested USA area code. Not a huge deal for me, but for others it might.
SIM card was not sent via registered mail (which cost 1 Euro extra). Got the card OK so it's not a big deal, but it is still slightly annoying to have paid for a service and not have it followed through.
Initial Testing
Proof of concept telephone calls work when roaming in the USA on both T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless networks.
SMS text messaging is very intially very sketchy. 50% success rate. My first communication with customer support last week did not resolve the issue.
However after a very quick email communication with
patphelan today, the SMS issue is now resolved.
The problem is that I was not sending the SMS message to the underlying SMS Maxroam number. I was sending SMS messages to my Maxroam USA number which doesn't work. I was only told of the underlying SMS number after communicating with
patphelan.
I've told him that this information should be shown in the Maxroam account details, and instructions on how to send messages to a Maxroam number should be included in their
FAQ.
Customer Support
Barely adequate over email. Customer support is located in Ireland and they do not have 24 hour coverage, which means that email sent the them during USA business hours will not be responded to until the next day. Just like any email support there will be a back and forth exchange while various solutions are offered, so expect several days before any sort of resolution.
patphelan has told me that customer support will be going on 24 hours within 4 weeks.
Telephone customer support is available, however one must pay the prevailing Maxroam rates calls. For me that would cost $1.50/minute, for USA to Ireland. I haven't called for obvious reasons.
I've also told
patphelan that the website and the instructions sent with the SMS card should indicate that the customer will pay for the call to customer support. I only found this out after emailing customer support.
I am glad my SMS problem was resolved quickly once
patphelan and communicated, but frankly it shouldn't have taken an email to the CEO to solve this type of problem.
I'm hoping that as customer support ramps up over the next several weeks, their responses will be more helpful and timely, like my communication directly with
patphelan. If they can resolve issues like he can, then they're on the right track to grow.
Bottom Line
I'll use Maxroam as a backup on my upcoming travels, but I will buy a local SIM card.