Aletia has TERRIBLE customer service!

[SarahMo]

If Aletia wants to better their site, they need to have better customer service. I have never seen such terrible customer service.

Two & a half weeks ago I contacted Aletia letting them know that I need to change my billing information because I no longer possessed the credit card that I used for billing. Right away I was contacted by Aletia customer service and asked a few more questions and I answered then but then never head nothing.

Yesterday I get a email that they tried billing my account and it didn't work and I needed to call their customer service. So I call and the girl says she will have it updated (mind you, I shouldn't of had to call. I contacted two & half weeks ago and it should of been taken care of then). Well today, I get another email that my service is going to be interupted because I still haven't paid.

This is completely Aletia's fault! Had their customer service took care of my request immediately two + weeks ago when I had asked we wouldn't be having this issue now. This is complete bull!

Either Aletia starts having better customer service or they aren't going to have any customers. Furthermore, in my time of using Aletia, their customer service hasn't been good and I haven't seen any improvement either.

[Nothlit]

When you called the billing department, was it Aletia that you called, or was it PaySystems? Aletia uses PaySystems, a third-party company, to process its payments. For whatever (inexcusable) reasons, it looks as if Aletia neglected to update your credit card information with PaySystems even after you gave Aletia the new info. PaySystems, still having your old information, then tried to bill your account again, and failed. So it probably sent an automatic notification to Aletia saying that your billing failed, and Aletia automatically e-mailed you saying that your account would be interrupted. It's probably a classic case of lack of internal communication. This doesn't really fix anything, but at least you know how it probably happened.

(Now, I could be entirely wrong, but from what I gather, this is how their payment processing works.)

[gakenny]

It can be a bit tricky changing billing information with a third party. Aletia doesn't hold your credit card information on file (as far as I am aware) and the changes must be taken up directly (or indirectly) with the third party such as PaySystems.

It is important that you are able to provide the initial order number given to you by PaySystems when requesting a change of information. Providing incorrect order information will not allow to change to be processed successfully resulting in ongoing charges to the old credit card.

I am not sure what the exact process is that Aletia follows in the above but I guess confirmation or non-confirmation that the request was processed would be good practice.

[SarahMo]

I am well aware of that information and it really has nothing to do with the poor customer service. I am still screwed.

[gakenny]

I am not sure why you are experiencing this problem. Generally my experience with support has been very good.

You might have a look at the ticket request and see who it has been assigned to. Also, update the text in the ticket and this will notify the person assigned.

You need to be clear about who contacted you.

If PaySystems notify you of a problem with credit card information, you may need to resolve this with them.

If Aletia have contacted you regarding your account, then this should be addressed with them.

Don't assume that the correspondence is communicated directly between the two companies.

I had a problem with credit card payments in the past. Persistence is the key and in the end I moved from PaySystems to 2Checkout and the problems disappeared.

I guess you should have changed your payment details before getting rid of the card and then this issue wouldn't exist. These things don't sort themselves out overnight.

[SarahMo]

I guess you should have changed your payment details before getting rid of the card and then this issue wouldn't exist. These things don't sort themselves out overnight.

Apparently you didn't read what I wrote because if you did you would of read that I contacted them 2.5 weeks ago to change this information and they did nothing.

Regardless of that having or not having the card has NO significance. I wanted to change my credit card and they have terrible customer service. This problem would exist either way. They don't help their customers. What you wrote makes no logical sense.

[gakenny]

In my case, I changed payment details, made sure that the new card was billed and then cancelled the card. My general experience (not just with Aletia) is that these things never happen like they should. This is what I was trying to communicate in the email.

I am not trying to justify the situation as you should not be threatened with cancellation if you are in the process of trying to get your billing sorted out.

I suggest that you address an email to whoever is responsible for the ticket you have raised. If you do not have this reference, I suggest raising another ticket and using this one ticket for correspondence on the matter.

Was the telephone call that you made, made to PaySystems or Aletia?

Anyway, I have said all that I have to say on this. I hope it works out.