I have a couple of suggestions:
1. Document, document, document. We use our internal
ticketing
system to document carrier issues, and actually have a
"customer"
created for each of our circuits, so that the history is
readily available
on a circuit-by-circuit basis.
2. Call trouble tickets in for everything, and record the
ticket numbers.
Follow up, get names, etc. All the stuff we know we should
do, but often
times forget to do in the heat of the
moment.
3. Pay all of your bill except for the disputed portion.
Include with every
payment a "SLA CREDIT REQUEST" form that you complete,
detailing
the reasons why you feel you are owed a credit, including
the ticket
history, etc. Then, every month, include that
documentation, and
copies of all other correspondence you've sent... until it
is resolved.
4. Don't hesitate to escalate your issues up the chain. A
simple:
"I'm getting no where with you and need to speed to someone
more
senior" sometimes works. I've also used, with varying
degrees of
success, "Let's get someone higher up than you on the
phone, because
I doubt you're paid enough to deal with the crap I'm about
to dish out."
5. If they're reasonably close (and this has worked wonders
for me!),
gather up all your documentation, and take a day trip to
their office.
It is pretty hard to ignore you when you're sitting in
their lobby.
6. If all else fails, sue them. We did this very
successfully against
MCI, got a TRO, then an injunction, and finally reached a
settlement
that included the credits we were due as well as a
cash payment
because of our grief and aggravation.
Best of luck,
--tlf