Positives & Negatives

In the past week, i have experienced both the positive and negative of customer service from different organizations in the telecoms space and with my background, i believe i am reasonably well qualified to assess the difference.

The negative came from a middle of the road provider, part of a global name, under their own umbrella, who i won't name as i have not finished with them yet but the circumstances from a high level were as follows.

An elderly relative has had a broadband service with a telephone primarily for nearly three years and since the beginning of this year has had problems with the phone which causes great anxiety as she lives on her own. On the previous occasion, after several hours of using a chatbot (which goes into a loop) and then trying the parent company, i manged to get someone with common sense, who identified the problem as being outside the house but wasn't able to initiate any repair because the system didn't allow them access to the details, as they were limited to the subsidiary only. Many of us have faced this dilemma i know but eventually, i was able to speak to someone at the subsidiary who then passed the fault to the external provider (Openreach) who subsequently remedied the situation a few days later.

Then unfortunately, the problem returned and by this time, i'd armed myself with more contact numbers for both the subsidiary and the parent company but knowing that organizations are keen on process, i went down the online route first to no avail and then started phoning around and while the parent company staff were willing to help to an extent, again they didn't have the access to move things forward. Interesting, neither were they interested in accepting an order to replace the current broadband with a fresh order. I suspect there is an agreement in place not to impact revenue. So i ended up speaking to the subsidiary customer service team and a manager, who flatly refused to deviate from process, which required an elderly person to take a photograph of the equipment inside the house and upload it (without any mobile access). Just to say here, it wasn't practical for me to help directly, as i live more than three hours away. Even though the issue was a repeat of the previous occasion, so logic implies the likelihood is that it is a repeat of the previous problem. Luckily, the quality of the line has improved in the interim.

Compare that, to me then looking for an alternative and stumbling across Simple Telecoms, who when i rang, i spoke to someone who understood and appreciated the situation immediately and offered options for consideration. I've since discussed the options with the relative and they selected one, so i called Simple Telecoms back again yesterday and everything was ordered and paid for within a very short period of time and is now pending equipment delivery.

Now, i know this is only an initial engagement and the proof will come with how well the service works and how its supported if and when there are problems in the future but purely from a Customer Service perspective, the experience really was chalk and cheese.

I acknowledge that smaller/niche companies can excel at this but the larger entities really need to learn and consider how they put common sense and people back at the front of their Customer Service journeys. Any efficiency at the expense of caring, is a false efficiency!