Death Of Customer Service...

Is good customer service dead or it is just my imagination. I do not know how many of you out there share similar experiences but judging by messages I have come across doing my own research on the internet I would say it is safe to say I am not the only one. The big question is; Is there anything we can do about bad customer service? Are we doomed to venting our frustrations on internet forums and discussion boards or can we actively do something about it. Not necessarily to improve the level of service we receive in return for our hard earned cash, but to get the businesses to feel the pain we do, by taking our business elsewhere.

I am going to play the name and shame game, because unless and until we name names these companies are just going to treat us like trash while pocketing our money and paying large dividends to their shareholders(by the way I do not have anything against large corporations and shareholders since I own a couple of shares myself). What I cannot stand is profit at the expense of customer satisfaction, aren’t we in business to form lasting relationships?

By now I am sure I have left you wondering what I am on about but wait no more. I am going to give you a background to each of the two instances of poor customer service I am writing about today. The first one involves my mobile phone services provider, Vodafone, a company I have been with for the last 4 years and counting (this is going to be the last). I recently arranged a phone upgrade online (after unsuccessfully negotiating for the phone I wanted over the telephone). As a personal preference I enjoy 12 month commitments instead of the lengthy 18 or 24 month terms (I hope my girlfriend won’t read this before I post it anonymously otherwise I will have some explaining to do).

Going through the online upgrade process I must have been distracted and went through it without double checking the term I had selected (the longer term is selected by default i.e. 24 months, definitely to catch out people like me). It was only after I was reviewing the paperwork (it was actually an email but I always print them out, old fashioned me) that I realised I has signed up for a 2 year contract. Immediately I got onto the phone t see if I could sort it out and the customer service agent advised I would have to wait until I received the phone before I could reverse the transaction and cancel the contract(aren’t all these things computerised these days? Pushing a few buttons should sort it me thinks).

It was 3 days later that I managed to go and collect the phone from the Green Lanes Shopping Centre store that the nightmare really began. There were 2 customers assistants in the store and both of them seemed to be with customers. I thought I shouldn’t really have long to wait since the shop was virtually empty apart us 3 customers, boy was I mistaken. 25 minutes later I was finally attended to, with a cursory apology and got my phone in less than 5 minutes(if only the assistant had bothered to ask how he could help he might have served me and the other customer at the same time, thus achieving customer satisfaction).

Naturally after receiving the phone I rang Vodafone again to enquire as to what the next step to take. They advised me they would send out a courier to come in and collect the phone on Wednesday the 8th of September (all this time you could actually speak to someone on the phone). The courier came as arranged and collected the phone and so I was hoping to get a confirmation email or something from them but never got anything. I kept checking my account online to see if my contract has been restored to its pre upgrade state but that is not the case even nearly 2 weeks later. So today I decided to give them a call to get this sorted once and for all. I managed to get through to an adviser and once they heard I was phoning about a return they put me on hold while they transferred me to the “right department”. At that point I had no idea I would be waiting for more than 20 minutes to have my case heard. It became so ridiculous I had to hang up. This means one of 2 things:

1. Vodafone customers are making returns at an unprecedented level and their customer support cannot cope, makes one wonder why (so many returns)?
2. They are understaffed and cannot attend to all customers in time(well that is a good thing isn’t it? It can only mean there are jobs to be had at Vodafone, just what we need to get the economy back on track)

Well it could also mean something else, Vodafone does not value their customers and are doing very little to be as efficient as possible in providing quality customer service. Well if that is the case I can take my business elsewhere, I am going to fight this and then not renew my contract when it runs out in a month’s time.
I finally had to email the “returns department” who replied to my email promising a response in 24 hours. I eagerly await that response and cannot wait to get all this sorted and save myself a few pence by not renewing my contract.

My second rant is aimed at Sky with whom I have been for just over a week and already I am thinking twice about staying with them. I have always wanted to have home broadband and the £10 a month 12 month deal with sky seemed like the best deal out there. I bought my broadband package and within a couple of days the modem had arrived and I had an activation date for the 17th of September. Come the 17th all was set up and true to their word I could finally access the internet from the comfort of my home.

Now there I was surfing away on Saturday evening, relaxing after a gruelling surfing lesson only for the internet to cut off abruptly. Being the tech savvy guy I am (and partly to impress the girlfriend) I decided to poke around with the router to no avail. I then decided to give Sky a call...continued in part 2.
And as is customary I will have a few wise words as my parting short “To accomplish great things, we must not only plan but also dream, not only think but also do; not only hope but also believe”