No Human Online Desktop Chat

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › No Human Online Desktop Chat

FineWine

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#290778 3-Dec-2021 15:17

Went to have an on line desktop chat with a human, not IVY, and found you can't anymore. You either have to have; Facebook, WhatsApp, iPhone Message app or book a call back.

What happen to online chat with a human ???

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

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#2823848 3-Dec-2021 15:29

Wow, that seems a big step backwards.

kiwiharry

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#2823850 3-Dec-2021 15:35

I had to contact Lenovo Tech Support recently so opted to use WhatsApp. That too was automated.

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#2823854 3-Dec-2021 15:39

Yeah I noticed this a few weeks ago, although using iMessage isn't so bad as you get your full chat history for all interactions in one place. If you don't have these then there is an option at the bottom saying "I don't have any of these" and that seems to result in a callback (not that I have tried this).

Would be nice to know what happened to live chat, I quite liked it, and I could have the transcript emailed to me if I wanted.

RunningMan

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#2823858 3-Dec-2021 15:45

timbosan:Would be nice to know what happened to live chat, I quite liked it, and I could have the transcript emailed to me if I wanted.

This. So you miss out on having a record of the conversation unless you sign up to one of those 3rd party platforms, when a platform agnostic solution like a web browser works for so many more people.

FineWine

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#2823893 3-Dec-2021 16:15

PS: book a call back was going to be 0700 tomorrow.

In the end had a non-informative iMessage chat who just kept cutting & pasting of a script and not really taking things on board. So will go into a bricks-n-morter and speak to a real human.

To the Spark representatives in these forums this lack of a real human in desktop chat is a big step backwards.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

cokemaster

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#2823909 3-Dec-2021 17:02

Spark isn’t winning any awards in user experience with their website or their app. In some respects, it feels like they’re just making changes for the agile story points or for padding out sprints for the purposes of a QBR rather than making improvements for the end user.

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cokemaster

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#2823928 3-Dec-2021 17:14

FineWine:In the end had a non-informative iMessage chat who just kept cutting & pasting of a script and not really taking things on board. So will go into a bricks-n-morter and speak to a real human.

And that’s the sad thing: people get put off using chat or digital engagement because of the poor experience. You should not NEED to go into a store just to get customer service.

I get it, from a commercial side, you can have concurrent sessions per agent, you can have ‘recommended responses’ cued up in the agents chat app. The problem is, when executed poorly, it’s rude and condescending.

Contact energy have a WhatsApp channel. I’ve used it once and never again. The delay to respond is too slow and I don’t want to wait 24 hours to be asked for my date of birth, only to wait 24 hours for another response.

I’ve had a very good run with Vodafone chat lately. When I’ve asked for things via chat, generally they get seen through. Sometimes it takes a little bit to explain what I’m after but their responsiveness has been excellent. The service that Vodafone has offered has meant that Spark (mainly) and 2D has lost about $450/month of my business. The chat agents have been responsible for a decent portion of that.

Good chat experience can be done but if you aren’t willing or able to pull out the stops, it’s better not to offer it.

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RunningMan

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#2823930 3-Dec-2021 17:24

Speaking to someone a couple of days ago who was very frustrated with Spark phone support. Trying to make a couple of plan changes to mobile and landline accounts, and basically a real unwillingness to try and help. Kept getting told to go in to a store, even though they were in a lockdown area and transport is difficult for them.

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#2823951 3-Dec-2021 18:31

It is unacceptable these days. I understand the desire to avoid identity thief (eg. Sim changes), but plan changes, account enquires or technical support should always be supported on the spot.

Any Telco that fobbed me off to a store ‘just cause’ will find themselves without my business moving forward. I’d reign holy hell through their complaints process to get out of the contract.

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gzt

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#2823974 3-Dec-2021 20:10

You can still do this to some degree with the Spark Mobile app.

Spark Mobile App > Menu > Help > Message Us

It's not real time. When the initial wait is over it's ok. Feels like cut and paste and not on point as the old live chat on the Spark site was. For some reason the Spark site chat was more casual and straight to the point at the same time compared to the phone support.

You may have seen my post in the main broadband forum about changing ISP. Short story even a simple fault takes a long time to communicate phone or message. Nothing wrong with the people on the other end and I usually rate them well on the survey. I'm thinking Spark has changed provider or taken on new people and this is looking like a learn on the job period.

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#2824037 3-Dec-2021 21:25

One of the challenges with Telcos (or most other sectors) is customer service investment. Telcos are no longer the cash cows they once were, they still have ongoing technology investments (eg. 3G, 4G, 5G) and with over the top services... it is a tight game. Customer service roles are not that glamorous too, with low pay and high turnover... and often make up the single largest costs on a normal balance sheet. It also doesn't help that certain Telcos have had a track record of investing in non-core areas with less than satisfactory results... which places further burdens on the earnings that they get.

There is a lot of focus on 'doing more with less'. Sometimes this is with restructures (certain Telcos are infamous for their frequency of these), sometimes this is by not filling roles and sometimes this is by loading up the agent to work on as many things as possible. There are certain toolsets out there which will look at what a customer is saying and suggest templated responses... and with pressure on agents through handle time and concurrency factors - they're being pushed to be fast and faster. Potentially to the point where auto suggest wins out. With offshoring, depending on the commercials, there may be volumetric KPI's eg. Volume of calls, Handle times, Sales targets/incentives. Switching from realtime messaging to delayed messaging is a cost saving too, as they can stretch out their resource planning to optimal levels rather than planning for peaks... and with delayed messaging, waiting a 1 hour is pretty much the same as waiting 2 hours.

Now in theory - these are all quantitate measures within the contact centre and ideally you have qualitative measures such as NPS which is supposed to capture how customers gauge the experience... but in practice, NPS/customer satisfaction is low for Telcos (just look at the consumer org surveys), wait times are high, plans/grandfathering policies/excess usage are geared towards making more $, that NPS will typically always be low even if the service is great.

Fibre is one of the interesting game changes... for power companies. They can branch out into Fibre with the focus on locking the customer into as many of their branded services as possible, fibre demands on customer service are a lot lower than copper and this presents a very real threat to traditional telcos over time. Some power companies may very well be comfortable running razor thin margins that standalone Telcos can't do in the long term.

Delayed messaging out of hours is great, for general account enquiries or even billing questions. But to employ it as one of the primary methods of contact when you need support right now (eg. tech support or actioning a plan change) is less than ideal. Granted, there are some online tools out there but they don't work for all scenarios and there are sometimes complex situations where you want a person in your corner rather than a chatbot.

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FineWine

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#2824060 3-Dec-2021 22:03

cokemaster:

One of the challenges with Telcos (or most other sectors) is customer service investment. Telcos are no longer the cash cows they once were, they still have ongoing technology investments (eg. 3G, 4G, 5G) and with over the top services... it is a tight game. Customer service roles are not that glamorous too, with low pay and high turnover... and often make up the single largest costs on a normal balance sheet. It also doesn't help that certain Telcos have had a track record of investing in non-core areas with less than satisfactory results... which places further burdens on the earnings that they get.

There is a lot of focus on 'doing more with less'. Sometimes this is with restructures (certain Telcos are infamous for their frequency of these), sometimes this is by not filling roles and sometimes this is by loading up the agent to work on as many things as possible. There are certain toolsets out there which will look at what a customer is saying and suggest templated responses... and with pressure on agents through handle time and concurrency factors - they're being pushed to be fast and faster. Potentially to the point where auto suggest wins out. With offshoring, depending on the commercials, there may be volumetric KPI's eg. Volume of calls, Handle times, Sales targets/incentives. Switching from realtime messaging to delayed messaging is a cost saving too, as they can stretch out their resource planning to optimal levels rather than planning for peaks... and with delayed messaging, waiting a 1 hour is pretty much the same as waiting 2 hours.

Now in theory - these are all quantitate measures within the contact centre and ideally you have qualitative measures such as NPS which is supposed to capture how customers gauge the experience... but in practice, NPS/customer satisfaction is low for Telcos (just look at the consumer org surveys), wait times are high, plans/grandfathering policies/excess usage are geared towards making more $, that NPS will typically always be low even if the service is great.

Fibre is one of the interesting game changes... for power companies. They can branch out into Fibre with the focus on locking the customer into as many of their branded services as possible, fibre demands on customer service are a lot lower than copper and this presents a very real threat to traditional telcos over time. Some power companies may very well be comfortable running razor thin margins that standalone Telcos can't do in the long term.

Delayed messaging out of hours is great, for general account enquiries or even billing questions. But to employ it as one of the primary methods of contact when you need support right now (eg. tech support or actioning a plan change) is less than ideal. Granted, there are some online tools out there but they don't work for all scenarios and there are sometimes complex situations where you want a person in your corner rather than a chatbot.

wow what a load of commercial gobbledygook.

All I want is good and descent customer service with a real live person who can understand my English language and idiom's and who can answer and in most cases solve my problems and if they can not then immediately pass it up the chain, without passing the buck, to someone who can solve the problem.

Margins might thin but you loose customers therefore money if you have an unhappy customer. What ever happened to the customer comes first?

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

cokemaster

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#2824065 3-Dec-2021 22:25

I'm not defending the telcos... just explaining the drivers leading to the decline of customer service as we know it.

With that tone, I'm inclined not to contribute to your threads moving forward.

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FineWine

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#2824072 3-Dec-2021 22:48

cokemaster:

I'm not defending the telcos... just explaining the drivers leading to the decline of customer service as we know it.

With that tone, I'm inclined not to contribute to your threads moving forward.

I am not picking on you but I am picking on the post graduate/s who came up with all that gobbledegook thesis’s to justify their excessive incomes instead of focusing on real descent customer service which in the end delivers loyal long lasting customers who will pay that little bit extra for that service.

A drop in their salary might just pay for CS agents who enjoy their job and therefore deliver the service the customer wants.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

tdgeek

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#2824107 4-Dec-2021 01:37

FineWine:

I am not picking on you but I am picking on the post graduate/s who came up with all that gobbledegook thesis’s to justify their excessive incomes instead of focusing on real descent customer service which in the end delivers loyal long lasting customers who will pay that little bit extra for that service.

A drop in their salary might just pay for CS agents who enjoy their job and therefore deliver the service the customer wants.

People want the cheapest service. If you offered them a lot more CS availability, they would jump at it, until they get told there is a cost to employ FTEU's to support that extra availability. I dont have the answer but thats the reality IMO

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