Argh. I'd like some customer service please

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Argh. I'd like some customer service please

openmedia

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#93300 17-Nov-2011 18:07

Anyone else fed up with the Telecom *123 IVR system. It seems to love going round in loops with the voice recognition based prompts.

To be honest I prefer the old school "Press 1" type systems although they can also be very frustrating as they try everything possible to avoid you speaking to a real person.

I've had a number of open issues with Telecom regarding my phone and XT account for over a week now and I'd really like to speak to someone local in NZ who can actually resolve these rather than giving me a constant run around.

My new Samsung Galaxy S2 is quite clearly broken and I just want a replacement. Its 3 weeks old and for a week of that we've been trying to resolve the issues. Now I'm told it has to go off for repair for a couple of weeks.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

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#546616 17-Nov-2011 18:25

Works for nearly every IVR: press 0 five times once the voice has given the first option. Normally puts you through to a person straight away too (vs. waiting 10-20 minutes, in some cases).

freitasm

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#546618 17-Nov-2011 18:28

I know you want a replacement, but most retailers will first try to repair the appliance/device - not only Telecom.

codyc1515

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#546621 17-Nov-2011 18:31

freitasm: I know you want a replacement, but most retailers will first try to repair the appliance/device - not only Telecom.

Yep, its past the (generally speaking) Dead-on-arrival time period (usually around 14 days).

kingjj

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#546710 18-Nov-2011 00:03

Not sure if it works for Telecom but I do remembering hearing once that a 'loud annoyed grunt' often transfers you to an operator, can't remember what company that was for though.... the *123 IVR is a bugger of a system.

Morph

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#546711 18-Nov-2011 00:08

kingjj: Not sure if it works for Telecom but I do remembering hearing once that a 'loud annoyed grunt' often transfers you to an operator, can't remember what company that was for though.... the *123 IVR is a bugger of a system.

If it doesn't or can't understand you it will trans you right to customer care/service.

scuwp

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#546730 18-Nov-2011 07:34

If its only a couple of weeks old when the fault starts then I would think you would have some argument under the CGA for a refund/replacement. You may have no choice however but to go with the repair if they don't wear your argument.

As far as the 'magic phone voice' I always find yelling and swearing gets me put through to a real person pretty quickly. It must be programmed to detect agitation :-)

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

openmedia

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#546742 18-Nov-2011 08:28

One of the stores offered to send it off for repair and lend me an old basic phone with no "smart" features. I bit of a step down from a $1000 handset.

Telecom have now agreed to a direct swap so a big thank you to Christine one of their senior help desk people.

I'm afraid that their off shore help desk is a bit of a joke though. Perhaps it was my slight English accent, but I really struggled to be understood and had to get them to constantly repeat their responses.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

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freitasm

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#546743 18-Nov-2011 08:29

Good work!

DonGould

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#546754 18-Nov-2011 09:01

openmedia: One of the stores offered to send it off for repair and lend me an old basic phone with no "smart" features. I bit of a step down from a $1000 handset.

Telecom have now agreed to a direct swap so a big thank you to Christine one of their senior help desk people.

I'm afraid that their off shore help desk is a bit of a joke though. Perhaps it was my slight English accent, but I really struggled to be understood and had to get them to constantly repeat their responses.

IVR - Always interrupt, just say "person" to every prompt and after about 3 attempts it will transfer you to a person with in 30 seconds.

Phone - If it's for personal use, CGA requires 'reasonable time repair', in the cause of a mobile phone which you are using 24/7 this means they are required to provide a product for you to use even if they send it away - I think Telecom normally do.

OS Call center - Just say no. Go into a Telecom store or get details for a local phone number. When ever you're buying a product you should get as many business cards with phone numbers of the local store so you can just call up. In the old days you used to get your goods from the local shop and they would do it all, sell, supply, service.

Contact details - People should always shout out for help, many of us have contact details for most providers to get traction quickly if it's needed.

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chevrolux

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#546833 18-Nov-2011 12:07

If it's a problem with your cell phone why not go old school and walk in to a store? Instead of mucking around with couriers etc they will take it off you in the shop and fix/replace it.

riahon

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#546846 18-Nov-2011 12:25

chevrolux: If it's a problem with your cell phone why not go old school and walk in to a store? Instead of mucking around with couriers etc they will take it off you in the shop and fix/replace it.

Because if you complain enough times then someone will action what you want, bit hard to do that driving to multiple shops. He was told that the process was to take it to a store and they would send it away. He wasn't happy with that so he complained and complained until he got his own way. My kids do the same thing to me.

old3eyes

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#546858 18-Nov-2011 12:43

When ever I call 123 it always asks me to enter a digit. Haven't struck the "IVR" for months now..

Regards,

Old3eyes

Behodar

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#546863 18-Nov-2011 12:57

old3eyes: When ever I call 123 it always asks me to enter a digit. Haven't struck the "IVR" for months now..

That's interesting because I got it on Monday.

Please tell me in a few words what you would like / "Mobile phone disconnected" / Oh you want help with your broadband?

*sigh*

openmedia

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#546965 18-Nov-2011 15:51

riahon:
chevrolux: If it's a problem with your cell phone why not go old school and walk in to a store? Instead of mucking around with couriers etc they will take it off you in the shop and fix/replace it.

Because if you complain enough times then someone will action what you want, bit hard to do that driving to multiple shops. He was told that the process was to take it to a store and they would send it away. He wasn't happy with that so he complained and complained until he got his own way. My kids do the same thing to me.

I went to a store first, in Wellington while I was there with work. They offered to send it away and lend me a very low spec $100 phone, but advised me the best bet was to call *123 as we'd reproduced the issue on a handset in the store. Also I'd have to go back to the Wellington store to pickup the repaired unit and I'm based in Auckland.

At first *123 told me I had to go to the original store as my contract was with them and not Telecom, even though it is a Telecom Store. They also told me it was user error as no phone is designed to do what I wanted which is tether and use internet on the phone at the same time.

Eventually I got a member of the mobile team who confirmed that they had an S2 device that worked and I needed to do a factory reset.

One factory reset and approx 5-6 hours on the phone with Telecom later they finally called me back and arranged a replacement. Fault was discovered when I'd had the phone under 2 weeks and it then took another week to go through the various troubleshooting steps before they'd replace the phone.

None of the stores would do a straight swap, despite the age of the handset, it always has to go off for repair unless it is DOA.

I wouldn't mind getting a loan phone of a low/mid spec android for a week but having a basic non-smart phone for an unspecified period of time isn't right for a top of the range handset.

Oh and the phone also has an issue where the in call volume varies from call to call and is seldom loud enough and we've been unable to resolve that one short of using a bluetooth headset.

Steve

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

nigelj

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#546978 18-Nov-2011 16:07

openmedia: None of the stores would do a straight swap, despite the age of the handset, it always has to go off for repair unless it is DOA.

I wouldn't mind getting a loan phone of a low/mid spec android for a week but having a basic non-smart phone for an unspecified period of time isn't right for a top of the range handset.

I have to agree with you 110% on both of those points, I had a faulty Samsung Galaxy 5 (it was a common fault that took Samsung ages to eventually release a fix for but it affected me a lot more than others for some reason), I basically had to go through 4 send backs to Telegistics for them to give me a refund. The 4th time it was in for "verification for refund" about 2 days after it was sent back Samsung released fixes for pretty much all the issues, Telegistics called me up and asked if I'd be happy if they put the fixes on instead of doing a refund, at the same time I was told (can't remember the exact words, but effectively:) "Oh yeah, we knew what the problem was, and that what we did likely wouldn't fix it, but we couldn't tell you that".

As far lending smartphone for smartphone, feature phone for feature phone, I think Telecom really need to look at that, especially as they can sell the X1 Android handset for ~$115 to CDMA OneBill customers - less than the $150 bond). It was something that really bugged me throughout the whole process as well.

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