Why we are leaving Vodafone after 10+ years (home broadband)

Forums › One NZ (including Farmside) › Why we are leaving Vodafone after 10+ years (home broadband)

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'That VDSL Cat'
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#1991895 9-Apr-2018 10:42

Jaxson:

Yep, I've found the same thing. We had discounts applied that would drop off periodically. Same type of interactions, around can you please apply this in a way that won't require manual intervention etc.

didn't you use to work for them......

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

sdav

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#1992064 9-Apr-2018 14:50

Linux:

...request a copy of the death certificate

This isn't even common sense! Nice touch with the mother BTW.

Jaxson:

Like anything, if you find the right person it all works, but this just encourages going outside the normal process of the service desk.

When I worked in a call centre I liked to think I was the right person you talk about. I got smashed in my KPI meetings by some managers though because my average call handling time was too long. No sh*t, because I felt like I was constantly sorting out screw ups. My average wasn't even that long, just longer than the people who half-solved issues for faster call handling times. I guess that's the issue when you run lean call centre numbers though... Although, if you were an arsehole caller (without legitimate reason) you got a pretty swift, bare bone (sill polite) response from me...

I also refused to use the long winded greeting as those are beyond annoying... It always got brought up during meetings but nothing ever happened. I shortened "Kia ora good morning, welcome to [company] [department], my name is [name], how can I help you today?" to "Hello (or Kia Ora, not both) [department] how can I help?"... People would always forget my name so it was cleaner to leave it out and if they asked for it I would tell them. IMO, as a caller, there is nothing worse than waiting for the predictable script to end. People just wanted their issue sorted, not treated like they were checking in to the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo...

/CSR rant...

Jaxson

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#1992399 9-Apr-2018 21:09

hio77:

didn't you use to work for them......

Nope, not me sorry.

And in other news, my charging issue was addressed today, so that's all good

Will wait and see what appears on my bill next month...

I use the email/provide feedback link on the site, and write all the specifics clearly in that web form. Find I get good results via that method, and within a few days.

MichaelNZ

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#1992440 9-Apr-2018 23:31

alasta:

I assume the Phillipines call centre is outsourced to a third party, in which case you have to wonder what KPIs are in place and whether they are being enforced.

I have lived in the Philippines and am married to a Filipina.

The issue the OP describes is very real in the Philippines. The local telcos are even worse.

It is outsourced to a major Philippines BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) company. I have ridden the bus past their offices a few times. I have heard their staff are paid around P14,000 to P16,000 per month (NZ$372 to $425), which quite frankly isn't much even in Philippines terms.

Trying to enforce western style KPI's in the Philippines is a exercise in futility. In the Philippines one has to quickly get used to things taking too long, too much hassle, trying to sort out fact from fiction, rife inefficiency and stuff everywhere is dilapidated and broken.

It's not always this way, of course, but it helps to regard the exceptions as lucky rather than expect them.

The Filipino business culture is very much based around personal relationships ie: it's who you know. If you know and are on good terms with someone who can fix the problem, or "endorse" (ie: refer / introduce) you to someone who can, you may well get the problem fixed, abiet slowly.

If not, well, as I discovered several times, it's often easier to simply buy a new SIM than to try and fix problems with an existing connection, for example.

Re: "enforcement" - I'm not even sure how I can explain this - you would understand it better seeing it for yourself - but what "order" there is enforced in ways which would be counter intuitive or even an anathema to us in New Zealand.

So you could ask, or even expect, something X is going to be done within X amount of time, but if what you are asking is not the cultural norm there, you will likely end up feeling like you are pissing in the wind.

Your average call centre worker has never left the country and probably never will because they can't afford it. So the chances are the person you are talking to on the other end of the phone does not even understand your cultural expectations.

So what to do? Be like their friend. This is how business is done there. In my case, 9 times out of 10, I make sure they know I am married to a Filipina and I have spent time in their country. This always goes down well because their culture is very nationalistic. "Filipino pride" is a big thing there and it's pushed from elementary (primary) school onwards.

Another pointer (and I had to work this out after trial and error) is "face" is a big thing there. In New Zealand you can complain in more dierct terms and it's ok, we understand. But in the Philippines, they are a lot more likely to take this personally. So where possible always try and frame things in terms of what you want and how appreciative you are.

One other thing I found useful there was the 10%er rule. On average, 1 out of 10 people at a call centre there would give me a level of service which approached what I was used to. So, I would just keep calling again until I got a 10%er. LOL.

WFH Linux Systems and Networks Engineer in the Internet industry | Specialising in Mikrotik | APNIC member | Open to job offers | ZL2NET

alasta

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#1992456 10-Apr-2018 04:06

Thanks Michael. Some really interesting insights there.

Jaxar

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#1992751 10-Apr-2018 14:04

Jaxson:

hio77:

didn't you use to work for them......

Nope, not me sorry.

And in other news, my charging issue was addressed today, so that's all good

Will wait and see what appears on my bill next month...

I use the email/provide feedback link on the site, and write all the specifics clearly in that web form. Find I get good results via that method, and within a few days.

Possibly you are thinking of me. Similar username. I still work at VF but I'm not customer facing and thus not as active here any more.

Please note: I have a professional bias towards Vodafone.

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jnc77

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#1992765 10-Apr-2018 14:26

MikeHales: @jnc77
I'm really sorry to hear about that. If it's not too late, I'm happy to take this on and ensure name change etc.
It is a simple process and my apologies to your mother that we've not done this and removed an unnecessary stress at what must have been a tough time anyhow.
Again, sorry.
m

Thanks Mike,

Am already in the process of changing over to another provider when the contract ends May 3rd so no need to sort this one, I'm sure you have plenty other messes to fix up :) , but thanks for the offer.

Called back today to get the exact date the contract ends and cancel, and they kept calling me by the deceased account holders name. Even after I explained they were dead and this is why I'm leaving, then continued calling me that throughout the call. I can only laugh at this point.

jnc77

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#2009659 8-May-2018 00:36

@MikeHales

So I thought I was done with dealing with vodafone customer support, but they have managed to deal me one final parting blow...

I transferred the account to another provider on the last day of my contract - 4th of May.

Told vodafone this and thought that was the end of it. The internet transferred over fine and was all up and working.

However we were also transferring over the landline number, but when my new provider tried to port the number across around 11am on the 4th it had already been disconnected... apparently 20 minutes before the port attempt :( so close.

New provider said there is nothing they can do unless vodafone reactivate the number so they can then port it.

So I call back vodafone, 45 minutes on hold, finally get through to someone and explain the whole situation, back on hold while they try and find an answer, transferred to someone else, explain the whole situation again, they said they think I should be able to activate it again but I will have to pay $55 to activate it and get 1 months service, but I am in the wrong department to do this, so transferred again, explain the whole situation again, this person seems to think they can't reactivate it, and I need to call back my new provider and ask them to request my old phone number as it is now free.

Call back new provider, they say this is not true, and that the number is reserved for 6 months after deactivation and only vodafone can reactivate it.

So Mike, do you know if it is possible to get my old landline number back or is it lost forever?, and if so is there a way I can do this without having to spend 2 hours on the phone with customer support tomorrow ?

Thanks.

Demeter

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#2009693 8-May-2018 08:18

How frustrating, sorry about that. :( I'm fairly certain the number can be recovered as it should be on hold for a period of time before being released back into the pool. Please send me a private message with your customer information and I will get someone from our tech team to take a look at what we can do for you.

1cloud

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#2009730 8-May-2018 09:40

Andib:

Back when I was working in the VF call center it was clearly explained to us (Get copy of death certificate and either process the disconnection or submit the ownership transfer request), Typically I would do this while the caller was still on the phone (if they could take a photo or scan & email the certificate).

I imagine the cause of repeated non action is KPIs, Once the customer is off the phone there is little incentive for the csr to to any follow up as they're pushed to answer the next call.

people like to do their own thing these days

1cloud

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#2009734 8-May-2018 09:43

jnc77:

I'll try to keep this brief as possible as I really am over dealing with this situation and as the contracts just about up we've decided to give up and move to another provider -

another way is not paying the bill and then they will come to you :)

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jnc77

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#2009836 8-May-2018 11:28

Demeter:

How frustrating, sorry about that. :( I'm fairly certain the number can be recovered as it should be on hold for a period of time before being released back into the pool. Please send me a private message with your customer information and I will get someone from our tech team to take a look at what we can do for you.

Thanks, PMed you.

surfisup1000

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#2009855 8-May-2018 11:51

Vodafone has some highly paid IT folk, how does this happen?

Modern CRM systems this stuff just should not happen.

Demeter

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#2009859 8-May-2018 11:54

A combination of automated system event and human error is usually at fault.

surfisup1000

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#2009887 8-May-2018 12:34

Demeter:

A combination of automated system event and human error is usually at fault.

But, this stuff is picked up during business case testing .

It is not like the request was an unusual one.

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