Vodafone really want me back.. or not?

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Vodafone really want me back.. or not?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

147 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

One NZ

#2094941 22-Sep-2018 12:58

quickymart:
@JasonParis - are you looking at bringing the phone customer service team back to NZ rather than the Philippines? That is one thing that could possibly sway me to move some services over to Vodafone.

Thanks for the suggestion. Our customer care model moving forward is definitely something that we will be discussing as a team. Why do you think it would be helpful for us to have less people working offshore?

Jason Paris

alasta

6703 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#2094948 22-Sep-2018 13:47

I am curious as to what KPIs are in place to manage the Phillipines call centre. There seem to be a lot of anecdotes floating around about people having to make multiple calls to get simple problems resolved, and repeated broken promises to call customers back. My last experience with the overseas call centre was a year ago when they knew nothing about the $10 bundle discount that I was entitled to and I had to get the NZ based retention team to sort it out.

I know you may not want to answer the question directly due to commercial sensitivities, but it really feels like there is a lack of concern around basic performance metrics like average time taken to resolve issues, number of repeat calls for a particular issue, proportion of calls escalated, etc.

I personally couldn't give two hoots whether I deal with someone in NZ or in the Phillipines, but they need to be capable of providing the service that they are there to deliver.

DjShadow

4084 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2094949 22-Sep-2018 14:02

I think I can generally answer this by saying the international call centres are not very "Kiwi" and they are very scripted.

Having worked in Customer Service for years I've found that customers like someone where they can tell English is their first language, and also they have the skill and empowerment to help them (for those cases where all the scripted answers don't solve the problem) so they can apply "outside of the box" thinking to solve the problem.

The idea I like is I should be able to speak to 1 person at a telco who can take care of all my sales questions/requests and their system/database/processes be straight forward enough to ensure the orders are placed correctly.

Edit: I'm also a huge fan of self-service, my ideal portal is somewhere I can go where I have full control over the plans I have and make changes, back when I was with Vodafone I would of loved the ability to add/remove channel packages online.

staticnz

151 posts

Master Geek

#2094964 22-Sep-2018 15:19

DjShadow:
I think I can generally answer this by saying the international call centres are not very "Kiwi" and they are very scripted.

Having worked in Customer Service for years I've found that customers like someone where they can tell English is their first language, and also they have the skill and empowerment to help them (for those cases where all the scripted answers don't solve the problem) so they can apply "outside of the box" thinking to solve the problem.

Given how multicultural our country is getting (a great thing!), I think you might be surprised how many kiwis don’t have English as their first language these days.

quickymart

13924 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2094966 22-Sep-2018 15:22

JasonParis:
quickymart:

@JasonParis - are you looking at bringing the phone customer service team back to NZ rather than the Philippines? That is one thing that could possibly sway me to move some services over to Vodafone.

Thanks for the suggestion. Our customer care model moving forward is definitely something that we will be discussing as a team. Why do you think it would be helpful for us to have less people working offshore?

I have had dealings with them myself and the experience was extremely poor. Don't take my word for it, just have a look at Vodafone's Facebook page - littered with complaints about reps who are rude, don't know what they're doing or don't have a clue when you speak to them, transfer you around the company saying "not my department, I'll send you through to the right person now"...and it's not. I heard tales of people being on hold to your call centre for 45 minutes, and being transferred 9 times. Hardly an example of good service. I'm actually fearful of calling to get anything changed - that's if you can get through to anyone in the first place, as the wait times are pretty shocking.

I used to work at Telstra Clear back in the early-mid 2000's and everything was onshore. Customer satisfaction levels were high, and you knew when you called, your request would be actioned and taken care of by the person you spoke to, rather than being transferred to the wrong person for the umpteenth time. Offshoring wasn't even an option when I was there.

I'm not saying all offshore centres are bad - Spark's Manila one is okay-ish, but the one that Vodafone is using is quite bad, and DJShadow echoes quite a few of my sentiments.

Sorry for the long post, but having worked for the company in a previous incarnation (and I still know some people there) it's sad to see that offshoring was decided as the best way forward just to save a buck. If the call centre did their job properly, I would have no issue with it. But when they don't do their job, it looks to me like saving money, sure, but sacrificing quality customer service at the same time.

JasonParis

147 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

One NZ

#2094983 22-Sep-2018 16:38

alasta:
I am curious as to what KPIs are in place to manage the Phillipines call centre. There seem to be a lot of anecdotes floating around about people having to make multiple calls to get simple problems resolved, and repeated broken promises to call customers back. My last experience with the overseas call centre was a year ago when they knew nothing about the $10 bundle discount that I was entitled to and I had to get the NZ based retention team to sort it out.

I know you may not want to answer the question directly due to commercial sensitivities, but it really feels like there is a lack of concern around basic performance metrics like average time taken to resolve issues, number of repeat calls for a particular issue, proportion of calls escalated, etc.

I personally couldn't give two hoots whether I deal with someone in NZ or in the Phillipines, but they need to be capable of providing the service that they are there to deliver.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Your post and the ones following clearly outline that this isn’t an on shore or off shore thing - but a comment on our current customer care performance. I’ve seen first hand our care teams working really hard for our customers, no one comes into work to do a bad job - but we are not where we need to be yet. There is a lot of work to do (the best service experience is not having to get in contact at all!), so I really appreciate the insight from all of the contributors today. We’ll let you know the steps we are taking as we implement them to get feedback.

JP

Jason Paris

Hammerer

2476 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2094988 22-Sep-2018 17:01

JasonParis:

Thanks for the suggestion. Our customer care model moving forward is definitely something that we will be discussing as a team. Why do you think it would be helpful for us to have less people working offshore?

Earlier this year, I went to TDR after several months trying to get what I was promised. The overseas call centre staff were reluctant to do anything that would be perceived as negative against their bosses in NZ. I guess that probably relates to Asian honour cultures where you don't question a superior's decisions, and if you do the expectation is that they will not trust you anymore.

P.S. I should have added that the overseas staff are generally just as positive and helpful as New Zealand staff but they are more constrained in what they can do to solve service issues.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

bigalow

566 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2094989 22-Sep-2018 17:05

talking a about call centres

why does some plans ringing the call centre for help is free

and other plans there is a charge to talk to someone at a call centre ??

no other companies do this

if your internet is not working how can you chat to someone online ?

DjShadow

4084 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2094991 22-Sep-2018 17:07

biggal:

talking a about call centres

why does some plans ringing the call centre for help is free

and other plans there is a charge to talk to someone at a call centre ??

no other companies do this

if your internet is not working how can you chat to someone online ?

Call Centres are a Cost-Centre and don't make money.

It could be possible to use Live Chat on your phone over 3/4G?

alasta

6703 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#2094996 22-Sep-2018 17:35

Thanks Jason for taking the time to respond. You must be incredibly busy and we all know you can't single-handedly solve everyone's problems, but it's great to see you taking an interest in some examples of sub-standard customer outcomes so that you can better understand the root causes.

thecatsgoolies

414 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#2095067 23-Sep-2018 09:37

I recently got told about the $69 plan. was 240GB and a bonus 60GB for a limited time (not sure how long that is as it doesn't state) This was all on an open term. I have been out of contract now for approx 2 years. Yesterday I got an invitation to go onto a 24 month term for $49 per month which will give me the same package. I'm really tempted but not sure I want to lock in!

I've had so many issues before with the Modem and the last time I contacted them about it I got bandied from pillar to post and it really put me off. The other day I called them regarding my billing. Was told I now have two accounts much to my confusion. One on the old Clarify system and one in TP2. I'm not sure whether they were going to do anything about it, I'm hoping the CSR took care of it. He was confused as to why a new account had been created for me.

dryburn

430 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2096741 26-Sep-2018 12:06

kiwiharry:

dryburn:

Now I feel bad, just re-signed this week for $75pm without $300 credit

Oh dear, yeah I did this too 2 days ago.

Basil12:

dryburn:

Now I feel bad, just re-signed this week for $75pm without $300 credit

I feel even worse, I just signed up for another year for $85 pm and no credit, down from $95pm. But being Vodafone the first bill was for $115!

Call them up and ask them to cancel.

2degrees has a good offer $85/pm and $200 joining credit. Plus $10/pm off if you're with mobile. Which is roughly ~$58 pm.

Now that's good deal

NickMack

962 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2096951 26-Sep-2018 16:01

JasonParis:

Hi Lias,

We definitely want you back! I’m the incoming CEO at Vodafone and you can think of me as your personal account manager from here on in....please email me with some of your details and I’ll get the team onto sorting this asap for you.

Cheers

JP

Hi Jason,

Very cool to see you posting and replying here - Great stuff!

If you'd like to meet some customers and get some more feedback - Geekzone is hosting an event in Christchurch on Saturday the 3rd of November (https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=48&topicid=240530), come along! I'm sure @freitasm will happily accept more sponsorship to support this great community.

Nick.

https://nick.mackechnie.co.nz | NZ ISP latency monitoring - https://smokeping.thenet.gen.nz

quickymart

13924 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2096982 26-Sep-2018 16:40

@JasonParis: Something else I forgot to add why I don't like the current offshore call centre. Too many times customers will call with some issue on their bill, to be told by the person on the phone, "oh yes Sir, we're very sorry Sir, we'll put that right for you Sir, it will never be a problem ever again Sir",

...only for the exact same (wrong) charge to appear on next month's bill! This means another call, and explaining everything all over again, to be told the same thing again, and the charge appears again...it almost feels like their goal is to get through as many calls as possible without really doing anything. Yet if they did what they said they would (in this case, correct the billing error), customers would be much happier and even more happier at not needing to call again due to the rep simply not knowing how to fix the billing issue - they're more interested in trying to be your friend, as opposed to assisting you with the problem/issue you called about.

Sure, billing mistakes happen. But when they happen repeatedly, month after month...

Billing mistakes happened when I was at TCL too (ICSS comes to mind, if that's still used). But when you called, the (NZ-based) call centre person you spoke to fixed the problem, and it was sorted, forever.

networkn

Networkn
32349 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2096999 26-Sep-2018 17:19

quickymart:

Billing mistakes happened when I was at TCL too (ICSS comes to mind, if that's still used). But when you called, the (NZ-based) call centre person you spoke to fixed the problem, and it was sorted, forever.

That's the opposite of my experience. Pretty much everything I have go wrong with my VF account is stuff that VF bought over from Telstra. Any changes to a exTCL plan is suicide inducing.

I had lots of customers with TCL and the majority of time consuming issues were billing related.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8