WOW, Vodafone's customer service really has taken a dive!

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › WOW, Vodafone's customer service really has taken a dive!

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#1163210 27-Oct-2014 22:09

Yep, that is pretty good, however bearing in mind it's a public holiday, I'm not surprised. Now if they could keep that up during a normal business day they'd be doing really well.

MikeB4

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#1163419 28-Oct-2014 11:26

quickymart: Yep, that is pretty good, however bearing in mind it's a public holiday, I'm not surprised. Now if they could keep that up during a normal business day they'd be doing really well.

The recent experience I described is inline with my overall experience with Vodafone customer service. Since returning I have been very pleased with their service.

Demeter

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#1163556 28-Oct-2014 13:51

TimA: Vodafone Group impose a head limit for Vodafone NZ. If im not mistaken they were above that or close to it. Hence no new staff and contractors. Some friends that work there have been off to Minilla to do some form of training new staff. My money lies on the fact they are getting more "useless" call takers on board.

I can't understand why people think the call centre in Manilla is useless. The staff are polite, well-spoken and quite capable of handling billing queries effectively, no less than the NZ staff. If they couldn't speak English properly (as so many people claim) they wouldn't have been hired in the first place.

matisyahu

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#1163587 28-Oct-2014 14:33

alasta:
quickymart: That's what should have happened. But it didn't. And it may still be that way today.

My experience with these things is that corporate executives are often unwilling to commit to business cases for these large projects because they're terrible at quantifying the true cost of customer dissatisfaction and operational risk. They are also often spooked by the risk of the project running over budget, or elements of the cost not being able to be capitalised.

It's a good example of why you get this hopeless inertia in these large outfits which ultimately leads to customer churn, high staff turnover, lack of innovation, etc.

One of the reasons executives need to get down out of their ivory towers and at least once a week serve in the trenches - realise what is actually happening rather than being in the situation of the French aristocracy of finding out, when their head is in the guillotine, that the peasants aren't too fond of the current administration and that some changes might need to occur.

TimA:
quickymart: 2 years isn't that long, really - and remember, when I was there the company had existed for 4 years (at the time I left) but they still hadn't got the billing systems merged.

Oh and I'm fairly sure the executive team are aware of the current issues, particularly with customer service.

Vodafone Group impose a head limit for Vodafone NZ. If im not mistaken they were above that or close to it. Hence no new staff and contractors. Some friends that work there have been off to Minilla to do some form of training new staff. My money lies on the fact they are getting more "useless" call takers on board.

Seems rather ridiculous to impose an arbitrary head count on an organisation without taking into account the context of the local operation. Sure, there have to be budgets but the head count should be based on need and a constant re-evaluation as to whether technology can off load some of the call volume onto self help services such as online service, automated telephone service etc.

Demeter:
TimA: Vodafone Group impose a head limit for Vodafone NZ. If im not mistaken they were above that or close to it. Hence no new staff and contractors. Some friends that work there have been off to Minilla to do some form of training new staff. My money lies on the fact they are getting more "useless" call takers on board.

I can't understand why people think the call centre in Manilla is useless. The staff are polite, well-spoken and quite capable of handling billing queries effectively, no less than the NZ staff. If they couldn't speak English properly (as so many people claim) they wouldn't have been hired in the first place.

For me it has never been the accent because I deal with Apple quite a lot who have their call centre located in Singapore - the source of the problem is a crappy connection that makes the person difficult to understand. If the line has bad latency, crackling etc. then it doesn't matter how good the persons English is, the whole experience is going to be unpleasant for all concerned - the employee who is having difficulty listening and understanding along with the customer trying to listening and understanding.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

MikeB4

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#1163590 28-Oct-2014 14:36

Demeter:
TimA: Vodafone Group impose a head limit for Vodafone NZ. If im not mistaken they were above that or close to it. Hence no new staff and contractors. Some friends that work there have been off to Minilla to do some form of training new staff. My money lies on the fact they are getting more "useless" call takers on board.

I can't understand why people think the call centre in Manilla is useless. The staff are polite, well-spoken and quite capable of handling billing queries effectively, no less than the NZ staff. If they couldn't speak English properly (as so many people claim) they wouldn't have been hired in the first place.

That has been my experience

DjShadow

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#1163605 28-Oct-2014 14:52

KiwiNZ:
Demeter:
TimA: Vodafone Group impose a head limit for Vodafone NZ. If im not mistaken they were above that or close to it. Hence no new staff and contractors. Some friends that work there have been off to Minilla to do some form of training new staff. My money lies on the fact they are getting more "useless" call takers on board.

I can't understand why people think the call centre in Manilla is useless. The staff are polite, well-spoken and quite capable of handling billing queries effectively, no less than the NZ staff. If they couldn't speak English properly (as so many people claim) they wouldn't have been hired in the first place.

That has been my experience

One time I called them during my Fibre install left me very frustrated, almost like their ears were painted on where I clearly explained what I would like to happen (asking for a speed increase) and the lady got the impression I was wanting to cancel the order.

Demeter

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#1163629 28-Oct-2014 15:21

DjShadow: One time I called them during my Fibre install left me very frustrated, almost like their ears were painted on where I clearly explained what I would like to happen (asking for a speed increase) and the lady got the impression I was wanting to cancel the order.

The UFB team are NZ based.

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Andib

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#1163717 28-Oct-2014 16:40

IMO The issues people have with not being able to a understand CSR's accent don't come from the Manila call center (from whom I've never had an issue with, I find most can speak clear American English) but with staffed based in Auckland (Main Fixed line Call center).
I would imagine outsourced call centers tend to have alot stricter policies on "Clear English" than those based in NZ.

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Coil

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#1163839 28-Oct-2014 18:12

Demeter:
TimA: Vodafone Group impose a head limit for Vodafone NZ. If im not mistaken they were above that or close to it. Hence no new staff and contractors. Some friends that work there have been off to Minilla to do some form of training new staff. My money lies on the fact they are getting more "useless" call takers on board.

I can't understand why people think the call centre in Manilla is useless. The staff are polite, well-spoken and quite capable of handling billing queries effectively, no less than the NZ staff. If they couldn't speak English properly (as so many people claim) they wouldn't have been hired in the first place.

Very true.
When ever i spoke with them. (10 times a day) They would always try and fob me off and put me somewhere else as it wasnt their job or what ever.

KiwiNZ:
Demeter:
TimA: Vodafone Group impose a head limit for Vodafone NZ. If im not mistaken they were above that or close to it. Hence no new staff and contractors. Some friends that work there have been off to Minilla to do some form of training new staff. My money lies on the fact they are getting more "useless" call takers on board.

I can't understand why people think the call centre in Manilla is useless. The staff are polite, well-spoken and quite capable of handling billing queries effectively, no less than the NZ staff. If they couldn't speak English properly (as so many people claim) they wouldn't have been hired in the first place.

That has been my experience

I could understand them fine.

freitasm

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#1163868 28-Oct-2014 19:01

kawaii: One of the reasons executives need to get down out of their ivory towers and at least once a week serve in the trenches - realise what is actually happening rather than being in the situation of the French aristocracy of finding out, when their head is in the guillotine, that the peasants aren't too fond of the current administration and that some changes might need to occur.

Not a comment on Vodafone's Call Centre performance (I have no experience to report on that, good or bad) but I agree with this.

I'd like to see middle and upper management (GMs and CEOs inclusive) working two to five days a year in different areas of the company.

Also would like to see GMs and CEOs facing a problem and not call the manager of the area involved, but simply call the help desk number and try to get things fixed from there, without "do you know who you talking to" approach.

Again, this is not for Vodafone only, but any company that claims to be "customer focused".

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#1163879 28-Oct-2014 19:11

When Paul Reynolds was the CEO of then-Telecom, he used to do just that.

freitasm

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#1163883 28-Oct-2014 19:14

A few years back then-Telecom invited some people to Auckland to visit their call centre and follow some calls - I was in that group. It's not an easy job, I tell you.

quickymart

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#1163893 28-Oct-2014 19:22

Agreed. Even harder when you're dealing with the merged products of three different companies, never mind one.

jen1001

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#1163918 28-Oct-2014 19:43

KiwiNZ: Well I rang Vodafone today to get a service changed (on Television) after listening to the IVR I waited about a minute and a half and was answered. The service was changed immediately and 100 percent correct. The whole process only took around 6 -8 minutes. That is excellent service in my book.

That describes my experience as well. Called in the evening, didn't wait more than a minute and got a very knowledgeable guy who knew exactly what to do. I wish all my previous calls to VF were that good, unfortunately it's been a bit of a hit and miss recently...but not as bad as other feedback I've read.

So thank you Glyn at Vodafone faults, your customer service was faultless :)

matisyahu

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#1164068 29-Oct-2014 05:34

freitasm:
kawaii: One of the reasons executives need to get down out of their ivory towers and at least once a week serve in the trenches - realise what is actually happening rather than being in the situation of the French aristocracy of finding out, when their head is in the guillotine, that the peasants aren't too fond of the current administration and that some changes might need to occur.

Not a comment on Vodafone's Call Centre performance (I have no experience to report on that, good or bad) but I agree with this.

I'd like to see middle and upper management (GMs and CEOs inclusive) working two to five days a year in different areas of the company.

Also would like to see GMs and CEOs facing a problem and not call the manager of the area involved, but simply call the help desk number and try to get things fixed from there, without "do you know who you talking to" approach.

Again, this is not for Vodafone only, but any company that claims to be "customer focused".

I work at the Johnsonville branch of the organisation I work for and when ever I hear horror stories about about another branch (which will remain nameless) I was always sceptical and "oh, it can't be that bad, they're just complainers" but having spent a month there I would hate to know how many people aren't complaining because it just isn't worth the effort to ring up head office and lay an official complaint. It is one of those situations where you really need to have first hand experience on the front line to realise just how bad something is and what needs to be done because in all honesty if the CSR staff are stressed it really does come through when it comes to the delivery of service to customers (far to many customers unfortunately seem to lack the ability to realise that the CSR is but one cog in a larger machine of which they have little influence over).

Take the billing system is a prime example, if they standardised on a single platform, a single web based front end and pile as much of the account changes on that website then it would filter out most of the customer base who ring up to the point that the only ones ringing up are those who need an actual person to help them because things have really gone pear shaped. Few calls which would translate into faster response times and keeping control of labour costs along with happier customers dealing with CSR's who are under less stress. It is amazing when I see even in my own organisation that I work for some of the "what on earth were they thinking" moments - prime example was the breakfast that was launched, labour budget blown nationwide but hey, head office kept insisting that there needed to be uniform opening times regardless of whether there was the foot traffic to justify being open the first place but then again it goes back the model I prefer which is the idea of having a decentralised model in favour of individual areas treated as stand alone businesses with each area manager being the CEO of that business with head office being a support function rather than the adversarial relationship that exists now.

quickymart: Agreed. Even harder when you're dealing with the merged products of three different companies, never mind one.

The problem is made worse when there is no migration strategy in place - if you have no long term "this is what we're working towards and this is how we'll achieve it" then pretty much everything turns to custard.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

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