Gave up after 90 minutes

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321 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 1186944 2-Dec-2014 11:51

Jonski:
KiwiNZ: raising your voice at the CSR's is pointless and completely unproductive. More likely you will get further if you do the opoosote.

That's not what I've found. A certain degree of tense exasperation and ridicule pointing out the simple failures of The System has usually got me onto the team leads reasonably quickly. I don't shout, swear or abuse so "raised voice" was probably the wrong choice of words but I do make it the CSR's problem not mine.

CSR doesn't care. As soon as you end the call or it gets escalated, the problem ceases to be theirs. CSRs, especially the lowest paid FLS, will often just say stuff to get you off the phone. The team managers aren't interested in resolutions, they're interested in call volumes. So you can be as hard as you like on the CSR, but it'll never be their problem, and you can be as hard as you like on the manager, but it'll never be their problem either. This is why complex problems never get dealt with at the call centre level.

Me, if I have an issue that isn't going anywhere, I usually find someone above them and start harassing them like crazy. They don't think like CSRs, who deal with 70 nutters a day and who won't remember you the next day.

Jonski

242 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 29

Reply # 1187145 2-Dec-2014 14:55

Whew. What a mission. OK, the phone was answered after 1h10. I spoke to a very helpful Sunny B, who was quite good. In fact, got annoyed on my behalf after reading my customer notes.

But that whole phone call took 2h30, and that was on top of the 1h30 on hold without response last night. So that's half a working day to confirm that as suspected, Vodafone has ported my DSL account to UFB, without having checked if I had any UFB provisioned.

In other words, they've unplugged me without cause. I don't even have fibre down the driveway, let alone the rest of it.

It's now going to take up to 72 hours to get it reprovisioned, and that's apparently as fast as they can move.

Queue comments relating to pissups in breweries. This entire process (of me getting UFB) commenced in mid-September and is not even close to getting resolved. It has been a catalogue of errors and excuses and I'm bracing to see what horrors have yet to come. Because come they will.

Jon

I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

Yabanize

2107 posts

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Reply # 1187191 2-Dec-2014 16:02

Perhaps Vodafone has to watch and learn from their new ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlAKHMCKexs

shrub

477 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 1187198 2-Dec-2014 16:12

Yabanize: Perhaps Vodafone has to watch and learn from their new ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlAKHMCKexs

Love the bit at the end "Are you ready".
Perhaps if they stopped spending on marketing for new customers and helping existing ones then they would not need to try and attract new as word of mouth is the best marketing.

mattwnz

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Reply # 1187207 2-Dec-2014 16:16

What is really frustrating I find with companies these days, is not having a way to email them, and the only way to contact them is via phone or snailmail. An email is so much quicker, you just send it through, and if they are good at dealing with emails, you will have a reply within a few hours, usually less if they are very good. To actually wait on hold is pretty much wasted time, as it is difficult to do much when you are on hold, and it is even more frustrating when you have to explain things multiple times, and spell URLs and passwords over the phone, which you often have to do multiple times, and P's and D's, and T's are very difficult to distinguish over a phone line.

MikeB4

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Reply # 1187224 2-Dec-2014 16:43

One person supports this post

ckc:
Jonski:
KiwiNZ: raising your voice at the CSR's is pointless and completely unproductive. More likely you will get further if you do the opoosote.

That's not what I've found. A certain degree of tense exasperation and ridicule pointing out the simple failures of The System has usually got me onto the team leads reasonably quickly. I don't shout, swear or abuse so "raised voice" was probably the wrong choice of words but I do make it the CSR's problem not mine.

CSR doesn't care. As soon as you end the call or it gets escalated, the problem ceases to be theirs. CSRs, especially the lowest paid FLS, will often just say stuff to get you off the phone. The team managers aren't interested in resolutions, they're interested in call volumes. So you can be as hard as you like on the CSR, but it'll never be their problem, and you can be as hard as you like on the manager, but it'll never be their problem either. This is why complex problems never get dealt with at the call centre level.

Me, if I have an issue that isn't going anywhere, I usually find someone above them and start harassing them like crazy. They don't think like CSRs, who deal with 70 nutters a day and who won't remember you the next day.

I was always interested in resolutions, It is an important metric when reporting and determining the success rate of a support unit.

Mike
Retired IT Manager.
The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

Mac user, Windows curser, Chrome OS desired.

The great divide is the lies from both sides.

matisyahu

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Reply # 1187258 2-Dec-2014 17:37

Yabanize: Perhaps Vodafone has to watch and learn from their new ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlAKHMCKexs

This is what happens when you segment your call centre, fail to invest to get all the acquired companies onto the same system then over promise but under deliver. Someone needs to remind Vodafone that they can be cocky in stride once they get their call waiting times down to 5 minutes and allow something as basic as a single login so that customers can view all their services from the one location. I don't blame the folks who help out here because they're but one cog in a giant clusterduck of a system - the problem starts at the top and an unwillingness by management to roll up their sleeves and take ownership of the problem and invest money into infrastructure instead of attempting to re-enact the various scenes from 'Wolf of Wall Street'.

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ckc

321 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Inactive user

Reply # 1187274 2-Dec-2014 17:55

KiwiNZ:

I was always interested in resolutions, It is an important metric when reporting and determining the success rate of a support unit.

Resolutions aren't always problem solved, especially in high volume call centres. If resolutions were problems solved, then people wouldn't have to turn to social media and posting on here after every single call ended and was considered resolved. Often resolutions are successfully making it to the end of the diagnostic tool and either passing it on to someone else (tech, 2LS) or resolving the problem temporarily. At that point the next call about the same problem is a new problem that requires a new resolution.

A successful team in a call centre like VF or Spark turns over calls and resolves them operating from the principle that there's only a limited amount a FLS operator can do. Doesn't matter if the problem is fixed. Matters if the expertise of the FDT has been exhausted.

quickymart

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Reply # 1187279 2-Dec-2014 18:03

2 people support this post

Jonski:
johnr: Sorry nothing I can do about the wait times can I ask what the actual call into Vodafone was about? Maybe I could add some value here on Geekzone,

No, it's not the kind of thing that can be resolved here thanks. But I'll give you the story anyway:

On Thursday or Friday, I fell off the internet. I checked our phone line, that was working fine (I've had recent problems with the physical lines and both services died together). Anyway, didn't have time to investigate. On Saturday, I checked again, this time only got side tone on the phone. On Sunday I finally had a chance to call VF.

They went through the usual checks (unplug everything etc), and dispatched Chorus to check the line. On Monday, Alex from Chorus (he's my regular tech, says something about the connection!) came and tested the lines, all tested fine. I got home and dial tone was back on the phone, the DSL light on the modem but still no connection to the internet.

So to troubleshooting. I ended up bypassing the Wifi router and plugging LAN directly into the modem. Logging into the modem, I see that it is "connected", but a number of IPs are in the non-routable 10.x.x.x range and there is other weirdness reported as well. I'm not at home at present so I can't give you specifics.

Also, when trying a web browser I now get a webpage message from Vodafone saying it takes up to 60 minutes to set up the service and I should wait that long, reboot the modem and try again.

Seeing as I have an order in for UFB (which was the subject of another official complaint), I strongly suspect I've had my account transferred to the new service, although Chorus has yet to even run cable down my drive.

So something that can't be resolved in this forum.

I used to rave about Vodafone. I have even sent unsolicited emails commending certain support staff for their performance. Seeing as I'm IT Service Manager at a household-name online company, technical support is my bread and butter, and I give credit where it's due. But after years of not needing support, I've had to deal with Vodafone several times in the past 6 months, and almost every time I've had to escalate the issue, usually to the formal complaint process. 90 minutes to not answer the phone? In our call center, our TTA SLAs are measured in seconds not hours! Our call abandonment rates are in the low single digits, I would hate to see what Vodafone's are.

I started online with Voyager in 1995. I remember the Clone Wars, or at least the finger wars. I transitioned to ihug and later Vodafone. For many, many reasons built up over the years, I will never do personal business with Telecom!, and the smaller ISPs can't meet the price point I am working to on my personal budget. So I'm kind of stuck with ISPs. Conceivably if I had more experience with SIP, I'd look at alternatives but I don't know enough about that corner of IT yet to transition my landline away in a cost-effective manner.

So it will be back on the phone later this morning, and I expect to be raising my voice to the poor contact center worker at the other end. Not their fault, but their management is effectively unreachable.

Jon

In the days I worked there I would be less inclined to help someone who was yelling at me as opposed to someone who (while frustrated) managed to keep their composure, and was interested in working towards a resolution instead of just yelling at the poor sap on the phone.

MikeB4

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Reply # 1187280 2-Dec-2014 18:04

ckc:
KiwiNZ:

I was always interested in resolutions, It is an important metric when reporting and determining the success rate of a support unit.

Resolutions aren't always problem solved, especially in high volume call centres. If resolutions were problems solved, then people wouldn't have to turn to social media and posting on here after every single call ended and was considered resolved. Often resolutions are successfully making it to the end of the diagnostic tool and either passing it on to someone else (tech, 2LS) or resolving the problem temporarily. At that point the next call about the same problem is a new problem that requires a new resolution.

A successful team in a call centre like VF or Spark turns over calls and resolves them operating from the principle that there's only a limited amount a FLS operator can do. Doesn't matter if the problem is fixed. Matters if the expertise of the FDT has been exhausted.

I didn't say closure I said resolution a big difference.

Mike
Retired IT Manager.
The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

Mac user, Windows curser, Chrome OS desired.

The great divide is the lies from both sides.

MikeB4

12900 posts

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Reply # 1187304 2-Dec-2014 18:15

quickymart:
Jonski:
johnr: Sorry nothing I can do about the wait times can I ask what the actual call into Vodafone was about? Maybe I could add some value here on Geekzone,

No, it's not the kind of thing that can be resolved here thanks. But I'll give you the story anyway:

On Thursday or Friday, I fell off the internet. I checked our phone line, that was working fine (I've had recent problems with the physical lines and both services died together). Anyway, didn't have time to investigate. On Saturday, I checked again, this time only got side tone on the phone. On Sunday I finally had a chance to call VF.

They went through the usual checks (unplug everything etc), and dispatched Chorus to check the line. On Monday, Alex from Chorus (he's my regular tech, says something about the connection!) came and tested the lines, all tested fine. I got home and dial tone was back on the phone, the DSL light on the modem but still no connection to the internet.

So to troubleshooting. I ended up bypassing the Wifi router and plugging LAN directly into the modem. Logging into the modem, I see that it is "connected", but a number of IPs are in the non-routable 10.x.x.x range and there is other weirdness reported as well. I'm not at home at present so I can't give you specifics.

Also, when trying a web browser I now get a webpage message from Vodafone saying it takes up to 60 minutes to set up the service and I should wait that long, reboot the modem and try again.

Seeing as I have an order in for UFB (which was the subject of another official complaint), I strongly suspect I've had my account transferred to the new service, although Chorus has yet to even run cable down my drive.

So something that can't be resolved in this forum.

I used to rave about Vodafone. I have even sent unsolicited emails commending certain support staff for their performance. Seeing as I'm IT Service Manager at a household-name online company, technical support is my bread and butter, and I give credit where it's due. But after years of not needing support, I've had to deal with Vodafone several times in the past 6 months, and almost every time I've had to escalate the issue, usually to the formal complaint process. 90 minutes to not answer the phone? In our call center, our TTA SLAs are measured in seconds not hours! Our call abandonment rates are in the low single digits, I would hate to see what Vodafone's are.

I started online with Voyager in 1995. I remember the Clone Wars, or at least the finger wars. I transitioned to ihug and later Vodafone. For many, many reasons built up over the years, I will never do personal business with Telecom!, and the smaller ISPs can't meet the price point I am working to on my personal budget. So I'm kind of stuck with ISPs. Conceivably if I had more experience with SIP, I'd look at alternatives but I don't know enough about that corner of IT yet to transition my landline away in a cost-effective manner.

So it will be back on the phone later this morning, and I expect to be raising my voice to the poor contact center worker at the other end. Not their fault, but their management is effectively unreachable.

Jon

In the days I worked there I would be less inclined to help someone who was yelling at me as opposed to someone who (while frustrated) managed to keep their composure, and was interested in working towards a resolution instead of just yelling at the poor sap on the phone.

Anyone who got aggressive rude etc with any of my staff would get a call from me.

Mike
Retired IT Manager.
The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

Mac user, Windows curser, Chrome OS desired.

The great divide is the lies from both sides.

zaray

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 1187540 2-Dec-2014 22:41

Hi all

Just off phone to Vodafone (old TelstraClear) - only took 3hrs 25mins to get to talk to a person.
Music repeats itself many many times
BUT I think my minor problem will be resolved

mattwnz

14292 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1849

Reply # 1187545 2-Dec-2014 22:46

zaray: Hi all

Just off phone to Vodafone (old TelstraClear) - only took 3hrs 25mins to get to talk to a person.
Music repeats itself many many times
BUT I think my minor problem will be resolved

Was that continuous? I was on hold with apple for about 30 minutes today, and thought that was a long time. M

Jonski

242 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 29

Reply # 1187882 3-Dec-2014 12:30

KiwiNZ:
quickymart: In the days I worked there I would be less inclined to help someone who was yelling at me as opposed to someone who (while frustrated) managed to keep their composure, and was interested in working towards a resolution instead of just yelling at the poor sap on the phone.

Anyone who got aggressive rude etc with any of my staff would get a call from me.

You missed the bit from me where I retracted that comment:

Jonski:
KiwiNZ: raising your voice at the CSR's is pointless and completely unproductive. More likely you will get further if you do the opoosote.

That's not what I've found. A certain degree of tense exasperation and ridicule pointing out the simple failures of The System has usually got me onto the team leads reasonably quickly. I don't shout, swear or abuse so "raised voice" was probably the wrong choice of words but I do make it the CSR's problem not mine.

Jon

I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

zaray

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 1187929 3-Dec-2014 13:26

mattwnz:
zaray: Hi all

Just off phone to Vodafone (old TelstraClear) - only took 3hrs 25mins to get to talk to a person.
Music repeats itself many many times
BUT I think my minor problem will be resolved

Was that continuous? I was on hold with apple for about 30 minutes today, and thought that was a long time. M

Yes, it sure was.
Thank goodness for speaker phones.

There is an offer for mobile callers to select, and Vodafone will call you back.

I did this (as well) at about 2.5hrs in, and that call was returned about 30mins after I got to a real person on the landline -
so callback time was only 1Hr 20min - maybe this is the way to go ??

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