'Call centre nightmare' NZ herald article on slingshot call centre.

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › 'Call centre nightmare' NZ herald article on slingshot call centre.

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#411281 30-Nov-2010 16:51

NonprayingMantis:
exportgoldman:
I'm with slingshot and have found 1-2 hour wait times to be normal from a landline, but phoning from a mobile phone puts me through to a CSR within 10 minutes.

So... If you want to get through, call the 0800 number from your mobile. Front of the queue thanks :-)

Or txt the CEO :)

I'm guessing the reaosn for that is termination rates - which work in reverse for an 0800 number. If a cellphone calls a Slingshot 0800 number then slingshot have to pay the cellphone proivider a termination charge per minute. If they can get the mobile calls sorted faster it will cost them less.

Thats exactly the reason - which annoys and irks me, making customers wait 2 hours but will answer straight away if they are paying 20c/min for the hold times.

I now just phone them from my mobile everytime and never had wait queue problems - if enough people do it the queues will all go away :-)

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#411587 1-Dec-2010 12:27

exportgoldman:
NonprayingMantis:
exportgoldman:
I'm with slingshot and have found 1-2 hour wait times to be normal from a landline, but phoning from a mobile phone puts me through to a CSR within 10 minutes.

So... If you want to get through, call the 0800 number from your mobile. Front of the queue thanks :-)

Or txt the CEO :)

I'm guessing the reaosn for that is termination rates - which work in reverse for an 0800 number. If a cellphone calls a Slingshot 0800 number then slingshot have to pay the cellphone proivider a termination charge per minute. If they can get the mobile calls sorted faster it will cost them less.

Thats exactly the reason - which annoys and irks me, making customers wait 2 hours but will answer straight away if they are paying 20c/min for the hold times.

I now just phone them from my mobile everytime and never had wait queue problems - if enough people do it the queues will all go away :-)

I don't think so - if enough people do it I would suspect they will stop accepting 0800 calls from mobile phones - like some banks and govt departments do.

exportgoldman

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#411599 1-Dec-2010 13:35

exportgoldman:

I now just phone them from my mobile everytime and never had wait queue problems - if enough people do it the queues will all go away :-)

farcus:

I don't think so - if enough people do it I would suspect they will stop accepting 0800 calls from mobile phones - like some banks and govt departments do.

Sorry I should have put <tongue firmly in cheek> :)

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#411693 1-Dec-2010 17:56

farcus:
if enough people do it I would suspect they will stop accepting 0800 calls from mobile phones - like some banks and govt departments do.

That would be a very stink move for them, not to mention loose them many customers.
If you had just moved into a house and wanted to call them to setup a line, then you would have to find a landline or payphone somewhere else.
Also if you were having problems with your internet connection and your phone is delivered via voip then you would find it hard to contact them.

raytaylor

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#411703 1-Dec-2010 18:42

I think with all the call centres in Auckland, it must be really hard to find people to auctually staff them if you decided to hire more people.

I hear Telstra Clear will pay you up to $25 an hour if you are willing to stay there more than a year. Problem is their wait times can be just as bad but I think they must be based in wellington because i usually get a kiwi accent when I call.

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#413022 5-Dec-2010 13:30

raytaylor: I think with all the call centres in Auckland, it must be really hard to find people to auctually staff them if you decided to hire more people.

I hear Telstra Clear will pay you up to $25 an hour if you are willing to stay there more than a year. Problem is their wait times can be just as bad but I think they must be based in wellington because i usually get a kiwi accent when I call.

Why do the people have to be in Auckland?

Why can't I just take l1 calls where I'm sitting right now?

As for CS/CP - it was quicker to just force a charge back on my credit card and find someone else.

Always use your cc for isp services and never use their @isp.co.nz email address.

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#413026 5-Dec-2010 13:34

Ragnor: Slingshot is the $2 shop of ISP's.

Internode (a popular ISP for enthusiast/geeks in Australia) publish their wait times publicly online, I doubt any NZ ISP has the balls to do similar.
http://www.internode.on.net/about/performance/call-wait-times/

I really wish there was an ISP like Internode in NZ.
http://www.internode.on.net/about/

I don't know that we have the people in .nz to set up an Internode and make it work. I'd love to, but I simply don't have the skill set that Simon Hackett does. Can you make IP interface to your toaster?

raytaylor

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#413053 5-Dec-2010 15:40

DonGould:
raytaylor: I think with all the call centres in Auckland, it must be really hard to find people to auctually staff them if you decided to hire more people.

I hear Telstra Clear will pay you up to $25 an hour if you are willing to stay there more than a year. Problem is their wait times can be just as bad but I think they must be based in wellington because i usually get a kiwi accent when I call.

Why do the people have to be in Auckland?

Why can't I just take l1 calls where I'm sitting right now?

As for CS/CP - it was quicker to just force a charge back on my credit card and find someone else.

Always use your cc for isp services and never use their @isp.co.nz email address.

I like that idea. If i could, i would love to be paid a bit of extra money to sit at my computer in napier and work for slingshot for an hour an evening but to be honest, that isnt going to happen.

1) Big companies like to treat staff like robots. I used to work at the warehouse in napier - it was like a family. Now it is more like a supermarket. You are simply a robot reading a script or scanning products. Harder to treat companies like robots and have them compete against each other for the lowest average call time if they are spread out across the country and dont talk to each other and feel inspired to be competitive.

2) Harder to have staff meetings. I would imagine that in a call centre, staff talk to each other between calls and can communicate. So they know if the email server goes down by the influx of email issues, and they can say 'oh yes we have a problem at the moment - dont know yet when its going to be fixed, the admins havent issued a notice of the fault to us'

If i was in napier, i would have to wait for the network admins to let me know and in the mean time i would waste a few phone calls testing peoples settings before i figure it out.
Or if i were in manilla working for telecom, i probably wouldnt be allowed to make eye contact with the support rep next to me so the same probably goes for them too.

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#413055 5-Dec-2010 15:59

Ray, iiNet.net.au have growing numbers of home based l1 pplz and report in the media that it's working well for them. It's an advantage to dial in ppl for 4 hours in peek times.

iiNet started in 1993 from Michael Malone's Perth garage and is now the number 3 telco in .au.

Ragnor

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#413529 6-Dec-2010 15:16

DonGould: Ray, iiNet.net.au have growing numbers of home based l1 pplz and report in the media that it's working well for them. It's an advantage to dial in ppl for 4 hours in peek times.

iiNet started in 1993 from Michael Malone's Perth garage and is now the number 3 telco in .au.

ihug, Orcon and Maxnet started the same way.. much easier to get started at the dawn of the industry. The capital investment required now is quite high, unless you just start off as a virtual ISP reselling other ISP's services.. however there are heaps of these already and they don't have much control over the quality of the service they deliver.

iiNet owned ihug for awhile after the founders sold up. later sold to vodafone.

ubernoob

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#418253 16-Dec-2010 20:33

Hello All, long time reader first time posting. I have just had a similar experience with the Call Centre. I have recently had a new credit card from my bank and needed to update my details with slingshot. I phoned the 0800 number to get the select 1,2 or 3 options. As I was not after sales or technical help I went for the customer service option, waited the obligatory 30 minutes and gave up. I decided to try the Sales desk to see if I could get some help as I was wanting to pay my monthly bill. Astonishingly the phone "Rang" once and was answered by a pleasant human female, at my surprise at being conected so quickly she replied that I had rung the Sales desk. Unfortunately she could not assist with my request and said she could put me through to customer service "But there could be some time to wait" when I enquired as to how long I was told "Aproximately Seven Hours or I could try ringing on a mobile it may be quicker". Unfortunately I have a prepay plan so don't suppose they will be in any hurry to answer, I would run out of credit way before then. But Seven Hours, if it wasn't so sad I'd laugh

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#418269 16-Dec-2010 21:09

I suggest you report it here: www.geekzone.co.nz/fault.asp

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#418271 16-Dec-2010 21:12

ubernoob: ... But Seven Hours, if it wasn't so sad I'd laugh

Agree, 7 hours is ridiculous. But you could just add your credit card using your online 'My Account'. A couple of minutes, max :)

DonGould

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#418290 16-Dec-2010 22:21

tigercorp:
ubernoob: ... But Seven Hours, if it wasn't so sad I'd laugh

Agree, 7 hours is ridiculous. But you could just add your credit card using your online 'My Account'. A couple of minutes, max :)

....and you sort of wonder why the first person he talked to, who ever they were, couldn't just say exactly that?!

You also wonder why they don't just have a secure form on the web site to just whack a request with cc number in it, like an email but not sent across insecure smtp.

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#418296 16-Dec-2010 22:29

Just re: Banks, most, if not all, actually do have numbers that will accept calls from cellphones for phonebanking/customer service etc, but generally don't give them out unless you are a high priority customer.

Kiwibank has one which I use often (whereas the regular ones say to call either from a landline or dial the local number), as do the others.

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