Is Orcon's helpdesk aiming to emulate Telecom's low low standards?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, 2talk and Vocus) › Is Orcon's helpdesk aiming to emulate Telecom's low low standards?

martyyates

68 posts

Master Geek

#20665 2-Apr-2008 10:26

rant:
Getting well beyond a joke. Regularly on hold for 20 - 30min during business hours. The voice prompt that comes in 10s after you begin the on hold monotony....The same 2 or 3 crap music tracks that keep cutting out whenever the voice prompt interrupts.

The emails that are not responded to for upto a week (if at all). This includes the accounts department.

All this to try and close out a fault I logged for a dead router in late Feb. Still waiting on a pre-paid courier bag to return the dead (crap) Siemens 6520. Wouldn't really care apart from the fact that they have now charged me for the new router and credit will only be forthcoming when the faulty one is returned! Nice! - and the original was under warranty.

pathetic Orcon.

/rant.

Anyone else care to share the lame excuses they may have received from Orcon?

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jmosen

545 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#120480 2-Apr-2008 13:08

In all honesty I don't think this is anything new.

I've beenw ith orcon on and off since 2004. I rarely need to call, but when I do, hold times have been very long.

To balance this though, by and large the people you eventually get to speak with know what they're doing and are above the standard of first level support one would find elsewhere.

But yeah as a personw ith a background in audio production, the messages just don't sound professional, and the little blemish in the "we appreciate you waiting" message gets on my nerves!

Jonathan

martyyates

68 posts

Master Geek

#120489 2-Apr-2008 13:30

I've been with them for a similar time and the problems have generally been there all along.

To be fair, after a 30min wait this morning, I got a chap who actually took charge of the situation and gave me his email so I can bail him up when/if the dramas continue. He mentioned they have just expanded the help desk so wait timezzzzzz should decrease.

duncanblair

248 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#120557 2-Apr-2008 18:09

Hi guys,

We are aware of the unacceptably long wait times that people are currently experiencing getting through on the phones. This is certainly not something that we are taking lightly, and indeed we have hired an additional 20 staff in the past month to address the issue, and are still hiring now. Hiring the right staff has been difficult lately, particularly as we want to maintain our reputaton for having people on the phone who can get a result, rather than just message takers.

This problem has been compounded by the massive demand that we have experienced for our LLU offerings. We had forecast higher than normal call volumes, but our expectations were well and truly exceeded.

So sorry for the current wait times, we are working on it! Also, I will try and get the music fixed.

If you are interested in coming to work for us, or know someone who might be please send them to our website: http://www.orcon.net.nz/jobs/

Duncan Blair
Group Product Manager
Orcon

Lurch

1054 posts

Uber Geek

#120650 3-Apr-2008 05:12

To be honest it has always been like that, Have been with Orcon twice currently 6 months and before that 8 months. Long wait times for the helpdesk and week long waits for emails.

Took two and half weeks to have someone come out and fix my phone line. I'm just glad that nothing else has gone wrong (touch wood) as I dont want to deal with the helpdesk if I can help it.

You can check out my message thread further down in this forum, took someone from here to help push things through :)

willnz

573 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#120671 3-Apr-2008 09:40

Lurch: You can check out my message thread further down in this forum, took someone from here to help push things through :)

Yes, I am awesome!

Seriously though, in an industry where there is such high demand for people that know what they're doing and still actually be good on the phone (hence why I sucked on the helpdesk

) - Orcon ARE doing the best they can. So many new helpdesk employees have been hired that now the same guys that were there when I was in Corporate Support only make up about 10% of the helpdesk. I understand the tier 2 / corporate support team is also expanding and increasing their hours.

obviously that doesn't make up for the long hold times, but things will get better.

Or, they could outsource to Manila or Cairo

Athlonite

1828 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#121409 5-Apr-2008 22:34

Still waiting on a pre-paid courier bag to return the dead (crap) Siemens 6520..... Yeah good luck on that one when my modem died i was told it was upto me to send it back to Dynalink for a replacement, so they are probably waiting for you to send the modem back to them at your expense

cokemaster

Exited
4493 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#121412 5-Apr-2008 22:41

When I was an Orcon customer, I had to contact Dynalink which was a mission in itself. In the end after getting voicemail and no call backs, Orcon gave me an Auckland number which I had to call at my expense.

After several days of getting voicemail, I spoke to a nice person from dynalink who said that they'd need to charge my credit card first for a replacement modem, once they'd replaced the old modem they'd credit it back. Sure enough, two days later a modem with a self addressed courier bag arrived.

You shouldn't be expected to foot the bill for faulty equipment. They should have the processes there so that you should have to spend money on shipping goods or spend money calling Auckland numbers from Palmerston North.

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willnz

573 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#121414 5-Apr-2008 22:44

Agreed, that was one of the stupidest processes I encountered when I worked there. I believe the process has finally changed so that they should send out a courier bag now and have the modems returned to Orcon, but I'm not 100% sure.

When ever I had to deal with a modem return, I just sent the customer a courier bag anyway and dealt with all the Dynalink crap myself. To hell with processes and procedures!

martyyates

68 posts

Master Geek

#121417 5-Apr-2008 22:47

edit? - "should *not* have to spend money"...

yes well - still waiting for that courier bag! supposedly two were sent to my work address as requested. Surely they can't be lost in cyberspaz? or is there a real breakdown in Orcon's interface between their "customer service" and the real world? (e.g. SYNC --> not ACK?)

cokemaster

Exited
4493 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#121418 5-Apr-2008 22:53

On a sidenote, I find it quite amusing that this thread has 'Telecoms low low standards' yet the modem replacement process from dealing with Telecom is just so easy compared to the Orcon process. Once its identified that its a modem fault, they just send out a new one with a return courier bag - really simple and quick.

No calling dynalink or Auckland numbers, or sending your modem away before getting a replacement.

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duncanblair

248 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#121686 7-Apr-2008 07:57

Everyone should be pleased to hear that we no longer use that process for faulty modem returns. We now send out a replacement immediately, along with a courier bag.

Duncan Blair
Group Product Manager
Orcon

Lurch

1054 posts

Uber Geek

#122018 8-Apr-2008 09:16

willnz: Yes, I am awesome!

LOL I'm in your debt, probably be still fighting it out now getting nowhere :)

willnz:
Seriously though, in an industry where there is such high demand for people that know what they're doing and still actually be good on the phone (hence why I sucked on the helpdesk ) - Orcon ARE doing the best they can. So many new helpdesk employees have been hired that now the same guys that were there when I was in Corporate Support only make up about 10% of the helpdesk. I understand the tier 2 / corporate support team is also expanding and increasing their hours.

Hmm, currently working on a helpdesk at the moment, there is a high demand but the good pay doesnt seem to go along with it and I'm working in a tier 2 role :( What does Orcon pay it's helpdesk? ;)

To be honest working on the tier 1 role is hard work having to field all those questions/issues. But currently working on a US helpdesk the NZ helpdesks don't really come near. A different level of service is demanded by people in the US, the good side to Americans though are they are a lot nicer to deal with than us Kiwi's on the phone ;)

Anyway back to being on topic I hope that Orcon sorts their helpdesk out as that's a big part of the overall package.

willnz

573 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#122024 8-Apr-2008 09:31

Haha they pay about the same as most of the ISP helpdesk market now (Telecom is still a bit higher than the rest though). Agreed - Americans like to get things done fast and with minimum fuss. Kiwi's love to complain

No ISP is ever going to answer every call instantly and have a solution for every problem. The people on the other end of the phone are still humans, remember. Orcon are trying their best, and are continually working to imrpove their service - just as everyone else is.

There are no customers without customer service, and I don't think any business is out there to lose customers.

martyyates

68 posts

Master Geek

#122083 8-Apr-2008 12:51

duncanblair: Everyone should be pleased to hear that we no longer use that process for faulty modem returns. We now send out a replacement immediately, along with a courier bag.

Duncan Blair
Group Product Manager
Orcon

update: *still* waiting on the original courier bag. Perhaps it would be quicker if I just forget calling or emailing and send Orcon the damn thing myself......

martyyates

68 posts

Master Geek

#122713 10-Apr-2008 22:27

seems like Orcom staff have finally gotten hold of some Altezano beans (aka Auckland's finest)....call wait times are now <2min and often answered in less than 3 rings. Let's see if it holds up as LLU continues but good stuff Orcon. *AND* the courier bag made it. whoo yay....