Useless Customer Service

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Useless Customer Service

Aaroona

3192 posts

Uber Geek

#65063 28-Jul-2010 19:12

I rang them today to check out their naked DSL plan, and my god. Their customer service is TERRIBLE.

First off, my hold time was estimated at 1 minute - ended up being about 10.
Then the lady I got had a personality of a wet fish. She wasn't very informative at all, and only answered with a yes or no, that is, only when I could actually hear her. I don't know if she was eating, or just sitting on the phone or what. But I couldn't hear a word she was saying 95% of the time.

I'm now not going to swap to slingshot just on principal now. And to think I actually used to recommend Slingshot.. Scary stuff.

I think I may head off to Orcon again. More expensive. But no plans, and their customer service was for the most part very good.

So just a caution message for new signupees.

haakuturi

241 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#360351 30-Jul-2010 20:17

Hi Aaroona,

First of all; what were your queries regarding the Naked DSL plans?

Secondly; did you happen to take/get the name of the CSR you spoke to?

I'm happy to help out as best I can, and if I can get the name of the CSR, I can take it up with her leader :)

<-- works for Slingshot.

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Aaroona

3192 posts

Uber Geek

#360572 31-Jul-2010 11:15

Hi thanks for your reply;

I couldnt actually get the CSR's name, I couldn't understand what she said, it was too distorted.

Regardless, my questions are these;

1. If I went onto NDSL, what is the standard turn around time to swap over (I'm currently with Telecom on the bigtime plan).

2. What kind of options are we given with the iTalk service? In other words, am I able to connect it to an Asterisk server (which I'm running here).

3. If not, then, am I able to get a credit each month for the VOIP account that I will not use (since I wont be if it can-not connect to an asterisk server, properly)

4. Should it work, if I decided I wanted to upgrade the VOIP plan to the iTalk a lot plan, am I able to do that.

5. Does Slingshot have traffic shaping? and if so, what services do they shape the most.

6. What traffic gets priority - so say I will be using VOIP, do Slingshot make an effort to give VOIP traffic priority?

7. If so; does this extend to other VOIP providers traffic (so say I want to use 2Talk), will that also be given priority?

8. How many inbound and outbound calls can one account handle simultaneously? (I'd imagine the absolute max I'd ever have is probably 1-2 outgoing and on the odd occasion, 1-2 incoming.)

-Aaron

haakuturi

241 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#362365 3-Aug-2010 14:00

Aaroona: Hi thanks for your reply;

I couldnt actually get the CSR's name, I couldn't understand what she said, it was too distorted.

Regardless, my questions are these;

1. If I went onto NDSL, what is the standard turn around time to swap over (I'm currently with Telecom on the bigtime plan).

2. What kind of options are we given with the iTalk service? In other words, am I able to connect it to an Asterisk server (which I'm running here).

3. If not, then, am I able to get a credit each month for the VOIP account that I will not use (since I wont be if it can-not connect to an asterisk server, properly)

4. Should it work, if I decided I wanted to upgrade the VOIP plan to the iTalk a lot plan, am I able to do that.

5. Does Slingshot have traffic shaping? and if so, what services do they shape the most.

6. What traffic gets priority - so say I will be using VOIP, do Slingshot make an effort to give VOIP traffic priority?

7. If so; does this extend to other VOIP providers traffic (so say I want to use 2Talk), will that also be given priority?

8. How many inbound and outbound calls can one account handle simultaneously? (I'd imagine the absolute max I'd ever have is probably 1-2 outgoing and on the odd occasion, 1-2 incoming.)

-Aaron

1: If you're currently with Telecom for your Homeline & broadband, then they'll both come across (and Tolls, which you must have if you have Homeline with Slingshot) and then the homeline signal will be removed. Looking at up to 10 working days for completion.
2: I'm not sure, I'll get back to you on this.
3: depends on the above answer ;-)
4: upgrading should never be an issue; changes take place at start of next billing cycle (as per usual)
5 & 6: I'm not 100% sure about traffic shaping, although as far as I'm aware p2p has a lower priority than VoIP.
7: Not completely certain, will get back to you
8: I've never heard this question before, so I'll check with Networks and get back to you :)

haakuturi

241 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#362371 3-Aug-2010 14:07

I've just had some answers back!

2: Yes you can
3: No
4: See my previous post
5: We don't rateshape; we prioritise :)
6: VoIP & web browsing
7: Still following this up
8: General consensus is 2. But I'll get further confirmation for you

Northland

111 posts

Master Geek

#366787 12-Aug-2010 13:50

yikes i called them again today to cancel something after being on hold for 14mintues for something that took about 2mins to cancel she hung up on me before i could even say thank you damn lol

i coulda been yuck about being on hold but i still was polite to say thank you wasn't expecting to be given the shove along so quick I must say my experience in the last month with slingshot has certainly been interesting and not in a good way :l

heavenlywild

5041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#366789 12-Aug-2010 13:53

I haven't worked in a call centre for awhile (well, many years and years now) but it makes me wonder what it is like now in terms of how they monitor performance. This could be the reason why some CSRs aren't all that competent or helpful.

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Northland

111 posts

Master Geek

#366914 12-Aug-2010 19:14

How was it done when you did work in a call centre heavenlywild on that show about bosses going undercover, it was an eye opener when he was with his employee while she took calls at their call centre, but i guess in most businesses ur boss wouldn't sit down with everyone individually to see how you handle calls ive always wondered it myself

heavenlywild

5041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#366917 12-Aug-2010 19:17

Northland: How was it done when you did work in a call centre heavenlywild on that show about bosses going undercover, it was an eye opener when he was with his employee while she took calls at their call centre, but i guess in most businesses ur boss wouldn't sit down with everyone individually to see how you handle calls ive always wondered it myself

The boss would listen-in to calls without telling you to make sure what you are doing is correct. However, this was very few and far between. You could literally say anything and get away with it.

Like most service industries, once you are trained up as a "newbie", you are left alone. It's not like you would ever tell the boss, "Hey, I need more training". Also, you don't know what you don't know until you know :)

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Northland

111 posts

Master Geek

#366959 12-Aug-2010 21:16

lol this is true.

So you don't miss working in a cc then? I used to want to work in a call centre but I dont think I have the right personality to stay calm during calls/complaints etc. Maybe they teach you that i dunno..

heavenlywild

5041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#367135 13-Aug-2010 12:47

Northland,

No, thankfully the call centre job was just a fill-in job after graduating from university. Only stayed 3 months before I went onto bigger and better things.

Very difficult indeed to stay calm sometimes. It doesn't help when the boss wants you to end calls as quickly as possible so that you can take more calls throughout the day. It's a lose-lose situation for the staff members really.

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ekud

263 posts

Ultimate Geek

#367501 14-Aug-2010 11:40

as per my issue here http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=81&topicid=66053&page_no=2#367500 i cannot agree more with the title of this post horrendous customer service!

Sign here

Northland

111 posts

Master Geek

#367691 14-Aug-2010 22:49

heavenlywild: Northland,

No, thankfully the call centre job was just a fill-in job after graduating from university. Only stayed 3 months before I went onto bigger and better things.

Very difficult indeed to stay calm sometimes. It doesn't help when the boss wants you to end calls as quickly as possible so that you can take more calls throughout the day. It's a lose-lose situation for the staff members really.

ah maybe that'll explain the rude woman i spoke with the other day who hung up on me

why do they say how many minutes it'll be before our call is answered? its almost never been
within or even near that time when i call .id rather no one said anything like other companies
and just wait till a csr answers!