The Cost of Customer Service

Managing my email and Linked in notices and while checking this morning’s news, one of those annoying pop-up-how do you-stop-the-noise-videos launched itself.  And it stopped me as I listened to this Australian character actor promoting one of the big telcos, by racing around as some kind of value for money cop!  Why did I listen, you ask? 

This past weekend I attempted to respond to an actual letter I was sent by this same telco.  First, it seemed serious because they had used a stamp and real paper.  Also they used two colours of ink and a barcode.  The reason for the time, effort and cost was to let me know there was something important about the “aerial cable safety” connecting their cable to my home.  How there might be something important going on as this cable “has live power running through it”. 

OK, sounded important enough to withstand calling the “customer service” 13-number printed there.  And I did.  Four times!  Here is how important customer service is to them:

• ·        Dialled the number
• ·        Answered by an interactive voice response machine (IVR)
• ·        Was asked to choose between three choices and chose the first one
• ·        Then asked to choose again between two choices and chose two
• ·        Was then asked to key in my account number if I was not dialling from my account with them
• ·        Then I was asked to choose between another two choices
• ·        Chose the second one
• ·        Then I was given FIVE choices and of course had to wait for the fifth one
• ·        Then I was given four more choices and chose four
• ·        From this I was asked to choose between three and chose three
• ·        Then I was asked if I would like to go directly to chat
• ·        I chose no and waited about 12-15 minutes each time, listening to some music station that had more static than music and hung up to dial at another time…all to no avail. 

I do not know if my house is about to be electrocuted or a fire is to be forthcoming because so far, I’ve not been able to get through the gauntlet of messages to reach a human being who might have a clue what this mailing was about!