Researching customer service experiences

H

Hilanne

Guest
I am a researcher with the current affairs TV section in RTE and we are hoping to make a programme on customer service issues looking at how service providers interact with the public and how problems are managed. I would be interested in hearing from anyone with experiences in this regard - good or bad. You can either post on this thread or send me a private message. Thanks!
 
look at a site about broadband providers and you will have enough material to make a complete series - oops they advertise on Tv so thats a no go subject.

naoh
 
For new business - Press 1
To pay arrears - Press 2
To pay a current bill - Press 3
To check the status of your account - press 4
To register a complaint please dial 009111xxxxxxxx
To speak to a customer service agent please hold the line and we will be back to you in six days......

:rolleyes:

Seriously though.... the very best of luck with the programme...your post is important to us
 
NOAH said:
look at a site about broadband providers and you will have enough material to make a complete series - oops they advertise on Tv so thats a no go subject.

naoh
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We are looking at all service areas at this point, including broadband and mobiles ... I have picked up the thread on the broadband stuff so thanks for the heads up.
 
Hilanne said:
I am a researcher with the current affairs TV section in RTE and we are hoping to make a programme on customer service issues looking at how service providers interact with the public and how problems are managed.
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Service providers or goods providers also?
What sort of service providers?
If any then the focus seems very diffuse and it's difficult to see what such a programme might achieve.
 
Hilanne said:
I am a researcher with the current affairs TV section in RTE and we are hoping to make a programme on customer service issues looking at how service providers interact with the public and how problems are managed. I would be interested in hearing from anyone with experiences in this regard - good or bad. You can either post on this thread or send me a private message. Thanks!
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I had a terrible experience with three mobile customer service ( outsourced to india I think ) that resulted in a) a mobile phone contract being renewed I hadn't authorised b) a letter posted to their offices in Dublin being completely ignored, dispite the accompanying cheque being cashed as settlement c) dealing with 3 or 4 different people who refused to take ownership of my problem d) When I refused to conduct any further business until I could speak to a manager who's idea of compromise was to say everything was fine and send me to a collection agency.

It was a disgusting experience that treated the customer with the highest form of contempt and I would never use the company in any of its forms again.
 
Look at the broadband forum over on Boards.ie.
You can add to that any thread about main dealers either their or here.
 
ClubMan said:
Service providers or goods providers also?
What sort of service providers?
If any then the focus seems very diffuse and it's difficult to see what such a programme might achieve.
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We are currently at the first step of this programme, the research phase, so we are doing a general trawl to see what experiences are out there. This obviously will become more focused over time as we talk to people about their stories, check them out etc.

Everything is in the pot for the moment but the programme will hinge on customer service - the point where the customer interfaces with the service (or goods) provider, their experience of that interaction and, where an experience has not been all that positive, what recourse is available to them.

Keep the stories coming and thanks for the pointers.
 
May I suggest you consider looking at the "extended warranties" sold by many large companies such as Dell, Curry's, etc. In my experience, they sell you a complete no-nonsense support and back-up service, but as soon as you need to use the service it's nothing like the promise. Have spent hours on the phone to Dell support in India and still nothing resolved. These warranties are expensive and the service provided does not warrant the cost IMHO.
 
If This post will be deleted if not edited immediately Christ appeared at my front door with the Chairman of Eircom offering free phone and broadband for life and the secret of eternal youth I would not take them up on the offer. That’s how bad their customer service is. (I spent 6 weeks asking them to fix a line fault and in the end they put a big hole in my front wall, wrecked the plaster on the inside, and left me with a stand-alone line which was not connected to any of the existing phones in the house)

If I had an alternative to the ESB (even if it was more expensive) I would move in the morning.

I moved from NTL to Sky because of customer service (Sky are excellent). After 11 weeks trying to get NTL to come out and fix a fault I gave up and moved to Sky. They came out on time within three days of contacting them. Over the next week NTL arrived out three times to fix the fault despite being told that I was moving to Sky.

Vodafone are excellent.

Bord Gais are not bad.

BT are just about OK (but in a different league to Eircom)
 
Add to that mobile phone insurance , in some cases charging €8 a month (€96 a year) for a phone that can be bought for as little as €70. Try making a claim and they make it all but impossible to get something back.
 
Just thought of a couple.

Eircom won't fix a line fault if its for Broadband. They'll only fix it if you can't receive a voice call. So effectively denying you access to approx 80% of the Broadband providers. If you order a new line they won't guarantee it for data. Hows that for service. what makes it worse is they hound you with telemarketing for services they can't give you, or to switch to phone service which are more expensive then what you're on.

NTL/UPC won't accept an email for support queries. They send you back an email to ring them. Only you can never get through to them. If this was a high street shop, you'd be a little surprised, but when its a Internet Provider, promising "greater access to the new digital world" its unbelieveable. Though admittedly it seems to be a bit easier to get through to them lately. Maybe they're trying to stem the tide of customers leaving to Sky and others.
 
NTL gets my vote.
Got broadband installed, asked for 6MB, was told he could only hook up 4MB on the day and would switch me over to 6MB back at 'the office'.
Never got changed over but I was charged for the 6MB connection from that moment on. Thus ensued 8 weeks of me phoning them, approximately 15 hours on the phone, I dont know if they have Joe the Toilet Cleaner answering the phones there but they managed to send out no less than 3 engineers, despite me explaining to Joe in his many guises that all I wanted was to be either switched to 6MB 'back at the office' and refunded what I was incorrectly charged for or left at 4MB and billed accordingly.
The whole sorry sage ended with me sending a letter and an email on the same day explaining in no uncertain terms how dissatisfied I was and how I was considering cancelling the entire contract and suing for the cost of my 15 odd hours of phonecalls.
Within 20 mins of sending the email a nice lady phoned from NTL and sorted out the mess in 3 minutes, yes, 3 minutes. Clearly it wasnt such a complicated ordeal when you got to speak to Mary the accounts lady and not whatever fool they have manning the support calls.
 
Purple said:
If This post will be deleted if not edited immediately Christ appeared at my front door with the Chairman of Eircom offering free phone and broadband for life and the secret of eternal youth I would not take them up on the offer
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Yeah - I'd never buy a phone and broadband package from a carpenter either.
 
How about something comparing public sector to private sector?

It's a mantra of some people that there is no customer service in the public sector. It would be interesting to see if the evidence bears that out.
 
j26 said:
How about something comparing public sector to private sector?

It's a mantra of some people that there is no customer service in the public sector. It would be interesting to see if the evidence bears that out.
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I found most Govt depts ok. Depends who you get tbh as I'e had good experience and bad in the same office. Some people are great others, the grumpiest people I've ever met.
 
superdrog said:
Add to that mobile phone insurance , in some cases charging €8 a month (€96 a year) for a phone that can be bought for as little as €70. Try making a claim and they make it all but impossible to get something back.
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This seems to be a common problem - does anyone have any specific experiences of this happening to them ie. taking out insurance (for whatever) and then having a nightmare when submitting a claim?
 
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