Customer Service System

ian@huth · 21-07-2004, 15:52

Having read many stories regarding customers experiences with Customer Services it begs me to ask the question on what notes, if any, are placed or should be placed on customers accounts when they contact CS. You see the same sequence of events in many customers experiences where they have called CS on numerous occasions with the same fault and each time have been talked through the same checks, reboots, etc.

I recently had a problem with the oven in our kitchen and when contacting the manufacturers CS department was given a job number. If you have to call them back you are asked to press "1" if it is a new query or "2" if it is an existing query and you have a job number. When you get through to the agent and give them your job number they immediately know your name and every detail of every call you have made to them including times, dates and agents name who took the call. You are spared having to go through the whole story again and again.

Why can't NTL implement such a scheme to make it easier for both the customer and the agent handling the call? I presume that most agents are working to some sort of script so it would hardly be rocket science to give codes to each step in the script and input those codes onto the customers account notes as they are performed.

paulyoung666 · 21-07-2004, 15:54

too easy for ntl i reckon , mind you , i have had experience of the sort of system you are on about and it works very effectively

Chrysalis · 21-07-2004, 16:46

would be a good idea but I think numerous isp's suffer from the same problem.

paulyoung666 · 21-07-2004, 16:48

it is a good idea , the companys should take it onboard

gkhewitt · 21-07-2004, 18:05

They need DESPERATELY to implement some kind of universal CRM, the amount of times I have called up and been referred to x different call centres and y different CS reps is unbeleivable, especially since everytime requires a fresh explanation of the situation!

Also, the "we will call you back" story would actually become a reality under a more centralised system.

21-07-2004, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkhewitt

They need DESPERATELY to implement some kind of universal CRM, the amount of times I have called up and been referred to x different call centres and y different CS reps is unbeleivable, especially since everytime requires a fresh explanation of the situation!

They are doing this. That is why so many people are being made redundant

andygrif · 21-07-2004, 22:27

I have to say that the present system is wholly inadequate (Luton one anyway, I gather there are differences round the country). I have sat in their office reading the notes on my account (first problem was how innacurate they were, but that's another issue) but the next problem is how long they are.

This was highlighted recently when they started to bill me again for full itemised billing, despite being 'given' this infinitum several years ago. After initially saying that 'they' wouldn't do that, it took the poor girl 10 mins (and poor me having to listen to the bloody music loop) to read through and confirm that I was correct.

I'm no expert on customer service systems, but it's obvious to me that there should be some sort of filing system - just like a folder on your hard drive, where each 'job' or 'incident' is named - so for the above example someone should have filed a title of 'free itemised billing' - then she could have gone very quickly to that entry, read the notes and moved on to the next call about 9 minutes quicker.

Seems obvious to a novice...don't know if such a system exists or whether this new one will do it...but I live in hope.

nidave · 23-07-2004, 20:39

The problem with a compay that had a requires a large amount of technical knoweledge is that diffrent departments have diffrent specalities. One person can not know it all and have to specalise in an area.

Its the same in my job - I work for a big bank and I could NEVER know everything there is to know about all out products and services. thats why we we have to transfer people possably 3-4 times. Especaly if thier query is about more than one thing ie Bank Account, Mortgage or Loan.

A good system in my opinion would be like the one mentioned above - you are given a unique refrence numer for that fault / query / complaint and that way they can be traced very quickly. I would not like to be responsable for the CS in ntl - it must be vary hard to change such a big and inconsistant service.

Thats not to say they are not good. I have jsut had a great response from ntl - my bb & CTV went off yesterday (thurs) afternoon. called faults (afte being put through to both the CTV & BB faults dept ) was told and engineer would be out on sunday. at 5 pm (fri) I got a call asking if we were in as the engineer was in the area. He fixed the problem (it was a loose wire on the box on the side of the house).

andygrif · 23-07-2004, 22:36

But you have a system that works in banking - the reason being that it is heavily regulated - you don't have a choice. You have to have product managers in place, certified training for customer facing staff and perfect data keeping.

NTL is not regulated in the same way. And that's the point.

nidave · 24-07-2004, 10:00

I agree, ntl are have a huge amount of work beofre they get rid of the imge that have of poor CS. Again it all depends on who you get at the other end of the phone. There are some fantastic CS staff in ntl (as proven on the forum) and my opinion (now dont shout at me for this is its just my opinion) they need to have more training, and be given some pratical examples ie have boxes in front of them while they talk to a buddy on the phone who is trying to help them. then swap.

Neil · 24-07-2004, 10:28

The thing is-the things that customers are complaining of, are no different now to when I 1st got ntl some 7 years ago or so.

Nothing appears to have changed from a customer's perspective (& if they haven't managed it in 7 years, what hope have they got realistically?)

Frank · 24-07-2004, 16:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colin

They are doing this. That is why so many people are being made redundant

A Telewest merger should be an interesting "Systems Integration project" then

andygrif · 24-07-2004, 23:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by nidave

I agree, ntl are have a huge amount of work beofre they get rid of the imge that have of poor CS. Again it all depends on who you get at the other end of the phone. There are some fantastic CS staff in ntl (as proven on the forum) and my opinion (now dont shout at me for this is its just my opinion) they need to have more training, and be given some pratical examples ie have boxes in front of them while they talk to a buddy on the phone who is trying to help them. then swap.

I'm not going to shout at you for saying that, yes they could benefit from more training. Likewise they also need to have the right structure and tools in place to make it work.

nidave · 25-07-2004, 14:05

unfortunatly this has not been a priority. they have focused on sales and the expanding. What they dont realise is that if they get the customer service right - the sales will follow.
There needs to be a huge culture change and this will take time and money.

andygrif · 25-07-2004, 23:55

You're spot on, and people (customers and staff) have been saying that for as long as I can rememeber. I'm not sure that holy grail will be found personally.