The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
Merger-Mania!
Monday - August 29, 2005 01:27 PM in
When AT&T Wireless merged with Cingular last fall, we saw a dramatic drop in service levels, especially at AT&T Wireless. They've since rebounded, but the two companies aren't yet operationally merged, and we still see complaints from customers about problems they're having.
Here's an account from one person who truly got caught in the merger meat grinder. He had the misfortune to buy a brand-new AT&T Wireless phone just before the merger, which he then needed to trade for a new Cingular phone. Not only was he out the cost of the original phone, but, well, let's just say that the company didn't handle the transition entirely gracefully:
Aug 24:
I received a bill from AT&T. Apparently, since we switched plans in the middle of a billing cycle, AT&T (which no longer exists because it's now Cingular) prorated our included minutes, which meant we were already 203 minutes over our alotted time on the day we switched to the family plan. No one ever told us this would happen. They were just "happy" to have our business. The Cingular rep told me that they don't have any control over what AT&T does.
Me: "But AT&T doesn't exist anymore...it's all Cingular"
Moron: "Well, sir, it takes a while to merge two companies as large as this"
Me: "So, let me talk to an AT&T rep"
Moron: "Well, technically, I AM an AT&T rep because their wireless division no longer exists"
This is practically a case study of what can happen when two big companies combine operations and the promise gets ahead of the ability to deliver. Unfortunately for Cingular, even if this one person's case is unusual, it has now been read by hundreds or thousands of people, each of whom has a more negative impression of the company. How much advertising will it take to replace the brand equity lost by the company's failure to handle just this one customer's problem?
Update:Someone describing himself as "a former customer service rep" from a cellphone company left some advice for the unhappy customer. The amazing thing (aside from the fact that said advice didn't work) is that apparently customers aren't supposed to be told how to ask for help when they get into these kinds of bad situations. The former rep posted his advice (which was basically, "tell the agent you're unhappy and ask to talk to a resolution specialist") anonymously and closed with "you didn't hear this from me."
Why is it that a customer service rep might be afraid he would get in trouble for telling a customer how to escalate his problem? I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I suspect that by the time the customer thinks his problem needs to be escalated, the company really should take care of it.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Aug 24:
I received a bill from AT&T. Apparently, since we switched plans in the middle of a billing cycle, AT&T (which no longer exists because it's now Cingular) prorated our included minutes, which meant we were already 203 minutes over our alotted time on the day we switched to the family plan. No one ever told us this would happen. They were just "happy" to have our business. The Cingular rep told me that they don't have any control over what AT&T does.
Me: "But AT&T doesn't exist anymore...it's all Cingular"
Moron: "Well, sir, it takes a while to merge two companies as large as this"
Me: "So, let me talk to an AT&T rep"
Moron: "Well, technically, I AM an AT&T rep because their wireless division no longer exists"
This is practically a case study of what can happen when two big companies combine operations and the promise gets ahead of the ability to deliver. Unfortunately for Cingular, even if this one person's case is unusual, it has now been read by hundreds or thousands of people, each of whom has a more negative impression of the company. How much advertising will it take to replace the brand equity lost by the company's failure to handle just this one customer's problem?
Update:Someone describing himself as "a former customer service rep" from a cellphone company left some advice for the unhappy customer. The amazing thing (aside from the fact that said advice didn't work) is that apparently customers aren't supposed to be told how to ask for help when they get into these kinds of bad situations. The former rep posted his advice (which was basically, "tell the agent you're unhappy and ask to talk to a resolution specialist") anonymously and closed with "you didn't hear this from me."
Why is it that a customer service rep might be afraid he would get in trouble for telling a customer how to escalate his problem? I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I suspect that by the time the customer thinks his problem needs to be escalated, the company really should take care of it.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Posted at 01:27 PM by | | | |