Monday, September 03, 2007
IVRs make for customer dis-service
I have written in the past about my dislike of preudo-human robotic IVRs for customer service lines. I think humans work faster and understand more.
If my call is really important to a company, then they would answer the phone.
Friday, I used 4 hours of my drive to Montreal trying to set up a new cell phone line for my daughter. More than a dozen separate calls. All I wanted to do was put her on a plan that was reasonably similar to a plan I have for one of my other lines.
As an aside, let me praise the battery life and speaker-phone capability of the Blackberry 8800 series.
Calls would drop; agents transferred me to fast busy; call queues would announce expected holding times measured in geological terms.
I finally reached a wonderful agent in a special service call centre who took care of everything. Other than the fact that they were out of stock on her first choice for a phone.
It shouldn't be that hard to sign up. Even on a holiday weekend. Again, I have to wonder if telecom company management tries doing their own purchasing like regular customers.
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If my call is really important to a company, then they would answer the phone.
Friday, I used 4 hours of my drive to Montreal trying to set up a new cell phone line for my daughter. More than a dozen separate calls. All I wanted to do was put her on a plan that was reasonably similar to a plan I have for one of my other lines.
As an aside, let me praise the battery life and speaker-phone capability of the Blackberry 8800 series.
Calls would drop; agents transferred me to fast busy; call queues would announce expected holding times measured in geological terms.
I finally reached a wonderful agent in a special service call centre who took care of everything. Other than the fact that they were out of stock on her first choice for a phone.
It shouldn't be that hard to sign up. Even on a holiday weekend. Again, I have to wonder if telecom company management tries doing their own purchasing like regular customers.
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Posted by Mark Goldberg @ 9/03/2007 06:52:00 AM 
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Dear Mark
Absolutely agreed.
I think while IVRs are increasingly getting 'smarter' in considering available options and leading the customer to wherever ... 'sensitivity' that can only come from a human - even faceless - at the other end of the line is lost in the bargain.
Not just telecom operators but other service providers including banks, credit card companies, utility companies etc are increasingly using IVRs and suspect somewhere someone wants to avoid 'answering' to customers and hence makes this stone-walling decisions.
Nice post ...
Best Regards
Gautam
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Absolutely agreed.
I think while IVRs are increasingly getting 'smarter' in considering available options and leading the customer to wherever ... 'sensitivity' that can only come from a human - even faceless - at the other end of the line is lost in the bargain.
Not just telecom operators but other service providers including banks, credit card companies, utility companies etc are increasingly using IVRs and suspect somewhere someone wants to avoid 'answering' to customers and hence makes this stone-walling decisions.
Nice post ...
Best Regards
Gautam
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