topic Brains behind O2 customer service?!! in Discussions & Feedback

Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:37:46 GMT

Hello all,

I don't know whether you may have had the same problem as my partner but all day today she has been trying to get through to up grade her phone (not for iphone5) as set out in her contract wioth O2. Well we all know it's hard enough on a normal day to get through but today is even harder due to another iPhone release which is basically the same as the previous one just a little bigger!

Well my question is this? If O2 knew the phone was coming out today why on earth did they not spend a little of that money they have and set up a seperate number or add an extra choice to the automated message, preferably being the first choice, to request that all iPhone5 customers press X so that they can direct all of these sad people off to another call centre to be served and let them wait for an hour and a half and they could have even added some form of chat room so they can all talk to each other whilst waiting for their new phone! And if they didn't go through to this other call number their call would not be dealt with, this way the customers who didn't want an iphone5 could then at least have their call dealt with without having to wait in line for an hour and a half to talk to someone who are only really interested in talking to them if it's about an iPhone!!! Any answers?

O2 if you are are out there please read this and then next time you may actually care about other customers!!!

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:41:31 GMT

O2 can't just bring in extra staff for the one week of a whole year that the iPhone causes them to be busy. Unfortunately it means you have to wait a little longer for your upgrade to get sorted.

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

sheepdog — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:46:41 GMT

Wouldn't stop the deluge that would face retentions and people wanting their PAC as they don't want to listen to someone reading a script. They want the exact time, date and gps position of the courier at 1 second intervals. We'd all like the iphone queries to be redirected to a 404 Have you seen the number of posts on here about it? Its an annual event to be witnessed...

As for the upgrade, unless its specified by exact date and usually on a business contract, there is no need to renew exactly on the dot.The contract will run on at the same current tariff with the same T&C's until you give 30 days notice or indeed renew.

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:43:45 GMT

Hi Pablo,

I'm assuming your on a break or have the afternoon off as we wouldn't want to think that your time is being wasting answering forum questions when there are customers waiting on the phone!!!!

Yes I would expect O2 to get more staff in, or out source this service to another company just like T-mobile used!!!! O2 are a multi billion pound company paying 20/30 people £6.50 an hour to sit in a call centre answer phones to collect hundreds of pounds of each customer sounds very business like to me, whilst keeping other customers happy!! You do the maths.

The problems with mobile phone companies and O2 are no exception is that they don't care about the customer only how much money they can make. For every customer that leaves they will get 10 more...If large companies spent less money on large advertising bills and invested in retaining their current customers by upping their customer service levels you will find they don't need to advertise as word of mouth is the best form of advertising so the more people that recommend the service the better!!!!

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

sheepdog — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:47:13 GMT

Depends on what other peoples definition of what good CS is. This particular thread reckons its discounts:

http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-and-Pay-Go/What-happened-to-customer-loyalty/td-p/291596

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:47:47 GMT

Hello,

agree with you comment however when you have been tied for two years into a contract because the state of the economy dropped and operators couldn't offer an upgrade every 12 months its a bit of a nightmare....if she had phoned yesterday they would have said no phone back tomorrow so why should she wait, because they are unable to sort their on mess!!It' disgusting and a complete embarrassment that a company of this size doesn't have the capabilities to deals with a few phone calls!!

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:49:38 GMT

Itsonlyme, I may not even be at work today for all you know ;). As for your comment about expecting O2 to staff extra people, there would be training those 20-30 extra people, arranging somewhere for them to sit, arranging system access, and joining up thier equipment with the rest of the call centres for call routing. Oh, and then dumping them after a week because you don't need them. Not realistic, really.

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:01:29 GMT

Then Apple Should Supply Each phone company with the staff, Theyve got like a trillion quid sittin in banks they can afford it, I HATE APPLE! Grrr. I just want a Code, and being on hold so long actually has me demented now!

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:05:15 GMT

Pablo,

I'll assume your not in management or customer service....training would take a day, have you ever used O2's customer service? I don't even work for them and I prob know more about how O2 works then they do!

Secondly work out the maths if they trained up people and could answer more calls then they would sell more phones instead of keeping people hanging on the line!!! The more phones sold equals more profit and more happy customers......you have to remeber on day one it is all hyped up, after today when the complaints about the phone and the length of time people have to hold for etc etc then people will be less likely to buy the phone especially when it is no different to their 4s etc.....which then means less sales and not as much profit!!

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:07:31 GMT

Feel free to assume :).

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 17:10:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Feel free to assume :).

Then if you are management or in customer service, you have provided us with the definitive answer.

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 18:09:22 GMT

Not that it really matters where in the company I work. I'm here to give my opinion from the point of view of an O2 staff member. At the same time, and as my signature points out, my views are my own and not reflective of the company (and shouldn't be taken to be).

So while I'm here I'm mostly trying to help. I'll defend the company a bit when I beleive the criticism is unfair, and I'll criticise where criticism is due. I was a long term customer well before I started working here.

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

jonsie — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 18:26:01 GMT

I worked in O2 customer service for 3 years and know exactly how much training is needed to advise on so many different aspects of various makes of mobiles.

To think you could train someone just for the release of a new iphone for a matter of a few days is crazy.

Some of the comments on here are laughable and made with a completely unreal view of the real world.

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 18:26:39 GMT

Nail on the head, jonsie!

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 00:47:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello,

agree with you comment however when you have been tied for two years into a contract because the state of the economy dropped and operators couldn't offer an upgrade every 12 months its a bit of a nightmare....if she had phoned yesterday they would have said no phone back tomorrow so why should she wait, because they are unable to sort their on mess!!It' disgusting and a complete embarrassment that a company of this size doesn't have the capabilities to deals with a few phone calls!!

I'm not sure where to start with the absurdity of this reply. Quite clearly you have no understanding of how modern customer service centres are run. As such, you have no idea about the logisitcs involved in:

- recruiting a thousand or so extra staff with the expectation that they work only one week

- fully training a thousand or so extra staff in facilities that would hold, maybe 20 training positions across perhaps 5 sites

- funding the training and salaries of a thousand or so extra staff for an investment of 1 week

- providing additional workstations, with associated hardware, software and licenses, furniture and facilities - which would be redundant after 1 week

etc etc

...all because one person couldn't wait to upgrade. Does this not seem absurd?

I can assure you, they would receive many more complaints if they funded such a silly notion at the expense of their customers through increased tariff prices.

Surely the most sensible option, given that she was out of contract, would have been to either go to an O2 store - or gone elsewhere? If I was moved enough to deem something "disgusting" based on a company's performance (or whatever), I certainly wouldn't be hanging round - even for a minute to post a rant on that company's community pages.

Horses for courses I guess. But a little perspective might also be useful.

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

jonsie — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 04:57:18 GMT

Sometimes mere words just aren't enough.

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:17:06 GMT

Rookie and Pablo....you are quick to assume people don't know how call cnetres work but I do understand the one very important reason "IS TO ANSWER THE PHONE!!!" been on hold now for ten minutes.

You both really have a blind very on what is good customer service and what isn't.

Rookie again you mind is very clouded to it is hard to move on to a new operator as you have to cancel your contract first with the original supplier!!!! but if you cant get through on the phone then how do you? Think before you speak...both of you!

Also here is also, just to let youknow with some sneeky tactics we managed to get through to someone who said that my partner could up grade for the iPhone 4 however she would have to pay £99 on a £37 per month 24 month contract what a laugh.....having to wait 2 years for an upgrade and then to have to pay it in a two year contract as well, you can imagine what my response to that was....pratts!! especially if she can get the iphone five on a two year £41 per month and only pay £49 for the new model!!!

Owe and if any wants to know how to get through to a human being to actually get to speak to someone instead of listening to their rubbish music just call the home broad band number and demand to be put through to the retentions and not be put on hold!!!!!

Also Rookie and Pablo why would O2 need to recruit 1'000s of temps when they don't even have that many full time staff, they could have easily set up a call center with 200 people to take the calls and it wouldn't have taken long to train people on th echaracteristics of the hand set as they wouldn't need to know it's not like people are phoning up to say "Hey can you tell me how the phone works" every one already knows as its the same as the iPhone4s and the 3s!!!!

Re: Brains behind O2 customer service?!!

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:33:16 GMT

Pablo / Jonsie

If you do work in CS, then you'll no doubt be aware there's a whole industry providing event based call centre support. Both outgoing and incoming call centre services can be managed this way (and don't even have to be at the same location as the existing call centres), and typically are managed this way to address peaks in demand around major product launches or sales campaigns.

The fact that some of us had to call in literally scores of times over three and four day periods, go through multiple half-hour plus holding periods, often not to get any service at all, indicates nothing more than either bad planning or misplaced cost savings or both.