Sometimes when reading through the comments here, one gets the feeling that O2 is beset with schizophrenia. Some people absolutely love them and others cannot dis them enough. Who's right, who's wrong?
How can consumers get a service response that varies from one extreme to the next when you imagine they have training courses that are consistent across the organisation, infrastructure that is centrally hosted and managed and a desire to do their best? Where does it go wrong?
Being in the IT industry I totally get the fact that these things can, and do happen. In my opinion, there are always three sides to every story.
- On the one side the frustrated consumer who has a real issue with something and often comes on here and "expands" the scope of their frustration leading some to only hear and believe the negative.
- The O2 chat staff must have some wonderfully funny stories to tell about people who are frustrated but it turns out they hadn't done things like turn on their phones or turned down their volume etc. I should know. I once had to drive 50Km to switch on someone's computer monitor becuase they swore it was definitely "powered on." It isn't easy to respond courteously when you've just been abused by a customer.
- In the middle is the truth about what really happened. This unfortunately, never gets told or heard.
Now before I'm flamed for saying what I did, I've been on both sides of the fence, providing support, and calling for support. Sometimes you get fabulous service and sometimes it's pretty horrific. Sometimes as hard as you try it's really hard to stay calm and focused when someone on the other side of the phone line really doesn't get the fact that you've already given your details three times in the last 5 minutes and asks for them again or that you've been billed incorrectly - again etc.
People get personal and very unfriendly very quickly.
I for one, have had decent service from O2. Notice I did not say exceptional but then I've never needed them to do something for me that could have been classed as exceptional (unless they boost 3G signal in Ely that is) They've been courteous, friendly and efficient. Perhaps I got lucky, perhaps because I've worked on that side of the fence I see it differently but I really don't believe that O2 goes out of their way to frustrate their consumers even though it does happen.
Are there things O2 could do better? Absolutely yes. Large companies have rules and procedures that must be followed but sometimes the problems consumers have don't fit neatly into those pre-defined rules. There should be an understanding of these things and exceptions to these rules that could so quickly and easily deflate a tough situation and avoid the frustration for both parties.
We can all do better. We should all do better.
Malaguetas
