155 Data Helpdesk

[Geriatrix]

I am pleased to report that the issue that spawned this thread has at long last been resolved. Took a while but hey, at least it got resolved.

Still won't use VLive again, though.

 

[Skeptik]

I think that Vodacom are chancing it by their apparent bums-on-seats attitude to hiring staff. 100 faces behind terminals does not make a callcentre.

I still do not know what the standards are and my "std 6" comment was based on my personal dealings with them. I have never asked one what education they had (or accused one of having std6) - that would add at least another 10 minutes of 'transliteration' to a call. It's interesting that Vodacom3g has not given us a figure here! I would still be interested to know.

Therefore as IC suggested, Vodacom are directly responsible for frustration levels by hiring too few, badly paid incompetent staff with poor communication skills. A recipe for customer complaints.

We will never know exactly how badly calls are handled or the complaint resolution level because ICASA does not bother checking and Vodacom do not publish such figures as far as I know.

As for managers not being in the building - Voda staff are therefor lying a lot - which is what I suspected. I even asked one what she would do if the building was on fire, who would she notify? She said all supervisors and managers had all gone home (5 pm) and she would call the fire brigade

 

[vodacom3g]

Even if you employ a large number of agents, however well trained, any interaction between two people (a caller and an agent, in this case) is exactly that; an interaction where both parties try and contribute to their best and works mutually towards a solution.

But if a caller clearly wants to make life uncomfortable for the agent we're on a no-win path as Skeptik demonstrated when he posted this on MyADSL a while ago:

Vodacom are no better?! I have been considering publishing some of my phone calls recorded while talking to the dead-heads at the callcentres. I find it good therepy having a go at the thickets employed there. Worst in the world IMHO..:-o

Taking out your frustrations on - or getting some kind of kick out of abusing the call desk staff is not going to resolve anyone's problem. It may help with your own, personal insecurities, but what did you achieve at the end of the day? A misplaced feeling of power because someone was trained to eat the abuse and still smile and say 'yes sir, no sir'?

Rather call in and be constructive, you'll be amazed at what can be achieved.

And if you feel the call was not handled properly, PM me and we can together listen to it, every call is recorded for just this purpose.

 

[Debbie]

Vodacom def has problems in the amount of time customers wait for their helpdesk calls to be answered.

I have waited up to 45 minutes before without the call being answered.

As for the callback service - well I am still waiting for my call back.

All I wanted to know was what type of sms bundle I had.

 

[vodacom3g]

Vodacom def has problems in the amount of time customers wait for their helpdesk calls to be answered.

No doubt about that, and the only way to fix it is to:

1) Get more agents
2) Resolve a call quicker
3) Get some kind of self-help in place

We're continously working on all these.

BTW, it should come as no surprise that the bulk of vodacom staff (by far) are employed in the call centers.

 

[vodacom3g]

As for the callback service - well I am still waiting for my call back.

I'll follow up on this. A few people have mentioned this.

The call-back service is driven by the IVR system, i.e. the system will call you and then connect you to an operator. It is not an agent dialing you directly, so if it's not working, something must be broken.

You actually retain your position in the queue, so the call-back should have happened at the same time as they would've picked up your call.

 

[Debbie]

Thanks for the reply there v3g. I am glad to hear that Vodacom is aware and admits to having these problems, instead of sticking their heads in the sand and denying that a problem exists in the first place.

There is obviously a lot of room for improvement here, and I trust v3g's statements that Vodacom is working on these problems.

 

[vodacom3g]

Thanks for the reply there v3g. I am glad to hear that Vodacom is aware and admits to having these problems, instead of sticking their heads in the sand and denying that a problem exists in the first place.

There is obviously a lot of room for improvement here, and I trust v3g's statements that Vodacom is working on these problems.

They're busy building the mother of all call centers, I'm told. Will quickly see if I can get an operational date.

 

[Debbie]

They're busy building the mother of all call centers, I'm told.

You make it sound ominous!

 

[kaspaas]

As for the callback service - well I am still waiting for my call back.

I'm waiting more than a week for the call back - I called back the next day myself and waited for what seemed hours for a data operator. When at last the operator answered, he was polite, well spoken, understood the problem, and actually took time to explain it to me in a way recognising that I was tech-savvy. In the end, the info he gave educated me, and I will need the call centre less in future.

If the system is supposed to call one back without losing ones place in the queue, why not announce very erly it so on the system? Many people would prefer to wait for the call back after holding for less than a minute than to hold for 45.

It would reduce client frustrations a lot knowing one will be called back in the order of the queue. Maybe confirming the fact that one has a place in the queue with a reference number by SMS will increase the user confidence in the system.

Obviously, the system has to be working faultlessly first

 

[mooK]

vodacom3g, if you don't mind my asking, what's your official job at vodacom? And is representing vodacom on MyADSL forums like an after hours thing or is part of your actual job?

 

[vodacom3g]

You make it sound ominous!

We'll it's in the heart of Jhb.....

Good news though! It's going live on the 7th of July, quicker than I hoped. (Damn, could have said it's imminent!)

Initially it'll start with around 250 people and will build up to close to the 1000 mark by year-end.

This will add substantially to the current capacity.

 

[vodacom3g]

I'm waiting more than a week for the call back - I called back the next day myself and waited for what seemed hours for a data operator. When at last the operator answered, he was polite, well spoken, understood the problem, and actually took time to explain it to me in a way recognising that I was tech-savvy. In the end, the info he gave educated me, and I will need the call centre less in future.

If the system is supposed to call one back without losing ones place in the queue, why not announce very erly it so on the system? Many people would prefer to wait for the call back after holding for less than a minute than to hold for 45.

It would reduce client frustrations a lot knowing one will be called back in the order of the queue. Maybe confirming the fact that one has a place in the queue with a reference number by SMS will increase the user confidence in the system.

Obviously, the system has to be working faultlessly first

Valid points, will pass it on.

 

[vodacom3g]

vodacom3g, if you don't mind my asking, what's your official job at vodacom? And is representing vodacom on MyADSL forums like an after hours thing or is part of your actual job?

I get involved in just about all areas of the business, so tend to have a good handle on what's going down where. So I have quite a few official jobs

When Vodacom decided to get involved with the forum last year Jan, I took it on more as an interrest and could easily cope with the load. I remember once complaining to ic that the forum is quiet!!

Nowadays it's very different. Especially the PM's are becoming a bit of an issue as they often don't contain enough info to resolve immediately and requires a few PM's up and down. They then tend to get lost between the few hundred e-mails every day and together with the meetings and other stuff often leaves me to catch up with the forum after hours.

Fotunately, most Vodacom people work till very late, so I can easily ask for information this time of night and get an immediate answer.

This topic is a case in point, after Debbie's post, I SMS'ed the Vodacom COO and he responded within a few minutes with the info.

With the focus and support the forum gets within Vodacom it makes my job a hell of a lot easier.

 

[Debbie]

When Vodacom decided to get involved with the forum last year Jan...

Great decision from Vodacom there. Your interaction on MyADSL has single-handedly changed my entire view of this company. I have a great deal more faith and trust in Vodacom than I did before. V3G has also helped me to seperate Vodacom from Telkom in my mind because, through V3G interaction on this forum, I can see Vodacom responding to customers in a way that Telkom never would. Still not a big fan of AKC though (he's just too good at saying things in such a way that it sounds reasonable to the average person). Reminds me somewhat of Rueben September.

I wish more companies would wake up and realise that symbiotic relationships with customers are the goal, instead of the inherently adversarial approach usually adopted in SA.

 

[ic]

...
Therefore as IC suggested, Vodacom are directly responsible for frustration levels by hiring too few, badly paid incompetent staff with poor communication skills. A recipe for customer complaints.
...

Ummm where did I suggest all that? - you're trying to put words into my mouth whilst I'm eating - don't do that!

Sure Vodacom's data call centre has problems, but if you look at the survey [poll] results you will see that I have not cast any votes - I am sitting on the fence for 2 reasons:

• I haven't had cause to call the data help centre in months - perhaps bcos I'm a pre-paid data customer and use 3G infrequently as a backup to ADSL - although my circumstances have changed in the last couple of days & as a direct result I will be using 3G more for its mobility factor again;
• the reason I added the survey [poll] to this thread, was not to embarrass or shame Vodacom, but rather to determine what most forumites have experienced, and hopefully Vodacom can address the issues raised by forumites in this forum and this thread.

v3g has been quite candid about the high staff turnover & consequent shortage of data call centre agents, and as a result the challenges of getting replacements trained. It's obvious that the new 1000 seat call centre is needed yesterday, and I would hope that Vodacom could deploy more people now [whilst waiting for construction to be completed] - somewhere - even if it's in a marquee in the parking lot at Vodaworld [joking].

@v3g, based on some posts in this forum, some forumites have experienced the following [common] problems:

1. Call centre agents refusing to create a ticket to log a customer's problem not solved over the phone;
2. Trouble tickets being closed without consulting the customer and finding out if the problem has actually been resolved;
3. Call centre agents refusing to put a customer through to a supervisor or manager & saying they are not available;
4. The on-hold wait time - no need for me to say more about this.

 

[vodacom3g]

@v3g, based on some posts in this forum, some forumites have experienced the following [common] problems:

1. Call centre agents refusing to create a ticket to log a customer's problem not solved over the phone;
2. Trouble tickets being closed without consulting the customer and finding out if the problem has actually been resolved;
3. Call centre agents refusing to put a customer through to a supervisor or manager & saying they are not available;
4. The on-hold wait time - no need for me to say more about this.

Have had some of these myself, especially closing a ticket that (in my opinion) should not be closed.

The only way to catch and correct these is to report them. Your call is logged and recorded, so if you give a mobile number and time/date of the call, it can be traced and we can listen to the call. If the operator refused to comply to a reasonable request, it's the red carpet or even the back door...

But having said that, I've listened to quite a few calls where the caller claimed certain issues and when you listen to the call, there was no mention of it.

BTW, I don't think the staffing issue is a function of the building process, more a function of getting enough new agents. These are all brand new agents that must be trained up.

Just think of the logistics to start a new business and go into full production with mostly brand new, virgin staff. I don't envy these guys....it's going to be rocky for a while...

 

[chiskop]

I agree with ic's summary, adding one thing: The Pet Shop Boys. I know its been discussed here before, but that music is seriously insulting to customers on hold.

 

[kaspaas]

Just think of the logistics to start a new business and go into full production with mostly brand new, virgin staff. I don't envy these guys....it's going to be rocky for a while...

Already poaching?

 

[vodacom3g]

Already poaching?

Yes, when I typed that I thought it would raise a response