Broadband Helpdesks put to the test

Phase II of testing: Have an actual fault (not sure how you'd do this) as the problem, and see who takes the longest to rectify.

Edit: Like LifeLongGamer suggested above, get forumites with actual ADSL/telephony problems for Phase II. :D
 
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Call Centre Joke

This survey is so inaccurate. All my calls to Telkom help desk are answered well BUT when you try get to the ADSL or technical support. The second tier, thats where it falls apart. I have already had a 1.5 hr call with no resolution tonight.
 
I was a satisfied MTN customer for 5 years until tonight. A friend of mine upgraded his account, after which his service was suspended! I let him call customer service from my phone. An hour later....no answer! Thank you MTN, but NO THANK YOU! My contract ends at the end of August, after which I'm finished with you!
 
Yeah it's not a fair indication by calling the others using a landline and calling telkom using a landline as well. What if the landline is completely dead and the only means of contacting telkom is by using a cellphone?
 
Grazo said:
This survey is so inaccurate. All my calls to Telkom help desk are answered well BUT when you try get to the ADSL or technical support. The second tier, thats where it falls apart. I have already had a 1.5 hr call with no resolution tonight.
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from the article:
The time taken was calculated from the moment the number was dialled until a suitable consultant could be reached.
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so it would seem the survey is not dependant on how long it takes for them to answer ur call, but rather how long it takes before someone who can help u answers the call...
 
I feel that such a survey must be conducted with numerous calls to the same provider on different days/times to give an accurate average. I have noticed with telkom that sometimes I wait up to 50 minutes before and answer (if they even answer) and other times around 10 minutes. Sometimes it works best to let it ring for 10 minutes or so and then retry.
 
Well at least Telkom's waiting music has changed from that bloody awful Boney M they had at some point.

Damn those crafy swines. I was trying to get a listen in to hear the bad music so I could identify it and they answered in 3 seconds flat :/ I didn't even get to "Your call is important"
 
Phase II?

Well if you are wanting to do a Phase II with actual ADSL problems, I can offer my line as a test case.

Its disconnecting every few minutes (5 mins to 2hours in between disconnection times) up to 50 times a day. As you can imaging this is rather frustrating (my wall has a few new holes in it). The land line quality is also disgusting (such bad static its impossible to hear anything). Now I have already had telskum come and "fix" it about 2 months ago with no joy.


If anyone wants to use this as a test case for Phase II gimme a shout before I give up a few hours of my life while on hold.
 
The article makes no mention of the "data helpdesk" number called on MTN. The VC Data Desk helpdesk is specified.
It is highly unlikely that the number called for data support on mtn was (083) 1555 (this is MTN Business Solutions Heldesk - desk dedicated to data support) - you would not have waited in the queue for more than two minutes.
This article needs to be amended with the MTN data helpdesk number dialed specified.
 
Hi Guys

Thanks for all the feedback regarding the call centre testing. We will definitely work on your suggestions and redo the test. The reason why we did not use MTN data centre was because we received complaints about their general call centre so we decided to test it out.

We also had a rather nasty experience at the MTN service centre in Rivonia where we had to wait around 45 minutes for help so we simply called to see how long it would take them.

We then decided to try out the rest.

I agree with the costing assessment and will keep it in mind next time. But the bottom line is that we should not be waiting so long for help. Seems some telecom companies are big spenders when it comes to marketing and other revenue generating services but once they have you they don't seem to want to put down hard cash to keep customers.

Keep the suggestion coming and in a few weeks I'll redo the test and will try to be more accurate Grazo ;-).

Best regards,

Cara

P.S. We did use the Vodacom data centre number and for Telkom we redid the test because their general call centre answered in just over 1 minute (technical support took longer, 11+ min which was the one we used as that was where we had received complaints).
 
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Cara said:
Hi Guys

Thanks for all the feedback regarding the call centre testing. We will definitely work on your suggestions and redo the test. The reason why we did not use MTN data centre was because we received complaints about their general call centre so we decided to test it out.

We also had a rather nasty experience at the MTN service centre in Rivonia where we had to wait around 45 minutes for help so we simply called to see how long it would take them.

We then decided to try out the rest.

I agree with the costing assessment and will keep it in mind next time. But the bottom line is that we should not be waiting so long for help. Seems some telecom companies are big spenders when it comes to marketing and other revenue generating services but once they have you they don't seem to want to put down hard cash to keep customers.

Keep the suggestion coming and in a few weeks I'll redo the test and will try to be more accurate Grazo ;-).

Best regards,

Cara

P.S. We did use the Vodacom data centre number and for Telkom we redid the test because their general call centre answered in just over 1 minute (technical support took longer, 11+ min which was the one we used as that was where we had received complaints).
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Thanks Cara - also, as someone mentioned, have a test for how long it takes to fix a problem after reporting it.

I have a problem I logged on 29 April at a Telkom Shop, and again on the 2 May - to date, no techie (the line is now working again, so I have not pushed, but according to Telkom it is still "open" and pending...)
 
AntiThesis said:
Well at least Telkom's waiting music has changed from that bloody awful Boney M they had at some point.

Damn those crafy swines. I was trying to get a listen in to hear the bad music so I could identify it and they answered in 3 seconds flat :/ I didn't even get to "Your call is important"
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Telkom is one of the few companies that do not have the 'Your call is important' message while waiting in the queue. All you'll get is 'All our agents are currently busy. Your call will be answered as soon as an operator is available'.

As for that crappy 'Telkom-Theme' music - I'm a literally sick and tired of it. I've heard it so often and for so long while on hold that it automatically pushes me to the limits of my patience the second it starts playing. Fortunately I'm able to listen to my own music in the background and just wait until I hear a human voice that doesn't begin with 'All our operators ...' When in doubt, I simply say 'Hello ..?' into the receiver to check if I don't get another response. If I don't I carry on waitintg. If I do, I greet and introduce myself and ask for the operator's name ...
 
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Cara said:
Hi Guys

Thanks for all the feedback regarding the call centre testing. We will definitely work on your suggestions and redo the test. The reason why we did not use MTN data centre was because we received complaints about their general call centre so we decided to test it out.

We also had a rather nasty experience at the MTN service centre in Rivonia where we had to wait around 45 minutes for help so we simply called to see how long it would take them.

We then decided to try out the rest.
Click to expand...

If you received complaints about the general call centre you should not then have included your tests on this centre with other Data Call centres but rather have performed similar tests with other network operator's general call centre.
Please amend the article or add an annotation to advise this, as your assessment was not a fair comparison.
 
I agree with MTNer - however I would suggest a separate article - a 50 minute delay in getting through deserves nothing less.
 
Yeah perhaps a separate article comparing their general call centres to each other. Data subscribers are far less than general subscribers. Also maybe take into consideration the number of general subscribers when conducting this test. I think given Telkom's far lower number of general subscribers compared to MTN and Vodacom, if their general call centre takes 50 minutes to answer, that should be an indication that their service levels are even worse than the mobile operators.
 
While there may be some merit in thinking the MTN test was unfair, 50 minutes on hold to get no answer is dismal indeed.
 
Hi guys

Thanks for all the feedback regarding this article. This issue deserves another round of more in-depth testing, and we have started this tonight. We will compare data helpdesks only. We will do three sets of tests: two during day time and one in the evening.

We may also do a general helpdesk survey a bit later, but with the exorbitant times and costs this may not be an easy task…

MTNer: We have added a note in the article and will clear this issue up in the follow on article as well. In today’s radio interview (RSG) I also addressed the issue of separate helpdesks.

Regards,

RPM
 
rpm said:
We may also do a general helpdesk survey a bit later, but with the exorbitant times and costs this may not be an easy task…
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Hi rpm

When conducting these tests I think it's free for all providers when calling from the same network. So perhaps call telkom from a telkom line, mtn from an mtn line etc. and then estimate the costs when calling from another network based on the response times (for example ones telkom line may be down an the only alternative would be to call from a cellphone, and the same goes for the mobile operators to call them from a telkom line).
 
Hi Highflyer_GP

Very relevant point. Will be taken into account.
 
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