Broadband helpdesk support: The winners and losers
MyBroadband recently conducted a survey of the telephonic helpdesk support services of all the broadband providers. In this survey each helpdesk was called at different times while variables like the time taken to reach a consultant, the friendliness of the consultant and accuracy of the support answer were measured.
The results highlighted that while the support from some companies were excellent, others kept consumers hanging on for a long time or provided very poor feedback.
Great support
iBurst’s telephonic helpdesk support lead the way with very fast response times and insightful answers.
The average waiting time to reach an iBurst consultant was a mere 24 seconds and the consultants were friendly and answered all the questions accurately. They further showed insight into the iBurst service and had a good understanding of the problems which a consumer may face.
Vodacom also displayed good support with excellent answers to all questions with an average waiting time of only 1 minute 30 seconds during daytime testing. The consultants were cordial, showed an in-depth knowledge of their broadband offerings and could even supply accurate answers about the use of VoIP on the Vodacom data network.
The blimp on Vodacom’s radar screen came with their late night support where the call was only answered after 13 minutes, apparently due to the fact that there were only two helpdesk consultants available after 12 am. Their long automated support procedure – which is most likely aimed at accurately routing and filtering calls – may also irritate some subscribers.
Improvement needed
Sentech’s average call answering time was a mere 24 seconds but this great response time was however undone when we tried to get answers from their helpdesk.
One consultant started off by saying that we could not get the MyWireless service in any of the areas and street addresses which were provided despite the fact that there is excellent coverage in those neighborhoods. Apart from the inaccurate information, the Sentech helpdesk had a poor understanding of the service and was very slow to answer questions.
MTN took just over three minutes to answer the helpdesk call, and like Sentech the feedback was inaccurate. One consultant promised peak speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps, an average throughput of around 1.8 Mbps and mistakenly said that VoIP is charged at differential rates when detected.
What made MTN’s helpdesk support experience worse is that the first call was dropped after hanging on for 3 minutes 16 seconds and there is also no support after 21:30.
Both MTN and Sentech need to address the issue of poor or inaccurate information from their helpdesks, but their acceptable response times make it an achievable task.
Full makeover needed
Telkom may need a fully revamped helpdesk process to effectively serve their customers.
While the helpdesk consultants were generally friendly and could give basic assistance, the processes which were followed to supply support seemed complicated and disjointed. Telkom did not once call back to provide further support as promised.
If the general lack of true assistance does not get to consumers the very long waiting times are certain to hit the nail in the coffin.
There was an average waiting time of over 22 minutes, far longer than any of the other providers. One of the calls was only answered after 33 minutes, something that is sure to make any consumers’ blood boil.
Telkom has long been known for their poor support, and the latest round of telephonic helpdesk testing confirms that consumers have very valid reasons for complaining.
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