Comments on: New nuisance: Call Limit

By: Ilya

Ilya — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:58:44 +0000

BT’s use of 0800 numbers for customer service is the exception, at least in my experience. Alas, I am not a BT customer…

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:02:39 +0000

Utilities in the UK are not state owned…….

The 0800 numbers to call BT are free….

By: Jeri

Jeri — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:21:56 +0000

The priorities in most call centers are selling more product/service and maintaining good call stats – which means minimizing average time on the phone and getting to the next call. Most entry level agents are not very interested in solving complex problems, and in fact, would rather not if it would take too much time on the phone and hurt the agent’s call stats.

Call centers are the sweat shops of the 21st century, it’s really sad.

I don’t doubt that it might be even more challenging in the UK where state-owned utilities and lack of competition disincent customer service to some degree. Still, in the US, we are regulated and complaints reaching the utilities commission are taken seriously.

I do think it’s bizarre that a longtime customer with a solid payment history would be limited in a way that impacts the phone company’s revenue! Very strange.

By: Ilya

Ilya — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:57:31 +0000

Correct observation, Dad, but business models throughout Europe seem to put premium on limiting inconvenience to the provider, rather than on maximizing profits. Of that, I’ve seen tons of examples.

By: papa

papa — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:38:45 +0000

what amazes me is that the phone company is limiting their profits by trying to avoid the risk of somebody not be able to pay.

By: Ilya

Ilya — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:21:24 +0000

We don’t use Skype primarily because having the PC regularly occupied for purposes of a phone call would be extremely annoying to me

I am pretty sure that the cost would be similar, if not exactly the same… I think we’ll go back to using American calling cards, anyway…

By: Vince

Vince — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:58:02 +0000

I’m amazed that there are limits. That would greatly annoy me. I use my cell phone for long distance when out and about, and when at home/work I use Skype. I have their $3/month unlimited calling to the US and Canada plan. Calling Russia would be extra, and at least here, price depends on where in Russia (it’s 4.8 cents a minute to most of Russia, but St. Petersburg and Moscow is 2.1 cents a minute, and 7.1 cents a minute to mobile phones). I don’t know what costs would be from the UK.

By: Ilya

Ilya — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:00:10 +0000

It could be that I am no longer in tune with the customer service in the US, Jeri, but I’ve never had that many bad customer service experiences until I moved to the UK (browse “Customerography” for other examples). The way I recall it, US customer services have three important components that are lacking in UK: toll-free numbers, 24×7 helplines (or, at least, hours that considerably extend beyong 9-5 Mon-Fri timeframe), and agents/supervisors who are possibly incentivized to keep the customer at least somewhat content…

This is a generalization, of course. Bad service happens in the States, exceptional service happens in UK. On average, though, I find the UK service rather lacking…

By: Jeri

Jeri — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:06:54 +0000

You didn’t think that customer service was actually there to help *you* did you? Silly customer.

(You may not know this but I work for a medium-sized US telephone, cable & internet company.)