He did for me so...

Sorry for suggest such a thing.

Edited by lockyatlrg (Mon 23-May-11 18:09:16)

In reply to a post by MHC:

I just do not know why people like you suggest going so far up the chain rather than using processes that are already in place.

...because sometimes it is the only way to make progress. I used this route when Ben Verwaayen was CEO, this was after 3 months of trying with BT c/s. (They messed up my RTD).

And if you believe he actually reads and acts on most of those emails - you are extremely naive.

It may or may not be the CEO himself (but the email I received suggested that it was). It is possible that a secretary deals with his email though.

At the end of the day the CEO is responsible for the running of the company and while unfortunately most companies these days seem to put their shareholders first, the main responsibility is that the product sells and keeps selling. It is in the CEO's best interest to make sure the customer is happy and if the normal process to ensure this isn't working then I would expect any responsible CEO to take a direct hand.

>>unfortunately most companies these days seem to put their shareholders first

I thought that all companies had a legal responsibility to put their shareholders first. After all, it's the shareholders money that puts the thing on the road. Has something changed?

In reply to a post by RandomJointer:

>>unfortunately most companies these days seem to put their shareholders first

I thought that all companies had a legal responsibility to put their shareholders first. After all, it's the shareholders money that puts the thing on the road. Has something changed?

You are absolutely right. It's something that very few people realise.

However, a major factor in safeguarding the shareholders' interest is making sure that customers are happy. The two are not incompatible, just that the poster put it rather badly.

I did read when searching for higher level complaints numbers, that after emailing the ceo, people got a call from the hlc, so it must work. I'll keep my draft email handy.
The point is though you shouldn't have to go to that extreme.
BT need to get customer services sorted out. They treat Infinity and adsl as the same thing.
I was on the phone again tonight, another "high level" engineer booked for tomorrow.

In reply to a post by kamelion:

At the end of the day the CEO is responsible for the running of the company and while unfortunately most companies these days seem to put their shareholders first, the main responsibility is that the product sells and keeps selling. It is in the CEO's best interest to make sure the customer is happy and if the normal process to ensure this isn't working then I would expect any responsible CEO to take a direct hand.

But it is going to remove the possibility of direct access to and action by the CEO's office if people start appealing to there before the official channels have been exhausted.

One now and then could draw attention to a deep-seated problem. A few thousand mis-handled support problems hitting his office on the same day might have an effect. But a few a week just becomes a distraction and will end up with automatic diversion back into the normal support system, though possibly at a senior level.

I'm yet to see a BT customer having a negative outcome from any customer emailing the BT CEO.

As a shareholder, I'm happy with that.

I'm still awaiting a reply from the CEO of TalkTalk I wrote over 18 months ago. I do not have shares in TalkTalk.and TalkTalk lost cutomers according to their recent results...

In reply to a post by TheHorseman:

It may or may not be the CEO himself (but the email I received suggested that it was). It is possible that a secretary deals with his email though.

There is a team who deal with High level Complaints - I have their contact numbers. E-mails addressed as suggested go direct to them (the CEO can access them if he wishes) and they are dealt with as if he has intervened. Those dealing with the issues are mid-level managers (probably a grade higher that those running customer service teams).

I have had a colleague who had an niggly problem and whilst we were at a conference and a group of key industry personnel were on stage he emailed the previous BT CEO and received a semi-personal reply from the CEO within minutes - excellent you may think, but it was obvious that the CEO had not seen the email or responded, as he was sitting on stage in front of a large audience.

In reply to a post by RandomJointer:

I'm yet to see a BT customer having a negative outcome from any customer emailing the BT CEO.

There is the occasional one, but in the very few I recall I got a strong feeling the reason for that may have been at the customer end.

Moreover, I'm sure I have seen some non-BT Broadband customers who have benefitted from emailing him, where the difficulty has been with BTW or OR and the user has no direct relationship with BT. (Though perhaps the phone rental has been BT).

As a shareholder, I'm happy with that.

As I thought I said, or at least implied, it is good business to maintain good customer relations and high satisfaction. The driving force behind that is though, as you pointed out, to promote the ultimate interests of the shareholders. I regard that as perfectly legitimate.

I'm still awaiting a reply from the CEO of TalkTalk I wrote over 18 months ago.

It is in fact amazing that the BT CEO's office is so available and helpful!

I do agree though that a sentiment expressed by another poster is relevant. This availability could easily be abused, which would be a great shame.