Support for New Users

Trying to help a recent recommendee to set up their new account made me realise that the support arrangements for New Users is unsatisfactory. The information sent by email to the New Users hotmail account was fine but there was a problem with getting the adsl line to sync. All that is on offer to deal with this situation is the Plusnet Support phone line 0845 140 0200! Anybody who has experienced phoning this number will understand that this service, characterised by complex long menus that are difficult nay impossible to navigate and which often end up advising you to visit the website to resolve the problem, is totally useless if you have been unable to set up your new broadband service!

Come on Plusnet, get your act together! How about offering new users access to a dedicated telephone helpline.

PS Whilst you are at it, why not sort out your menu based telephone support. Good user friendly menu based systems give clear instructions throughout and in general limit the choices at each stage to a maximunm of 3.

This Guardian article is interesting in the sense of talking about Customer Service..

http://money.guardian.co.uk/consumerfinanceawards/story/0,,1595153,00.html

Edited by caesar_salad (Fri 25-Aug-06 10:24:58)

... and it all sounded so sensible until he started to praise Tiscali !!! Talk about a flushing his credibility down the pan!

Maybe Tiscali has customer notes on their system to let them know that the person was a Guardian journalist and made sure that he got service above and beyond the call of duty?

Something I would be interested in is what people would suggest as a good menu system. What choices would people want to see (or should I say hear) on it?

Ian

How about having a message that says "If you wish to speak to a member of staff, press zero at any time?" instead of forcing people to have to listen to multiple options in a short space of time?

I reckon the Kit-Kat customer services phone line parody that they had broadcast on national radio was best.. I wish that I had recorded it at the time as it would have made a good example of how not to have an automated telephone system.

One of the options went along the lines of something like "If you wish to be passed on to someone who is really nice but is not able to answer you query, press 2" another one went something like "If you wish to be placed in a queue with no hope of being answered, press 3", etc

Edited by caesar_salad (Fri 25-Aug-06 15:59:53)