Customer Service

Phone companies doing a services bait-and-switch?

Doug Mohney — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:55:54 -0500

Are service providers using low-end poor-quality services as a way to upsell customers on newer (i.e. more expensive, better ARPU) offerings? Over at Telephony, they're asking the question.

AT&T, Verizon, and Qwest are all cited for different sins along the same theme. AT&T is allegedly downgrading 2G signal strength to beef up its 3G network, leaving some customers either to be stuck with lower quality 2G service or upgrading to a 3G iPhone. Verizon is supposedly neglecting its DSL network as it puts in FiOS. And Qwest is accused of using interference with its fiber-to-the-node network as a "tool" to urge DSL customers to switch to FTTN.

In Little Rock, Ark., one customer trying to move his landline and DSL service to a new physical address encountered delays in his DSL installation. After three months, instead of getting DSL, he has received a suggestion to upgrade to U-verse VoIP.

Having personally suffered through some of Verizon's more, ahem, challenging customer "service" when moving to a house within the same zip code as the previous one, this reporter isn't sure if he would choose intentional malice over poor practices. Certainly, consumer customer service since the "bad old days" of monopoly has suffered.

For more:
- Telephony blogs on upgrading or else.

Telco marketing efforts hit the streets

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:27:00 -0500

After cable TV company chiefs speaking at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference on Monday expressed some cautious optimism about their market position, telcos chiefs yesterday took the stage and indicated they need to act more like the cable guys-at least where marketing strategies are concerned. Qwest CEO Ed Mueller said his firm is trying to adapt its market from centralized to a more regional market-by-market focus.

Meanwhile, Telephony reports that R. Stewart Ewing, CenturyTel's chief financial officer, said his firm would take a similar approach following its pending acquisition of fellow independent telco Embarq. For a while now, it has seemed like telcos, especially the biggest ones, were very interested in touting their brand images to as big an audience as possible, though their direct marketing efforts at a local level already have taken a different tone for some time (the localized approach starts when you go to a telco website and immediately are asked to enter your zip code). But, perhaps we'll start to see even fewer national commercials urging us to "ride the light" and other, similar messages, and more energy directed at the unique needs of each customer. It couldn't hurt.

For more:
- Telephony covers the UBS speeches

Cable companies paint their future in a down economy

Doug Mohney — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:37:06 -0500

At a Wall Street investor's conference Monday, Time Warner Cable and Comcast were painting a relatively upbeat picture, but fessed up that they might end up with declining revenues in certain areas.

Time Warner Cable (TWC) CEO and President Glenn Britt was promoting the view that cable TV will benefit as people stay home, rather than going out to spend money. On the other side of the coin, DVR adoption is down - but that could be due to existing customers having already picked up the service.

Other tidbits Britt shared included a lack of taste for M&A activity and a decline in capex spending. Costs in the industry are coming from two big categories: sports retransmission and labor; TWC has had some restructuring costs due to layoffs.

While TWC has a lot of overlap with AT&T and Verizon, the company continues to take voice customers away from them "at a rapid rate."

Comcast is seeing slowing in advertising and add-on services such as pay-per-view, as well as customers calling up to ask for relief from their monthly cable bills. But Comcast believes it will be able to soak up cost-conscious consumers with a bunch of lower-priced plans.

Customers also want reliability as well as value, so Comcast has been working on how it monitors its network and schedules its technicians. Comcast's customer satisfaction ratings are on the rise, according to the company's internal measurements.

In 2009, Comcast technicians will have dispatch devices that let them track customer appointments throughout the day. The company is working on a feature that will allow customers to go online to find out where a tech is, so they don't have to make a phone call into Comcast.

For more:
- Time Warner Cable President sounds off. Article.
- Paidcontent.org (via Washington Post) reports on TW Cable's outlook. Post.

Embarq puts live people (gasp!) back answering customer calls

Doug Mohney — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:29:55 -0500

First, the U.S. average price of gas goes below $2.00 a gallon. Now, the fourth-largest phone company is running a trial to put live human beings in the loop to answer customer calls. What will they think of next?

Embarq announced the move to try out live customer service reps on Monday, with 15 representatives based in North Carolina picking up the phone for customers who call Embarq customer service at 1-800-EMBARQ.

Embarq launched the program Nov. 3 in response to complaints from customers who are sick of IVR phone hell. The trial will continue for three months, and if it proves successful with customers, the company will likely continue using real people to answer customer calls. Embarq has another 10 reps trained and available if the number of customer calls increases.

IVR is not gone, however. The company is keeping three numbers that put callers through an automated menu of options, including the main customer service number that appears on customer bills.

For more:
- Charlotte News-Observer tells the remarkable story.

Comcast's cyber commando customer service team

Doug Mohney — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:55:29 -0400

Comcast customers complaining through non-traditional means (i.e. blogging) are being heard by a seven person "cyberteam" scouring the web for public complaints about company service.

While Comcast still ranks near the bottom of customer satisfaction surveys, the guerilla support effort is starting to sooth the savage postings of publicly disgruntled customers. The web team checks blogs, tech web sites, Twitter and other social networking sites, consumer sites and YouTube - yes, even video postings.

Comcast reps track down customers by matching clues in postings to the company's internal database of customer phone numbers and email. If they can't directly track down a person, they may post a note directly in a blog.

It's a tough job. The team only reaches 10 percent of customers who complain online, but has influenced at least one high-profile griper. Bob Garfield has handed off his ComcastMustDie.com site to another group, and the focus will expand to complaints about a broader range of companies.

For more:
- MSN.com/AP on Comcast's cyber complaint team. Story.

Conn. whacks AT&T again

Doug Mohney — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:45:20 -0400

Connecticut state officials publicly slapped AT&T again, this time for planning to relocate 60 customer service jobs to Michigan.

Both the state and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) are not happy about the closure of a customer service office in Meriden. The Conn. Attorney General held a press conference and the Governor sent a letter to state regulators ordering them to review the move and fast-track hearings on a pending investigation. State officials say AT&T has eliminated nearly 1,000 customer service related jobs in recent years.

This is the latest skirmish in a running feud between state officials and AT&T over customer service and jobs. Last month, the AG jumped into a proceeding at the Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) intended to enforce repair service standards and order AT&T to improve customer service. AT&T has been accused of answering its phones four times slower than other phone companies and its call abandonment rate - where people just give up after being on hold - is also four times higher. Additionally, AT&T has not met DPUC requirements that it fix 90 percent of out-of-service phones within 24 hours, and it has failed to for eight years.

For more:
- Hartford Courant coverage of CT AT&T scolding
- Media Newswire carries the release by the Conn. AG
- Local TV coverage of more AT&T layoffs in CT

CFI: Customers prefer telco bundles to cable

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:25:33 -0400

Research firm the CFI Group, which sprang forth from the University of Michigan to study customer satisfaction issues across multiple industries, has announced the results of its annual Telecom-Cable Industry Satisfaction Study. The survey, which consulted more than 1,200 consumer households, found that consumers interested in bundled services are more interested in buying them from a telco by a 2 to 1 margin. That is a much wider margin than in last year's survey, which found that 54 percent preferred telco bundles and 44 percent preferred cable companies.

Higher rates and the perception of poor service quality from cable companies were the biggest reasons the group lost out to telcos. CFI uses the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index and measures customer satisfaction for broadband internet, video, wireless and other services. The agency noted that cable company bundles are still much more widely available than telco bundles--only 2 percent of those surveyed were active users of telco video services.

"The cable companies are asleep at the wheel if they don't see the threat from the telecoms," said Phil Doriot, program director for CFI Group in a press release. "But the network upgrades aren't going to happen overnight, so cable companies still have the opportunity to improve their customer service and cover their Achilles heel."

For more:
The full CFI report is available at no charge at http://www.cfigroup.com/

Bad billing by AT&T

Doug Mohney — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:02:50 -0400

Consumers in two states are not happy with their AT&T bills, prompting local TV stations to charge to the rescue. And you might want to leave your account passwords in your will.

A North Carolina man had to fight with AT&T to cancel his dead mother's phone service. Gene Turner didn't have his mother's passwords to her account, leaving him in the lurch on the first call. Calling back a second time, a representative asked him to fax over the death certificate and other information, receiving confirmation of receipt. A week later, the phone was still turned on and the customer rep said there was no information on file regarding the fax.

Turner requested a manager to call him back. One didn't, but he received another phone bill for the account. Cancellation and a refund on the account credit occurred when the local TV station called AT&T.

In Tennessee, an AT&T customer was being billed $14.05 for "Enhanced Services" - an 800 number with voice mail she says she never signed up for. AT&T says they have no choice but to pass along the changes from Premium Products and other-third party companies, but the attorney general of Florida is investigating Premium Products for deceptive advertising practices.

For more:
- AT&T won't cancel dead woman's account in NC. Article .
- TN complaint about AT&T billing. Article

BT & HP sign $660M partnership extension

Pete Wylie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:38:49 -0400

BT and HP announced a $660 million, seven and a half-year extension to their existing partnership, the BT HP Alliance. HP will continue to serve more than 100,000 BT customers in the U.K. under the arrangement.

The Alliance, "transforms and simplifies customers' networked IT services and provides better costs points, flexibility, service levels and time to market for BT's customers," according to the release and has created $5.3 billion in additional revenue for the two companies.

"This contract renewal offers BT competitively priced services across a number of key areas of our IT infrastructure," David Butcher, managing director, Service Introduction, BT Operate, said in a prepared statement. "HP is a key partner for BT and this deal will create the platform for accelerated innovation and delivery of services for our customers."

On HP's side, there's the win of a substantial contract and the ability to highlight a large telecom customer using its IT services.

For more:
- see the companies' press release here

SPOTLIGHT: Broadband age, paper tracking, phone service data

Doug Mohney — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:02:23 -0400

Trying to get phone service data out of state public utility commissions - now that the FCC has bagged collecting and reporting it - is a mixed bag. Every state has a different reporting standard, details may require Freedom of Information Act requests, Texas can't email data, so they fax it over... you get the picture.

Illinois and Florida get good marks for posting data on the web, but anyone trying to assemble a national picture of network quality and how customer service complaints get resolved is asking for some serious heartburn.

Perhaps the FCC should reconsider its role, rather than punting?

For more:
- GigaOm reviews the pain of collecting phone service quality data. Article.

Bell Canada upgrades customer service

Pete Wylie — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:48:47 -0400

Bell Canada rolled out a new customer service initiative Wednesday, promising faster response time to service issues in an effort to stem the loss of both landline and internet customers. Customers of the telco have suffered through extended wait-times for years, waiting an average of 39 hours last year, according to reports.

The new initiative promises same-day service to customers who contact the telco before 11 a.m., and next-day service for later service inquiries. Customers wanting next-day installation of TV, internet or cable can pay a premium of $60 for that service.

Bell Canada reported that high-speed internet repair times were a priority, as more and more customers depend on the service for both business and personal aspects.

Bell Canada CEO George Cope, who took the reins in July, cut thousands of middle management positions to open budget space for the expanded technical service and improved call center operation, part of his 100-day plan to improve the company's lagging brand.

For more:
- The Globe and Mail has the skinny on BC's shiny new look. Article.

Connecticut: AT&T neglecting wired customers

Doug Mohney — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:18:46 -0400

The Connecticut State Attorney General and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) took AT&T to task yesterday, saying the company is neglecting its wired customers.

In a Monday news conference, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called on AT&T to meet state regulations and fix up to 90 percent of out-of-service phones within 24 hours. The PR efforts follows a July complaint filing by the Office of Consumer Counsel to the Department of Public Utility Control saying AT&T had not met the state standard in eight years. And in August, Connecticut Gov. Jody Rell wrote AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson claiming that the company is ignoring older wired customers as the industry goes through technological change.

AT&T is winning no love on call wait times either. Customers calling AT&T's customer service line wait an average of nearly two and a half minutes before someone picks up. This doesn't sit well when compared to 35 seconds or less pick up time in other states. Twelve percent of callers simply hang up before someone answers.

For the CWA, this is as much of a jobs issue as service quality. AT&T has cut 1,000 customer-service related jobs in the state since 2001, sending call center positions to Ohio and hiring contractors to do other work.

For more:
- StamfordPlus.com reports on CT AG berating AT&T for customer service woes. Article

FCC may loosen telco reporting demands

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:48:49 -0400

The Federal Communications Commission may loosen the requirements for the types of information that telcos must provide as part of the agency's annual report program. The annual reports track information related to service outages, including outage durations and customer complaints, as well as capital expense information. The action could come as the FCC rules on a petition originally filed by AT&T asking that the reporting requirements be eased. Verizon and Qwest also have filed similar petitions. The telcos may be looking to protect information they see as increasingly vulnerable with the rise of new competition.

Consumer groups are against the changes, which would make it harder to find public information related to customer complaints and service issues. It is not yet clear how the FCC will rule, or to what degree requirements could be eased. But the agency also may need to consider how non-traditional telecom service providers, such as cable TV companies and VoIP carriers, may fit into its reporting program.

For more:
- read this report at The Washington Post

Embarq wants to be your BFF. LOL

Jim O'Neill — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:20:07 -0400

Just like mom told you to never go to bed angry at your spouse, Embarq has decided it’s not going to let customers go away unhappy with their service. The Sprint spin off announced Monday it has set up a special customer service line for folks with issues that didn’t get resolved through normal channels.

Embarq says its Consumer Affairs Hotline will be staffed Mon.-Fri. from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. And, it says that if customers have an issue during non-business hours, it’ll get back to you within 24 hours.

Embarq VP for Network Services Dana Chase says Embarq is “committed to providing the best service possible and exceeding our customers' expectations every single time we have the opportunity to interact with them.

"If you hang up the phone and are upset for any reason, we want another chance to make you happy," said Chase.

For more:
See the release

Related articles:
Emarq was very customer unfriendly with its NebuAd test. Embarq report
Some telcos--like Windstream--are cutting back on call centers. Telco cutbacks report

CWA/IBEW flyer on DC streets: 'Your Verizon Service May be Affected'

Pete Wylie — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:46:58 -0400

Turning up the heat on Verizon, union members handed out CWA/IBEW-prepared fliers warning "Your Verizon Service May be Affected. **Customer Service Alert**" on the streets of downtown Washington D.C. Wednesday around 12:30 ET. The fliers warned customers their service may be interrupted if Verizon management does not reach an amenable compromise on a proposed increase in the cost of employee health benefits.

Customers are asked to contact Verizon CEO Ivan Seidelberg's office to urge him to "agree to a fair contract." The flier says Verizon's top five executives made $82 million and the company posted profits of $5.5 billion last year, making the company's position that present employee health coverage has become too expensive untenable.

The flier advised customers a potential strike would continue until a fair contract is agreed upon.

For more:
- See the full-size image of the CWA/IBEW flier

Comcast taking digital care of its customers

Jim O'Neill — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:55:39 -0400

When you’re on the bottom, there’s only one way to go—up. Comcast recently ranked at the bottom of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which tracks consumer satisfaction with some 200 U.S. companies. And, it’s made such an impact with customers, there’s a website called ComcastMustDie.com, where hundreds of not-so-happy customers have posted a litany of complaints about the top U.S. cableco.

The Philadelphia-based company is making an effort to change all that. It’s joined a new trend taking shape in U.S. business. It’s monitoring blogs, social networks and message boards like ComcastMustDie. But while company’s like Southwest Airlines and Whole Foods Market get interactive by posting company news on the sites, Comcast has gone a step further … it’s responding to the criticism with personal emails from a “digital care manger.”

Some customers have been pleased with the attention they’ve gotten from the company. Some find it a little too Big Brother-ish.

For more:
- See the New York Times story

Related articles:
Cablecos have lost some customer satisfaction luster. Customer satisfaction report
Carriers generally struggle with customer ratings. Carrier report

AT&T's U-verse draws fire from Chicago 'burbs

Fri, 23 May 2008 06:59:53 -0400

Believe it or not, there are some people who actually watch those local access channels most providers add on to satisfy demands from government bodies in exchange for franchises.

And there are a bunch of them in Chicago's northwest suburbs who are steamed over what they say is AT&T U-verse's sub-par performance; in fact, it's so bad they want the state to step in. Among their complaints are poor audio and visual performance, no closed captioning and long load times.

"(This) puts the local programming into a different, sub-par, class of service," said Peter I. Collins, information technologies manager for Geneva. "The programming is basically streamed on demand like a Web cam, whereas the law has a requirement for equal quality and ease of use for programming."

AT&T says U-verse gives consumers the ability to "call the shots on the programming they want to see, not only from their own city, but from neighboring communities as well."

For its part, Comcast says its cable offering is far superior. "We work diligently to ensure that the picture quality is shown on the same high standard as the commercial channels," said Comcast spokeswoman Angelynne Amores.

For more:
- See the full story in the Daily Herald

Related articles:
- AT&T U-verse rolls into Chicago AT&T report
- AT&T U-verse costing company more AT&T report
- AT&T offering U-verse Voice in Detroit AT&T release
- AT&T U-verse: 30M customer locations by 2010 AT&T report

There's hope for landlines ...

Tue, 20 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Everyone--and I mean every news agency, newspaper, radio station and blog--jumped on the Centers for Disease Control study last week that reported the demise of landlines and concurrent growth of wireless-only homes.

But, hey, unless you live in a cave with bad wireless reception--Can you hear me now?--you already knew landlines were one of the only truly endangered species the current administration actually had kept on the endangered species list, and that more homes were eschewing them for wireless and VoIP. No surprise there.

What everyone missed--and here's the part the big telcos need to jump on with big ad campaigns--was that the CDC found wireless-only adults were more likely to binge drink, smoke, and to not have health insurance than adults who still relied on the tried and true. Think about it … the wireline units of the telcos could launch a huge campaign (albeit not a popular one with their wireless sister firms), backed by real statistics, that while mobile phones make you, well, more mobile, they also could be killing you. They could probably even lobby to get the Surgeon General to require a warning on each new cellphone box:

Surgeon General's Warning: Use of a cell phone can cause you to binge drink (no surprise there, cowboy, ever notice how when you need a signal you're lucky to have two bars?), smoke (OK, maybe steam when you get the bill) and act irresponsibly (can you say, drive and dial?).

Not only that, but 57% of adults living with unrelated roommates--holy moral turpitude!--were wireless-only users.

So, it's easy to see that cellular telephones can be tied to the rise and fall of the American empire. Or, maybe, not.

As Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Fry writes, a closer look at the numbers show wireless users also are less likely to be obese or diabetic. In other words, they're younger. And there's the rub. Fry is probably the last of a dying (or aging) breed--a thirtysomething who still owns a landline (which he blames on his wife).

I admit it; I also still have a landline (and, no, I'm no longer a thirtysomething … or even a fortysomething, and I can't blame my wife). I've kept my phone out of both a sense of nostalgia--at least it's not rotary--and because I have to. I'm an AT&T customer in an area where to have DSL, which I've had better luck with that the Charter Internet I formerly used, I have to keep its phone service. Which irks me, because I'm pretty happy with the Verizon cell phone service I generally make and receive all of my calls through.

Of course, when I move a few miles down the road next month all of that will change. I'll have options … I'll keep my Verizon wireless service, ditch AT&T and try either Comcast's or Charter's (OK, OK, maybe not the wisest move, but maybe the 3 p.m. slowdown won't be as noticeable as it is now when all the kids on the block come home) for Internet.

I'll be wireless-only--and free to start binge drinking and smoking. Think of all the money I'll save when I drop my health insurance.--Jim

Florida AG, AARP seek $6.5 million Verizon fine

Fri, 16 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Verizon Communications' service performance in the six west-central Florida counties in which it provides voice, data and video services has been less than stellar, and it could end up costing the company $6.5 million in fines. The AARP and Florida Attorney General are calling for the fine--the largest allowable by state mandate--because they claim the telco willfully violated state service laws 262 times last year.

State regs require the restoration of 95 percent of service outages within 24 hours and 95 percent of other trouble reports within 72 hours, a release said. "Reliable and available telephone service can be critical to consumers during emergencies," said Mike Twomey, an attorney for AARP. "Verizon's failure to fully comply with the PSC's repair rules necessarily extended some of its customers' service outages, making their service less reliable and less available."

The petition also points to a steady decline in Verizon's repair performance since 2002, when the company reported less than 50 violations for the year. Verizon settled a similar complaint in 2001 with a $2 million voluntary contribution to the Florida general revenue fund.

For more:
- Check out this story from the Tampa Bay Tribune
- Or this Legal Newsline story

Bell Canada's DPI raises privacy concerns

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

A Canadian public interest watchdog is raising a fuss over deep packet inspections by ISPs, calling the procedure an invasion of privacy and complaining to Canada's privacy commissioner.

The brouhaha has its roots in Bell Canada's traffic shaping using DPI and has expanded to include other providers as well, specifically Rogers and Shaw. It'll only get more attention as DPI--which can drill all the way through headers into content making its way through the 'Net--gets more sophisticated and put into wider use.

Bell said it doesn't actually look into content, but only at packet headers and traffic flow, shunting P2P content, but that's enough to have piqued the interest of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic.

CIPPIC, a group based at the University of Ottawa says "data packets gathered by ISPs through the use of DPI are (or can be) associated with identifiable subscribers via the IP addresses attached to those data packets," a no-no in Canada where privacy is taken seriously.

For more:
- See the Ars technica story