Hi Mike,
Thanks for the info about AAISP. I took a look at their site. They seem
to be a fairly serious outfit, but with services mainly aimed at the
commercial end of the market, so I'm not sure if they could offer me
what I'm after. However, I'll give them a call and see what they say.
For the past four years, I've used a bundled phone/line rental/broadband
package from Pipex, which was pretty good, as was the support service.
TalkTalk convinced me that since they now own Pipex, there was no point
in continuing to pay the higher monthly cost when they could provide the
same service at a more attractive price. Especially since they intend to
migrate all Pipex customers anyway.
To be fair to the TalkTalk offer, it is very good value. However, that
comment only holds good if the promised services are delivered. I'm sure
they have a lot of very happy customers, but the real test of any
company is how it behaves when things go wrong. If the support service
is badly organised then any problems will just be amplified, rather than
sorted out and turned into good PR.
TalkTalk's support suffers from a number of serious flaws:
* They assume that anyone contacting them with a problem is a
complete technical moron
* They assume that anyone contacting them is a Windows user
* The front-line support staff have no technical knowledge, nor the
ability (or authority) to recognise a situation which needs
instant transfer to second-level tech support
* The whole support system appears to have no consistent joined-up
view of ongoing customer complaints (you have to start from
scratch each time you call)
* When a commitment is made to sort something out, no-one follows it
up to ensure a proper resolution
* And the worst crime of all - they make promises that they don't keep
I used to work for one of the biggest international component
distribution companies in Europe. It's whole business strength was based
on high service levels, whether that was stock availability, delivery
times, or customer support. Part of my job was running all of the
technical support services. They only had two priorities to work to:
Answer the phone within 15 seconds and take personal charge of providing
the customer with a solution. Sometimes that took two minutes, sometimes
it took two days, but it always got done. In most businesses, that sort
of ethos is gone now. The only calls that get answered within 15 seconds
are those to the sales lines. Businesses have lost the understanding
that what makes a long-lasting relationship is not how slick your sales
talk is, but how well you treat the customer after he's signed up. It's
an old maxim, but it's still very true that the best advert for your
business is often the customer who came to you with a complaint - and
got a fast satisfactory solution. TalkTalk don't understand that, they
just run the numbers and play the percentages.
Dave
Subject:
Re: [Peterboro] TalkTalk (but no action)
From:
Mike Whitaker <[email protected]>
Date:
Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:48:13 +0000
To:
Peterborough LUG - No commercial posts <[email protected]>
You could try a chat with Andrews and Arnold (AAISP,net) who are prepared to
take on lines with faults and get 'em fixed (they understand more than BT have
forgotten about ADSL) and may be able to advise you on the state of your
contract/service with Talk Talk vis a via fitness for purpose etc.
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