> we did let > them know it was a qwest issue, and even went as far as giving the > customer > the qwest trouble ticket number if the wanted it. We also updated the > customers each time if we got any ETA information
You left that out the first time :-) OK. I agree, its NOT technically your faught. But we can agree, it is your faught in the customer's mind. And we can agree that it sucks to be responsible for other people's failures. But such is life. Maybe the answer is to do our best to change customer perception? Maybe it is to just accept that its not worth (or cost justified) striving to keep every customer, when you are in an environment where the challenges makes it so. But it doesn't mean the customer is clueless. It really means that the customer doesn't apreciate what they have. That is one of the things we realized recently. We now do a better job reinforcing the value of what we deliver. We don't give in to customer's inflated expectations when we pitch our service, unless appropriate to. For example, in the rural residential areas we serve, early in the sales process we might say straight up..... "Its not easy getting broadband to the country, its going to be more expensive, and its not going to be as fast". Or.... "we are booked for 3-4 weeks, maybe we'll be able to work you in, but I'm not going to promise it", or.... "No its not ideal for your NetFlix video downloads, and no its not going to be as good as your FIOS circuit that you used to have at your old house, but I will guarantee one thing, that our service is the most reliable service of all the options that are currently available to your home location. ". Or... "You asked, do we have outages? Of course we do, just like everyone. We are extending Cogent's network, thats what we are selling you at your location, we can only offer you uptime as good as the upstream provider, and from our experience Cogent is reliable provider. What I can tell you is that our last mile network is as good as it gets, and has 4:1 FEWER outages than our fiber carriers. If Cogent is not good enough for you, we can agreegate you to a different Upstream provider. The price will be...XXXX. What, You said you don't approve paying 3X more for that provider, and are fine with Cogent and saving tons of money, and understand our SLA..... OK, good, let move forward". The expectations are set, before the circuit is ever installed. (Obviously those aren't my comments, in areas where we can deliver five 9 reliabilty, have fiber like speed, and redundnacy.) Tom DeReggi RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Ghering" <rgher...@gmail.com> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 8:58 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Are customers increasingly clueless? Or isitgettingbetter? > Actually we maintain pretty good transparency with our clients, we did let > them know it was a qwest issue, and even went as far as giving the > customer > the qwest trouble ticket number if the wanted it. We also updated the > customers each time if we got any ETA information. We NEVER leave the > customer in the dark. Also how is it MY fault that I can't find affordable > redundant upstream? > Where is that cost gona come from? You think my customers are gona pay > double so that I can get a 2nd upstream in here? > Hell no.. Customers only want a few things. As much bandwidth as they can > get, 100 % uptime and it all has to be for 25 bucks a month or less. > > Now thats keeping it real.. > > Nobody can tell me that they honestly will by a 10,000 to 15,000 dollar > secondary pipe if their business won't support it without passing that > cost > to the customer. Its not only stupid but bad business. Customers today, > don't care WHO's fault it is, fact is the ISP is blamed for ANY problem. > Hell we have a older couple that blames us everytime that epson updates > drivers for their printer and it stops working, "because the update was > done > over my internet". > > Its lets get real time.. If you are a WISP or ISP in BFE. Costs are higher > profit margins are way lower and redundant connections are REALLY costly > and > hard to come by. So who loose's here due to LEC stupidity? (which we found > out is what it was btw) the ISP.. We always loose as its always our fault. > No matter what the problem we are at fault. > > Last week we had a major hail storm, Thankfully only a few canopy units > were > damaged. However 2 of those customers had the same opinion.. "How come > "you" > can't protect these things better. Why do I have to be without service for > a > day because "your gear" is made faulty. > > Is this my fault? NO its Motorola's for putting the quality hardware that > never fails that we love so much, in a crappy plastic casing. > > Thats reality.. > > Ryan > > On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 5:33 PM, Tom DeReggi > <wirelessn...@rapiddsl.net>wrote: > >> Actually, I disagree with your example. >> >> You let your customer down, not Qwest. >> Did you route them out your secondary transit? If you didn;t have one, >> thats >> not the customer's faught. >> Did you let him know that you are trying to contact Quest yourself to get >> more information on an ETA, and influence a work around? >> Did he feel you were in control of the situation? Or did you leave him to >> fend for himself, even though you were the expert on the technology? >> >> Sending the message, "oh well, its down, not my problem, let all my own >> customers suffer, so what" is not taking care of your clients. >> If you had communicated with your client making him feel like you were >> working towards defending his interests, he never would have took action >> into his own hands and called Qwest directly to investigate further, and >> get >> false answers. >> >> So yes, Customers can be irrational, often unfair and unforgiving, but if >> you want to keep your clients its up to you to deal with it and take care >> of >> them. >> Who's faught it is, is irrelevent. Customer Service is about taking care >> of >> the customer. >> >> I just lost a customer 2 weeks ago. Power went out AGAIN! It keeps >> blowing >> breakers on electrical panels not under my controll or access. I can put >> UPSes there all day, but that does no good if breakers turn off upstream >> of >> my electrical Demarc. But DSL, CABLE, and Cellular EVDO didn't go out >> every >> time the property had power failures. It was my faught that I designed a >> business install to be behind an electric breaker that was outside my >> control to manage. If I did my job and took care of the client, I would >> have called the power company or property management and redesign an >> alternate solution, after the first couple of times the power went out. >> But >> I didn't. Yes, I lost the client, and yes, it was my fault. Blaiming it >> on >> the Power Company didn't work for long. >> >> Just keeping it real. >> >> Tom DeReggi >> RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc >> IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Ryan Ghering" <rgher...@gmail.com> >> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> >> Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 10:22 AM >> Subject: Re: [WISPA] Are customers increasingly clueless? Or is >> itgettingbetter? >> >> >> > Yesterday, we had a long term upstream outage. Someone in Qwest killed >> our >> > ATM upstream and somehow we were getting crosstalk to another ATM PVC. >> > (Don't ask nobody can tell me how this was done). >> > >> > In the mean time customers are calling us screaming that they need >> > their >> > net. Our staff politely informs them all day long that this isn't a >> > issue >> > with us, its upstream. Some customers accept that and move on for the >> day. >> > >> > However the kicker!! One of our customers which is a dedicated 3 meg >> calls >> > up and asks, "Are you down" I say yes at this time the internet is down >> > due >> > to a problem with qwest in Denver. The customer says "ok, do you have >> > an >> > ETA?" I tell him no not at this time the problem is with qwest not with >> > us. >> > Customer says "ok thanks" and hangs up. >> > >> > Not 20 minutes later I get a phone call from the customer, he's mad as >> > hell >> > and spitting nails. I only caught about 1/2 of what he had said. But it >> > sounded like. "Your a damn lier, I call qwest, they have NO issues >> > anywhere. >> > I want my ****** Net or you can kiss my account goodbye a**hole.." >> > >> > Then he hangs up. ( mind you this is a business customer ) >> > >> > I call him back about an hour later and he says he's canceled. And will >> > get >> > service from somewhere else. >> > >> > How can this be? How was this my fault? >> > >> > Customers are irrational and stupid.. Agreed. lol.... >> > >> > >> > Ryan >> > >> > On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 1:58 AM, Marlon K. Schafer >> > <o...@odessaoffice.com>wrote: >> > >> >> roflol >> >> >> >> Rick this is a GOOD thing.... Your customers call you for all >> >> problems >> >> because YOU WILL ANSWER THE PHONE!!!!!! >> >> >> >> Sometimes great service levels suck. lol >> >> marlon >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> >> From: "Rick Kunze" <rku...@colusanet.com> >> >> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> >> >> Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 5:40 PM >> >> Subject: [WISPA] Are customers increasingly clueless? Or is it >> >> gettingbetter? >> >> >> >> >> >> > Customer calls just now. They ask if the Internet is "having >> trouble", >> >> > I reply that there are no outages. She then says she called a >> >> > couple >> >> > of >> >> > her friends in neighboring towns and they were all down too. She >> >> > asks >> >> > if any other people have called today with problems. I replied >> stating >> >> > that a day doesn't go by without someone calling with such an issue >> >> > etc. >> >> > >> >> > I ask her for some details, "any message on the screen?" She says >> that >> >> > a message popped up that said, "No Input". I thought to myself for >> >> > a >> >> > minute and replied, "I'm unaware of any Windows message that says >> >> > that." >> >> > I asked, "This is in Explorer"? She said, "No, she can't get >> Explorer >> >> > to run, nothing will run, the monitor is dark and a small message on >> >> > the >> >> > blank screen says "No Input." >> >> > >> >> > I would have thought that by now more of the general public would be >> >> > starting to figure some of this out. It's discouraging to me that >> such >> >> > an obvious hardware issue resulted in a call to see if the Internet >> >> > is >> >> > down. >> >> > >> >> > Rk <-------- slapping self in forehead! >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> > WISPA Wants You! Join today! >> >> > http://signup.wispa.org/ >> >> > >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> > >> >> > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >> >> > >> >> > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >> >> > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >> >> > >> >> > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> WISPA Wants You! 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