Full service vs self service

[darlicious]

I thought I might share my most recent experience (today) with the fully staffed customer service department of pm's parent company telus. Maybe the complainers of the lack of customer service at pm can decide whether a full service telecom company is worth the money you pay for your plan. Previous to switching to Public Mobile I had 3 services with telus (I've mentioned bits and pieces of this in other posts) : tv, internet and a mobile plan for my flip phone. 

 I decided to change my outdated $35 call/text plan because the calling was limited and not suiting my needs when I left my local calling area. Checked the lowest cost plan currently offered $35. It gave me all the same features just expanded my local calls to province wide and unlimited.  I spent 30 min on the phone explained it was a flip phone and I didn't need any extras. After triple confirming the plan and price I changed the plan effective immeadiately  and was advised there might be some pro-rated charges. I replied that would be understandable mid cycle but since it's the same cost it couldn't amount to much...like a nickel? The agent couldn't quite understand but whatever...? About 10 days later I receive an email of my bill...i normally wait for my paper bill but glanced at the amount due...$49.35?!!  How is this possible if the plan is the same price as my old one? I can't sign in to the online account because I don't remember creating one...but apparently I did at some point so I can't sign in because I don't know the user name and password.

 So I pull out the phone and dial 611. After dealing with the virtual agent and being on hold for 40 minutes I get a fantastic guy Manuel from Guatemala.  Actually the first time I've gotten an agent not based in Canada but none the less he was very accommodating as we went through all the extra features that had been inexplicably added to my plan that can't really be used on a flip phone. Including pay per use data! I asked why would that be added when I have a data block on my phone? Oh no that had been removed as well....which explained why had received a picture message that previously would show up as an undownloadable blank message. If I wanted it blocked again it would cost me $2 p/m. Previously no charge. I insisted it be reinstated no charge as I didn't cancel it. Manuel being awesome carefully credited back and removed all the features I didn't ask for, put the data block on and sent me an email with the details all in about 80 minutes. I thanked him and told him I'll pay my bill when I get my paper bill and review the charges. 

 At this point I've spent 150 min on the phone for simple plan change. A few days later I decided I better find out the access to my online account. Again 30 min on hold til I speak to an agent and again very nice.  After struggling with getting email verification codes and trying to link my mobile bill to the other 2 accounts we managed to solve the issues in about 65 min. So another 95 min to add now 245 min in calls to 611. Just before switching I called again to speak to the loyalty dept after the plan change fiasco. Nope all they would offer me was a 2 year contract. In the past 20 years the only contract I was forced into was the tv/internet one and I was happy when that was over. The next day I switched to Public Mobile...changed that plan on my recent renewal to the $15 plan. Saving $20+tax plus with my rewards one month in my next payment $6 and a whole 2 min spent changing my plan on my self serve account.

 Finally today after rebooting the modem numerous times over the summer and my one roommate grumbling about his online gaming I called tech support at telus. We did a couple of speed test the day before and even at 4am the download was at 1.9mbps upload 2.3 mbps when I'm paying for 50mbps.  3 calls to tech support ..first 2 answered but silence I hang up after a few minutes. 3rd call goes thru I'm on hold 45 min to which I get asked for the home phone number (I dont have one). That's ok I have my account number memorized and put back on hold to be transferred. Whole on hold for another 37 min I discover while going through my online account that my paper billing has been cancelled! I was wondering where my mail was this explains it and why I didn't pay the tv/internet bill last month. Tech support comes thru and thankfully took my phone number because we get cut off at the 90 min mark. I get the callback another 40 min of resets, up and down stairs , speed tests , moved couches, tv checks and password resets the WiFi speed over 50mbps down and 37 upload. Great I ask for the reasoning on the slowdown he says too many devices. Really? 4 phones, 1 tablet and 1 desktop. The gamer works late shift so plays when the rest of us sleep and were not internet junkies, rarely Netflix and used 65gb out of 450gb last month. Still he tries to upsell me to 150mbps/unlimited package $30 more per month on a 2 year contract increasing another $10 after that. I laugh if I do that I'll cancel the tv and stream and save the difference. Thanks but no thanks. All told 375 min of customer service , 2 contract offers and at least a summer of woeful WiFi speeds but there's a number I can call...is it worth it?

Oops forgot to add the loyalty call 42 min....417 min of customer service.

[Luddite]

@darlicious Check out start.ca; from personal experience they answer support issues quickly. 

[will13am]

@darlicious , great story.  But red is pretty much identical except for the customer service reps being located in Central America.  I don't care what I am calling them for, at least 2 hours of my life is allocated before making the call.  Quite often, I don't complete what I need some in one call because I just can't spend more time on the phone.  

Before people tell me I am crazy, the Public Mobile system is actually a step forward compared to the call center model.  You submit your issue and let the moderator team take care of it.  In between you don't have to sit on the phone and listen to bad music.  Where the system failed us is Public Mobile allowing the response time to expand into days, often well past 48 hours.  Back when I joined 3 years ago, response time was a couple of hours at worse.  They know what it takes to do customer service right, but they are just too cheap to make it happen.  I can't think of any other reason for the long delays.  Actually, I can.  The long standing self serve problems are a big contributor.  They can invest in fixing those issues or invest in damage control with more moderators.  Either path costs money.  Public Mobile is cheaper than it's customer base when it comes to spending money.

/rant

BTW, time to hone the negotiating skills.  Call Shaw and see if they will offer the same services for less.  I have to play one provider's pricing against the other in my annual contract renewal.  It's quite effective.

[Korth]

417 minutes is nearly 7 hours to resolve the ticket

7 hours of paid labour ($105 if just minimum wage, but probably higher wage)

And of course 7 hours of your time, you'd think that should be worth no less to them

They could've reverted your account to yesterbackup data in minutes and saved themselves (or you) the equivalent of at least three months subscription revenue.

(Let's just assume/pretend that they actually have an effective data backup/recovery strategy and good software systems and people who are actually able to operate it all properly.) 

Spend dollars to save pennies... No wonder they're afraid of competition