PM should hire more mods and csrs!

[MzBlackPearl]

I feel like many of the things implemented by Telus and PM are reactive instead of proactive. Why not be prepared for the influx of customers due to the Fall promo? Or at least hire temporary contract employees to assist with the backlog. If mods are still at Dec 7 in posts to respond to, why risk losing/alienating customers you just acquired? It's frustrating as a customer.

[WearySky]

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@MzBlackPearl wrote:
But due to increased subscribership it would have been good to have a more comprehensive support plan rolled out.

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Sure - and had they properly anticipated the amount of increased subscribership one imagines they would have done a better job of planning around the promo.  Based on account number/order number estimates between the beginning and end of the promo, people around the forums here (and over in the RFD thread) were guessing anywhere from 20k to 50k new customers came in during the promo.  Telus doesn't give any specific numbers about PM subscribers alone, but they have a total of just over 1 million prepaid subscribers combined, according to the CWTA, with a net loss of 61,000 total prepaid subscribers this year. I doubt PM makes up a full third of Telus' overall prepaid subscribers, but if we put them at 300k subscribers, the promo could have brought in anywhere from a 7% to 17% increase in their subscriber base in just over a month.  With prepaid subscriptions trending significantly downward for Telus this year (nearly 6% decline overall company-wide), it's not really that surprising how badly they underestimated the demand for this promo.  Also not surprising that they haven't committed a lot of resources to PM specifically, prior to the promo.

Let's just hope that the lesson learned after all this was that they need to invest significantly in fixing their technical systems (sign-up, billing jobs, and self-service) first and foremost, and not just to throw more money at support reps.  

[MzBlackPearl]

Lol @ step up to Koodo. I came from Koodo to PM. I get it.

[MzBlackPearl]

@stonechucker you get what you pay for. At PM and the Big 3. They have the funds and infrastructure to pay for ongoing csr support. But it is also needed for their companies...due to suscribership. PM doesn't need it on that scale. But due to increased subscribership it would have been good to have a more comprehensive support plan rolled out.

[MzBlackPearl]

@stonechucker Agreed. The mods are amazeballs!!! And they work hard! No doubt. I do agree the turnaround times were better before and I don't know how they prioritize posts...likely in order received but triaging posts would be a great way to streamline and make things more efficient. I know oracles and others offer suggestions to help with issues that can be troubleshot independently and that is a bonus help that PM gets for the cost of rewards.

[Rockdaddy22]

Of course that's a choice you made to save money. Isn't that why we're all here? If I needed a call center, I'd go up a step to Koodo.

[MzBlackPearl]

@Chaos_Scorpio I've been a customer since 2014. Right around the Telus acquisition. But I saw the RFD promo post earlier today and can defintely see how that contributed to the influx. Well promoted and well written ad.

@Rockdaddy22 i relinquished call center when i switched from my plan from 2014. But rhat was a choice...that I only made a few months ago...not sure how long is a long time...

[MzBlackPearl]

@Rockdaddy22 For sure companies underestimate demand...remember when Oprah would mention a product on her show in passing and it would sell out instantaneously....but there are business analysts who forecast and predict this stuff for a living...as you said they've admitted it and hopefully the awareness will prevent a repeat performance in the future. All we can do is hope for the best.

[Rockdaddy22]

They saved a lot and they did it a couple years ago.

[stonechucker]

I've been here four months, and have discovered today that I'm still not receiving friend rewards that were fixed back in August.  That's $7 I'm out at this time, and I will be submitting a PM about it after my renewal happens this weekend.

Back in August, there were very few problems occuring, and the only two MODS were doing a terrific job of responding to concerns, getting things done in nolonger than 2 days.  This level of service will come back, and all will be good shortly - of this I'm sure.

I'm truly happy with the service I've received here - it's small hiccups, for a bit of a wait at a truly reasonable price.  The other companies (Big 3) provide great service if required, at costs I can not afford, and plans that are too much for what I need.  Why would I choose to use infrequent CSR resources when I can get better value here?

All the mods are terrific - they are HEROS and HEROINES in my mind.

[MzBlackPearl]

@swz5005 that's why I said contract. I personally have enough telecom customer service and tech support experience to do the job on a contract. Not that I'm fishing for a job but I'm sure there are more people like me out there. There are people like @Rockdaddy22 who are oracles for a reason. How muh do you think they saved by phasing out call center except for legacy customers, while shopping a promo that encouraged legacy customers to switch and relinquish their call center access. I made that switch myself too. Not for the promo plan specifically but I changed plans before that and gave up csr...for my own cost savings.

[Rockdaddy22]

The call center has been gone a long time, not sure what you're talking about.

[Chaos_Scorpio]

no one is ever prepared for RFD Effect ... we've shut down websites because of it. it should be expected, if you came form RFD or know someone from there who referred you, we BREAK THE INTERNET to save money.

[MzBlackPearl]

How many more customers, especially new ones probably feel like @Leda does? Or are enduring the same thing?

@neilselden I previously had issues inputting the cc info to pay...it happened multiples in self-serve back when there was call centre support for all. The provisioning system and back end have proven inadequate even before this fall promo. So I do agree with you there. But why implement such a huge promo if the system was already flawed and call centre was being phased out...again bad planning.

[Rockdaddy22]

I definitely agree with you, they weren't prepared

[Rockdaddy22]

Sorry I was typing while you wrote that 🙂

[Rockdaddy22]

MzPearl they've admitted they underestimated the demand for the promo. You've never heard of a company underestimating demand on a sale or promotion before, it won't be the last company unfortunately. Sometimes these things are hard to predict.

[MzBlackPearl]

@Rockdaddy That is fair. It was just my observation.

[MzBlackPearl]

@CaNuCk07 hopefully they do learn from this an are proactive beforehand...next time.

[Rockdaddy22]

@Leda Public Mobile doesn't offer telephone support. It's only offered to old school legacy customers.

[MzBlackPearl]

@CaNuCk07 I'm not saying go nuts. I'm saying that Telus has been reactive instead of proactive on a number of occasions since this acquisition. As a Telus customer in the past and now as a PM customer this is more of a company culture thing than just this specific instance.

[swz5005]

the whole reason PM is cheaper and still have great reception/service is because they DONT hire too many supports. 

Hiring more mods/csrs will just increase cost to everyone else. 

[neilselden]

Hi,

From my perspective, it's not an issue of having more moderators.

It is a matter of improving the self serve portal and associated back-end.

We saw what appeared to be a lot of:

1. Porting issues
2. Account activation issues
3. BIlling issues
4. Auto-renew issues
5. Add-ons triggering accounts to become expired

This stuff falls into two categories:

1. Provisioning system
2. Billing system

Public Mobile: I love your company and service - I've had zero issues since joining.  However, I trust that these two areas are where you are focusing improvements efforts.  🙂

And spank the development and testing teams that goofed up the add-on expiry.  Seriously.  🙂

Cheers,

Neil

[MzBlackPearl]

But that's bad planning on their part. It would have been easier for them to hire contract mods prior to the promo in anticipation and end their contracts early if the demand wasn't there or extend them, since it was. Because the issues that new customers are facing aren't going to endear them to the company. And the bad reviews and experiences may hurt them more in the long run than the promo benefitted them. Opportunity costs....

[Leda]

I think the same way. Is very bad if you can't offer a reliable customer service. They are going to loose clients. I'm already thinking of moving. I dont have service on my phone for a week now. My account was suspended "because" of insuficient founding, altouh they took the money out of my credit card. Is crazy. And no customer service to answer the 855 number. 

[Rockdaddy22]

They've already admitted they weren't prepared. It's unfortunate but we can only move forward.

[CaNuCk07]

@MzBlackPearl  You have to be realistic, you cant go nuts hiring temporary employees, by the time theyre up to speed PM is probably caught up, its just a waiting game.

The best resolution is next promo they're ready for it and this doesn't happen.

[Subbanator96]

To be honest, I really really don't think they were expecting the influx they received, otherwise I trust that they would have been better prepared, with the bugs out of the porting system or moremods already hired.

[MzBlackPearl]

But if they are still nearly 10 days behind in addressing issues, was that enough?

[mimmo]

I believe they have hired 5 mods since the promo ended.