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Thread: Call centre blues

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
    What is a reasonable time to be kept on hold waiting for someone to take your call?

    I tried calling the CIPC call centre yesterday, and after an hour of waiting for the call to be answered I gave up. It was just a small query – just making sure what seemed to be a glitch in their system wasn't going to bite me in the ass later.
    I think anything beyond 6 rings is too long, but I'm fully aware that my view is not realistic. It infuriates me that businesses are forced to deal with an entity such as the CIPC and then they (Gov) make it difficult to do so. Surely the idea is to encourage business development and not frustrate owners and waste their time ? The same goes for entities such as SARS or municipalities where you again don't have much of an option.

    Where there is a choice such as with the banks or the cell phone companies I feel less passionately about the matter. It remains frustrating, but you can move your business, lambaste them on hellopeter and basically cause a scene. Its admittedly still not a fair battle though.

    A more realistic length of time for the CIPC would be 10-15min. I think an hour shows remarkable patience.

  2. #12
    Email problem daveob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
    So how can we get this moving?
    Oh - he'll escalate it, just hold on a moment.

    Your escalation reference number is blah-blah.
    Will that get it done quicker?
    It normally takes 1 to 6 days, sir.
    Now call back and ask them to Prioritise the fault.
    You'll get a new reference number, and it only takes less than a week to get it repaired.

    Did they explain to you that the 1-6 time period starts from your last call ?

    Last time I logged a fault, I could check the status online at :
    https://secureapp.telkom.co.za/assur...er/queryafault

    Actually, I also logged a fault online and got an sms with the reference number a few minutes later.
    Watching the ships passing by.

  3. #13
    Diamond Member tec0's Avatar
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    Vodacom kept me on hold for no less then 80min "my battery died" so I assume that as a customer I was not that important. That said having the speaker phone function does allow one to do stuff while waiting for someone to take one's call.

    So I highly recommend investing in a phone with speaker phone capability
    peace is a state of mind
    Disclaimer: everything written by me can be considered as fictional.

  4. #14
    Diamond Member wynn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blurock View Post
    One of the problems in business today is that big organisations become faceless and heartless.

    Remember the days when Raymond (what was that his name?) was the face of Checkers?
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  6. #15
    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by daveob View Post
    Now call back and ask them to Prioritise the fault.
    You'll get a new reference number, and it only takes less than a week to get it repaired.
    Gee - I wonder why Telkom's number of fixed access lines to clients are steadily decreasing
    Down another 3.8% in the six months to Sept 2011 I see.

    Maybe it's because when a line goes faulty, it's quicker and easier to get an alternative up and running than getting Telkom out to get the line back into shape.

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  8. #16
    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Well, I'm still impressed with Telkom's call centre - but certainly not with their physical tech support.

    Yesterday morning, my wife got an sms saying the fault had been assigned to a technician. Later in the day she got a call saying a tech would be coming tomorrow (that would be today). During that phone call my wife confirmed that the tech must call her first on her cellphone and she would be there within 5 minutes.

    Today at midday she gets an sms saying the tech couldn't get access and the fault report has been closed. Please call 10212 to re-report the fault and get a new fault reference. No phonecall first

    Naturally, I called the call centre - in a right royal blue mood.

    The call was answered in a couple of minutes - and the lass who answered copped it, big time. Shame, she ended up putting down the phone. Which made me even more livid.

    So I called back again.

    Now I want to point out something - right at the beginning of the sequence you have to enter the telephone number you're calling about. My call got answered in about 15 seconds - and the guy that answered was a call-centre genius. Plain and simply bloody excellent. I can't help thinking it wasn't an accident I ended up with this guy on the line.

    I still don't know when the fault is going to be sorted out - and the tech definitely screwed up. I am way less than impressed with Telkom in general. But credit where it's due - I really think they've managed to get something right going with that call centre.

  9. #17
    Moderator IanF's Avatar
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    So my theory of a 3 day turnaround has now gone to 3 week turnaround. That is unacceptable, but who are Telkom's competitors?
    Only stress when you can change the outcome!

  10. #18
    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    When it comes to fixed-line, no-one at the moment

  11. #19
    Diamond Member wynn's Avatar
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    Leave a large notice near the doorbell telling the tech to phone your number and hope there are no other opportunists lurking around.
    "Nobody who has succeeded has not failed along the way"
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  12. #20
    Email problem tonyflanigan's Avatar
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