ABSOLUTE ASCENDANCY

Commencing operation . . .

Overview

March has been an interesting month for me regarding customer service in particular. I will talk through the horrendous experience I have had with my internet provider, TalkTalk, and why you should never consider taking up any package with them or BT (as the two are the same, essentially).

TalkTalk

At the beginning of the month, I started having internet problems. Frequent, intermittent cut-outs plagued my household. Through TalkTalk’s automated systems, an engineer was dispatched on three separate occasions to handle the situation.

Each time they ‘fixed’ the problem, it would last a couple of days before my internet connection dumped back down to the dumps. During their failed attempts to fix my connection, it was challenging to get through to a person to talk to. I always ended up being redirected to their automated services, which was frustrating.

Anyway, I decided to leave them as they were going to increase prices in April, and therefore I had an exit clause to terminate my contract without penalty. Below is the email regarding the price increase.

Giving you the best value service is our top priority. Over this extraordinary last year, we’ve seen broadband usage soar. We’ve invested more heavily in our network to keep up with demand and to continue offering resilient, totally unlimited usage as standard. Now, alongside other broadband companies, we’ve had to review our prices.

From 8th April 2021, your monthly price will go up by £2 for your Faster Fibre Plan. We’ve also made some changes to your terms and conditions. From 2022, each April we’ll increase the amount you pay per month by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation plus 3.7%, which is lower than BT’s latest CPI based price increase.

Pretty sneaky how they made a named reference to BT when comparing consumer prices indexes. The reason for this is to draw attention to BT, particularly for those who are unhappy with TalkTalk’s services. They may then decide to switch to BT as a ‘vengeance’ tactic, unbeknownst that the two companies are essentially the same.

Anyway, I made the switch to Sky, but then I received an email from TalkTalk saying that I owe them £85 for an early termination fee.

Outraged, I called them up (funny that the phone number they provided on the ‘oh we’re sorry to see you go, please stay’ email patched me through to an operator within moments) and explained my situation.

The operator then tells me that I had to cancel with TalkTalk directly, not get a third party (Sky) to cancel on my behalf due to switching providers for the exit clause to apply. How completely absurd! Now, I had to go back to Sky, cancel my switch with them, go back to TalkTalk, cancel with them, and then go back to Sky again to renew, to save £85.

I contacted Sky, and fortunately, they said that what they could do is rebate the exit fee if I provided them proof of me paying the fee (show them the final bill, basically). They would front the exit clause from TalkTalk, in return for saving them and me the hassle of going through the pain I mentioned above.

Problem solved! TalkTalk may win out in the short term, but I will never ever go back to them or BT. Absolute rubbish customer support and crafty, inconvenient rules regarding their exit clauses. A good company would have also refunded me for the past couple of weeks due to poor service, but not the case with TalkTalk. Terrible company with terrible practices in place.

Zatu

The second Customer Service story I have for you is regarding Twilight Imperium’s Prophecy of Kings expansion. A friend pre-ordered it from Zatu, back in October 2020. Six months later, he heard nothing back, so he contacted them regarding his order’s status, and they said they had no idea. No apology or anything. No initiative to update a customer who had placed their order over six months ago. Nothing. At any rate, my friend promptly cancelled his order and likely won’t return to them ever again.

Conclusion

During rough times, it is ever more critical for businesses to show good customer service. In both examples listed above, the companies did not really care or take the initiative to properly handle their respective situations.

Little things can go a long way for a company to show that they at least appear to care for its customers. Times are tough, and protecting the profitability line seems to be the default strategy for many businesses at the moment.

While this can save companies money in the immediate term, it is poor practice for long term sustainability.  

Mission complete – Overlord Drakow signing out.