Your call is important to us - Oh really?

By JOSIE CLARKE

E-mails, letters and phone calls have flooded in with tales of long waits, downright rudeness or no answer at all since Monday's Herald survey identifying companies with phone problems.

Reader feedback identified two companies as callers' biggest bugbears: Air New Zealand Airpoints and Telecom.

Barry Fitzgerald is a typically bitter Airpoints customer. A recorded message warned him of a 30-minute delay as soon as he dialled in. He waited 38 minutes, then 45 minutes, before opting to e-mail instead. A prompt automatic reply advised him of a seven-day delay and helpfully advised him to phone if he needed an urgent booking.

Other Air New Zealand frequent flyers had this to say about the system:

* "Given that Airpoints customers are supposedly among Air New Zealand's more important clients, their service stinks."

* "Frustrating frequent flyers through a shoddy awards system will sell seats all right - on another airline when the choice is there."

* "A voice advised that I would wait for a minimum of 45 minutes, and after 1 hour 15 minutes I finally gave up. After numerous calls the result was always the same - time of day made no difference, nor did the day I called.

"It appears to me that the airline is in no way interested in its after-sales service, and I will be using alternative carriers wherever possible."

* "'Your call is important' is hypocrisy - if it was really important they should employ more operators. 'All our operators are busy' is another good one, considering they probably have only one.'"

As for Telecom ...

One woman recounted her experience trying to get through to Telecom Business to query her account. She could not get through from work so tried again at 5.35 pm when she got home.

"I was put on hold. The music was okay until I finished my first gin and tonic and, not to be put off, I stayed on the line. When the 6 o'clock news came on I knew it had to be my turn soon, at which point a recorded message came on to tell me that business inquiries closed at 6 pm and could I call back during normal working hours."

The worst Telecom tale came from one woman whose father mispronounced a Maori placename when he phoned Telecom directory. The operator told him there was no such place in New Zealand and, when he described the town's location, she replied, "I don't understand your Pakeha slang." The operator hung up when asked for her name.

Todd Jones, who phoned Telecom to query an account, wrote: "I was on hold for 27 minutes before hanging up. I redialled and was on hold for 18 minutes before being connected to a very polite gentleman who informed me that I would need to be transferred to a different department. He proceeded to transfer me and cut me off."

Tony Baldwin last year challenged the general managers of Telecom and Sky to call from outside the organisation to try to sign up for their respective deals being offered at the time.

"Of course, I did not receive a reply from either person."

Electricity company Mercury, which rated worst by far in the Herald's survey of business call centres, attracted more criticism from readers.

Terry Daniell wrote: "If it wasn't for a dividend around the corner, I would have told Mercury to jam their 'service.' Perhaps that is their strategy. It'll take at least 13 minutes to get through to be able to tell them."

Richard Gray had no luck with Inland Revenue's "non-business line," where he was sent when he phoned to complain.

"As one will discover after a length of time proportional to one's gullibility, the non-business line is never answered."

Geoff Walden has a novel plan to get back at tardy call centres, devised during one long wait listening to Vivaldi as he made his way to the front of a queue of fellow-callers. He rings companies' 0800 numbers on his cellphone, so the longer it takes them to answer the more it costs them.

He added: "Next time we could line up five or six cellphones and ring in and be fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth in line. Actually, I tried it with a second phone. I was waiting in a queue behind myself at one stage, but the benefit is a nice bit of stereo Vivaldi with a phone in each ear."

Robert Haszard suggested keying in numbers at random when automated telephone systems offer a range of computer-voice service numbers.

"It is surprising how quickly you will get through to a person who will happily get rid of you by transferring you directly to the department required. Of course, you should sound confused and surprised as to how you ended up where you did and blame it on the system."

And at the other end ...

Those on the other end of the phone are often just as unhappy as irate callers.

Kane Wells, national call centre manager for Australian Consolidated Press, said it was unfortunate that company heads viewed call centres as cost centres.

Customer service representatives [the people who answer the phones] were usually the lowest paid in any business, yet they often provided the only contact a customer had with the company.

"It's unfortunate the powers that be don't understand the negative impact a 60-second plus wait listening to dodgy music and slack service has on their ability to keep and nurture customers."

Not all the messages received by the Herald were complaints. Readers praised the Auckland City Council, Clear, National Bank and Vodafone for providing polite humans to talk to when needed.

Michael Masterson, managing director of SalesForce, which operates call centres on behalf of nine companies in New Zealand including Ericsson and Fly Buys, said the value a company placed on its customers was reflected in its call centre.

"Call centres are never a cheap option, but they add a lot of value."

He said call centre staff were the ears as well as the voice of a company, and it was crucial for senior management to have strong links with its call centre.

* If you have a story about long waits or are having difficulty making a complaint - tell us.

E-mail contact: josie_clarke@herald.co.nz