Customer Service, Tech Support, and the Perils of Outsourcing (or Offshoring!)
It seemed like a simple idea at the time. My DSL modem that provided my Internet connection at home had broken, and I had to get a new one. I could do it through my current provider, for about $100, and stay with my $30/month fees for moderate speeds. Or I could go to a new provider (call them “Novel Internet”, or Novel for short), get a “free” modem, and pay only $15/month for double the speed. What’s not to love?
Well, here goes. Novel had good radio publicity and endorsement of a talk-radio technology guru, and an endorsement from a family member who’d used them for years. So I called them to start the process – so far, so good. Got the modem in the mail a couple of days later – all still good. But then the fun begins. In short, after several hours on the phone with their tech support, who all seemed to honestly care and to sincerely try to help, NO ONE got it right until it was too late. Here are the details:
Novel’s web site, during the signup process, said very clearly “do not contact your current Internet Provider until your new service is working. Then you can call and cancel.” So I followed that rule, read the rest of the instructions with the modem (which said that service would be activated by midnight the night that it arrived), hooked everything up, and waited patiently.
But it didn’t work after midnight, so I called tech support. After politely going through the list of things they always want you to do (check the power, look at the lights, check to see if it’s plugged in to the DSL filter properly, …), I escalated to second-level support. Four calls and 2 hours on the phone w/ Tech Support yielded several claims that “we can’t share the line with your current provider” and “did you call them to turn their DSL service off?”
Of course, I didn’t make that call, since the instructions on the Novel signup page said not to, that Novel would do it.
On the near-final call to a third-level support person, Novel said that the old provider would have to come out to my home to do something in order to make it work. Novel tech support said the night before that Novel had not yet called the old provider to make this change; it appeared someone had dropped the ball. Then the message changed – I would have to call the old provider to turn off my Internet service.
Just when you think it can’t get weirder, it does …
Given all the trauma so far, I asked what, specifically, I should ask the old provider to do. Novel’s third-level support person asked me if I had my phone service with the same company. Since I did, he said, I’d have to ask them to turn off both phone and Internet service, wait for Novel to get Internet working, and then call the old provider to get my phone turned back on.
Conveniently, while I was on the verge of totally losing my temper, the line to Novel’s tech support dropped. They called back 30 minutes (!) later, but by that time I’d already called my old provider to ask them to send a new modem and turn things back on.
And then it gets weirder still!
The old provider says: “We’re sorry, but Novel called us on your behalf a few days ago to cancel your Internet service, so we have to start from scratch. It’ll take a few days, but we’ll open a new Internet contract for you.” Conveniently, this meant that I was treated by the old provider as a new customer, so I got both pricing and speed competitive with what Novel had promised.
Total time on the phone so far: Approximately 6 hours, AFTER the stated activation time provided by Novel.
While all this was going on, I found a tech support forum for all sorts of DSL providers. There, I happened across a direct access path to the general manager of Novel’s operations, so I dropped him a note with a more raw version of what’s above. He promptly connected me with the guy who turned out to be the last US-based tech support person for Novel – we’ll call him “Fred”. Fred clearly understood what had happened, called me on the phone to apologize, tried to make things right technically, and appreciated my sharing my insights with him.
Then we get to the financials! After trying four different methods (all recommended by Novel’s customer service staff) to cancel my relationship, they finally agreed to do so, but they couldn’t refund any of my money, and were going to charge me to restock the modem. Several laps around the stupid loop there led me back to the general manager, who assured me he’d take care of it, and, indeed, he did – Novel made my accounts whole, though they didn’t compensate me for the 6 hours of phone time, the cost to return the modem, or the cost to my mental health!
Now this isn’t a rant about offshoring – far to the contrary. Even as I was obviously frustrated, the folks I talked with clearly were sincere about trying to help, and never lost their cool. But they were also clearly new to their roles, and neither trained nor experienced with the products they were implementing, nor did they have a system that enabled them to see what was going on with my issues.
No one ever said “I see you just talked to Bob, and we’ll pick up where he left off.” Every call started with the first steps: Is the modem plugged in? What do the lights look like? Turn the modem off and back on again … This indicated to me that they had no continuity of service records, or didn’t know how to use them successfully. This problem could happen no matter whether the service operation is inside the company, or if it’s outsourced inside or outside the US.
Why am I writing about this? It’s a bit of a cautionary tale – good recommendations have to be current as well! My friends who recommended it: a) had implemented before the service and support were outsourced, b) almost never called tech support, and c) had started with this service, and weren’t trying to convert. So I was trying a scenario that was unproven, and perhaps had just been broken by their outsourcing moves.
I wish Novel all the best in resolving their issues – if they don’t, it’ll kill the company, and deservedly so!
Thoughts? Have you run into situations like this? I’d be curious to hear about it (without company names, please!)
I think that when the customer received novel and had issues from day one that he should have cancelled his plan right then. The long hours on the phone with the tech support is ridiculous. Also novel was already not fulfilling their task to call up the other provider. This customer service and tech support sounds like bad news. On top of that they made him pay a restocking fee even though they could not figure out how to turn on his modem in the first place. This is extremely irritating because I have had this happen to me a couple times where I am transferred over to a new tech support person and they start over with the same questions. These places need better communication with one another to help the customer and not slow down the process. The companies are only hurting themselves because they will lose customers and probably shortly after go out of business.
This post says I posted it at 3:49 pm but I posted it at 8:49 am. That is strange.
I had a very similar experience as far as bad customer service and a technician program in which notes after phone calls were obviously not recorded, but with a printing company. I was trying to return a defective printer for my boss who is a business manager and the store we bought it from said I had to go through the manufacturer since it had been more than 30 days. After 10 hours on the phone with 10 different people, 10 different stories I recevied on how my problem could be resolved, and all of them telling me a supervisor would call me back, I finally was able to return the printer and get a refund. Only on the 10th time was I able to speak with a supervisor, after holding for 45 minutes on the phone as I was transferred to a supervisor back in the United States.
Watch out for the big company names, the outsourcing without keeping customer-telephone records is clearly causing a negative impact, and is ultimately going to hurt these companies.
Dear Professor Whitman,
This is a typical issue from the service provider’s support. From my own experience I have had big problems with internet connection and the support line always brings up the same questions as you got. After many hours on the phone an operator came to our house and fixed the problem, but it was not easy and it took a long time before we got the help needed. The thing is, I don’t think people working at support lines have good enough knowledge about their service, but rather go through procedures that they are giving by their supervisor. Because the usual procedures are usually given to people that calls and have no clue how a modem works, so the easy instructions are given to those who have no clue because modems usually jumps out of internet. The computer system they have should be more up to date and easier to detect problems so you would not have the issues to contact three levels of support lines. An internet company should easy detect any problems regarding giving their customers internet and they should have a system that could easily provide finding these problems.
When you have to contact three different levels of support lines it takes up precious time from the customer. All customers would not sit hours in the phone to get the same message back and feel that they are not being helped. As the service is not there customers will eventually exchange company because of the lack of service. In todays market service is an important factor of a business, if the customer does not seem to be satisfied he has a lot of different companies to choose from. I don’t think and hope you will see many of companies that has bad services will survive. In this case I hope that you got satisfied with your old company and that their service is better than your previous internet company was.
Seems that many times that is the case with companies who outsource, which is a majority. I generally try to look for help online or in person first before calling the support group. In most cases, it is obvious when a company has outsourced because of the distinctly thick accent and poor English. While I understand that it is not their fault they have an accent, it makes it difficult to communicate. In the end, I will usually end up frustrated, have lost a few hours, and occasionally poorer.
Dear Professor Whitman,
I see how frustrating a swap of internet connections can be. I had been dealing with AT&T as my internet and phone line connection for 6 years, and instead of changing my carrier, all i had to do was change my modem. I guess in some situations modems can have a short life term, and unfortunately this had caused me a huge dissatisfaction.
As i called AT&T for customer service on purchasing a new modem through them, i figured it should take about 15 minutes at the most for my issue to be resolved. After about 5 minutes of waiting, I finally got connected to a customer service agent who asked me what my reason for calling was. I explained that the lights on my modem wouldn’t light up even when it was plugged in. He gave me the procedures to resetting the device and i did what he had asked. Once I was done following the directions he had given me, I waited several minutes to see nothing change. As I am speaking with the customer service agent, the call drops all of a sudden. I call back and AT&T sends me through an unthinkable hold for about 10 to 15 minutes, just to be connected to an agent. The call drops a couple more times and at this point I am totally frustrated. Mind you, The phone that i am calling with is supported by the AT&T carrier, so you could just see how an attempt to call their “customer service” has become an immense failure. Finally after about 3 hours I was able to have a new modem delivered to me .
Dear Dr. Witman,
I am sorry to hear about your unfortunate run-in with off-shoring! I understand your frustration and agree with your decision to leave Novel behind! It is due to instances such as these that damage their CRM and luckily for them, you did not use their real name in this blog to shine the light on their poor customer service.
I had an unfortunate experience with a banking service not too long ago where I spent endless hours on the hold in attempt to fix a fraudulent charge issue which resulted in overdraft fees. After suffering through elevator music and days frustration as you did, the bank finally returned my money to me, including my overdraft fees. In the end, I was happy with my bank for resolving the issue but still upset about how much time was wasted in the process.
Best of luck to you with your modem!
Sincerely,
Kasey Noble
I just read your commentary with nothing but empathy as we have all been in the “bad customer telephone service” situation. One of the most difficult situations for myself while talking to “technicians” over the phone is when it comes to questions or concerns about my cellular phone. Whether it be adjustments to my plan, a report of something lost or stolen, or a simple defection with my handset, the employees of my particular carrier often times seem to know less than me about the product. It is beyond frustrating to have to explain four and five times what problem is occurring and being responded to with questions whose responses are often “yes sir/ma’am, I have already done that.” I feel like the only simple solution to these problems is the online blogs and sites that accept individual responses to questions regarding defects or difficulties. Customers often will be able to explain in more of an understanding way than that of an untrained outsourced employee.
Offshoring is the least expensive way for a company to provide24 hour technical support, which is a disservice for most people. I had the same problem with my modem. When I called tech. support I was immediately in touch with someone across the world. Due to the lack of understandability the rep and I were both yelling at each other; he had to keep repeating himself because I could not understand him.
Overall, it was an extremely frustrating experience that took up much of my morning. He did however fix my modem after grueling hours of yelling and talking over each other.
You’ve really helped me uednsrtand the issues. Thanks.