1:30 pm
I switched to Speak Out from Fido on September 11, 2008. It took them 8 days to port my old phone number over because they kept losing my request. I had to make numerous calls to get it resolved. Customer service staff were rude to me -- e.g., a guy named James told me one day that I couldn't speak to a manager because they had all left for the day, but when I called back the next day the same guy told me he was a manager. I asked for compensation in the form of minutes and was told only "We don't do that. Sorry."
When I finally did get service, I was unable to check my voice mail. I was told this was a known issue, that had been going on for a couple of months (i.e., before they sold their service to me), and that there was no estimate of when it would be resolved. It was finally resolved yesterday, a month after I bought their service. So far I have received absolutely no compensation for my inconvenience. These guys better do something right to win me over or I will be switching carriers as soon as I have used up the minutes I purchased (I would have switched already if they hadn't refused to refund my money). Very, very, very unimpressed.
1:50 pm
October 21, 2008
She has a point John. Of course you can't expect Cadillac-level service from a discount seller like Speakout, you shouldn't have to deal with rude customer service people.
Speakout is essentially an upstart and is fighting to win over clients from the large established companies with even larger marketing budgets. And although their customer service reps are rude as well, being just as rude as a Rogers/Telus/Bell rep. is not going to win you any new clients.
I'll bet that a large number of Speakout customers first heard about Speakout either through their friends or from a 3rd party website like this one. If it wasn't for satisfied customers telling their friends what a good deal Speakout is, Speakout would probably have gone away due to lack of clients.
I'm not saying to bend over backwards, but not being an ass saying the typical call centre line "All the managers have gone home" routine is well-known and everyone knows that's a cop-out. Not only is Linda one less Speakout client, but none of her friends will be Speakout clients as well.
People willing to put up with bad customer service can easily go to Rogers and get a pay-as-you-go phone with a $100 top-up card that lasts 365 days.
6:13 pm
October 14, 2008
I have must have talked to the same 'James' at SpeakOut customer service.
I called them awhile back to request a new sim, and he said only a manager can put in a request for a new sim, and then said I would have to call back during the week. (I called in on a Saturday)
I called back then on the Monday, and the lady I talked to said the former rep was wrong, anyone can put in a request for a sim.
My second issue was when I ported my number to SpeakOut. The guy was pretty rude, and kind of made me feel like I didn't know what I was doing (even though I have done several ports already) but I take it all in stride.
As long as what I request gets done, then it's all good. After all, it's customers like us that makes the customer service dept get a paycheque.