Sweet sweat

I received this comment today from a friend via email and thought it very funny.

Your blog entry (may have been thought by some to be extreme) but I thought it was a clear and precise commentary on customer service – I had an extra mobile phone number that was costing me 10 bucks a month but I did not have the heart to call Telstra and go through the agonies of waiting and hoping. In the end, I did not pay me bill which resulted in a call from a cso and I organised for her to remove the unwanted service at the time of paying up.

You need to remember a couple of things:

Invariably those organisations that have the greatest ‘emphasis’ on customer service and spend the most on ‘training’ their staff in customer service – banks, telcos, insurers, Qantas – are the worst in actually giving it.
As I have probably mentioned to you before, you need to think of the telcos as criminal organisations – Telstra is the Italian mafia – crooked but you are used to it in the neighbourhood; Optus I like to think of as the Chinese Tongs – on the scene for a while but still bloody; Vodaphone are the Cubans, and there are lots of little street gangs around. I am still waiting in terror for the telco equivalent of the Russians.

The old faithfuls of customer service – DJs, the Law Book Co, NRMA have gone to Gowings so far as customer service is concerned – being run by ‘mamagers’.

I can still promise quality customer service at (name of his shop) – but only if I, or (a couple of trusted employees) are there.


At least they think highly enough of you at work to pay for your mobile.

Note from me:
*I still have to pay for any personal calls on it but at least I've got the computer unfouled from its influence for now!
*Brackets replace some sections to protect the innocent