What Would Alex Bosika Do?

I like Wind Mobile. But really folks, a network outage due to an weather or a network upgrade should be communicated as such via twitter or your main page.  Something like, “Some customers could be experiencing network outages due to bad weather or network upgrade.” What’s the harm in that? No harm, no foul. 

I’ve seen this countless times from other major brands.

Instead, some companies feel that I need to make a call to the call centre that is overseas and when I tell them this would be helpful to customers, I hear the standard “I’ll let my manager know” which translates to…nothing is going to happen. 

It’s too bad.

Seriously, when you offshore your customer base support, we’re talking about thousands of miles of separation to have something register with staff there when something is a really important customer service function.  Why do companies do this? Yeah, I get it.  Costs and “leveraged assets” - but it is bunk.

Loyalty is built by how you think about your customer.  I will admit, I went to WIND for competitive pricing but also because I wanted to see some innovative but solid competition — and thanks to WIND, this has occurred and has forced the rest of the competition to follow suit.  Everyone now has a “Tab Offer” or an “unlimited Canada call and text” plan.  That kind of goodness didn’t exist before WIND’s entry and we only had things like My5 and My10 programs which are extinct now.

Wind Mobile forced people to think about the phone bill — a $100/month wireless phone bill translates into $1200 per year — really, that is an insane service cost for communications (and data access) and continues to annoy Canadians.

Wind, I can handle the occasional outage.  Trust me, you have offered a great service for the price point.  But be brave and do more to report about the outages through accessible channels.  Really, we should NOT have to make the call centre tell us about an operational issue.

To add some balanced comfort, I can assure you that my 3G data service which I pay a pretty coin for at Rogers doesn’t feel 3GS and even worse, has so many dead pockets across the GTA to Burlington, I am stunned at how badly covered we are on a main corridor where people travel most by car or train.

BTW, a little bird told me that something big is happening between WIND and Mobilicity soon. ;-)  Within a 6-week time-frame.  You heard it hear first!

It’s a SUN UK-based story but the story hits home.  I do hope CSRs are given more power and better tools to overcome rigid policies against consumers.  

Consumers hate their telecom providers for many things, including contracts.  See my earlier post on contracts here.

I am getting bombarded by one of my providers because my 3-year term (I will never lock-in for a contract again no matter what subsidy/discount/offer I am given) is coming to a end.  Even though I opted out from all marketing via txt/sms, email and direct mail, I am being hit hard with offers to lock-in to free Nokia Lumia (Windows Phone) and Android Devices.  Why would I shift to a new device (PLATFORM) when all my investment in the “app ecosystem” is with Apple’s iOS and further, when I am really happy with the phone itself.

Three strikes and you’re out!

The incumbent providers in Canada have a lot to deal with now.  Loyalty across telecom providers has been tied to the bill and the quality of customer service response.  If that’s any measure, then we all know what Canadian sentiment is like.  The upstarts, like WIND Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile are not immune from customer anger either.  That said, the contracts that are coming to a close (especially, the 3 years like myself) do present a huge churn challenge for incumbents in Canada because these folks are going to be in a position to pay lower monthly fees and get access to new devices as well.  If Apple does release a new iPhone in the Fall (Sept/October) that works with the TMobile network, this opens up the possibility for iPhones (iOS) smartphones appearing the upstart networks.

At the moment, I am also a WIND/Blackberry customer in addition to an iPhone-carrying customer with one of the incumbents.  I won’t renew under a contract so I have full flexibility to leave when desired.  This decision has been made largely because the incumbent provider kept me on the phone for two hours telling me that I couldn’t do this or that while they kept changing the goal post.  Two hours later, they remembered the customer should have choices but that has never been forgotten.  

For the record: The customer ISN’T always right. Sometimes, they deserve to be fired. (80-20 rule).  That said, being such a good ARPU customer on costly smartphone plans, I was appalled by the difficulty to address a simple, obvious matter which turned into a difficult jousting match.  Too much work.  So I have decided to fire the provider by not locking into a new contract/phone plan.  

I think the days of mobile phone contracts are coming to an end.  It’s a very common part of the North American landscape.  But in a post-paid and pre-paid world (prepaid, newer to Canadian customers), it’s game over.  Amateur hour is over.  And most consumers will be more open to paying for the cost of the device.

What do you think? Share the same opinion or do you think I am wrong in my comments.  Let me know.