Clients’ group says telco call centres wanting in quality services
A telecom customers' advocate group has called on the government to revisit Australia's consumer protection regulations for a possible overhaul to address the telco industry's deteriorating customer service.
The Australian Communications Action Network (ACCAN) said on Friday that Australian customers have had enough of the industry's dismal customer services, which the group said were largely characterised by long waits, numerous call transfers and poor communication skills on the part of operators manning the other end of the line.
ACCAN acting chief executive Teresa Corbin said that the group had formulated new protection standards for consumers, adding that they also filed a submission to the Australian Communication and Media Authority, which is conducting an inquiry in customer service issues.
Ms Corbin said that her group was wondering if the existing self-regulatory system was actually effective in encouraging better performance from the industry as she noted that telco clients have mostly complained of unsatisfactory experienced from companies' call centre divisions.
She said that major gripes coming from telco customers were the seeming norm of putting calls on hold for long periods or transferring clients' calls from one operator into another, adding that frustrations further heat up when "customers cannot make themselves understood or understand the person at the other end of the line."
ACCAN said that such shortcomings were due to telcos failure to provide adequate training modules to prepare their staff for the task ahead plus the unwillingness of some companies in giving enough authority that would enable call centre agents to address simple product issues.
Furthermore, Ms Corbin said that telcos marketing ploys were rather confusing for many customers as she cited as example the usual practice of advertising mobile plans that highlighted on minimum spends instead of reflecting the maximum.
She said that such tactics inevitably resulted to customers "exceeding the value of their plan, which is often very difficult to measure, are then charged exorbitant excess usage rates."