The ICASA End-user and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations kicked in recently. We put the operators' helpdesks to the test.
The End-user and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations were published in the Government Gazette on 24 July 2009, and officially kicked in thirty days later on 8 September 2009. These regulations aim to protect consumers against shoddy service from telecoms providers and address network and service availability, helpdesk waiting periods and service installation & fault resolution times.
According to the regulations helpdesk calls must be answered within 3 minutes where the average call answering time is measured over a twelve month period. We decided to put this to the test and called the helpdesks of most prominent telecoms and broadband providers to assess their readiness for the recently released regulations.
For this experiment the waiting period from the moment the call is made to the time when a helpdesk agent is reached was measured, and the agent was then asked where one can lodge a complaint for service levels which are below the standards published in the ICASA End-user and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations.
Most providers answered the calls within 3 minutes and were ready to take down an official complaint or at least direct the caller to the correct channel to lodge a complaint. It is debatable whether the agents are actually aware of the new regulations, but they were ready to assist none the less.
The ones that passed the test
Neotel answered the helpdesk call with 44 seconds, the fastest of all the operators. The company advised us to call 'Head Office' on 011 585 0000 to lodge an official complaint.
iBurst was also quick to answer the helpdesk, and the waiting period of 1 minute 5 second as the second fastest of all the operators. When faced with the question as to where we can launch an End-user and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations complaint, the helpdesk agent asked us to send an email to helpdesk@iburstgroup.co.za
Telkom's ADSL telephonic support helpdesk, available on 0800 375 375, was refreshingly snappy to answer the call and supply accurate information about the official complaints channel. After a fairly lengthy automated process taking around 1 minute 40 seconds, the call was answered within a few second. The Telkom ADSL helpdesk agent was not fazed by the rather complicated request to lodge a formal complain, and quickly provided us with the number (0800 600 126) for their complaints department.
A Vodacom helpdesk agent was reached within 2 minute 15 seconds. The helpdesk agent confirmed that a service complaint can be lodged with him directly.
MTN had a fairly comprehensive automated call routing procedure, but we still reached a helpdesk consultant within 2 minutes 25 minutes. When informed that we want to lodge a complaint we were transferred to a relevant department which could log the complaint and address the problems we had.
The only failure
Cell C performed poorly, both on the time taken to answer the 084 140 call and the information provided regarding the complaints procedure. After a lengthy automated call routing process, which involved 'spamming' the caller with advertising, the call was passed on to a helpdesk consultant.
In total it took 5 minutes 57 seconds to answer the call, and the helpdesk assistant promptly informed us that these complaints should be lodged with ICASA and not with Cell C. This gives some indication that Cell C may not be well prepared to deal with the End-user and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations which recently kicked in.
On the whole this small experiment gives an indication that helpdesk waiting times may have improved over the last few months, and that many of the operators may well be within the regulatory of an 'average answering time' of 3 minutes.
Telecoms providers may however be well served through letting their helpdesk agent know what the official complaints procedure is and how it should be handled to limit confusion for the both the company and consumers.
Disclaimer
NB: This web log is in the public domain and is presented here for public benefit, not for the purposes of business generation.