Are You Being Self-Served?

I’ve posted a new entry at Mobitopia, which is a kicking off point as to how mobile network operators could improve their customer service. My suggestion is via self-service, whereby I can connect into the operator via the phone’s browser, and select an option I want to enable. That’s it; no phone calls or real human contact involved. Read more here…

Why is mobile network operator customer service so bad?

The majority of the time I call is to add something to my existing service, such as roaming, switching on GPRS, enabling MMS, conference calls and such like. On the other occasions, I want to upgrade my handset. I think that in 8 years, I’ve called Orange about a network problem once, perhaps twice. That’s probably a good recommendation of the network, but not of their customer service.

Usually, I have to wait a while before someone actually answers (and that’s after I’ve gone through the maze of touchtone options), and then inevitably, the “system is down for now” or some such. How can it be down every time I call in?

If all I want to do is enable a new service, order a new handset or have my GPRS settings resent to me, I shouldn’t have to call up. I should just go into the phone’s browser, visit the ‘Support’ section and choose my option. The operator knows who I am, and they already send me a bill every month for using their network, so what’s the holdup in implementing such a service? Make it available through the web too, if you like.

This would help cut the costs of servicing users (especially users like me), and I expect it would work out even cheaper in the long run than offshoring your customer support team…

Still, at least I’ve never had an experience to match that of Greg Costikyan. Greg also makes a great recommendation for improving customer service:

...why can’t the phone detect that it’s an AT&T SIM card, the account isn’t activated, and give me the option of making a simple call to activate it?

What other things could operators do that would help them improve on how they serve their customers?