Survey Results are in on Telco's

The telecommunications business is fiercely competitive. The major telcos have massive advertising and sponsorship budgets and most have content streaming arrangements in place also but they make their money from your monthly phone bill.

Our current Fiftyup Telco survey reflects what our members have been telling us for some time:

• 74% of FiftyUps still have a landline
• 72% of respondents have changed providers before
• 21% say the most annoying thing about telcos is "The difficulty in finding someone to talk to when I have a problem".

When asked ”What is most important to you in a phone or internet provider”, having an Australian-based call centre was highest at 30%.

Off-shore call centres remain a real sore point: I’m going out on a limb to tell you why.

Australian companies have been outsourcing call centre jobs to India, Malaysia and the Phillipines for a while now and these call centre employees usually have a rather good level of English. However rather good isn’t good enough! The last thing customers want is to struggle with basic communication when they are trying to get a problem solved.

When I discussed this with friends recently, many admitted to hanging up if they hear a foreign accent when the representative answers.

We are not being racist, we are just looking for a quick solution to our problem. A strong foreign accent will make the communication harder, especially over the phone when voice is the only thing you can rely on. Phone communication can even be challenging between people from the same country! When you then add in some over 50’s who may be hard-of-hearing, is it any wonder there is a problem.

As consumers, we’re not stupid. We know the only reason businesses use an offshore call centre is to save money. It’s like saying to us “your question is probably not so hard to answer, our Australian-based staff are too busy to deal with your problem”. I know that’s a little harsh but that’s how most customers feel and it makes them angry.

A lot of offshore call centres rely on scripted conversations or “cue cards” to make sure their agents have the proper vocabulary and knowledge to answer customers. There is nothing more frustrating than someone giving you irrelevant scripted answers.

Don’t think that reading a script is enjoyable for the employee on the other hand of the phone either. It is unnatural and automatically builds a wall between the two people speaking. It makes employees feel like robots which results in them turning off empathy and emotions, two vital aspects of any conversation.

A Roy Morgan study* out last year showed that 22% of Australians (14+) think they’re all the same.

Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan Research, says:

Perhaps it’s counterintuitive, but around one in four customers who are dissatisfied and/or intend to switch provider in the next year think all telcos are the same—that’s actually more likely than the norm. So how will these customers choose their next provider? Are they seeking a point of difference (perhaps something new they don’t know they want yet) or, all telcos being equal in terms, will it just come down to price?Our current Fiftyup Telco Quiz is reflecting what our members have been telling us for some time. When asked ”What is most important to you in a phone or internet provider”, having an Australian-based call centre was highest at 30%. 

What would make you change telco providers? Tell us in the forum below your experience with your telco?