Some of you probably remember the last post I wrote about how
my invoices from Telus Mobility has been getting steeper and steeper, and the flexibility was not there for me to adjust my plan. Somebody at Telus Mobility, however, read this blog (I saw some hits on my site from Google with the word “Telus” in it so one of those hits must have been them) and decided to give me a call. I got a call from a 514 area code which I believe is from Quebec City, and it was Justin from Telus Mobility. I’d like to point out, first of all, that it is very rare for cell phone companies to pro-actively call out to one of their clients for any reason other than collection, a silly survey, or a sale ploy. So I ask him what’s up, and he says they read my blog. The first though that crossed my mind was that they might threaten to sue me unless I took my blog post down (which I would have used for another great topic for my blog). But that was not the case.
“I’d like to point out, first of all, that it is very rare for cell phone companies to pro-actively call out to one of their clients for any reason other than collection, a silly survey, or a sale ploy.”
Justin took the time to carefully explain to me how I can optimize my cell phone plan to minimize my costs and get the best value. I thought that with the Talk 50 plan, I do not get evenings/weekends unlimited included, because the Telus website told me that it’s given only to new activations on a 1, 2, or 3 year contract. Justin told me it was not the case - if I’m already on a contract, they will give it to me for my loyalty!!! So I went from the Super Talk $40 to Talk $50 which gives me 150 more daytime minutes for $10 and nothing else to lose.
“That is a $84 + tax value that I received, which is the most money I made off this blog ever from one source.”
On top of that, Justin said that one of the managers authorized him to give me the evenings/weekends extension ($7/mth to extend your unlimited clock from 9PM start to a 6PM start) for free, for 1 full year! That is a $84 + tax value that I received, which is the most money I made off this blog ever from one source.
Justin’s explanation was that my blog posts, and the subsequent comments were a great tool for them to assess their marketing strategies, and was a great source for feedback for their services, and for that effort, they rewarded me (a long time customer since 2003 or so).
“It’s wondrous what competition brings on the table for customers. The same thing is happening in Canada.”
Since the wireless landscape of this country (Canada is where I am at, in case you didn’t know) has changed significantly since the CRTC allowed open competition in the 4 major provinces (traditionally, Telus was in BC/Alberta, and Bell was in Ontario/Quebec), the quality and the prices from these companies have been increasing overall. I get great call quality and coverage with Telus (I went camping - my friend’s Rogers cell phone had no chance, yet I was still making calls, keeping up with my business back in the city), and they are slowly recovering from their age-old reputation for bad customer service. This is a similar trend in any part of the world, in fact. When I lived in Korea, there was 1 telephone company who provided the whole city (this is before the days of cell phones). They had a horrible reputation… And then, a competitor came into the city, and swept a large chunk of the market. I forgot the names of the companies, but that set a new milestone for the quality of customer service in our whole city. It’s wondrous what competition brings on the table for customers. The same thing is happening in Canada. As Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility, as well as Rogers Wireless (a formidable force in the market now) enter into a battle-royale for clients, the attention given to client feedback and for good pricing/services are commonplace. Efficiency within an organization, the need to provide quality training to quality recruits, and the need to ensure high standards of service is something that the corporations need right now, and this incident totally changed my impression of Telus Mobility.
“The fact that they are attentive to public opinions on the web is a commendable thing…”
I suspect that they have a marketing team that searches the internet for reviews of their services as well as that of their competitors. And good on them - my blog gets 600~900 unique visitors a day these days, and many of them come from Vancouver and other parts of Canada. The fact that they are attentive to public opinions on the web is a commendable thing, and I was pleasantly impressed today at this new face of corporate attitude. When I asked a friend of mine who still works for Bell Mobility if they had a similar scheme going on, she replied “Oh God no, they would never do something like that here.”
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Jeff, I give you credit for masterminding this whole thing! Holy jeez, I never knew blogging could bring down the corporate house like that. They took the time to call you and grant you free services to win your opinion of them back.
Then you went on to include a short bit about Bell Mobility. “Oh God no, they would never do something like that here.”. (wink)
Jeff, I predict your blog status will hit A-list in a short time. You know what you’re talking about and your efforts are commendable. Seriously, way to go!
What you did here really sheds light on bloggers abilities to control public opinion. If big businesses are taking note then this really adds a whole new strength a good blogger has. Do you agree?
As I said Jim, blogging and the internet will bring the ultimate of democracy in this world, and this is a very small example of it!
I won’t hid this - I am very PROUD about this accomplishment. Even the corporations are now acknowledging the need for their public appearance on the internet such as on my blog, and that is a great thing.
Jeff, I am glad that Telus recognized your complaint, perhaps in posting mine they will recognize other faults they have. This is an article I just posted on a CBC board about Customer Service.
I am writing about Telus Customer Service. My boyfriends Blackberry broke, so he wanted to see what could be done, such as having his phone sent away to be fixed or replacing the phone. What a nightmare this was!
The FIRST time he went in to a Telus store (he likes face to face service), he was told he needed to contact customer support to see how they would help him. While he was at the store he called customer service and spoke with an attendant who advised their system was down and she was unable to assist him.
He attended the store a SECOND time and spoke with the customer service who stated they would give him a replacement Blackberry, however he would have to pay $100.00, even though his warranty was only up by one month. He agreed to this, and they told him they would contact MY phone when his phone was ready for pick up. A week went by and I had received no call from Telus, so he decided to check his blackberry VM to find a message saying that if he was not in to the store by Monday they would send his phone back (this left him one day to attend the store).
He then attended the store for a THIRD time and was told that he needed to bring in his old phone, before they would give him a new phone (although he was paying for both phones and they should be his to keep), however, he agreed to come back in.
He then attended the Telus store for a FOURTH time and was informed that their system was down, YET AGAIN, and he would have to reattend the store as they could not do anything when the system was down.
I attended the store with him the FIFTH time and a we spoke with a great sales representative who informed us there was a new Blackberry Pro out and he should look in to upgrading the phone instead. We then compared my account to his account to find that I was recommended for this upgrade and he was not even though he had his account a year longer than me. The sales rep said this was probably based on the fact that I spend more money per month.
We then contacted customer service and were informed that they would no upgrade his phone, they confirmed that I spend more, not only that but they told my boyfriend how much I spend in a month. After a long conversation we tried another customer service rep. This time I spoke with the rep and when asked why my information was given out she said I would have to talk to the rep who gave out my information. When I told her I believed my boyfriend was entitled to a new phone she said he didn’t spend enough and when I said we may both cancel our services if this was the case, she said go ahead. When I told her that between the two of us we spend approx. $7300.00 per year on our plans and did she not care about customer service or losing us as customers, her response was that she did not wish to talk with me any further. I asked to speak with a manager and at first she was hesitant, but later said that there was no manager on hand and I would have to wait 24 to 48 hours.
I think that Telus Mobility STINKS and if it was not so close to Christmas we would have both cancelled our service that day. In the end the sales representative gave me the upgraded Blackberry, which I in turn gave to my boyfriend and we both downgraded our packages.
This complaint my have some spelling and grammar errors, but apparently Telus staff have time on their hands to go through these complaints to point them out. See Chris Bayliss’s article, perhaps they should spend MORE TIME on correcting their customer service issues instead.
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