Bell’s Online Support: Do they Hurt more than they Help?

[MacD]

http://themobileninjas.com/2009/12/1...han-they-help/

Lets face it, Bell’s customer service in general could benefit from a revamp. No question. But asking a company to overhaul their whole Customer Service base is fairly unrealistic. While it would be nice to have a Customer Service Department flooded with Telecom nerds, who continuously stay up to date on the latest and greatest devices, features and plans, it likely isn’t going to happen anytime soon. The vast majority of Customer Service Reps have no real interest in the industry, and the churn rate is extremely high in this field. Because lets face it, it’s fairly demanding and stressful at times. I know. I’ve been there.

However there are some employees who are legitimately interested in this industry. And where are they? They’re online assisting customers on various websites. But not in an official capacity. They’re doing it on their own time. Which is great. And Bell appreciates it. I know. They told me so before they decided we should part ways.

But what about Bell’s official online support representatives? (Yes, i’m finally getting to my point) Are the reps in that position the right ones for the job? Should Bell scrap them altogether? Or should they perhaps replace them with more savvy reps? Bell’s opening message when choosing to chat representative states “Welcome to Live Online Chat Assistance! Our sales support agents are empowered to assist customers attempting to establish new service online.” Which is not exactly “We’ll answer your technical questions” But when it comes to signing up for a service for up to three years, they sure as hell better have the right answers to my technical questions if it affects whether i’ll sign up or not, and how much i’ll be charged monthly.

Really, i’d be happy with a crystal clear knowledge base for them to reference to. If they don’t know the answer, fine. But take 2 minutes to find it. I’ll wait.

But maybe i’m wrong. Maybe Bell’s online support reps are the tech savvy crew that we all know and love, and everyone i’ve seen online who has contacted them just got that one bad rep.

So, let’s find out.

Over the next week or so, I’ll be contacting Bell’s online support representatives, and asking them various, common questions, that i’ve seen asked online. I’m also asking you guys to post questions for me to ask in the comments below.

Now, we’ll keep these to common, technical questions. For example, does the Unlimited Mobile Browser work with (Insert device here) There’s no need to try and stump them with outrageous questions, and don’t ask questions related to third party programs or services.

Ex: We can ask if tethering is included in the $30 unlimited Blackberry feature, but not if tethering is covered if using a service such as Tetherberry.

So essentially, i’ll quiz them on Bell policy and procedure, which should (hopefully) be easy for them to find the answer to.

For each question, i’ll ask 5 random online reps, to see what the average response will be. I’ll also be cross checking the answers with a number of people in the know, to make sure that we’ll be providing the right answers as well.

So fire away your questions in the comments below. I’ll only pick the ones that I find fair to ask, and i’ll take on as many as I can. Once I have all the questions answered, i’ll post the responses here. I’ll keep a transcript of the chats, and depending on the length, i’ll perhaps post them in the forum. If the results are overwhelmingly negative, then i’ll package it all up nicely and send it off to Bell and hopefully (if they care) they’ll perhaps take my suggestions to improve their online support.

So post as many questions as you’d like! Just remember, keep them related to Bell policy, and we’ll see whether Bell’s Online Support reps do indeed Hurt more than they Help.