*** Updated with the reaction from @skyhelpteam after my Twitter and Blog complains
It's been a while since I wrote my last post but I thought this was really worth it.
I've been working in telecommunications for 14 years, my whole life almost. I worked in Spain, Czech Republic and the UK with Telefonica. I loved my work, I love that company and always wondered why people hated us so much. I was everyday trying to do my best to keep customers happy but people always had terrible stories to tell about us, they hated us big time!
And now I've lived one that is insane and wanted to share with all of you.
Ending july 2014, my family was leaving the UK after two years enjoying the services of Sky. Full package, Talk, Broadband and TV including movies and sports. More than a £100 per month. On June, I had an issue with Talk, they cut my service because I was speaking too much (hell, yeah, I was talking with UAE because I was moving here). I got so annoyed that decided to ask for the cancellation of all services even earlier than the typical 31 days cancellation notice they have in the UK.
So on June 19th, I contacted its online chat and after some discussion decided to cancel all services. We agreed services were gonna be cancelled by July 23rd. Everything OK till here.
However on July 26th my wife tells me the TV service ain't working but Talk and Broadband are up still. I contact the chat and they tell me it'll be cancelled in 48hours because it was their mistake, nor mine
Today, July 28th I've contacted again to doublecheck everything was cancelled. To my surprise the agent, called Gayle, informs me that the service keeps running and there's no cancellation programmed. I ask to solve it immediately and although I share the transcript of the previous chat, that I kept in my inbox, Gayle tells me it's impossible to cancel in less than 14 days. As a solution, Gayle applies a credit of £10 that could cover extra costs.
My question is, of course, what will happen if the new house tenant decides to use the telephone and exceeds the credit. Simple answer, I'll be responsible to pay the bill.
I love this, so Sky made a mistake and I have to bear the costs... nice!
Unluckily this is just a drop in the sea. This happens now and again with customers. Like a telco worker I feel embarrassed about this and hate to realize it's not an exception but the rule. That's why companies like Pepephone in Spain, led by the "personality" of Pedro Serrahima are doing it so well. Treat people like you would like to be treated and your service will be, maybe not loved, but surely respected.
By the way, Gayle did the best the systems of the company allowed. No complain about her. Even when I said to her that I was going to publish a post about it she couldn't even escalate it because the systems don;t allow it. I felt sorry for her because she was bearing all my frustration against the company, probably not fair for her.
Next steps are: I'll ask my bank to cancel any payment to Sky and will wait to see what they said. And second I'll do my best to change how companies connect with customers in the companies I'll work for. No doubt the "the customer is at the centre of everything" has been forgotten and we should make it our main motto.
Jose,
***Update: after writing this post and tweeting about it, the @skyhelpteam got in contact with me through Twitter and set up a chat. They checked everything and has given me the reason, solving all the issue in one shot. Thanks. Good work of the social media team, especially Ross, but next time it'll be better your customers don't need to get to such a situation and you solve the issue straight forward.
