Thursday, November 14, 2013

Top 15 Call Drivers for Billing

Sorry for the lack of blog posts about Technical Support issues. Our technical account was (unfortunately) transferred to another BPO. Good thing we were given another account although it’s Customer Service/Billing.

CustomerService-shutterstock

This is my first Customer Service account and so far, here are the issues that we normally handle:

1. Customer is asking “Why is my bill so high?” This requires a detailed explanation of the bill. On most case, the customers don’t have a copy of the bill with them. They just heard about their outstanding balance from the Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

2. Customer wants to make a payment arrangement. We put documentation on the account on when customer will make the payment.

3. Customer wants to lower down his monthly bill. We rebundle the services or we look for another promotion since the current one has roll-off)

4. Customer wants to enroll to auto-pay. We get the Credit Card details and we save it on the customer’s account

5. Customer needs to reprint his bills (via snail mail). We process a Ticket for this.

6. Customer needs to downgrade their package (usually by removing the phone service, TV or Internet). We transfer the customer to Retention/Loyalty Department.

7. Customer needs to upgrade to Triple Play (usually, we add phone service). We rebundle the package (or customers services).

8. Customer is asking “When is my Due Date?” or “How much should I pay now?”. This is easy. It’s usually 20 days from the Print Date (of the Bill). However, this question could also lead to Top Call Driver #1.

9. Customer is saying that his phone (or TV, Internet) is not working. This is a misrouted call. We transfer customer to Technical Support.

10. Customer wants to apply for a phone service. This is a misrouted call. We transfer customer to Sales.

11. Customer wants to cancel all of his services. Misrouted call. We transfer customer to Retention (Loyalty).

12. Customer is disputing the Late Fee / Tech Install Fee. We usually provide the Credit.

13. Customer’s checking account was charged with the Comcast bill but it’s not showing on the Ledger (Account). We file a ticket for this for payment review.

14. Customer is complaining about “hidden charges” that were not disclosed by the Sales Representative i.e. if the monthly bill includes taxes and equipment. This one is a hard one but I normally repackage the service.

15. Customer has more than 1 account and they made a payment to the inactive account. Customer needs to apply the payment to the active account. We usually file a Ticket for this.

Our current account is one of the largest TV, Internet and Phone company in the US. This account is the best place to deliver Customer Service skills and Sales expertise. Most of the time, customer is irate because they’re not expecting an increase in their monthly bill.

Unlike here in the Philippines wherein a package like Internet for example, includes the Taxes in the quotation of the Sales Agent, in the US it’s a different story. They usually quote the base price and adds “Plus Taxes”.

Another major difference is that in the US, they usually have promotions that last 3, 6 or 12 months. So their first year bill may be different from their 2nd or 3rd year bill. Here in the Philippines, the package that you applied 3-4 years ago would stay the same unless you terminate the service (or the ISP terminates the service).

These are some of the things that makes me happy as a customer of local ISP. My package/plan never increased in the past 3 years and I rarely call to dispute a bill.

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Sunday, November 10, 2013

“Fibr: Home’s Most Powerful Broadband”

I saw the latest Fibr commercial and I thought of creating a character that is inspired by what Fibr can do.

I will create a character named Fibr Packet that will have all these powers.

If you were to create a character inspired by Fibr, what special skills would he have?

If I were to create a character inspired by Fibr, I would create a character that could be a packet – the smallest data in the Internet world. In tech support for DSL connections, we learned that data are breakdown into packets and travels the World Wide Web through routers, modems and Wi-Fi signal. I would name my superhero character Fibr Packet and he’ll have the following abilities:

· Reduce his size into that of a packet – and will have the ability to travel anywhere on the world that is connected to the Internet. He can be at my room, reduce his size, travel through my broadband signal, and be in Europe for example.

· His power to travel is not limited to computers that are connected to the Internet but to any gadget that is connected to a router – whether it’s a smartphone or a tablet – through wireless connection (Wi-Fi).

· Be able to control any gadget that has a chip or SIM – from smartphones, to laptop, to TVs, alarm system, CCTV. That’s almost all the gadgets we have today.

To make it easier for you to imagine how my character Fibr Packet would look like – think of The Atom and Cyborg combined. Having these two abilities – be able to reduce size to that of a packet and be able to control any device that has a chip – would be pretty awesome in any situation.

Since my character can reduce his size to that of a packet, he’ll also have access to all the information on the Web. He’ll have access to Fibr, Home’s most powerful broadband, allows you to seamlessly and simultaneously experience the following:

1. Browsing of multiple websites

2. Stream hundreds blockbuster movies on-demand from Clickplay

3. Watch Cignal Digital TV Channels

4. Available now in over 800 fiber-powered villages nationwide

5. Visit www.pldthome.com or call 101-FIBR (3427) for more details.

fibr logo 2013