"Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it." ----- PETER DRUCKER
I used to think that those humorous television commercials which jokingly insinuate that many telephone providers are actually money-hungry charlatans whose sole purpose in life is to extract as much money as is humanly possible from their long term, contract obligated customers were merely stretching the truth in an orchestrated manner. Now, however, I tend to whole heartedly agree with their overall accusations.
I recently received a long distance telephone charge of four cents from my former service provider. The total length of the call was rated as being one minute but that duration of time was enough to generate the charge. It was a call made on December 31 to a family member who was not at home at the time. Their answering machine had intercepted the call.
I had signed up for a new service provider effective January 2012. The shabby service offered by my former telephone service did not warrant me to continue paying its exorbitant monthly rate. The company had also offered internet and televison service as well. I had been on a one year trail contract. The total package expired the last day of 2011.
In January I received what I thought was the final bill from the former provider and sent in my payment by the 15th of the month. This week I received a letter from the phone company informing me that I owed the grand total of four cents for services rendered. The letter indicated that if I chose to ignore paying the outstanding amount I would be charged a $25 administrative fee.
I was shocked that they would waste so much time, effort , paper and administrative effort to ferret out the four cent charge. I wondered how I was going to pay this charge: cash, cheque, credit card charge or visit my bank and have them process the amount.
A telephone call to my former service provider was not that enlightening. The female associate I spoke with explained to me the options by which I could settle this outstanding amount. She recommended that I settle the account by making a one time Visa payment over the phone at this time. This she suggested would be the easiest way to settle up. I thought easy for who me or the phone company.
I decided a few days later to go to the bank, have the charge taken from my account and settle the debt that way. The female bank teller was amused that this phone company would pursue such a triffling amount in such a costly and aggressive manner.
The contract I had signed with the former service provider offered quality service at an affordable price. But the unreliable service forced me to contact their customer support staff once a month to correct faulty and flagging internet and television reception.
I had been with this telephone company for the past 25 years and had never had a late fee charged to my account. This past year has opened my eyes to the fact that even the high profile telephone service providers need to perform a bit of rethink and reevaluation of the way they service and retain customers.
