THE OBSTINATE HOTLINE FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

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How has your utility service provider been in times of the pandemic?  With these, the specific utilities being pointed out here are the necessities that provide consumers with the dignity of lifestyle—those utilities which allow the public to live with convenience even in times of pandemic.

Credit must be given to most companies as there have been efforts to provide continuous service to the locals even when a global health pandemic was happening. We could not thank enough the people behind these companies, especially the telcos, which made the shift to digital schooling possible.

However, there is room for improvement that must be initiated by essential providers which have been neglected intermittently at the height of the COVID-19 situation. Herein the frailty of  CUSTOMER SERVICE in crisis situations when most numbers and means of reaching out to express complaints faltered many times.

At the height of the pandemic, the face of service of each utility company was the hotline and phone numbers posted on their company websites that were readily accessible to netizens.  But surreal to say, hotline numbers of many offices, those published for the public to peruse, can be tagged as unavailable and non-responsive.

One cable company cannot be reached at all for immediate service complaints.  Another telephone company had to be called often due to a lagging internet connection. Even when push for subscription modifications have been “drummed up” by random marketers calling for the telephone company.

Regarding the reliability of the water service connections,  it is good that advisories are given out regularly.  But frequent interruptions have become the norm even before El Nino was announced. Also in many instances, announcements of water disruptions did not come early enough for consumers to prepare.  

There cannot be a perfect continuity of service from utility companies.  This is a given.  But when it comes to manning hotlines, there is an obvious need to retain more than a skeletal force to attend to customers.

What has been the trend, when customers reach out for follow-ups, was a machine-run voice prompt would take the incoming call, and customers were left to wait, or be waited for proper dial-up directions, making the service complaints and follow-ups,  a waste of wait.    

CUSTOMER SERVICE is a front-runner of good reputational building for many companies. This aspect lagged behind when the public was served with too often service interruptions of utilities, at the household level.

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