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“An average service call costs a wireless company $5 to $12″

By on May 19, 2010 at 8:40pm in Asides, Mobile News, Various News

If you have a few minutes to read a great article by the Globe’s Iain Marlow titled “Smart phones raise stakes for telcos”. It goes into detail about how the evolution of wireless devices from what used to the simple flip phone to now standard Smartphones is becoming a major expense for the carriers.

Marlow writes “An average service call costs a wireless company $5 to $12 to handle, while the fee for a complicated, lengthy call can soar to $30 or more. Yet Canada’s biggest wireless companies have no choice but to improve their customer service or risk losing customers to new wireless entrants… The cost of dealing with service calls hits directly at the bottom line. If a customer pays a wireless provider $40 a month, but calls twice a month on average with queries, he has essentially erased his profitability to the company.”

I’m curious to hear how many customer service calls each wireless carrier receives on a monthly basis. How many times do you call? Once maybe twice this month for me as my credit card on my account is expiring and needs to be updated, plus my contract is ending in 2 weeks. Other than these reasons I rarely call.

We’ve spoken in the past about how Bell CEO George Cope main objective in his “100-day plan” was to “Improve Customer Service”. So far this seems to be working out for Bell as they have recorded their second straight record quarter. In addition, Rogers talked about setting up a “Bill of Rights” that will see customer service be at the forefront of their business. Back in May of last year Rogers President & CEO Nadir Mohamed said “we have to get our customer service better. People say, ‘I know you have great products, but how do you treat me?’. It’s a view that every single day we come in and in our DNA is [the belief] we’ve got to get better. If we don’t change, if we don’t improve, if we don’t fix things, we’re going to be killed.”

If you’re treated really well you’ll ultimately become loyal. With all the new entrants such as WIND, Mobilicity, Public and all the Big 3 and their flanker brands have you seen a change in how you’re being treated? Are you experiencing better service, better rates. Is having the new carriers having an impact to you?

Check out the article here at the Globe

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Discussion

14 comments for ““An average service call costs a wireless company $5 to $12″”

  1. I worked in a call centre for 7 years troubleshooting consumer internet. We were told handle all calls in as little time as possable. We were even penalized for being on calls for in excess of 10 minutes…. Have you ever wondered why tech support agents sound so rushed to get you off the phone…

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    Posted by Jason | May 19, 2010, 9:11 pm
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  2. wow i feel like calling rogers customer service more now to have the full value for my monthly bill

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    Posted by nakul | May 19, 2010, 9:13 pm
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  3. You call twice a month? What are you calling for? I’m just curious because I very rarely call my carrier – maybe once every 6 months or less.

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    Posted by Chris | May 19, 2010, 9:27 pm
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  4. I’ve called Telus 3 times in 12+ years.

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    Posted by Michael | May 19, 2010, 10:02 pm
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  5. yeah why would you need to call that often? The only reason I could see is if you have consistent billing issues. Otherwise, that seems in excess. I try to avoid calling as much as possible to not waste my time.

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    Posted by theninjasquad | May 19, 2010, 10:11 pm
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  6. i aswell never call, went near a year with out calling then i had to to change my data plan from $5 Unlimited on my htc touch to $30 Unlimited on my htc diamond.. lol
    took over 30 mins with 3 agents..
    bell is a disgrace…

    For fido they want us on calls less then 5 mins,
    i would say i service like 30 to 45+ calls a day, doesnt seem like much but over my numbers seem high, Plus (From what i herd) my center makes $20 or $30 for each call we take..
    and yea i think servicing each call actually costs a telcomm more,
    i have had suppervisors get mad i allow escalation over $50-$60 no matter how valid tha charge is, or how many offers i made,
    stating just me transfering to them costs tha company $75

    LMAO

    this actical does make me want to call bell more, but really it wouldnt be worth having to talk to a retarded bell rep even if they credit my accout $15 per call

    LMMFAO

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    Posted by CRiMiNALOGiC ® | May 19, 2010, 10:16 pm
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  7. Maybe i shouldnt talk about customers, but fido has one i sware calls near 8 hours A DAY!!!! EVERY DAY OF THA WEEK!!!!
    afew months back i had tha person for Over 4 hours!!!
    ( I missed both my brake and Luch lol )
    in accounts we go back 250 customer interactions ( kinda stupid that it for notes ) And on this customers account i could Not go back more then Two Weeks!!

    LOL

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    Posted by CRiMiNALOGiC ® | May 19, 2010, 10:27 pm
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  8. No kidding, what are you calling for twice a month? I don’t think I’ve ever called my cell phone provider in the 5 years I’ve had a cell phone, and I’ve only phoned TELUS for Internet support 4 times in 12 years.

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    Posted by Joel Adria | May 19, 2010, 10:54 pm
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  9. While the representatives may not have always been as helpful as I could hope, I have never waited on hold for much time when calling Telus. The same can not be said for any other cellphone provider I have tried to call.

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    Posted by Jacubious | May 19, 2010, 11:03 pm
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  10. I call like twice a year! haha

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    Posted by J-M Roubos | May 20, 2010, 2:05 am
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  11. Probably about once a year on average for things like updating credit card expiry date (quick and they know what to do) or modifying features to take advantage of newer and better offers (from Telus).

    It will be more this year as my contract will expire and I’ll we attempting to negotiate roll-over of a lot of retention bonuses. If they let me keep everything I have on the first call, it will be short and reduce their costs. ;)

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    Posted by donald | May 20, 2010, 7:07 am
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  12. I am going to call big 3 customer service every day from now on. Pay back is a _ _ _ _ _ =)

    Goo WIND Gooooo!

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    Posted by 5Gs | May 20, 2010, 7:55 am
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  13. That explains why Sprint had dumped so many customers last year or was it the year before.

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    Posted by Don | May 20, 2010, 8:35 am
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  14. Please, call me Iain! Not Marlow! And thanks for the shout out.

    And I love this discussion, if any loyal MobileSyrup readers want to share telecom company employment stories with me by email — and confidentially! — I’d love it.

    Cheers!
    Iain / imarlow@globeandmail.com

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    Posted by Iain | June 2, 2010, 5:39 pm
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