Ali Alaei and a number of other Telia customers complain that it is difficult to get through on the phone to customer service.
He has been a Get customer for several years, but it was only after Telia bought Get that the problems arose.
– It has happened several times that I call and stand in line for at least 30-45 minutes, but now the record has been broken. I waited for 54 minutes and seven seconds before I gave up on Monday, since I still had not come through, he says to Nettavisen.
Alaei has both TV and internet from Telia. Before Get became Telia, it usually took three to four minutes to get an answer from customer service by phone. Now he thinks it is completely hopeless.
– It has been a nightmare after Telia took over. I’m pissed that it takes so long to get through to customer service, he says.
When he first stood in line for 54 minutes on Monday this week, he tried again a quarter of an hour later. Then he waited for over half an hour, but even then he did not arrive.
– People have other things to do than stand in line for so long to get hold of them, Alaei points out.
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– Can’t wait for the binding period to be over
He himself has a lock-in period for a few more months, but if it continues as it is now, he doubts that he will continue as a customer at Telia.
– I look forward to the binding period is over, he says.
– They must increase staffing if that is the problem, because they must be available for customer service – without having to wait so long on the phone to get through.
Alaei says that he prefers to talk to customer service on the phone, and has therefore not tried to reach them on other platforms. Mostly Alaei has been satisfied with the services from Get / Telia, but he says that he has had problems with the new Telia box many times. The customer explains that the box is very slow, and it is often that the image chops or that the image and sound do not match.
– The only way to get the box to work normally again is to pull out the plug and wait about ten seconds before I put it back in. But it only seems an hour, a day or maybe a week before problems arise again, he says.
He says that he has received a new box, without it helping either. Alaei informs Nettavisen that when he tried to contact Telia on Wednesday morning, he finally came through after only a few minutes.
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A number of complaints
However, it is not just Alaei who is dissatisfied with the wait for help. A quick swipe through Telia’s Facebook page shows that there are many dissatisfied customers who complain that they have to stand in line for a long time to get help.
– I have neither the energy nor the time to sit on the phone for a whole day to get in touch with you. Have now waited for over 20 minutes, one writes.
– I do not get on my side, and have been in a telephone queue for 45 minutes now without being asked about calling. Do not know my queue place either. This is not a pleasant customer experience, writes another, who writes that he gave up after such a long time.
– What is the expected waiting time to call you? Standing in line for 20 minutes now, writes a third.
A fourth asks why Telia does not do anything with its customer service, after 20 minutes in a telephone queue.
– Either people have so much to complain about that there is a queue, or you have far too few people to do the job. Both are bad publicity for you. Hope someone else calls and gives me an offer with better services, she writes.
Understand the frustration
Telia has been presented with the criticism, and Daniel Barhom, information manager for Telia Norway, tells Nettavisen that they work continuously to create the best customer experiences.
– There is nothing we want more than to have satisfied TV and broadband customers. In this case, we can only strongly regret that it has been difficult to obtain customer service from us. This is not how it should be, and we understand the customer’s frustration well, he says.
Barhom says that they appreciate committed customers, and not least that they have the opportunity to communicate directly with them via social media and other channels.
– Lately, we have unfortunately had a number of unwanted incidents in our fixed network, which among other things has led to longer response times on our customer service, and we apologize, he says.
He also points out that the last year and a half with pandemics and many in the home office, also creates challenges.
– It also strains our skilled employees when the waiting times in certain periods are longer than normal, and the customers are frustrated when they arrive, so we do not want to feel that way.
Trying to increase staffing
Barhom points out that the picture is not black and white either.
– The average response time at our customer service in September was six minutes. At the same time, we are working full-time to further reduce the response time, and our goal is for us to respond to customer inquiries as quickly as possible – whether it is by phone, e-mail or chat, he says.
However, Telia is experiencing challenges with recruitment, and more employees are now leaving as society opens up.
– Many of our employees who have worked with us through the pandemic, are now returning to their original jobs, he says and points out:
– It is today demanding to have these replaced as a result of tough competition in the labor market. That is why we are working hard these days to recruit new employees to the customer center in Telia.
He also points out that in addition to working to reduce response time, they have implemented a number of measures to deal with customers more proactively, identify and fix the underlying reasons why the customer makes contact when something does not work. At the same time, they will upgrade the end-user equipment for TV and broadband customers.
As for the problems Alaei is experiencing with the TV box, it should work as normal, according to Barhom – who comments on the case on a general basis, not Alaei’s case.
– We are constantly upgrading the box to ensure an even better user experience. We will contact the customer directly to investigate further what may be wrong in this case, he says.
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