We had a ripping thunderstorm in Johannesburg on Saturday evening. Soon afterwards, our internet connection died. That’s a rather serious matter when your business is internet publishing.
What followed was a frustrating to-ing and fro-ing over the next three days. It seems that converting from an ADSL line to Fibre carries some serious admin challenges. By yesterday afternoon I was getting close to tossing it all in. But once the equally frustrated team at Vox cottoned onto the problem, they pulled out all the stops.
At the other end of the chain, the Telkom staff – and I got to talk to quite a few – were unfailing courteous and tried their best in trying circumstances. One niggle that won’t go away, though, was the 30 minute wait which suggests its call centre really needs more resources.
The experience reminded me of something I was taught years ago – that for a receptive business, the complaining customer is their best friend. For rather obvious reasons, I qualified as one of those grumpies. By the end, though, my loyalty to both companies rocketed. Vox pulling a rabbit out the hat helped. But more than that, it was continuous communication that made all the difference. Another good lesson learnt.
