Jack Yan: the Persuader Blog: When you can’t phone the phone company

When you can’t phone the phone company

Is it just me, or is it daft that Telecom New Zealand, on its ‘Contact us’ page, does not list any telephone numbers? I had to get out my printed phone book to ﬁnd the information I needed. And they wonder why people are cynical about the customer service of the former state monopoly—even if the actual service is actually very good when available. It’s all in the brand, and this online encounter with it is not particularly positive—nor is the Telecom brand, as a whole, that well targeted.

Posted by Jack Yan, 11:29 permalink

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Telecom New Zealand sounds no different than any telecom in the U.S. To complicate and confound matters further, the telecoms that do have telephone contact options are outsourcing the services more and more — which means some bloke in Boise, Idaho will wind up airing grievances to someone in Mumbai, India. The bigger the telecom, the bigger the problems. It certainly opens the door for niche competitors. But none of it ever appears to benefit consumers.

# posted by

HighJive: 8/31/2006 06:07:00 PM

Tell me. I was just trying to do this literally two hours ago.

Oh, the irony.

—K

# posted by

Anonymous: 9/01/2006 01:23:00 AM

It’s 123, but good luck: they may not have their phones manned after 7 p.m. It was a pain in the neck trying to call these guys at 1 a.m. when my problem was not solved, as there is no conceivable way, at all, of getting a human being.
Highjive, I hear what you are saying. I suppose I should be grateful that someone in the same country answers my call—though with my late-night problem, I wished it were outsourced to someone. But in the world of Telecom New Zealand, no one in the world has a phone problem after 11 p.m.

# posted by

Jack Yan: 9/01/2006 07:41:00 AM