Alternative Networks joins Daisy chain gang: Hungry rival snaps it up for £165m Telecoms business Daisy is poised to gobble Alternative Networks for £165m - the latest deal in its seemingly insatiable appetite for acquisitions. IT and telecoms biz Alternative employs 600 people and reported a turnover increase of 9 per cent to £146.8m for the full-year 2015. However, Philip Carse, analyst at Megabuyte, …
We do >150K p.a. with AN but have had 4 account managers in 3 years.
They offered us international call rates of 30p/min when the competition is offering 5p/min for the same destination and they still look for 2 and 3 year contracts in telecoms for these "competative" rates.
They fought tooth and nail over a mobile rebate they owed us contractually, only paying when we showed them the contract they had us sign.
Emails into their new "enterprise service desk" system are ignored.
Our hands have been hovering over the Yellow & Black handle for a few months now, time to pull now - don't want the distractions of a merger further diluting the lack of attention!
AC
@ac
Just because your too savvy to fall for their sales patter doesn't mean their efforts have gone in vain, your just practice for when they came up against the less savvy manager of outsourced systems who gets extra recognition & reward the larger the managed budget is. Growing staff numbers is a good excuse for hiding cost increases taking the manager up the wrung of responsibility and maybe into the next pay band. Pay based on importance based on budget size was common when I was in civil service, I assume it's still the case and similar in the private sector.
I had worked at another telecoms company for 5 years before they were also acquired by Daisy. I've now been at Daisy for 6 years so without trying to sound too brainwashed I know we have very strong processes and some very experienced people in place who deal with acquisitions. That said, I understand your concerns and your issues with AN.
Just as a counter-balance I've worked with most of my customers for many years so they've had consistent account management.
International and roaming calls do vary depending on location, but I can't see any reason for such high rates unless you are on a legacy tariff which needs updating.
Rebates shouldn't be an issue. I make sure they get paid and they don't need to show me a contract as believe it or not I keep copies!
Emails into our service desk are logged in a ticketing system and are regularly monitored to ensure they are being dealt with. As an account manager I have access to these stats and review them with my customers to ensure they are being dealt with promptly.
If you want to see what we can do to improve your situation then feel free to get in touch: www.linkedin.com/in/edpov
This news doesn't surprise me at all. The main problem I found when working at Alternative was the amount of managers who had absolutely no assertiveness or people skills to hold senior relationships with customers. They had literally risen the ranks due to corporate brown nosing and relying on one or two exceptional account managers. I suspect a lot of these managers who have been at AN for 10+ years are going to struggle a bit with the job market as I can't imagine ex-Computacenter senior management putting up with them!
In response to AC, Account Managers were always coming and going. Frustratingly, our objectives were much more focused on revenues than service so long term customers who weren't buying regular would move down the priority list in all departments. Quite a sad way of doing business in my opinion, hence why I left!
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