Re: average wait time for calls to customer services, tech support
I'm also with VM and I can't fault them for normal service.
The problem with their tech support is that it is outsourced - and it's exactly of the kind I alluded to when Capita took over the Dixons tech support.
I rarely have any issues, so I don't call them very often. But when I do, I recognise what's going on immediately. The first thing they'll ask you to do is turn the hub off and back on again (and reboot your machine), and if the fault is intermittent then the current call will have to end there. Power cycling the hub (and rebooting) is the first thing I do if I have an issue, but they still ask you to do it.
Then when the fault recurs, the next person you'll speak to will like as not try to get you to do the same thing. That's probably because the previous agent didn't record the details, or the one you just called hasn't read them if he did. That used to happen at Dixons/Capita all the time - they just wanted to do something and get you off the line.
The secret to getting help from VM if you know you have a fault, and tech support is pissing you around, is to email the corporate office. They have to respond, and things start to happen then - often with a UK-based support agent. That was the last time I had an issue - there was some problem with the POP and SMTP ports, and tech support wouldn't admit to it (or didn't know), and kept fobbing me off.
On a side note, I don't have any major issue at all with tech support which is in other countries (as long as I can understand them - and my biggest problem on that was with Sky when their support was in Scotland), but I wish they wouldn't bloody well say their name is Derek or Sandra or something! I'd much rather have a bit of side chat about what the weather is like in Mumbai.
However, being outsourced often means they don't have their finger directly on the pulse, and the information they have is only what they've been fed.
The bottom line, though, is that tech support is an overhead. Unless they're forced to do it the other way, cutting back is the preferred option. So being forced to cut waiting times would most likely come down to either a) taking on more staff (which they would try to avoid) or b) making calls shorter. That's what I meant by 'can of worms'.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
