We're Sales, we don't do Customer Service [ Edited ]

[donnapkelly]

I've sent a package to the Complaints department by recorded delivery.  The covering letter is below.  Do you think I will ever hear anything back from  Virgin?

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Please be advised that

1.  My current contract is coming to an end this month, and
2. I do not intend to renew it.
3. This is not a cancellation per se; it is simply notification that when the contract period concludes this month, that will be it.

The reason why is your utter lack of responsiveness to my attempts to communicate with you regarding two relatively complex issues involving

a)      Overbilling, and

b)      A non-functional cellphone. 

This culminated with a visit to one of your stores, where the staff member I spoke with was utterly unhelpful.   The quote at top of this note is what the Virgin staff member said to me, at which point I left the store.

The details of the issues in question are appended to this letter, which is going to be sent to you recorded delivery.

The reason why I am using recorded delivery is that when you don’t get any money in September, you cannot pretend you never heard from me.

Regards,

Mrs Kelly

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Here's the attachment

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Sent: 26 July 2012 17:52
To: 'theteam@virginmobile.com'
Subject: FW: Unanswered emails - still unanswered . . . and still unanswered again!
Importance: High

This is a resend of Tuesdays’ resend of Monday’s email, which was about trying to get a response out of Virgin for all the failed attempts at getting a response out of you from last week.

 
Sent: 24 July 2012 15:52
To: 'theteam@virginmobile.com'
Subject: Unanswered emails - still unanswered . . .

Hi.  This is a resend of yesterday’s email.   The reason why I am trying to communicate with you using email (and not via a simple phone call) is that 1) there are multiple issues, and 2) they’re somewhat complex.

Unfortunately, the only response I have had so far, to all my attempts to communicate with you, is a text message saying “From Virgin Mobile.  Thanks for your email.  We tried to call you to discuss your query but were unable to reach you.  Please call 798 to resolve this, thanks.  From 789789 10:57”.

This generic text is really annoying. 

1. I had my phone on my desk all morning; it did not ring prior to the text message.  If you tried to call, you didn’t try on my Virgin phone.
2. It does not specify which issue it refers to.  There are two issues that need resolving.
3. I called 789, and got an automated menu system.  None of the options referred a valid response to this email.
4. I’d like a response to my emails, please, written by a human and not just some sort of automated mechanism.

. . . the spreadsheet was inserted here . . .

Kindly email me back and tell me 1) what issue you are going to deal with first, and 2) when you are going to call to resolve that issue.
Mrs Kelly

________________________________________
FROM YESTERDAY
----------------------------------------------------------------
I’ve tried sending emails through your web forms facility, but had no response as yet.
So, I thought I would try this email address I found through Google search (ever hopeful!).

Here are the two messages I sent earlier today, that I’ve been trying to get a response for:
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Email #1:
I sent you this email last Tuesday (17th July 2012). As of today (Monday 23rd July) I have had no answer.
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About four weeks ago, a Virgin person called me. I thought it was about fixing my bill from earlier this year. It was actually about renewing my contract. Several phone calls ensued. People said they would get back to me. No-one has.
The essence of this email is that
1. Last year between August and November (roughly) I was overcharged (wrong tariff applied).
2. This was agreed to have taken place during phone calls with Virgin earlier this year. A promise was made to fix the problem and refund the money.
3. The over-billing was never refunded.
4. I want you to fix this.
Please call me when the over-billing has been refunded.
Regards,
Mrs Kelly

----------------------------------------------------------------
Email #2:
I sent you this email last Tuesday (17th July 2012). As of today (Monday 23rd July) I have had no answer.
----------------------------------------------------------------
About four weeks ago, a Virgin person called me. I thought it was about fixing my bill from earlier this year. It was actually about renewing my contract. Several phone calls ensued. People said they would get back to me. No-one has.
The essence of this email is that
1. I said that the Experia X10 Mini Pro you sent me has died. Specifically, the loudspeaker no longer works.
2. I was told that I would be offered options for sorting this out prior to contact renewal.
3. No-one has called back and at the moment, I'm using a ten-year-old Motorola.
4. I want you to fix this.
Regards,
Mrs Kelly

[MOD EDIT: Personal information has been removed from this post. Please do not post personal or private information in your public posts. Please review the Forum Guidelines]

[LittleRabbits · Accepted solution]

I'm sorry you are having problems and have nothing to add, however do you think it's wise to post your personal details including phone numbers and email address all over the internet?

Perhaps it would be better to XXXX the personal details out?

[donnapkelly]

Dear LittleRabbits (what a lovely name!),

thank you for your comments.  They're thoughtful and what you suggest is generally a very wise move.

Thing is though, I'm fairly well known in my professional circle, to the extent that if you google my name, you'll find that I come up on page 1.  My contact details are already all over the Internet.   I am a consultant, you see, and it's important that I'm easy for clients to find.  So in my particular case, posting names and numbers is OK.

Your thought is sound, though, and you deserve Kudos for a warning well worth repeating.

Best wishes,

Donna Kelly.

[AMWSmith]

I have flagged this for the mods

Please Read the forum guidlines in the Annouchments Forum so that you know what the rules are on the forums.

[chops · Accepted solution]

ditto

It's plain commonsense and certainly not good "Business Intelligence" (as you call your company) to post such personal details on a public internet forum. It can also be interpreted as a form of advertising from your subsequent posting.

The intelligent way would be to escalate your complaint to the CEO's office if necessary which other disgruntled customers have had to do to find a resolution. You can find the details by a forum search.

[Krystal_E]

Hi donnapkelly,

Did you send these emails by securely signing in to your account through our website and sending one through there?

Many thanks.

[donnapkelly]

Regarding:

"post such personal details on a public internet forum. "

and 

[MOD EDIT: Personal information has been removed from this post. Please do not post personal or private information in your public posts. 

May I point out that 

a) I posted no business details

b) the email address was altered so that it was not actually valid, and

c) all phone numbers of the form xxx-555-xxxx are by definition fictitious.

I fail to see any personal information in any of that, and consequently do not understand the comment or the MOD EDIT.

Regards,

Donna Kelly

[donnapkelly]

To Krystal Evans

"Hi donnapkelly,

Did you send these emails by securely signing in to your account through our website and sending one through there?

Many thanks."

Thank you for your question.  The short answer is: Yes, indeed I did.  On numerous occasions.  On each occasion, I would add a new preamble referring back to previous sends (I kept a copy of my sends).  It was only after trying this route several times that I gave up on it.

Kind regards,

Donna Kelly

[Krystal_E]

Hi again donnapkelly,

Please can you respond to my private message and I'll try to get someone to resolve this for you.

Many thanks.

[donnapkelly]

Dear All,

I'd like you you know that there was a highly successful outcome to all of this. 

I got a call from Jamie at the CEO's office.  He was extremely helpful and polite, and began by expressing his apologies for the shoddy customer service to that point.

To cut a long story short, the billing situation was corrected immediately, and a new phone was received the next day.   I have signed up for a continued and expanded contract.

This was customer service at its best.  Clearly, Virgin can get it right.  Major kudos to Jamie Mc.

Regards,

Donna Kelly