DSL ISP - The Overlooked Factor Of Customer Service

There have been many television 'watchdog' and 'documentary' type programs recently that concentrate on the customer service of companies that deal in cable and satellite TV, car and home insurance, and DSL broadband. Many, in fact the majority of these companies have received a lot of bad press because of their poor customer service. I myself had experience of this and I'm sure you will have dealt with it at some point. We are talking here about telephone queues that last for 30 minutes +, and constant re-direction to other departments only to end up where you started in the first place. Not only do these calls cost money (often premium rate lines) but also they take up valuable time that could be spent doing other things. Automated systems where you are asked to press 1 for service A, press 2 for service B etc were designed to help customers to talk to the right department first time but have been used and abused to simply fob customers off and never really provide an answer. DSL ISP services were among the poorest rated overall. But why is this?

It seems that due tot the competitive nature of the business; companies are focusing all their efforts on getting as many new customers as possible. Most of their budget lies in advertising and in order to remain in business they need to keep costs down. Unfortunately this has meant that customer service is at its worst point ever! When you sign up to a DSL ISP you need to be sure that their focus lies in repeat business. This way they will look after the customers they already have and will gain new customers through recommendations and not just advertising.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. You could perhaps ask what the average queuing time is. Also, one question I always ask DSL ISP before I hand over my signature, is how many of their customers have renewed their contract and signed up for another year's service. You may find it difficult to get answers on this, but if the DSL ISP you are looking at is unwilling to obtain this information for you then you should wonder why they are holding back. If their statistics aren't good they are likely to try and keep you from seeing them. Don't be fobbed off. Persist until you get the answers you want or look at another service. With so many to choose from, and so many deals available you will not lose out by going somewhere else.