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Johannesburg - Service levels among local mobile networks are not up to scratch, say Fin24 users.
Last week, Fin24 reported that almost 50% of customers surveyed in South Africa, Germany, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland and Spain said they are unhappy with their mobile networks’ service levels.
READ MORE: Consumers set response deadline for mobile operators
This is according to a survey carried out by UK-based MobileSquared on behalf of network and subscriber intelligence business Astellia.
Other key findings of the survey indicated that 66% of subscribers expect a network-related problem to be resolved within one hour and that only 28% of consumers were prepared to wait up to 24 hours.
Conversely, the majority of mobile network operators said they believed that customers will wait up to one day for network problems to be resolved.
A further 26% of mobile network operators (MNOs) said they expected their customers to wait up to three days, according to Astellia and MobileSquared.
Fin24 then asked users whether they think mobile operators in South Africa are doing enough when it comes to their service levels. And below is what users had to say.
Fin24 user R Nayager said SA mobile operators are “not geared towards customer satisfaction”.
“I've had numerous problems with trying to get issues resolved with cellphone operators to the point where I've accepted poor service delivery as a norm in our beloved South Africa,” Nayager wrote to Fin24 in an email.
Fin24 user Eddie Stafford said local mobile networks are not performing when it comes to service levels.
“Definitely no! They don't care about their customers at all. This increase in rates when you have a contract goes to prove it!” Stafford said, referring to recent contract price hikes by local mobile operators.
Fin24 user Cassie Carstens said that “when a company gets too big the quality of service degrades”.
Fin24 user Kenneth Simons has also expressed his dismay at local service levels.
“No ways are we getting a good deal from any MNO. Any problem you have is never dealt with the first time and in some instances never respond to the reference number they give you. My problems are never solved. In most cases it's always a system problem and at the end of the day you still have to pay for the massive of outstanding money that was incurred because of their system problems or incorrect info activated on your account,” said Simons.
Fin24 user Douglas said he thinks service satisfaction levels in South Africa could be lower than the global survey suggests.
“If we expect a 50% customer satisfaction level globally, assume no more than 10% SA mobile customers are happy. If you then factor price into the equation, that number will probably fall to below 1%!” Douglas said.
Fin24 user Denys Botes said, “As soon as they have you hooked on a contract or even prepaid, they lose interest as you are pretty much at their mercy.”
And finally, Fin24 user Themba had a tongue-in-cheek response to SA MNOs service levels.
“I’m using, using, sorry about, that, my service, provider, is, not, doing, enough, to, solve the network problem, when my, phone, I must make sure I go outside the room, so, that I speak without fear of the call, breaking,” said Themba.
