The less nagging customers you have to deal with, the better you are at dealing with nagging customers it seems. POTRAZ’s Consumer Satisfaction Survey for 2018 is out and every mobile network operator not named Econet seems to have done a decent job when it comes to toll-free services.
| Network Operator | Household Consumers ratings of toll-free services (out of 7) | Corporate Consumers ratings of toll-free services (out of 7) |
|---|---|---|
| Telecel | 5.66 | 5.50 |
| NetOne | 5.27 | 5.36 |
| Econet | 4.05 | 4.30 |
Toll-free services which in this case are the support centres you call when you need assistance from your mobile network operator. The consumer’s (both households and corporates) surveyed by POTRAZ gave Telecel leading scores followed by NetOne. Econet’s scores are pretty abysmal and if you’ve tried calling their call centre you’ve probably experienced this first-hand.
The problem for Econet seems to be their number of subscribers which far outweighs that of the competition. They’ve tried to remedy this by creating self-service platforms and using messaging bots on Facebook and human interaction on Twitter, but at the time the survey was conducted, those who took the survey expressed their displeasure.
This will probably remain an issue as long as Econet has the lead they have in terms of subscriber numbers, unless consumers take to the self-service platforms and reduce the strain on call centres.
These ratings are also quite interesting because they raise questions regarding how fit Econet is to run a call centre for companies as they are now doing with Omni Contact, when they have failed to run their own call centre.
Hopefully, Telecel and NetOne continue offering and bettering their toll-free service as the two networks need to keep every small advantage that they have over Econet. As it stands, it doesn’t seem Econet’s terrible toll-free rating has a huge impact on subscribers as they are still the most popular network.
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It is easier to win a lotto than get a response from Econet 111
😂😂😂wow
To compare Econet and telecel is not a good analysis. Telecel has less than 2 Million customers whilst Econet has more that 10 Million.So dealing with a handful is much easier than dealing with a crowd. Feeding 5 people & Feeding 5000 require different approaches. Check out how Econet has brought forth self care platforms to try to reduce traffic on calls but we never had such from Telecel neither NetOne. The reason is, these guys are the ist interns of bringing forward game changing innovations & vast digital tools for their wider customer base.I once failed to get thru to 111 and opted for the Web Chat platform & i got assisted immediately within 5 minutes. Google doesn’t have a call center but it has exceptional self service platforms that easily get their customers sorted. It may take time for our African folks to embrace technology but iam sure Econet is pushing the Agenda. The next time such a survey is conducted iam pretty sure that we will have a different story altogether. #PositiveDisruption#Digitilistaion#Vision2020
I disagree on the numbers issue. I think the other providers have more call centre agents per subscriber than Econet. It might also be that Econet has not automated some tasks to reduce call centre traffic e.g Ecocash reversals. Amazon has more customers than Econet but I’m never on hold for long before I speak to an agent. My automation argument comes from my experience with Uber and Taxify. On Uber, if a driver takes a longer route, I just click on “Driver took longer route” then system checks the route taken by driver compared to optimal route and compensates me automatically. Same issue on Taxify, I have to chat with an agent before I get compensated. Econet might also be putting out a lot of buggy products which then require extensive user support.
Well I think that could be true but having more call center agents per subscriber is easier when you have one million subscribers compared to someone who has 8 million…
The Google example is a bit off. Google’s customers are businesses not subscribers. Businesses will most likely interact with Google through an account manager. You won’t find a CBZ manager calling 111, they will probably interact with Econet via an account manager.