But this week I want to talk about the people who should be calling but don’t.
I have had an ongoing cellphone contract with one of the two original providers in SA for the past 20 years – let’s call them Company A.
For a brief period, and I mean very brief, before that I gave my affections to the other original provider – we’ll call them Company B, logically.
So for the past 20 years, I have merrily gone about my business using Company A and rebuffing the advances of Company B and the newer Companies C and D.
Time and again I have declined to fall prey to their flirtatious attempts to lure my business away from Company A.
It’s not that I feel particularly loyal to my service provider, it’s just far too much PT to change.
So last year I was due to upgrade my data contract and wanted to upgrade from a 2GB contract to one which offered 20GB (yes I do use that much data) per month.
I searched the website for answers and when none were immediately forthcoming, I gave them a call.
I, obviously, got through to a robot since the last time a call to a call centre resulted in a human interaction was some time in the middle of the last century.
The robot told me they were experiencing high call volumes and were far too busy to talk to me but by all means, visit their website.
So back to the website I went and, under the contact us button, found another screen which gave me the option to request a callback.
Yes, I actually put my time on the line and asked them to call me back.
I even gave them my number to facilitate the process.
I immediately received an SMS on the number given which stated: “Thank you for scheduling a callback. You will receive a call from our sales centre within 24 hours.”
That was on July 21, 2017, and I am still waiting for the 24-hour period to kick in for someone to call me back.
The question I am left asking is why, when I want someone to sell me a service, I have no hope of getting a salesperson to contact me, yet I am constantly bombarded by unwanted callers offering unwanted products on a daily basis?
I can only assume that the reason for this is the Company A has cottoned on to the fact that, like many of their prisoners, I have developed some kind of consumer Stockholm Syndrome and am too lazy to move my business.
The moral of the story, therefore, seems to be that brand loyalty is detrimental to actually receiving a service from the brand to which you have been loyal.
I say down with loyalty!
It’s time to move on to a provider who might actually want my business.
PS: It really is easier than you think to ditch a bad service provider, so who is with me?
PPS: Who are we kidding?
We all know no one is going anywhere, we are all far too lazy to put in the effort to move to another provider who is guaranteed to be just as bad, if not worse, so join me in the (24-hour) waiting game.
