Customer service - a thought

As a company that is so focussed on its customer service I was most interested at the customer service that I (did not) receive from a mobile phone company last night.  It is particularly relevant as we are currently looking at every aspect of the business to ensure that all that we deliver  is of the highest quality that it can be.

Sadly, the service provider should probably remain nameless, though I do have a big urge to name and shame the guilty.  Suffice to say that they are one of the largest having just acquired another large mobile phone supplier.

The short story is that I bought a new pay-as-you-go mobile for my daughter for her birthday.  Supposedly the phone comes with 6 months free internet if you buy the phone with £10 of credit, though they failed to mention that this was not automatic.  There were not apparent instructions as to how to get the internet and in the meantime we got charged for a day’s usage.  So, setting up an account within their web site ensued, then a long search looking for information, then on the phone to them going through lots and lots of completely irrelevant recorded messages, never to speak to a person.  Eventually my daughter decided that there was a text with instructions on her phone all along but even then when we sent a text that apparently activated the free internet no confirmation was received.  I am still not sure whether it is working.

So, brand new mobile and 14 hours after receiving this really impressive new toy, am I happy?  A rhetorical question of course.  When I next buy a mobile will it be from the same provider?  Probably not.  A little lesson there I think.