Popular opinion says that one of the most stressful things in life is changing job. Check.
The second most stressful thing in life is moving house, which is what I’ve spent the past week of my life doing - with still another week to go. However, folks don’t mention the added stress of dealing with every day service providers such as phone companies and internet providers when trying to sort out your move.
One company in particular, TalkTalk, which spends countless hundreds of thousands of pounds on its shiny advertising image has added significantly to my stress levels recently.
As is the bane of many people nowadays, this company, which claims to be a far better and cheaper alternative to rival BT, has outsourced its dismal customer service to somewhere such as Bangalore, which may save it time and money, but certainly adds to the burden of its customers.
Said company took it upon itself to cut off my house phone and by default my internet service without a word of authorisation from me, the bill payer, and with no notification.
It took several attempts at trying to make calls and connect to the web to actually discover there was a problem.
I finally established the route of the problem when I received a letter telling me I was liable for a £70 surcharge for terminating my contract. Apparently when I had called a few weeks ago to enquire about the house moving process some bright spark had taken it upon themselves to cut me off.
This is where the channel beats all its larger, direct competitors hands down, both on a business and a personal level. It offers a 24-hour human response that its customers crave and makes its clients feel valued and important. Something which should be heeded by the likes of TalkTalk.