After using it for the first time last Friday, I wanted to give a little feedback on the new IVR.
I called 191 from my phone as my dad had lost his. I was therefore calling to get his line barred.
So when I called 191, I was greeted with "Welcome to Vodafone, to talk about your line, press 1. To talk about a different line, press 2"
So I press 2 and it asks me to type in the number.
I'm then greeted with "We've made exciting changes to our systems, you can now use your voice rather than your keypad". It then asked me to say my dad's four digit PIN with the option to type it in for privacy reasons.
I think great, as the previous system would involve a series of keypresses which would loop you round in circles with irrelevant information rather than connect you to an agent.
Here's where the system fell down though, not sure if it was IVR or account driven.
It asks me why I'm calling, I say "lost or stolen phone" and it confirms back "So just to confirm, you're calling about a lost or stolen phone?"
Success... it understood me and is now going to route me to the right department. Cue short hold and a guy answers and asks how he can help. I explain the situation and he says "oh so you're not looking upgrade your phone?". That'd be a no.
He then insists on doing DPA with me again, name, phone number and digits of the PIN before transferring me.
The transfer takes some time and I'm routed to customer care in Cape Town. The actual process to then go through it again, DPA included before the guy finally says he's barred the line took about 55 minutes.
Not that I was overly concered but did think that if I was a customer who'd actually been robbed and my phone was in the process of being used by the thief to call the talking clock in North Korea then what should have been a quick process really wasn't thanks to the wonderful IVR.
So line barred, I was then looking at options to replace the phone when I recieve a call to say "found it".
So that meant another call to Vodafone...
Same thing happened again, called 191, selected the option to speak about another line. Entered his details and his PIN and was asked the reason I was calling. Again I said "lost and stolen phone" and it confirmed back "you're calling about a lost or stolen phone".
Connected to a guy who asks me to confirm some digits of the PIN. I tell them and he says "I need to ask your place of birth". I confirm my dad's and I'm told I'm wrong.
So I give mine and am told I'm right. I then say to the guy, are you looking at my number? Turns out he was so this time, the details and the DPA check I'd punched into the IVR hadn't made it to the advisor. Ironically though he still was in the upgrades and sales team.
He then takes me though DPR on my dad's account, explain I just need to remove the bars I'd applied as the phone is no longer lost. He says I'll transfer you. I wait a couple of minutes, he (same guy) comes back and says "you're eligable for an upgrade, I can sort you out a new phone".
So really, I've not been in a transfer queue, instead he's been looking at the account to get a sale. So he then cold transfers me into the queue for customer services. After a longer wait, I find myself back in South Africa and with a guy who actually was spot on, explained what I needed, he popped me on hold for a minute, came back and it was done.
But... the feedback is... to whoever maintains the IVR is...
Why does the lost and stolen option route to a sales and upgrade team and...
Why does the option to type in the number you're calling about (when it isn't a case of the one you're calling from) and typing in the PIN somehow not feed through to the agent (albeit in the wrong team) you're connected to.
Really the process to call in to report a phone lost or stolen needs tightening up here. Time matters in some of these cases as the customer is liable for fraudulent activity until the SIM is reported lost/stolen and barred.
Luckily in my case this didn't have a negative impact (as the phone was found in a tool box - don't ask!) but thought it worth reporting this back as a glitch with the new system.
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